Chiptune
Encyclopedia
A chiptune, also known as chip music, is synthesized
electronic music
often produced with the sound chip
s of vintage computer
s and video game console
s, as well as with other methods such as emulation
. In the early 1980s, personal computer
s became cheaper and more accessible than they had previously been. This led to a proliferation of out-dated personal computers and game consoles that had been abandoned by consumers as they upgraded to newer generations of these platforms. They were in low demand by consumers as a whole, and not difficult to find, making them a highly-accessible and affordable method of creating sound or art.
, Commodore 64
, Nintendo Entertainment System
, and Game Boy
. These systems earmarked a shift in the technological development of video game audio to a period where consoles used dedicated hardware sub-systems or sound chips to create sound.
It was after this period that video game audio progressed onwards to sample playback and wavetable synthesis
techniques, replacing the dedicated sound chip-based techniques that had been used previously to synthesise sounds in real time. Sample playback uses computer memory to store a pre-recorded sound, which may be played back at a fixed or variable pitch, and can be repeated in a continuous loop to extend the duration of a sound without increasing the memory requirements. Low quality sample playback as used in various Amiga
machines, and tracking software such as Renoise
is still often accepted within chip music communities, depending on the sonic properties and hardware used in composition.
In fact it is arguable that the term ‘chip music’ was originally used in reference to the sample based tracker style of music on the Amiga and similar platforms; however, in its modern form, the terms ‘chip music’, and ‘chiptune’ refer to music made by the sound chips found within early gaming systems and microcomputer
s.
A waveform generator is a fundamental module in a sound synthesis system. A waveform generator usually produces a basic geometrical waveform with a fixed or variable timbre
and variable pitch. Common waveform generator configurations usually included two or three simple waveforms and often a single pseudo-random-noise generator (PRNG). Available waveforms often included pulse wave
, the timbre of which can be varied by modifying the duty-cycle, triangle wave
, which has a fixed timbre containing only odd harmonics, and sawtooth wave
, which has a bright raspy timbre and contains odd and even harmonics. Two notable examples of systems employing this technology include the Game Boy, with two pulse channels (switchable between 12.5%, 25%, 50% and 75% wave duty cycle
), a channel for 4-bit PCM playback, and a pseudo-random-noise generator. The Commodore 64 on the other hand made use of the MOS Technology SID
chip which offered 3 channels, each switchable between pulse, saw-tooth, triangle and noise. Unlike the Game Boy, the pulse channels on the Commodore 64 allowed full control over wave duty cycles. The SID was a very technically advanced chip, offering many other features including ring modulation and adjustable resonance filters.
Due to the wide range of video game systems available, with different sound chips and processors running them, each system, while sharing the same basic synthesis techniques, had a fairly unique sound. Even within a specific system, sound qualities often varied between batches of sound chips, as happened with the many SID revisions used throughout the production of the Commodore 64.
The term Chip Music has been applied to more recent compositions that attempt to recreate the chiptune sound, albeit with more complex technology. Currently, chip music composers use modern computers to aid them in either composition, recording, or execution of the art form. Modern computers are also used for networking throughout the global chip music "scene". The evolution of the Internet has helped chip musicians connect with each other, share ideas, and create public events. The recent popularity of Creative Commons over Copyright in the chip music scene has also helped many musicians learn and develop their craft through an open source environment. Emulation of the original sound chips has become more prevalent and accepted because of the increasing rarity and fragility of the original video game systems and microcomputers used.
. In 1951, the computers CSIRAC
and Ferranti Mark 1 were used to perform real-time synthesized digital music in public. Chiptune music later began to appear with the video game music produced during the golden age of video arcade games. An early example was the opening tune in Tomohiro Nishikado's arcade game
Gun Fight
(1975).
The first video game to use a continuous background soundtrack
was Tomohiro Nishikado's 1978 release Space Invaders
, which had four simple chromatic
descending bass note
s repeating in a loop, though it was dynamic and interacted with the player, increasing pace as the enemies descended on the player. The first video game to feature background music
was Rally-X
, an arcade game released by Namco
in 1980, featuring a simple tune that repeats continuously during gameplay
. It was also the first known game to use a digital-to-analog converter
to produce sampled
sounds. That same year, the first video game to feature speech synthesis
was also released, Sunsoft's shoot 'em up
arcade game Stratovox
.
In the late 1970s, the pioneering electronic dance
/electropop/synthpop
group Yellow Magic Orchestra
(YMO) were using computers to produce synthesized music. Some of their early music, including their 1978 self-titled debut album, were sampling
sounds from popular arcade games such as Space Invaders and Gun Fight. In addition to incorporating sounds from contemporary video games into their music, the band would later have a major influence on much of the video game and chiptune music produced during the 8-bit
and 16-bit eras
. In 1984, former YMO member Haruomi Hosono
released an album produced entirely from Namco arcade game samples entitled Video Game Music, an early example of a chiptune record and the first video game music album. The record featured the work of Namco's chiptune composers: Toshio Kai (Pac-Man
in 1980), Nobuyuki Ohnogi (Galaga
, New Rally-X
and Bosconian
in 1981, and Pole Position in 1982), and Yuriko Keino (Dig Dug
and Xevious
in 1982).
Also in the late 1970s, video game consoles and microcomputers started to have integrated circuit
s with dedicated sound logic. A notable early example is the TIA
chip of the Atari VCS
(1977) featuring two voices with separate volume and waveform setting. As several microcomputers were marketed with their music and sound capabilities, commercial music software became available for many models. An early example is the Atari Music Composer released in 1980 for the Atari 400/800
. These programs were typically simple and easy to use, but very restricted in their capabilities. In order to really take advantage of the sound chips, programming skills were required.
A major advance for chip music was the introduction of frequency modulation synthesis
(FM synthesis), first commercially released by Yamaha
for their digital synthesizer
s and FM sound chip
s, which began appearing in arcade machines from the early 1980s. By 1983, Konami
's arcade game Gyruss
utilized five synthesis sound chips along with a digital-to-analog converter, which were partly used to create an electronic rendition of J. S. Bach
's Toccata and Fugue in D minor
. Other arcade game composers utilizing FM synthesis at the time included Konami's Miki Higashino
(Gradius
, Yie-Ar Kung Fu
, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
) and Sega
's Hiroshi Kawaguchi (Space Harrier
, Hang-On
, Out Run
).
By the early 1980s, significant improvements to personal computer game
music were made possible with the introduction of digital
FM synthesis sound. Yamaha
began manufacturing FM synth boards
for Japanese computers such as the NEC PC-8801
and PC-9801 in the early 1980s, and by the mid-1980s, the PC-8801 and FM-7
had built-in FM sound. This allowed computer game music to have greater complexity than the simplistic beeps
from internal speakers. These FM synth boards produced a "warm and pleasant sound" that musicians such as Yuzo Koshiro
and Takeshi Abo
utilized to produce music that is still highly regarded within the chiptune community. The widespread adoption of FM synthesis by consoles would later be one of the major advances of the 16-bit era
, by which time 16-bit arcade machines were using multiple FM synthesis chips. Despite later advances in audio technology, Yuzo Koshiro would continue to use older PC-8801 hardware to produce chiptune soundtracks for games such as Streets of Rage (1991-1993) and Etrian Odyssey
(2007 onwards). Important FM synth composers include Yuzo Koshiro (Dragon Slayer, Ys
, Shinobi, ActRaiser
, Streets of Rage) and the late Ryu Umemoto
(visual novel
s, shoot 'em up
s).
Named by PC World
Magazine as one of computing's most important inventions, the Commodore 64
's MOS Technology SID
played a major role in chiptune development. By 1985, several Commodore 64 programmers, such as Rob Hubbard
, David Whittaker and Martin Galway
, were exploring the musical capabilities of the SID chip in order to produce varying and interesting video game music. In the absence of sufficiently advanced music editor software, machine code monitor
s were typically used for the purpose.
At the same time, several computer hobbyists were taking efforts in "ripping" this music out of the games. The ripped music was spread among hobbyists as stand-alone executables containing one or more pieces of game music, and it was also used as background music in crack intro
s and demos
.
