Chip Music
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Chip Music, Demoscene, Featured
The Legacy of KeyGen Music: A Look at Tunes of the Key Cracker Era
January 16, 2019 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on The Legacy of KeyGen Music: A Look at Tunes of the Key Cracker Era Share this
The vast majority of us have been horrible people at some point or another and pirated software or at least emulated games on our computers at least once in our lives. Getting past the morality of it, it’s safe to say we all know the process of downloading an installer alongside a key generator that would help us get to our elicit activities, or an emulator with which to play the ROMs of import games we didn’t get in the states.
If you’re one of those ilk, then you are likely familiar with keygen music, or at least have had an encounter with the niche genre but didn’t pay it much mind. Maybe it was simply an annoyance on the way towards the goal of cracking your ill-gotten software, or maybe it’s a fond memory of the age of Napster, Limewire and pre-torrent times. Having attended MAGFest recently and become more interested in the demoscene, I’ve decided to revisit this.
So what is keygen music?
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Chip Music
Fill Up on RPG-Inspired Chiptunes & Electronic Music with Shadow Spirits Vol.1
April 18, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Fill Up on RPG-Inspired Chiptunes & Electronic Music with Shadow Spirits Vol.1 Share this
It’s always interesting when you see big names break into the VGM and chiptune music scene. Cody Carpenter, musician and son of legendary director and composer John Carpenter, along with game composer Mark Day (Diner Dash, Aqua Kitty) have done just that and released an album of RPG-inspired chiptune/electronic hybrid music titles Shadow Spirits Vol.1.
Carpenter has experience in the music world all his own, having not only co-wrote, co-produced, and performed on the acclaimed Lost Themes (2015) and Lost Themes II (2016) with his father and Daniel Davies, but also released five instrumental progressive rock albums and one synthwave vocal album exclusively on Bandcamp. 2018 saw the release of Cody’s first non-Bandcamp exclusive album entitled “Cody Carpenter’s Interdependence”. Now, he’s delved into the realm of chiptunes.
“I wrote the original versions of these tracks exclusively with the NES chipset. I then passed it over to Mark to arrange into the finished product. We were both inspired by classic game music, with myself also taking a lot of inspiration from the work of Vince DiCola.” – Cody Carpenter, Musician & Co-producer
The album features 14 tracks of original chiptune & electronic music, which lend themselves to the nostalgic themes of the 80s and 90s RPG classics and could easily be slid into any retro-style game and sound inspired.
“Initially we were going to do a 4 track EP. But the tracks came out so well we decided a full album would be better. I suggested a classic RPG concept as I love the music of Nobuo Uematsu and Hiroki Kikuta and had recently played Final Fantasy VII. I arranged Cody’s pieces along with the pieces I had written using the Commodore SID chip for most sounds and a little Juno 106 here and there for warmth.” – Mark Day, Arranger & Co-producer
Shadow Spirits Vol.1 is currently available for pre-order on Bandcamp for $10 and will be releasing in full on April 24th.
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Chip Music, Miscellaneous
Chiptunes = WIN Group Presents Chips = FLIPPED Full Album
March 14, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Chiptunes = WIN Group Presents Chips = FLIPPED Full Album Share this
About 5 years ago, the folks over at the Chiptunes = WIN group decided to invert their process by taking previously-make chiptune tracks and having artists cover them with live instrumentation. Called Chiptunes = WTFLOL, the album was a six-track EP and was a nice deviation from their previous format.
Fast-forward to today, and those same folks have released an entire album in the same format, featuring 11 tracks from some of the top names in the VGM community. Chips = FLIPPED takes the same process of re-arranging previously released chiptunes and doing them them up with live instruments. Featuring artists such as DJ Cutman, Grant “Stemage” Henry & Erik “Viking Guitar” Peabody, and even big names in the chip and game music industry such a Makeup & Vanity Set and Machinae Supremacy, the Chips = FLIPPED album brings out some pretty big guns.
It only took 5 years to crank out a full length sequel to the original ‘WTFLOL’ EP. Worth the wait? You damn well better believe it! #FlipIt (╯°□°)╯︵ ♪♫♬
100% of ALL payments are considered donations to fund further Chiptunes = WIN projects. – Brandon “President Hoodie” Hood, Chiptunes = WIN Head
The Chips = FLIPPED album is currently available digitally on Bandcamp at the name-your-price option, or you can purchase it and all the other Chiptunes = WIN albums on an 8GB jumpdrive for $15.
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Chip Music, Events, Game Music
Community Question: What’s Your Favorite Live VGM Experience?
