Chip Music
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Chip Music, Game Music
Shiryu Music Releases Castlevania: Chiptunes of the Night
May 22, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Shiryu Music Releases Castlevania: Chiptunes of the Night Share this
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Shiryu Music has composed an album of retro-mixed chiptune versions of many classic tunes of the SotN soundtrack.
“Castlevania: Chiptunes of the Night” is my long and delayed tribute to Michiru Yamane’s incredible soundtrack. You might have found me teasing this release in the past years with me chiptune demakes/remixes/covers from such timeless classic songs as “Wood Carving Partita” or “The Tower of Mist”. But this time I went for the complete soundtrack, or at least the tracks that I could get my hand on sheet music and/or MIDI files. – Shiryu
Of the 32-track album, “Disc 1” features retro-makes of several tunes from Symphony of the Night done with a NES sound library, while “Disc 2” does the same track up with SNES sound fonts, meant to give tribute to the oldschool sounds of the earlier Castlevania games to this, the game that helped kick off a new genre of “Metroidvania” games.
Some tracks do a good job of down-mixing the iconic tunes of SotN, while others leave a bit to be desired. (The NES version of “Tragic Prince” starts off great but then gets a bit grating on the ears, in my opinion.) However it’s a solid effort and a commendable tribute to composer Michiru Yamane’s most recognized and revered soundtrack.
You can check out the entire album on the Castlevania: Chiptunes of the Night Bandcamp page for a listen.
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Chip Music, Experimental, Indie Music, Music Production
8 Bit Weapon Releases New Satirical DLC Album
8 Bit Weapon, the long-running chiptune and electronic band formed by Seth and Michelle “ComputeHer” Sternberger, have a new album and it’s got quite the meta concept: what if the music industry followed modern game design? “How much of a song would you hear before you purchased the rest of it as DLC,” the new album asks.
The idea is to start with track 4, “DLC the OST (Standard Edition)” which features only the backing and melody. It’s nice, but wouldn’t it sound even better with drums? For a small charge the Drums DLC adds layers of percussive depth and really gets your toe tapping. Later in the product cycle, take your song to the next level with the Expansion DLC that lays on the style by adding new synths, percussion, and samples.
Gross right? Ultimately, they couldn’t bring themselves to nickel-and-dime their fans to put the concept to test so the album contains all the “DLC” and the full song, hilariously titled “DLC the OST (Season Pass Edition)”. Taking the next natural step, the album is considered the “GOTY bundle” edition and includes two wholly original bonus songs.
The answer to the question that DLC the OST poses is obvious: No. No one would pay for half of a song and then buy individual instruments as if it were a satisfying reward. Ok, maybe some of you interested in remixes or how the song was created would, but not the general music listening public. The real question turns the focus back onto games but that’s a discussion for a different kind of site, or maybe the comments section. I’m happy to say that despite the concept, DLC the OST still gives us three enjoyable (and totally complete) tracks for as little as $3.
Check it out and let’s discuss in the comments. What do you think of the song, 8 Bit Weapon’s concept, or our modern games with DLC and microtransactions?
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Chip Music, Events, Game Music
Bit Gen Gamer Fest 12 Announced With Band Lineup
April 21, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Bit Gen Gamer Fest 12 Announced With Band Lineup Share this
Baltimore’s native game music festival Bit Gen Gamer Fest is returning for it’s 12th iteration this year on July 28th – 30th at the Ottobar.
Bit Gen Gamer Fest, Baltimore’s massive homegrown day-long video game music festival returns for its 12th year to explode your mind with a monstrous lineup of 16 musical acts from all across the country, collected under one roof for a full day of video game music MAYHEM! Enjoy a diverse selection of bands ranging from metal, chiptune, hip-hop, rock, and more while punishing baddies and setting the high score on a curated selection of home console and arcade games.
Launching the event with a solid lineup, the current performers scheduled to play are:
Stupid Idiot
Started in 2005 in Baltimore as a small celebration of game music created by John DeCampos and Chris Baines of former VGM band Entertainment System, Bit Gen grew into a yearly local event. In 2013, it was acquired by MAGFest and became a subsidiary event of the brand, though it still remained under it’s own label.