Later on, several demo groups
moved to using their own music instead of ripped game music. In 1986, Jeroen "Red" Kimmel studied Rob Hubbard's player routine and used it for original demo songs before writing a routine of his own in 1987. Hobbyists were also writing their own dedicated music editor software, such as Chris Hülsbeck
's Soundmonitor which was released as a type-in listing in a 1986 issue of the German C-64 magazine 64'er. The availability of such software made it possible for a wider range of computer users to compose advanced SID music. The 64'er magazine also hosted the earliest known competition for Commodore 64 music in 1986.
These developments in the Commodore 64 culture were reflected by similar developments on other popular microcomputer platforms of the era.
The practice of SID music composition has continued seamlessly until this day in conjunction with the Commodore 64
demoscene
. The High Voltage SID Collection
, a comprehensive archive of SID music, contains over 40,000 pieces of SID music.
(1985), with its sample-based sound synthesis, distanced the concept of microcomputer music away from plain chip-synthesized sounds. Amiga tracker music software, beginning from Karsten Obarski's Ultimate Soundtracker
(1987), inspired great numbers of computer enthusiasts to create computer music. As an offshoot of the burgeoning tracker music culture, a type of tracker music reminiscent of Commodore 64 SID music was born. This type of music came to be called "chiptunes".
Earliest examples of tracker chiptunes date back to 1989–1990 and are attributed to the demoscene musicians 4-Mat, Baroque, Turtle and Duz. Tracker chiptunes are based on very short looped waveforms which are modulated by tracker effects such as arpeggio
, vibrato
, and portamento
.
Musicians like Random Voice later included the technique of rapidly repeating series of offset waveforms in order to fully emulate one single SID instrument with trackers.
The small amount of sample data made tracker chiptunes far more space-efficient than most other types of tracker music, which made them appealing to size-limited demoscene demos and crack intros. Tracker chiptunes have also been commonly used in other warez scene executables such as keygen
s.
Nowadays, the term "chiptune" is also used to cover chip music using actual chip-based synthesis, but some sources, such as the Amiga Music Preservation project, still define a chiptune specifically as a small tracker module.
arcade game
sounds have existed since the mid-1980s, an early example being Haruomi Hosono
's Video Game Music in 1984.
The heyday of chiptune music was the 1980s. Though entirely chiptune records were uncommon at the time, many mainstream musicians in the pop rock
, hip hop
and electronic music
genres were sampling arcade game sounds and bleeps
during the golden age of video arcade games (late 1970s to mid-1980s), as early as Yellow Magic Orchestra
's "Computer Game" in 1978. Buckner & Garcia
's "Pac-Man Fever
" and the album of the same name
were major hits in 1982. Arcade game sounds were one of the foundational elements of the electro music genre, which in turn inspired many other electronic dance music
genres such as techno
and house music
, which were sometimes referred to as "bleep music". Warp's record "Testone
" (1990) by Sweet Exorcist (Richard H. Kirk
and Richard Barratt
) sampled video game sounds from Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Computer Game" and defined Sheffield's bleep techno scene in the early 1990s.
During the 2000s, a new wave of chiptune culture took place, boosted by the release of software such as LittleSoundDJ for the Game Boy
. This new culture has much more emphasis on live performances and record releases than the demoscene and tracker culture, of which the new artists are often only distantly aware. In recent years, chiptune sounds, or "video game beats", have appeared in a number of mainstream pop
songs, such as Kesha
's "Tik Tok
", the best-selling single of 2010, as well as "U Should Know Better" by Robyn
featuring Snoop Dogg
, and "Hellbound" by Eminem
. The influence of video game sounds can also be seen in contemporary electronica
music by artists such as Dizzee Rascal
and Kieran Hebden. Grime
music in particular samples sawtooth wave
sounds from video games which were popular in East London. In 2010, a BBC
article stated that the "sights and sounds of old-school games
" (naming Frogger
and Donkey Kong
as examples) are "now becoming a part of mainstream music and culture."
In 2007 the notable, entirely chiptune album 8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk
was released on major mainstream label Astralwerks
/EMI
Records, which included several prominent and noted chipmusicians, including Nanoloop creator Oliver Wittchow, and LittleSoundDJ creator Johan Kotlinski who appears as the artist Role Model. Kraftwerk
founding member Ralf Hütter
personally selected the tracks.. A vinyl 12 inch single version was released on 24 February 2007 as a precursor to the full-length CD, and reached reached as high as number 17 on the Billboard magazine
Hot Dance Singles Sales Chart. In March 2007, the CD release reached as high as number 1 on the CMJ RPM (North American college Electronic) charts.
used were sound chip
s such as:
For the MSX
several sound upgrades, such as the Konami SCC
, the Yamaha YM2413
(MSX-MUSIC) and Yamaha Y8950 (MSX-AUDIO, predecessor of the OPL3
) and the OPL4-based Moonsound
were released as well, each having its own characteristic chiptune sound.
The Game Boy
, like the NES, does not have a separate sound chip but both instead use digital logic integrated on the main CPU.
Paula is known as the sound chip on Amiga
, but is not really a sound generating chip by itself. It is only responsible for DMAing samples from RAM to the audio output, similar to the function of modern day sound cards.
On the ZX Spectrum 128k models, Amstrad CPC, and Atari ST, chip sounds are synthesised by simply dividing a clock square wave
to get a square wave of desired frequency, and then using a sawtooth
/triangle wave
from volume LFO or an (ADSR) envelope to get some kind of ring modulation
. The actual sound generation on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum/Timex series and later badged Amstrad non-CPC version evolved from a variation of the combined oscillator system that made up the tone generation system for the tape/cassette output on the original ZX80/81 series; even in the Spectrum, this slaved oscillator was used to provide the output tones for the tape/cassette output, in contrast to the discrete sound chip based system system used by the Amstrad CPC and Atari ST and a discrete tone generation circuit used for tape/cassette output on the Amstrad CPC series.
The technique of chiptunes with samples synthesized at run time continued to be popular even on machines with full sample playback capability; because the description of an instrument takes much less space than a raw sample, these formats created very small files, and because the parameters of synthesis could be varied over the course of a composition, they could contain deeper musical expression than a purely sample-based format. Also, even with purely sample-based formats, such as the MOD
format, chip sounds created by looping very small samples still could take up much less space.
As newer computers stopped using dedicated synthesis chips and began to primarily use sample-based synthesis, more realistic timbres could be recreated, but often at the expense of file size (as with MOD
s) and potentially without the personality imbued by the limits of the older sound chips.
General MIDI is not considered chiptune as a MIDI file contains no information describing the synthesis of the instruments.
Common file formats used to compose and play chiptunes are the SID
, SAP
, YM
, SNDH
, MOD
, XM
, several Adlib based file formats and numerous exotic Amiga
file formats.
s, square wave
s and sawtooth
or triangle
waves, and basic percussion
, often generated from white noise
going through an ADSR envelope or PCM
samples.
For the above reasons the classic chiptune sound can be recognised from its simple instruments, white noise or low-quality samples used for percussion and heavy use of ultra-fast arpeggio
s to emulate chords
of three or four notes on a single channel (due to hardware limits, several notes must be placed on the same channel).
s and platform-specific plugins for media players. Depending on the nature of hardware being emulated, 100% accuracy in software may not be available. The commonly used MOS Technology SID
chip, for example, has a multi-mode
filter
including analog circuits whose characteristics are only mathematically estimated in emulation libraries.
The chip scene is far from dead with "compo
s" being held, groups releasing music disk
s and with the cracktro
/demo
scene. New tracker tools are making chip sounds available to less techy musicians. For example, Little Sound DJ for the Game Boy
has an interface designed for use in a live environment and features MIDI
synchronization. The NES
platform has the MidiNES, a cartridge that turns the system into a full blown hardware MIDI
controlled synthesizer
. Recently, for the Commodore 64
, the Mssiah has been released, which is very similar to the MidiNES, but with greater parameter controls, sequencing, analog drum emulation, and limited sample playback. The Commodore PET
has the open-source PetSynth software, which uses the PET's 6522 chip for sound, allows the computer to be played like a piano keyboard, and features many effects. On the DOS
platform, Fast Tracker is one of the most famous chiptune makers because of the ability to create hand-drawn samples with the mouse. Chiptune artist Pixelh8
has also designed music software such as Music Tech for the Game Boy
and the Pro Performer for the Game Boy Advance
and Nintendo DS
which turn both machines into real time synthesizers.
