“Chiptunify” a wave file - possible?

Question

I got several music in flac format (which I can convert around) but the thing is this: is there some sort of filter that can "alter" the sounds in some ways to make it sound like chip tunes?

For example, I have a music with only 2-3 instruments; I got a lead, a bass, and a percussion. Is it possible to change the sound of these instruments that are already in wav files to sound like chiptunes? In other words, the filter analyzes the pitch, etc. of the instrument and change to chip tune variation accordingly.

Answer 1

Your best bet will be to run your source material through a bitcrusher and a sample-rate reducer. However, that will just make it sound like the kind of low-quality samples that could be played back on old machines. Actual chiptune music tends to involve very careful use of low-resolution waveforms and FM synthesis.

Answer 2

If you have music in midi format it is straightforward - just replace samples with your chip tune samples. Unfortunately there is no simple way to do this at raw wav level.