You can check out more information about Bit Gen XII and purchase advance tickets on the event’s Facebook page.
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Chip Music, Game Music
Brave Wave’s Ninja Gaiden Albums out April 13th
April 11, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Brave Wave’s Ninja Gaiden Albums out April 13th Share this
First announced last November, Brave Wave’s definitive soundtracks to the original Ninja Gaiden series are finally ready for release on Thursday, April 13th. The two-volume collection features the arcade original and its NES counterpart on Volume 1 and the NES sequels — The Dark Sword of Chaos and The Ancient Ship of Doom — on Volume 2. Both albums will be released on vinyl and CD and like past entries in their Generation Series the physical editions will feature archival artwork, composer photos and interviews. Digital versions will also be available on Bandcamp, iTunes and streaming services including Spotify.
The production of both albums is based on new digital recordings from original hardware with the supervision of Ninja Gaiden composer and Tecmo sound engineer, Keiji Yamagishi. It also marks the first time a commercial version of Ninja Gaiden III’s music has ever been available.
To commemorate the launch of these albums Brave Wave is also offering 100 limited edition vinyl box sets. Including all 4 LPs, the $100 set comes with a numbered art card designed by Ninja Gaiden illustrator Masato Kato and signed by composers Keiji Yamagishi, Ryuichi Nitta and Kaori Nakabai. Take a look at more of the gorgeous packaging at Brave Wave’s official site and sample some of the 100+ tracks from both albums above.
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Chip Music, Game Music
Slime-san features a huge roster of Chiptune Artists
April 7, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Slime-san features a huge roster of Chiptune Artists Share this
Slime-san is an upcoming pixelart platformer with a striking visual style and a collaborative chiptune soundtrack to match. The blue-and-white toned visuals are highlighted by oozing crimson and lime, calling to mind a custom palette on the Super Game Boy. Accompanying the wild looks and precision gameplay that’s in the vein of Super Meat Boy is a playlist of over 20 songs from 13 chiptune artists. Those artists include Richard Gould, Adhesive Wombat, Mischa Perella, FantomenK, Meganeko, Kommisar, Tiasu, Lumena-tan, Kubbi, Carl Clark, Inverse Phase, Saad Akter Ali, and Michael Miller.
“The music complements the game’s pixel art aesthetic but each track was also designed with a certain gameplay aspect in mind,” explains Fabraz’s Fabian Rastorfer. “We wanted to create a soundtrack that is worth the price of admission alone, and I think we’ve accomplished that.”
There will be a digital soundtrack available when the game launches on April 7th but developer Fabraz has also teamed up with Black Screen Records to offer a 2-LP vinyl edition. The (s)lime green set will be available to pre-order between April 7th and the 9th. Your purchase also includes a free Steam code for the game as well as the digital version of the soundtrack to enjoy while waiting for the vinyl to ship out in early June.
You can sample the entire tracklist in the video above and be sure to take a look at the game in action to see that color palette really pop.
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Chip Music, Featured, Software
PAX East 2017 Preview: Just Shapes & Beats
March 20, 2017 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on PAX East 2017 Preview: Just Shapes & Beats Share this
One of the joys of heading out to PAX East every spring has been seeing how the independent games industry has grown and evolved. Each year there seems to be a greater presence of indie titles being shown off on the PAX East show floor, and this year was no exception. Among the various projects on display, there were a fair number of music and rhythm games. Over the next few days I’ll be highlighting the music games that I tried out at PAX East, starting with the game Just Shapes & Beats. (more…)
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Chip Music, Doujin, Events, Game Music
PAX East 2017 Performances & Music Fun
Just as we did for last month’s PAX South, we’re giving you the rundown of what you can expect to see from a game music and audio standpoint at PAX East 2017 next week in Boston. Some new and some returning musical performances shall be gracing the main stage concerts, as well as other tidbits you can check out through the event.
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