In the last couple of years, chip music has returned to modern gaming, either in full chip music style or using chip samples in the music. Games that do this in their soundtrack include Mega Man Battle Network
, Reset Generation
, Seiklus
, Tetris DS
, Sonic Rush
, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
, Super Meat Boy
and VVVVVV
. Furthermore, the Electronic Frontier Foundation
in December 2010 used a faux 8-bit game with an 8-bit sound track by crashfaster to demonstrate its notable legal achievements for that year.
called Reformat the Planet by 2 Player Productionshttp://www.2playerproductions.com/. This film was an official selection at the 2008 South by Southwest
. The premier took place on 8 March 2008 at the Dobie Center
.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
features chiptune versions of the Universal
sound mark, with an 8-bit production logo, and of the song "Threshold," performed by Brian LeBarton
, during the ending credits.
played their songs "Bombs Away" & "Gameboy Rocker" on G4
's Attack of the Show live broadcast Episode #5058.
Another chipmusic feature include little-scale, Dot.AY, Ten Thousand Free Men & Their Families
and Jim Cuomo on the ABC Australia television series Good Game
.
Br1ght Pr1mate, a Boston-based chiptune band, performed on Fox News on 10 July 2010.
There are a few shows that make use of chiptunes as background music. Two of these include the Nickelodeon
TV series Yo Gabba Gabba!
and Cartoon Network
's shows Adventure Time and Problem Solverz.
Chiptune music is repeatedly featured on episodes of The Engadget
Show, often with live performances from chiptune artists, including Bit Shifter, Glomag, Neil Voss, Nullsleep
, minusbaby, Zen Albatross, and Kris Keyser.
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
often produced with the sound chip
Sound chip
A sound chip is an integrated circuit designed to produce sound . It might be doing this through digital, analog or mixed-mode electronics...
s of vintage computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s and video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s, as well as with other methods such as emulation
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
. In the early 1980s, personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s became cheaper and more accessible than they had previously been. This led to a proliferation of out-dated personal computers and game consoles that had been abandoned by consumers as they upgraded to newer generations of these platforms. They were in low demand by consumers as a whole, and not difficult to find, making them a highly-accessible and affordable method of creating sound or art.
Overview
The game technologies used in chip music production were marketed for consumers between the 1980s and mid-1990s. Popular systems include the NEC PC-8801NEC PC-8801
The NEC PC-8801 was an early Zilog Z80-based computer exclusively released in Japan, where it became very popular, by NEC Corporation in 1981. It was informally called the "PC-88"....
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
, and Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
. These systems earmarked a shift in the technological development of video game audio to a period where consoles used dedicated hardware sub-systems or sound chips to create sound.
It was after this period that video game audio progressed onwards to sample playback and wavetable synthesis
Wavetable synthesis
Wavetable synthesis is used in certain digital music synthesizers to implement a restricted form of real-time additive synthesis. The technique was first developed by Wolfgang Palm of PPG in the late 1970s and published in 1979, and has since been used as the primary synthesis method in...
techniques, replacing the dedicated sound chip-based techniques that had been used previously to synthesise sounds in real time. Sample playback uses computer memory to store a pre-recorded sound, which may be played back at a fixed or variable pitch, and can be repeated in a continuous loop to extend the duration of a sound without increasing the memory requirements. Low quality sample playback as used in various Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
machines, and tracking software such as Renoise
Renoise
Renoise is a contemporary digital audio workstation based upon the heritage and development of tracker software. Its primary use is the composition of music using sound samples, soft synths, and effects plug-ins. It is also able to interface with MIDI and OSC equipment...
is still often accepted within chip music communities, depending on the sonic properties and hardware used in composition.
In fact it is arguable that the term ‘chip music’ was originally used in reference to the sample based tracker style of music on the Amiga and similar platforms; however, in its modern form, the terms ‘chip music’, and ‘chiptune’ refer to music made by the sound chips found within early gaming systems and microcomputer
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...
s.
A waveform generator is a fundamental module in a sound synthesis system. A waveform generator usually produces a basic geometrical waveform with a fixed or variable timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
and variable pitch. Common waveform generator configurations usually included two or three simple waveforms and often a single pseudo-random-noise generator (PRNG). Available waveforms often included pulse wave
Pulse wave
A pulse wave or pulse train is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform that is similar to a square wave, but does not have the symmetrical shape associated with a perfect square wave. It is a term common to synthesizer programming, and is a typical waveform available on many synths. The exact shape of...
, the timbre of which can be varied by modifying the duty-cycle, triangle wave
Triangle wave
A triangle wave is a non-sinusoidal waveform named for its triangular shape.Like a square wave, the triangle wave contains only odd harmonics...
, which has a fixed timbre containing only odd harmonics, and sawtooth wave
Sawtooth wave
The sawtooth wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is named a sawtooth based on its resemblance to the teeth on the blade of a saw....
, which has a bright raspy timbre and contains odd and even harmonics. Two notable examples of systems employing this technology include the Game Boy, with two pulse channels (switchable between 12.5%, 25%, 50% and 75% wave duty cycle
Duty cycle
In engineering, the duty cycle of a machine or system is the time that it spends in an active state as a fraction of the total time under consideration....
), a channel for 4-bit PCM playback, and a pseudo-random-noise generator. The Commodore 64 on the other hand made use of the MOS Technology SID
MOS Technology SID
The MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...
chip which offered 3 channels, each switchable between pulse, saw-tooth, triangle and noise. Unlike the Game Boy, the pulse channels on the Commodore 64 allowed full control over wave duty cycles. The SID was a very technically advanced chip, offering many other features including ring modulation and adjustable resonance filters.
Due to the wide range of video game systems available, with different sound chips and processors running them, each system, while sharing the same basic synthesis techniques, had a fairly unique sound. Even within a specific system, sound qualities often varied between batches of sound chips, as happened with the many SID revisions used throughout the production of the Commodore 64.
The term Chip Music has been applied to more recent compositions that attempt to recreate the chiptune sound, albeit with more complex technology. Currently, chip music composers use modern computers to aid them in either composition, recording, or execution of the art form. Modern computers are also used for networking throughout the global chip music "scene". The evolution of the Internet has helped chip musicians connect with each other, share ideas, and create public events. The recent popularity of Creative Commons over Copyright in the chip music scene has also helped many musicians learn and develop their craft through an open source environment. Emulation of the original sound chips has become more prevalent and accepted because of the increasing rarity and fragility of the original video game systems and microcomputers used.
Video game origins
The earliest precursors to chip music can be found in the early history of computer musicComputer music
Computer music is a term that was originally used within academia to describe a field of study relating to the applications of computing technology in music composition; particularly that stemming from the Western art music tradition...
. In 1951, the computers CSIRAC
CSIRAC
CSIRAC , originally known as CSIR Mk 1, was Australia's first digital computer, and the fourth stored program computer in the world. It was first to play digital music and is one of only a few surviving first-generation computers .The CSIRAC was constructed by a team led by Trevor Pearcey and...
and Ferranti Mark 1 were used to perform real-time synthesized digital music in public. Chiptune music later began to appear with the video game music produced during the golden age of video arcade games. An early example was the opening tune in Tomohiro Nishikado's arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
Gun Fight
Gun Fight
Gun Fight, known as Western Gun in Japan and Europe, is a 1975 arcade shooter game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released by Taito in Japan and Europe and by Midway Games in the United States. It was a historically significant game, and a success in the arcades. It was later ported to the...
(1975).
The first video game to use a continuous background soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
was Tomohiro Nishikado's 1978 release Space Invaders
Space Invaders
is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...
, which had four simple chromatic
Diatonic and chromatic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony...
descending bass note
Bass note
In music theory, the bass note of a chord or sonority is the lowest note played or notated. If there are multiple voices it is the note played or notated in the lowest voice. While the bass note is often the root or fundamental of the chord, it does not have to be, and sometimes one of the other...
s repeating in a loop, though it was dynamic and interacted with the player, increasing pace as the enemies descended on the player. The first video game to feature background music
Background music
Although background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...
was Rally-X
Rally-X
Rally-X is a maze driving arcade game that was released by Namco in 1980. It runs on Namco Pac-Man hardware, and was the first Namco game to feature "Special Flags", which would become a recurring object in later games .It was the first game to ever feature a "bonus round." The object is to...