If you’re like me and have been within the video game and nerd music scene for any given amount of time, chances are you’ve been to a few shows featuring cover and tribute bands playing music live for a captivated audience. With Super MAGFest having just wrapped up not quite two weeks ago, and things like Rockage San Jose and VGM Con in the near future, I feel now is a great time to ruminate on all the performances I’ve been to and what stands out for me as some of the best I’ve ever been to, and hopefully exchange my experiences with other fans as well.
Two experiences pop into my mind. This past MAGFest featured Transformers and Rocky IV composer Vince DiCola joining VGM band LONELYROLLINGSTARS on stage for a live performance of some of the most iconic themes of his career. (Can be seen in the title image.) I’ll keep my synopsis brief as the whole show was beyond amazing, even beyond my bias (Full disclosure, I was artist liaison for LRS working MAG this year.) and the fact it was not technically game music, the moment when “Death of Optimus Prime” was played by DiCola and LRS and the scene displayed on the big screen, my heart felt like it was punched in it’s heart-gut. It made for a ridiculously memorable experience and one of the best shows I’ve ever been to for the music and the experience both.
The other show I can safely safe was probably the best in my lifetime of going to VGM shows was my first MAGFest, which was MAG 10 in 2012. This was the event that managed to get Final Fantasy composer legend Nobou Uematsu and his band the Earthbound Papas to come pay at the event. I have to say that it wasn’t the music that was the best part of that show, but the sheer excitement Uematsu displayed in stage while playing. When a legend in the game music industry cracks open a Sam Adams on stage, trolls the audience with a Colossus Roar, and moves onto the next song, it makes for a wild moment for fans.
So I ask the readers, what are your most memorable experiences attending game music shows, concerts and performances in your lifetime? Was it the music, the energy or just your general thrill that made it special? Let us know in the comments and let’s keep such memories alive as we keep making more in the future.
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Chip Music
Exclusive Bitmap Books Album from chibi-tech now Available to All
January 2, 2018 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Exclusive Bitmap Books Album from chibi-tech now Available to All Share this
Originally offered to Kickstarter backers of Bitmap Books’ NES/Famicom: a visual compendium, chibi-tech’s Psycho Somatic Generation album is now available to all via Bandcamp. Commissioned as a stretch goal for the 2016 Kickstarter, the album features ten chiptune songs reminiscent of familiar NES/Famicom “house styles”. As chibi-tech explains, “for a long time now, I’ve been wanting to make an original album that closely emulates the composition techniques of various NES game music from the past.”
Chibi-tech goes on to add, “many games had their own distinctive take (both technique & style-wise) on NES music that oftentimes defined ‘the sound’ of their respective companies — up to the point where people say things like ‘Oh, that’s a Konami tune!’ or ‘That’s totally Capcom right there!’. My aim is to make my own original soundtrack that takes each different take and closely emulate both the musical technique & style with reasonable accuracy – while still putting my own distinctive spin.”
Adding to the authentic emulation is veteran composer Allister Brimble who did the final mastering on the album. Check it out for yourself on Bandcamp and grab it for pay-what-you like. Also, take a look at that Bitmap Books compendium — it’s gorgeous — as is their upcoming SNES/Super Famicom tome due out in February 2018.
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Chip Music, Featured, Game Music
OSVOSTOTY 2017: Brenna’s Picks
It’s that time of year again, where we recollect on all of the things we saw, listened to or experienced in the past 365 days. The year 2017 had a ridiculous amount of good game releases and an equally good amount of good game soundtracks. As with our previous year-end wrap-ups, we’ll be going through our top picks for game soundtracks and game arrangement albums for 2017 and highlighting what we thought stood out the most among what we managed to get our hands on. I personally didn’t get to play through a ton of games this year (Sorry, NieR Automata and Super Mario Odyssey won’t be on my list), but I’ll list what I thought stood out from what I did play.
Without further ado;
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Chip Music, Game Music, Japanese
Massive 147-track Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Detailed
December 21, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Massive 147-track Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Detailed Share this
Another piece of Square Enix’s multi-year Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary celebration is drawing closer to release and there’s new musical details to be shared. Releasing January 24th, 2018 in Japan is “FINAL FANTASY 30th Anniversary Tracks 1987-2017“, a double Blu-ray, audio-visual anthology of 147 songs from the fifteen numbered entries in the series. Last week Square Enix revealed the full tracklist, conveniently organized by title, which you can dive into on their official site. And this week they posted a preview video showing off the visual treatment you can expect alongside all that music.
Another newly announced bonus of the Blu-ray bundle is that you’ll be able to copy MP3s of all the music off of the discs to a PC or wirelessly beam them to your phone, laptop, or other handheld devices. I feel like that’s an incredibly generous move for Square who could easily have put out a separate CD version for sale alongside the Blu-ray.
Sadly, this is another Japan-exclusive product but if you’re up to the challenge of international shipping you can pre-order the roughly $60 package from Square’s shop, Amazon Japan, or Play-Asia.
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