So my advice would be: whatever you’re into, just jump in and start making. In terms of picking up hints and tips, there are loads of tutorials on YouTube, and some really great web forums, but one of the really nice things about chiptune is that it’s stylistically diverse. The Game Boy is a great option, because it’s portable and moddable. Both give a tracker-style front end linked to a software emulation of the hardware without having to go to the challenge or expense of investing in, hacking, and maintaining original hardware, so it’s a really good way to dip your toes in the water and experiment.Īs your experience grows, you might want to look to invest in some original kit, and I’d recommend picking up a Game Boy, which can still be had for a few tens of dollars from eBay and Gumtree, and a NanoLoop or LSDJ cartridge. That runs on MacOS and emulates the Commodore SID sound chip.įamiTracker on the PC emulates the Nintendo NES. GoatTracker, for example, is a good option. If we set aside the debate about authenticity and making on hardware versus emulation, one of the easiest ways to get going is to use one of the modern soundtrackers that is built around an emulated sound engine. I think tinkering is a great way to start, and the beautiful thing about chiptune is that it’s very, very accessible. Someone get their start in making chiptunes today? Is it as easy as buying It took a while before chiptune came back around as a stylistic statement in game soundtracks. It wasn’t until a few years later - and by then, we were into the 16-bit era and soundtrackers - that I really began to think about pursuing a career in video game music.īy the time I got my first professional commission in 1997, we were well into the console era and production music. That said, even then, I realised that making games must be a job, and I remember telling my mum when I was about 10 or 11 that I was going to make games when I was older. All my 10-year-old self was thinking about was whether or not I could get through to the end-boss on R-Type with all my power-ups intact. You foresee it being a viable way to develop a career? I love that track, and still gig live with it today.Įarlier days when you began getting more invested in making chiptune music, did It had sardonic, sampled speech during the level intro that set you up for what is actually quite a sophisticated piece of soundchip-generated cool funk. I loved the concept I loved the graphics, and I loved the bike handlebars you used to control the game. I spent most of the summer of 1984 pumping my pocket money into that cabinet. So chiptune, really, was the soundtrack to my childhood.īut the soundtrack that really got me hooked was Atari’s Paperboy. So, while most of my school-friends were spinning vinyl and listening to Iron Maiden or Depeche Mode, I was listening to the soundtrack from Monty on the Run and One Man and His Droid on repeat. I grew up with the 8-bits - particularly Sinclair’s ZX Spectrum and Commodore’s C64 - and playing arcade games in that golden era when Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and Wonder Boy ruled the roost.Īnd, if I’m honest, I played video games way more than I should have done. Here’s what Kenny had to say when we prodded him on this neo-retro phenomenon. Originally the product of limitations in earlier generations of video game hardware, the chiptune scene has its own musical artists who perform and record using either emulation (software-based sound systems) or modified game consoles - or both. Since the 2000s, and more so in the last decade, chiptune music has surged in popularity as its own genre of music. Kenny specialises in a specific corner of video game music: chiptune. His work as a musician, educator, and author has led him all across the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia. Hope the approval process doesn't take too long.Kenny McAlpine is a Scottish chiptune composer who resides as a fellow in Interactive Composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. The SID used in the SidTracker video can be downloaded from here. On the iPad I'm using Modizer to listen to SIDs and it uses the same engine but lacks the filter-distortion plug-in, so the 6581 doesn't sound as 'warm' as with the proper filter distortion emulation. The app happens to be open-source and is still working good under Mac OS X 10.10.3 and hasn't been update in very long time, the sync towards HVSC collection still works too (Just enable 'best accuracy' and enable the 'filter distortion plug-in' for proper 6581 emulation). I've been listening to SIDs with SidPlay for Mac for many many years and it's SID-Emulation (6581 & 8580 + various revisions) is as close to a real C64 I've ever heard.(My C64 broke down long time ago). I'm pretty sure these guys know what they are doing when it comes to SID-Emulation
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