, an arcade game released by Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
in 1980, featuring a simple tune that repeats continuously during gameplay
Gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
. It was also the first known game to use a digital-to-analog converter
Digital-to-analog converter
In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter is a device that converts a digital code to an analog signal . An analog-to-digital converter performs the reverse operation...
to produce sampled
Sampling (signal processing)
In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous signal to a discrete signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave to a sequence of samples ....
sounds. That same year, the first video game to feature speech synthesis
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
was also released, Sunsoft's shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
arcade game Stratovox
Stratovox
Stratovox AKA Speak & Rescue is an arcade shoot 'em up developed by Sun Electronics and published by Taito in 1980. It was the first video game to feature voice synthesis.-Gameplay:...
.
In the late 1970s, the pioneering electronic dance
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
/electropop/synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
group Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Sakamoto first worked with Hosono as a member of his live band in 1976, while Takahashi recruited Sakamoto to produce his debut solo recording in 1977 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band...
(YMO) were using computers to produce synthesized music. Some of their early music, including their 1978 self-titled debut album, were sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
sounds from popular arcade games such as Space Invaders and Gun Fight. In addition to incorporating sounds from contemporary video games into their music, the band would later have a major influence on much of the video game and chiptune music produced during the 8-bit
History of video game consoles (third generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the third generation began on July 15, 1983, with the Japanese release of both the Nintendo Family Computer and Sega SG-1000...
and 16-bit eras
History of video game consoles (fourth generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation began on October 30, 1987 with the Japanese release of Nippon Electric Company's PC Engine...
. In 1984, former YMO member Haruomi Hosono
Haruomi Hosono
, also known as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese popular musician, best known internationally as a key member of the rock band Happy End and the pioneering electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra.-Biography:...
released an album produced entirely from Namco arcade game samples entitled Video Game Music, an early example of a chiptune record and the first video game music album. The record featured the work of Namco's chiptune composers: Toshio Kai (Pac-Man
Pac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
in 1980), Nobuyuki Ohnogi (Galaga
Galaga
is a fixed shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan and published by Midway in North America in 1981. It is the sequel to Galaxian, released in 1979. The gameplay of Galaga puts the player in control of a space ship which is situated on the bottom of the screen...
, New Rally-X
New Rally-X
New Rally-X is a maze arcade game that was released by Namco in 1981. It runs on Namco Pac-Man hardware but uses a system similar to Bosconian and, as the name suggests, is the sequel to Rally-X, released in the previous year...
and Bosconian
Bosconian
is a free-roaming multi-directional scrolling shooter arcade game that was developed by Namco and released in 1981. In contrast to the more linear shooter games of its time, Bosconian allows the player's ship to freely move across open space that scrolls in all directions. The game also features a...
in 1981, and Pole Position in 1982), and Yuriko Keino (Dig Dug
Dig Dug
is an arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan in 1982 for Namco Galaga hardware. It was later published outside of Japan by Atari. A popular game based on a simple concept, it was also released as a video game on many consoles.-Objective:...
and Xevious
Xevious
is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game by Namco, released in 1982. It was designed by Masanobu Endō. In the U.S., the game was manufactured and distributed by Atari. Xevious runs on Namco Galaga hardware. In Brazil the arcade cabinet was printed with the name 'COLUMBIA' for the game, while the...
in 1982).
Also in the late 1970s, video game consoles and microcomputers started to have integrated circuit
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
s with dedicated sound logic. A notable early example is the TIA
Television Interface Adapter
The Television Interface Adaptor is the custom computer chip that is the heart of the Atari 2600 game console, generating the screen display, sound effects, and reading input controllers. Its design was widely affected by an attempt to reduce the amount of RAM needed to operate the display...
chip of the Atari VCS
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
(1977) featuring two voices with separate volume and waveform setting. As several microcomputers were marketed with their music and sound capabilities, commercial music software became available for many models. An early example is the Atari Music Composer released in 1980 for the Atari 400/800
Atari 8-bit family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...
. These programs were typically simple and easy to use, but very restricted in their capabilities. In order to really take advantage of the sound chips, programming skills were required.
A major advance for chip music was the introduction of frequency modulation synthesis
Frequency modulation synthesis
A 220 Hz carrier tone modulated by a 440 Hz modulating tone with various choices of modulation index, β. The time domain signals are illustrated above, and the corresponding spectra are shown below ....
(FM synthesis), first commercially released by Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
for their digital synthesizer
Digital synthesizer
A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing techniques to make musical sounds.Electronic keyboards make music through sound waves.-History:...
s and FM sound chip
Sound chip
A sound chip is an integrated circuit designed to produce sound . It might be doing this through digital, analog or mixed-mode electronics...
s, which began appearing in arcade machines from the early 1980s. By 1983, Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
's arcade game Gyruss
Gyruss
is a shoot 'em up video arcade game developed by Konami, and released in 1983. It was designed by Yoshiki Okamoto, who had earlier created Time Pilot for Konami. Gyruss was licensed to Centuri in the United States, and was ported to numerous games consoles and home computers...
utilized five synthesis sound chips along with a digital-to-analog converter, which were partly used to create an electronic rendition of J. S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, is a piece of organ music attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. It is one of the most famous works in the organ repertoire, and has been used in a variety of popular media ranging from film, video games, to rock music, and ringtones...
. Other arcade game composers utilizing FM synthesis at the time included Konami's Miki Higashino
Miki Higashino
is a Japanese video game composer best known for her works in the Suikoden series.-Biography:Miki Higashino first entered the music business as a student employed by Konami and contributed to various minor products, often uncredited or under the alias MIKI-CHAN or MIKI-CHANG...
(Gradius
Gradius
The Gradius games, first introduced in 1985, make up a series of scrolling shooter video games published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper...
, Yie-Ar Kung Fu
Yie-Ar Kung Fu
is a 1985 arcade fighting game developed and published by Konami. It was considered by many gamers in Japan to be the basis for modern fighting games. It pit the player against a variety of opponents, each with a unique appearance and fighting style...
, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (arcade game)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, released as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in Europe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Super Kame Ninja in Japan, is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up released by Konami as a coin-operated video game in...
) and Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
's Hiroshi Kawaguchi (Space Harrier
Space Harrier
is a third-person rail shooter game, released by Sega in 1985. It was produced by Yu Suzuki, responsible for many popular Sega games. It spawned several sequels: Space Harrier 3-D , Space Harrier II , and the spin-off Planet Harriers ....
, Hang-On
Hang-On
Hang-On is an arcade game released by Sega in 1985. It is the world's first full-body-experience video game. In the game, the player controls a motorcycle against time and other computer-controlled bikes. It was one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphics and Sega's "Super Scaler"...
, Out Run
Out Run
is an arcade game released by Sega in 1986. It was designed by Yu Suzuki and Sega-AM2. The game was a critical and commercial success. It is notable for its innovative hardware , pioneering graphics and music, a choice in both soundtrack and route, and its strong theme of luxury and relaxation...
).
By the early 1980s, significant improvements to personal computer game
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
music were made possible with the introduction of digital
Digital synthesizer
A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing techniques to make musical sounds.Electronic keyboards make music through sound waves.-History:...
FM synthesis sound. Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
began manufacturing FM synth boards
Sound card
A sound card is an internal computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as opposed to using hardware...
for Japanese computers such as the NEC PC-8801
NEC PC-8801
The NEC PC-8801 was an early Zilog Z80-based computer exclusively released in Japan, where it became very popular, by NEC Corporation in 1981. It was informally called the "PC-88"....
and PC-9801 in the early 1980s, and by the mid-1980s, the PC-8801 and FM-7
FM-7
FM-7 is a home computer released in 1982 in Japan.The Fujitsu FM-7 was Fujitsu's first entry into the Japanese home computer market, and for their debut computer, they chose to come out with a 6809-based personal computer very similar to Radio Shack's Color Computer.-Hardware:*Two MC 68B09 CPUs @...
had built-in FM sound. This allowed computer game music to have greater complexity than the simplistic beeps
Beep (sound)
A beep is a single tone onomatopoeia, generally made by a computer or a machine.-Use in computers:In some computer terminals, the ASCII character code 7, bell character, outputs an audible beep. The beep is also sometimes used to notify the user when the BIOS is not working or there is some other...
from internal speakers. These FM synth boards produced a "warm and pleasant sound" that musicians such as Yuzo Koshiro
Yuzo Koshiro
is a Japanese video game music composer and audio programmer. He is regarded as one of the most influential innovators in chiptune music and video game sound design...
and Takeshi Abo
Takeshi Abo
is a Japanese video game composer. He was employed by KID beginning in 1990, and joined 5pb. in December 2006 after KID declared bankruptcy.-Discography:*Chaos;Head*Close to ~Inori no Oka*Famicom8BIT - momo-i*Gokujyou Seitokai*Iris ~Irisu~...
utilized to produce music that is still highly regarded within the chiptune community. The widespread adoption of FM synthesis by consoles would later be one of the major advances of the 16-bit era
History of video game consoles (fourth generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation began on October 30, 1987 with the Japanese release of Nippon Electric Company's PC Engine...
, by which time 16-bit arcade machines were using multiple FM synthesis chips. Despite later advances in audio technology, Yuzo Koshiro would continue to use older PC-8801 hardware to produce chiptune soundtracks for games such as Streets of Rage (1991-1993) and Etrian Odyssey
Etrian Odyssey
Media Create/Famitsū reported that Etrian Odyssey had sold 119,584 copies in Japan as of July 1, 2007. Atlus' own July 2007 investors report listed US sales of the title at around 30,000 units, roughly 2 months after release....
(2007 onwards). Important FM synth composers include Yuzo Koshiro (Dragon Slayer, Ys
Ys (video game)
is a Japanese computer and console role-playing video game series, and Nihon Falcom corporation's flagship franchise. It started on the NEC PC-8801 in 1987, created by Masaya Hashimoto and Tomoyoshi Miyazaki...
, Shinobi, ActRaiser
ActRaiser
is a 1990 Super Nintendo Entertainment System action and city-building simulation game developed by Quintet and published by Enix that combines traditional side-scrolling platforming with urban planning god game sections. A sequel, ActRaiser 2, was released for the Super Nintendo in 1993...
, Streets of Rage) and the late Ryu Umemoto
Ryu Umemoto
Ryu Umemoto was a Japanese video game music composer, born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. He is known for composing soundtracks to various visual novel and shoot 'em up games since the 1990s, for several companies including FamilySoft, C's Ware, ELF Corporation, D4 Enterprise, and Cave...
(visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
s, shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
s).
SID music culture
PC World (magazine)
PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services...
Magazine as one of computing's most important inventions, the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
's MOS Technology SID
MOS Technology SID
The MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...
played a major role in chiptune development. By 1985, several Commodore 64 programmers, such as Rob Hubbard
Rob Hubbard
Rob Hubbard is a music composer best known for his composition of computer game theme music, especially for microcomputers of the 1980s such as the Commodore 64...
, David Whittaker and Martin Galway
Martin Galway
Martin Galway is one of the best known composers of music for the Commodore 64 sound chip, the SID soundchip, and for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...
, were exploring the musical capabilities of the SID chip in order to produce varying and interesting video game music. In the absence of sufficiently advanced music editor software, machine code monitor
Machine code monitor
A machine code monitor is software built into or separately available for various computers, allowing the user to enter commands to view and change memory locations on the machine, with options to load and save memory contents from/to secondary storage.Machine code monitors became something of a...
s were typically used for the purpose.
At the same time, several computer hobbyists were taking efforts in "ripping" this music out of the games. The ripped music was spread among hobbyists as stand-alone executables containing one or more pieces of game music, and it was also used as background music in crack intro
Crack intro
A crack intro, also known as a cracktro, loader, or just intro, is a small introduction sequence added to cracked software, designed to inform the user of which "cracking crew" or individual cracker was responsible for removing the software's copy protection and distributing the crack...
s and demos
Demo (computer programming)
A demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene. Demogroups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modeling...
.
Later on, several demo groups
Demoscene
The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing demos, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time on a computer...
moved to using their own music instead of ripped game music. In 1986, Jeroen "Red" Kimmel studied Rob Hubbard's player routine and used it for original demo songs before writing a routine of his own in 1987. Hobbyists were also writing their own dedicated music editor software, such as Chris Hülsbeck
Chris Hülsbeck
Chris Hülsbeck is a video game music composer from Germany.He has written soundtracks for more than 70 titles, the latest being Star Wars: Rebel Strike for Nintendo GameCube. Many of his scores for the Commodore 64 are regarded as classics among enthusiasts today, most notably The Great Giana...
's Soundmonitor which was released as a type-in listing in a 1986 issue of the German C-64 magazine 64'er. The availability of such software made it possible for a wider range of computer users to compose advanced SID music. The 64'er magazine also hosted the earliest known competition for Commodore 64 music in 1986.
These developments in the Commodore 64 culture were reflected by similar developments on other popular microcomputer platforms of the era.
The practice of SID music composition has continued seamlessly until this day in conjunction with the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
demoscene
Demoscene
The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing demos, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time on a computer...
. The High Voltage SID Collection
The High Voltage SID Collection
The High Voltage SID Collection is both the name of a project to build a collection of music created on the MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID sound chip in Commodore CBM-II, Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 home computers and the collection itself...
, a comprehensive archive of SID music, contains over 40,000 pieces of SID music.
Tracker chiptunes
Commodore AmigaAmiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
(1985), with its sample-based sound synthesis, distanced the concept of microcomputer music away from plain chip-synthesized sounds. Amiga tracker music software, beginning from Karsten Obarski's Ultimate Soundtracker
Ultimate Soundtracker
Ultimate Soundtracker, or Soundtracker for short, is a music tracker program for the Commodore Amiga. It is the creation of Karsten Obarski, a German software developer and composer at a game development company; sources differ as to the name of the company, recorded it as reLINE, whereas ...
(1987), inspired great numbers of computer enthusiasts to create computer music. As an offshoot of the burgeoning tracker music culture, a type of tracker music reminiscent of Commodore 64 SID music was born. This type of music came to be called "chiptunes".
Earliest examples of tracker chiptunes date back to 1989–1990 and are attributed to the demoscene musicians 4-Mat, Baroque, Turtle and Duz. Tracker chiptunes are based on very short looped waveforms which are modulated by tracker effects such as arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
, vibrato
Vibrato
Vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation and the speed with which the pitch is varied .-Vibrato and...
, and portamento
Portamento
Portamento is a musical term originated from the Italian expression "portamento della voce" , denoting from the beginning of the 17th century a vocal slide between two pitches and its emulation by members of the violin family and certain wind instruments, and is sometimes used...
.
Musicians like Random Voice later included the technique of rapidly repeating series of offset waveforms in order to fully emulate one single SID instrument with trackers.
The small amount of sample data made tracker chiptunes far more space-efficient than most other types of tracker music, which made them appealing to size-limited demoscene demos and crack intros. Tracker chiptunes have also been commonly used in other warez scene executables such as keygen
Keygen
A license or product key generator is a computer program that generates a product licensing key, serial number, or some other registration information necessary to activate for use a software application.-Software licensing:...
s.
Nowadays, the term "chiptune" is also used to cover chip music using actual chip-based synthesis, but some sources, such as the Amiga Music Preservation project, still define a chiptune specifically as a small tracker module.
Steps toward the mainstream music world
Before the 2000s, chip music was rarely performed live and the songs were nearly exclusively spread as executable programs and other computer file formats. The earliest examples of record label releases of chip music can be found in the late 1990s. However, earlier commercial chiptune records produced entirely from samplingSampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
sounds have existed since the mid-1980s, an early example being Haruomi Hosono
Haruomi Hosono
, also known as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese popular musician, best known internationally as a key member of the rock band Happy End and the pioneering electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra.-Biography:...
's Video Game Music in 1984.
The heyday of chiptune music was the 1980s. Though entirely chiptune records were uncommon at the time, many mainstream musicians in the pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
, hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
genres were sampling arcade game sounds and bleeps
Beep (sound)
A beep is a single tone onomatopoeia, generally made by a computer or a machine.-Use in computers:In some computer terminals, the ASCII character code 7, bell character, outputs an audible beep. The beep is also sometimes used to notify the user when the BIOS is not working or there is some other...
during the golden age of video arcade games (late 1970s to mid-1980s), as early as Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Sakamoto first worked with Hosono as a member of his live band in 1976, while Takahashi recruited Sakamoto to produce his debut solo recording in 1977 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band...
's "Computer Game" in 1978. Buckner & Garcia
Buckner & Garcia
Buckner & Garcia was a duo consisting of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia from Akron, Ohio. Their first collaboration was in 1980, when they wrote a novelty Christmas song, "Merry Christmas in the NFL", imagining Howard Cosell as Santa Claus...
's "Pac-Man Fever
Pac-Man Fever (song)
"Pac-Man Fever" is a hit single by Buckner & Garcia. Capitalizing on the video game craze of the early 1980s, the song, about the classic video game Pac-Man, peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US in March 1982. That same month, it was certified Gold by the RIAA for over 1,000,000 units...
" and the album of the same name
Pac-Man Fever (album)
Pac-Man Fever is a 1982 concept album recorded by Buckner & Garcia. It is also the name of the first song on that album. Each song on the album is about a different classic arcade game, and uses sound effects from that game. The album was released as an LP, a cassette, an 8-track tape, and later...
were major hits in 1982. Arcade game sounds were one of the foundational elements of the electro music genre, which in turn inspired many other electronic dance music
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
genres such as techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
and house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
, which were sometimes referred to as "bleep music". Warp's record "Testone
WarpVision
WarpVision: The Videos 1989-2004 is a DVD released by British record label Warp Records on September 27, 2004, which features most of the music videos produced for their artists in the 1989-2004 period...
" (1990) by Sweet Exorcist (Richard H. Kirk
Richard H. Kirk
Richard H. Kirk is an English musician specialising in electronic music since the 1970s.-Background:Richard H. Kirk first came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the seminal industrial band Cabaret Voltaire...
and Richard Barratt
All Seeing I
The All Seeing I is an English electronic music group from Sheffield, comprising Dean Honer, Jason Buckle and DJ Parrot...
) sampled video game sounds from Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Computer Game" and defined Sheffield's bleep techno scene in the early 1990s.
During the 2000s, a new wave of chiptune culture took place, boosted by the release of software such as LittleSoundDJ for the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
. This new culture has much more emphasis on live performances and record releases than the demoscene and tracker culture, of which the new artists are often only distantly aware. In recent years, chiptune sounds, or "video game beats", have appeared in a number of mainstream pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
songs, such as Kesha
Kesha
Kesha village is a small village nestled in the mountains of Yongshun County, northwestern Hunan province, China, located at latitude 29 05' 50", longitude 109 57' 9". The name is pronounced in Standard Chinese. The official language is Manderin Chinese....
's "Tik Tok
TiK ToK
"Tik Tok" is the debut single by American recording artist Kesha. The song was produced by Benny Blanco and Dr. Luke and co-written by Blanco, Dr. Luke and Kesha. It was released on August 7, 2009 as the lead single from Kesha's debut studio album, Animal...
", the best-selling single of 2010, as well as "U Should Know Better" by Robyn
Robyn
Robin Miriam Carlsson , better known by her stage name Robyn, is a Swedish recording artist, singer, and songwriter. Robyn became known in the late nineties for her worldwide dance-pop hit "Do You Know " from her debut album Robyn Is Here . She co-wrote the song "Du gör mig hel igen" for...
featuring Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
, and "Hellbound" by Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
. The influence of video game sounds can also be seen in contemporary electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
music by artists such as Dizzee Rascal
Dizzee Rascal
Dylan Kwabena Mills , better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a Ghanaian British rapper, songwriter and record producer. His music is a blend of garage, hip hop, grime, ragga, pop and electronic music, with eclectic samples and more exotic styles...
and Kieran Hebden. Grime
Grime (music)
Grime is a style of music that emerged from Bow, East London, England in the early 2000s, primarily as a development of UK garage, dancehall, and hip hop...
music in particular samples sawtooth wave
Sawtooth wave
The sawtooth wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is named a sawtooth based on its resemblance to the teeth on the blade of a saw....
sounds from video games which were popular in East London. In 2010, a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
article stated that the "sights and sounds of old-school games
Retrogaming
Retrogaming, also known as old-school gaming, is the hobby of playing and collecting older computer, video, and arcade games. These games are played either on the original hardware, on modern hardware via emulation, or on modern hardware via ports or compilations...
" (naming Frogger
Frogger
Frogger is an arcade game introduced in 1981. It was developed by Konami, and licensed for worldwide distribution by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct frogs to their homes one by one. To do this, each frog must avoid cars while crossing a busy road and navigate a river full of...
and Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong
is a fictional gorilla in the Donkey Kong and Mario series. He is roughly twice the size of a normal gorilla, weighing approximately 800 pounds. Donkey Kong first appeared in Nintendo's popular 1981 video game of the same name. Since then he has appeared in over 20 games in his own series, as well...
as examples) are "now becoming a part of mainstream music and culture."
In 2007 the notable, entirely chiptune album 8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk
8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk
8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk was released in 2007 by the group 8-Bit Operators on Kraftwerks US homelabel Astralwerks and EMI Records worldwide. It features cover versions of Kraftwerk songs by several prominent chiptune artists...
was released on major mainstream label Astralwerks
Astralwerks
Astralwerks is a New York-based record label that releases primarily electronic music. It is owned by Virgin Records/EMI and distributed by Caroline Distribution in the United States....
/EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
Records, which included several prominent and noted chipmusicians, including Nanoloop creator Oliver Wittchow, and LittleSoundDJ creator Johan Kotlinski who appears as the artist Role Model. Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
founding member Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter is the lead singer, keyboardist, and reportedly leader of the electronic-music band Kraftwerk. Since the departure of Florian Schneider in 2008, he is also the group's sole remaining founding member....
personally selected the tracks.. A vinyl 12 inch single version was released on 24 February 2007 as a precursor to the full-length CD, and reached reached as high as number 17 on the Billboard magazine
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Dance Singles Sales Chart. In March 2007, the CD release reached as high as number 1 on the CMJ RPM (North American college Electronic) charts.
Technology
Historically, the chipsIntegrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
used were sound chip
Sound chip
A sound chip is an integrated circuit designed to produce sound . It might be doing this through digital, analog or mixed-mode electronics...
s such as:
- the MOS Technology SIDMOS Technology SIDThe MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...
on the Commodore 64Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595... - the analogAnalogue electronicsAnalogue electronics are electronic systems with a continuously variable signal, in contrast to digital electronics where signals usually take only two different levels. The term "analogue" describes the proportional relationship between a signal and a voltage or current that represents the signal...
-digital hybrid Atari POKEYPokeyPokey may refer to:* Pokey the Penguin, a surrealistic online comic strip* Pokey , a character from the Gumby television series...
on the Atari 400/800Atari 8-bit familyThe Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...
and arcade hardware - Ricoh 2A03Ricoh 2A03The Ricoh 2A03 or RP2A03 / Ricoh 2A07 or RP2A07 is the 8-bit microprocessor in the Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. It was manufactured by Ricoh...
on the Nintendo Entertainment SystemNintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
or Family ComputerNintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987... - AY-3-8910General Instrument AY-3-8910The AY-3-8910 is a 3-voice Programmable Sound Generator designed by General Instrument, initially for use with their 16-bit CP1610 or one of the PIC1650 series of 8-bit microcomputers...
, or 8912 on Amstrad CPCAmstrad CPCThe Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
, Atari STAtari STThe Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
(Yamaha YM2149), Atari FalconAtari FalconThe Atari Falcon030 Computer System was Atari Corporation's final computer product. Codenamed Sparrow, the machine was based on a Motorola 68030 main CPU, and had a Motorola 56000 digital signal processor, a feature which distinguished it from most other microcomputers of the era.-History:The...
(Yamaha Y3439-F), MSXMSXMSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
and Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128ZX SpectrumThe ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd... - Yamaha YM2608Yamaha YM2608thumb|right|Yamaha YM2608YM2608, aka OPNA, is a sixteen-channel sound chip developed by Yamaha. It's a member of Yamaha's OPN family of FM synthesis chips, and the successor to the YM2203...
on NECNEC, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....
's PC-88NEC PC-8801The NEC PC-8801 was an early Zilog Z80-based computer exclusively released in Japan, where it became very popular, by NEC Corporation in 1981. It was informally called the "PC-88"....
and PC-98 - Yamaha YM2612Yamaha YM2612thumb|right|Yamaha YM2612The YM2612, aka OPN2, is a six-channel sound chip developed by Yamaha. It belongs to Yamaha's OPN family of FM synthesis chips used in several game and computer systems. Developed as a stripped-down version of the YM2608, it lacks its larger sibling's ADPCM channel,...
on Genesis/Mega Drive - Yamaha YM3812Yamaha YM3812The Yamaha YM3812 also known as the OPL2 is a sound chip created by Yamaha Corporation in 1985 and famous for its wide use in IBM PC-based sound cards such as the AdLib and Sound Blaster.It is backwards compatible with the OPL aka YM3526, to which it is very similar – in fact, it only adds 3 new...
on IBM PC compatibleIBM PC compatibleIBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
s
For the MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
several sound upgrades, such as the Konami SCC
Konami SCC
The Konami SCC is a custom sound chip that was developed by Konami with Yamaha. It is one of several sound/memory management chips Konami developed in-house that ended up in use in home computer and video game systems from the late 1980s into the 1990s until the fourth generation systems were...
, the Yamaha YM2413
Yamaha YM2413
The YM2413, aka OPLL, is a cost-reduced FM synthesis sound chip manufactured by Yamaha Corporation and based on their YM3812 . To make the chip cheaper to manufacture, many of the internal registers were removed...
(MSX-MUSIC) and Yamaha Y8950 (MSX-AUDIO, predecessor of the OPL3
Yamaha YMF262
The Yamaha YMF262, also known as the OPL3 , is an FM synthesis sound chip. It is an improved version of the Yamaha YM3812 , adding the following features:*twice as many channels...
) and the OPL4-based Moonsound
Moonsound
Moonsound was the name of a sound card released for the MSX home-computer system at the Tilburg computer fair in 1995. The name Moonsound originated from the software Moonblaster that was written for people to use this hardware plug-in synthesizer.- History :...
were released as well, each having its own characteristic chiptune sound.
The Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
, like the NES, does not have a separate sound chip but both instead use digital logic integrated on the main CPU.
Paula is known as the sound chip on Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, but is not really a sound generating chip by itself. It is only responsible for DMAing samples from RAM to the audio output, similar to the function of modern day sound cards.
Square wave
A square wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform, most typically encountered in electronics and signal processing. An ideal square wave alternates regularly and instantaneously between two levels...
to get a square wave of desired frequency, and then using a sawtooth
Sawtooth wave
The sawtooth wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is named a sawtooth based on its resemblance to the teeth on the blade of a saw....
/triangle wave
Triangle wave
A triangle wave is a non-sinusoidal waveform named for its triangular shape.Like a square wave, the triangle wave contains only odd harmonics...
from volume LFO or an (ADSR) envelope to get some kind of ring modulation
Ring modulation
Ring modulation is a signal-processing effect in electronics, an implementation of amplitude modulation or frequency mixing, performed by multiplying two signals, where one is typically a sine-wave or another simple waveform. It is referred to as "ring" modulation because the analog circuit of...
. The actual sound generation on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum/Timex series and later badged Amstrad non-CPC version evolved from a variation of the combined oscillator system that made up the tone generation system for the tape/cassette output on the original ZX80/81 series; even in the Spectrum, this slaved oscillator was used to provide the output tones for the tape/cassette output, in contrast to the discrete sound chip based system system used by the Amstrad CPC and Atari ST and a discrete tone generation circuit used for tape/cassette output on the Amstrad CPC series.
The technique of chiptunes with samples synthesized at run time continued to be popular even on machines with full sample playback capability; because the description of an instrument takes much less space than a raw sample, these formats created very small files, and because the parameters of synthesis could be varied over the course of a composition, they could contain deeper musical expression than a purely sample-based format. Also, even with purely sample-based formats, such as the MOD
MOD (file format)
MOD is a computer file format used primarily to represent music, and was the first module file format. MOD files use the “.MOD” file extension, except on the Amiga where the original trackers instead use a “mod.” prefix scheme, e.g. “mod.echoing”...
format, chip sounds created by looping very small samples still could take up much less space.
As newer computers stopped using dedicated synthesis chips and began to primarily use sample-based synthesis, more realistic timbres could be recreated, but often at the expense of file size (as with MOD
MOD (file format)
MOD is a computer file format used primarily to represent music, and was the first module file format. MOD files use the “.MOD” file extension, except on the Amiga where the original trackers instead use a “mod.” prefix scheme, e.g. “mod.echoing”...
s) and potentially without the personality imbued by the limits of the older sound chips.
General MIDI is not considered chiptune as a MIDI file contains no information describing the synthesis of the instruments.
Common file formats used to compose and play chiptunes are the SID
MOS Technology SID
The MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...
, SAP
Atari SAP music format
Atari SAP music format is a format that stores music data from Atari 8-bit computers that uses the famous Atari POKEY sound chip.Most popular tunes for Atari 8 bits were written between 1981-1987....
, YM
General Instrument AY-3-8910
The AY-3-8910 is a 3-voice Programmable Sound Generator designed by General Instrument, initially for use with their 16-bit CP1610 or one of the PIC1650 series of 8-bit microcomputers...
, SNDH
SNDH
The most common music format used on the Atari ST series of home computers. Although supporting all methods of sound generation on the Atari ST, most music in the SNDH format is Yamaha YM2149 chip music.*...
, MOD
MOD (file format)
MOD is a computer file format used primarily to represent music, and was the first module file format. MOD files use the “.MOD” file extension, except on the Amiga where the original trackers instead use a “mod.” prefix scheme, e.g. “mod.echoing”...
, XM
XM (file format)
XM, standing for "extended module", is an audio file type introduced by Triton's Fast Tracker 2. XM introduced multisampling-capable instruments with volume and panning envelopes, and basic pattern compression...
, several Adlib based file formats and numerous exotic Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
file formats.
Style
Generally chiptunes consist of basic waveforms, such as sine waveSine wave
The sine wave or sinusoid is a mathematical function that describes a smooth repetitive oscillation. It occurs often in pure mathematics, as well as physics, signal processing, electrical engineering and many other fields...
s, square wave
Square wave
A square wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform, most typically encountered in electronics and signal processing. An ideal square wave alternates regularly and instantaneously between two levels...
s and sawtooth
Sawtooth wave
The sawtooth wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is named a sawtooth based on its resemblance to the teeth on the blade of a saw....
or triangle
Triangle wave
A triangle wave is a non-sinusoidal waveform named for its triangular shape.Like a square wave, the triangle wave contains only odd harmonics...
waves, and basic percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, often generated from white noise
White noise
White noise is a random signal with a flat power spectral density. In other words, the signal contains equal power within a fixed bandwidth at any center frequency...
going through an ADSR envelope or PCM
Pulse-code modulation
Pulse-code modulation is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form for digital audio in computers and various Blu-ray, Compact Disc and DVD formats, as well as other uses such as digital telephone systems...
samples.
For the above reasons the classic chiptune sound can be recognised from its simple instruments, white noise or low-quality samples used for percussion and heavy use of ultra-fast arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
s to emulate chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
of three or four notes on a single channel (due to hardware limits, several notes must be placed on the same channel).
Today
Modern computers can play a variety of chiptune formats through the use of emulatorEmulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
s and platform-specific plugins for media players. Depending on the nature of hardware being emulated, 100% accuracy in software may not be available. The commonly used MOS Technology SID
MOS Technology SID
The MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...
chip, for example, has a multi-mode
Mixed-signal integrated circuit
A mixed-signal integrated circuit is any integrated circuit that has both analog circuits and digital circuits on a single semiconductor die.- Examples :...
filter
Filter (signal processing)
In signal processing, a filter is a device or process that removes from a signal some unwanted component or feature. Filtering is a class of signal processing, the defining feature of filters being the complete or partial suppression of some aspect of the signal...
including analog circuits whose characteristics are only mathematically estimated in emulation libraries.
The chip scene is far from dead with "compo
Compo (demoscene)
Compo is a slang word for competition commonly used by the demoscene and related subcultures when referring to their contests related to programming, computer graphics and music....
s" being held, groups releasing music disk
Music disk
Music disk, or musicdisk, is a term used by the demoscene to describe a collection of songs made on a computer. They are essentially the computer equivalent of an album. A music disk is typically packaged in the form of a program with a custom user interface, so the listener does not need other...
s and with the cracktro
Crack intro
A crack intro, also known as a cracktro, loader, or just intro, is a small introduction sequence added to cracked software, designed to inform the user of which "cracking crew" or individual cracker was responsible for removing the software's copy protection and distributing the crack...
/demo
Demoscene
The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing demos, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time on a computer...
scene. New tracker tools are making chip sounds available to less techy musicians. For example, Little Sound DJ for the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
has an interface designed for use in a live environment and features MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
synchronization. The NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
platform has the MidiNES, a cartridge that turns the system into a full blown hardware MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
controlled synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
. Recently, for the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, the Mssiah has been released, which is very similar to the MidiNES, but with greater parameter controls, sequencing, analog drum emulation, and limited sample playback. The Commodore PET
Commodore PET
The Commodore PET was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International...
has the open-source PetSynth software, which uses the PET's 6522 chip for sound, allows the computer to be played like a piano keyboard, and features many effects. On the DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
platform, Fast Tracker is one of the most famous chiptune makers because of the ability to create hand-drawn samples with the mouse. Chiptune artist Pixelh8
Pixelh8
Pixelh8 is the stage name for Matthew Applegate, a British chiptune composer.-Biography:Pixelh8 combines the sounds of video games and electronic toys, often those that have been reverse enginereed to avoid either copyright infringement or plagiarism to form original compositions, usually...
has also designed music software such as Music Tech for the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
and the Pro Performer for the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
and Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
which turn both machines into real time synthesizers.
In the last couple of years, chip music has returned to modern gaming, either in full chip music style or using chip samples in the music. Games that do this in their soundtrack include Mega Man Battle Network
Mega Man Battle Network (video game)
Mega Man Battle Network, known as in Japan, is a video game developed by Capcom for the Game Boy Advance handheld console. It is the first of the Mega Man Battle Network series of video games...
, Reset Generation
Reset Generation
Reset Generation is a cross-platform action-puzzle video game by RedLynx for Windows and N-Gage 2.0 compatible devices. Soundtrack for the game was composed by 8 Bit Weapon...
, Seiklus
Seiklus
Seiklus is a platform game for Microsoft Windows. It was created by a single author, cly5m, using Game Maker over a period of approximately 6 months.- Overview :...
, Tetris DS
Tetris DS
Tetris DS is a Touch! Generations puzzle game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. THQ announced Tetris DS before E3 2005, and scheduled it to make an appearance at the show. However, the company decided to cancel the game, and Nintendo released their own make of Tetris DS in...
, Sonic Rush
Sonic Rush
is a 2005 platform handheld video game developed by Sonic Team and Dimps exclusively for the Nintendo DS as part of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was released on November 15, 2005 in North America, November 18 in the PAL region, and November 23 in Japan. It is a 2D platform game, but Sonic's...
, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game based on the Scott Pilgrim series of comic books by Bryan Lee O'Malley, tying in with the release of the film of the same name. It is published by Ubisoft and developed by Ubisoft Montreal with Ubisoft Chengdu. The game was...
, Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy is an independent video game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes and developed by Team Meat. It is the successor to McMillen and Jonathan McEntee's October 2008 flash game Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy was released on the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade in October 2010, on...
and VVVVVV
VVVVVV
VVVVVV is a 2D puzzle platform video game designed by Terry Cavanagh and scored by Magnus Pålsson. The game was built in Adobe Flash and released on January 11, 2010, for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The game was ported to C++ by Simon Roth in 2011, and released as part of the Humble Indie...
. Furthermore, the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
in December 2010 used a faux 8-bit game with an 8-bit sound track by crashfaster to demonstrate its notable legal achievements for that year.
Film
The chiptune scene was the subject of a documentaryDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
called Reformat the Planet by 2 Player Productionshttp://www.2playerproductions.com/. This film was an official selection at the 2008 South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
. The premier took place on 8 March 2008 at the Dobie Center
Dobie Center
Dobie Center, named after J. Frank Dobie, is a privately owned twenty-seven story residence hall located adjacent to the University of Texas at Austin campus. In addition to being a private residence for students, Dobie also contains a two-story mall, a movie theatre, restaurants, and specialty...
.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a 2010 comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, based on the graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley. The film is about Scott Pilgrim , a young Canadian musician, meeting the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers , an American delivery girl...
features chiptune versions of the Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
sound mark, with an 8-bit production logo, and of the song "Threshold," performed by Brian LeBarton
Brian LeBarton
Brian Manuel LeBarton is a keyboardist, composer, and electronic musician from Los Angeles, California.-Work with Beck:Brian LeBarton is the keyboardist and musical director for Beck...
, during the ending credits.
TV
There have been a number of television segments featuring chiptunes and chip music artists in the past few years. On 11 April 2005, the first ever broadcast of a chiptune performance took place. 8 Bit Weapon8 Bit Weapon
8 Bit Weapon is a chiptune music band created by Seth Sternberger. The instrument set of 8 Bit Weapon consists primarily of old 8-bit and 16-bit computers such as the Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore Amiga 500, and the Apple II, as well as game consoles such as the Nintendo...
played their songs "Bombs Away" & "Gameboy Rocker" on G4
G4 (TV channel)
G4, also known as G4 TV, is an American cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared primarily toward young adult viewers, originally based on the world of video games...
's Attack of the Show live broadcast Episode #5058.
Another chipmusic feature include little-scale, Dot.AY, Ten Thousand Free Men & Their Families
Ten Thousand Free Men & Their Families
Ten Thousand Free Men & Their Families is a musical project of Sydney based Game Boy Music composer and performer Thomas Gilmore, who began writing music with the Nintendo Game Boy in 2007. Shortly after in 2008, Gilmore and Dot.AY from Brisbane started a blog documenting and promoting Australian...
and Jim Cuomo on the ABC Australia television series Good Game
Good Game
Good Game is an Australian video gaming talk show television programme created by Janet Carr and Jeremy Ray currently on ABC2. It premiered on ABC on 19 September 2006...
.
Br1ght Pr1mate, a Boston-based chiptune band, performed on Fox News on 10 July 2010.
There are a few shows that make use of chiptunes as background music. Two of these include the Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
TV series Yo Gabba Gabba!
Yo Gabba Gabba!
Yo Gabba Gabba! is an American children's television show currently airing on the Nick Jr. cable network in the United States and the Nick Jr. networks in the United Kingdom & Ireland, Italy, France and Australia as well as Treehouse TV network in Canada and RTE2 on RTEjr see Raidió Teilifís...
and Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
's shows Adventure Time and Problem Solverz.
Chiptune music is repeatedly featured on episodes of The Engadget
Engadget
Engadget is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. Though on appearance Engadget functions much like a blog and may be defined as such, much of its editorial content takes the form of an online magazine...
Show, often with live performances from chiptune artists, including Bit Shifter, Glomag, Neil Voss, Nullsleep
Nullsleep
Nullsleep is an American electronic musician and computer artist currently residing in New York City. In 1999 he co-founded the low-bit art collective 8bitpeoples, and has served as its lead director since its inception...
, minusbaby, Zen Albatross, and Kris Keyser.
See also
- Elektron SidStationElektron SidStationThe Elektron SidStation is a musical synthesizer sound module, built around the MOS Technology SID mixed-mode synthesizer chip originally used in the Commodore 64 home computer. It was produced by the Swedish synthesizer company Elektron, and was introduced in 1999...
- Professional synthesizer with a built-in SIDMOS Technology SIDThe MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...
chip - HardSIDHardSIDThe HardSID is a family of sound cards, produced by a Hungarian company Hard Software and originally conceived by Teli Sándor.The HardSID cards are based on the MOS Technology SID chip which was popularised and immortalized by the Commodore 64 home computer...
- A PCI card for modern computers that features from 1 to 4 actual SIDMOS Technology SIDThe MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...
chips - SLAY RadioSLAY RadioSLAY Radio is a 24/7 internet-only radio station dedicated to playing remixes and tunes based on music from the Commodore 64 computer, as well as the Amiga, popular in the 1980s and 1990s...
- Commodore 64 Remixes - The High Voltage SID CollectionThe High Voltage SID CollectionThe High Voltage SID Collection is both the name of a project to build a collection of music created on the MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID sound chip in Commodore CBM-II, Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 home computers and the collection itself...
- Commodore 64 music archive - Game Boy musicGame Boy musicGame Boy music is a type of chip music produced using a portable gaming console of the Game Boy line. To produce music of the genre, one needs a Game Boy and a cartridge containing appropriate tracking software, such as LSDJ.- Software :...
External links
- Chiptune Synthesis – modern and historical chiptune synthesis techniques
- Kohina Internet radio station airing exclusively music made on real chips
- http://charcocardboardrobot.blogspot.com/ - 8 bit DJ
- Chiptunes Making - Article about Chiptunes and 8-bit