2. My Hats
welove.audio
CTO
Middleware for adaptive music for game developers
Warhorse Studios
Adaptive Music Designer
Author of part of the music in Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Czech Technical University
Department of Computer Graphics and Interaction
Associate Professor
Research in audio-based human–computer interaction
4. Chiptune Music
Late 1970s, 1980s hardware
Real-time synthesis rather than playback
Proprietary music playback routines
Memory-efficient music formats
5. Limitations
Slow computers
Little RAM
Fairly cheap hardware circuits
(Later: Fairly low CPU footprint)
● Limited amount of channels
● Limited amount of available timbres
● Low temporal resolution
⇒ discrete tempo, rigid(ish) beat
● Imprecise tuning
9. ATARI 2600
CTRIX Live at Blip Fest 2011
https://youtu.be/S8e7g8kJIlo?t=1m9s
Controlled by MIDI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgDyOSDUAx0
Hands-on tip
Atari 2600 Music Kit 2.0
http://www.qotile.net/files/2600_music_guide.txt
15. ATARI 800XL
Pitch tuning
● Frequency divider
● High notes could not be tuned well
Volume control
● Silence + 15 discreet volume levels
● Audible jumps between the levels – unable to fade-out
19. Commodore 64
Chipophone by Linus Åkesson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1pchpDD5EU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j85kRucY8UI
Hands-on tip
SIDizer VST plugin
http://www.hypersynth.com/sidizer.html
Claims to accurately emulate the original hardware
(Including the SID bug)
21. Nintendo Entertainment System
Probably the most known subgenre of chiptunes out there.
“Sounds like Mario.”
Fairly simple design.
Voices with fixed wave forms:
● Pulse wave 1
● Pulse wave 2
● Triangle
● Noise
● PCM audio
22. Amiga 500
Music tracker
● Collection of PCM samples
● Pitch ⇔ playback rate manipulation
● Matrix of note activations
○ Rows = points in time
○ Columns = channels
○ Cells = note X + sample Y (+ effect Zx)
● PCM-based synthesis sometimes not considered to be an element of
the chiptune culture
Hands-on tip
MOD tracker simulated in browser:
http://www.stef.be/bassoontracker/
23. IBM PC: PC Speaker
“PC Master Race” wasn’t a thing back then:
Single on-board square wave generator.
Prehistoric
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbjZ6qY1YPU
Star Goose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjzzSqCxwG8
Stunts (arpeggios)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ3Qg3ora2I
24. IBM PC: Creative Labs’ SoundBlaster
Combination:
● PCM audio (sound effects)
● FM synthesis (music)
○ Yamaha OPL2
Prehistoric via (emulated) SoundBlaster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEDlcsGd5Lo
25. IBM PC, Renaissance of Module Music
Demoscene continues.
Jazz Jackrabbit (1994)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_5EOY8QaVQ
● FastTracker ][
● Impulse Tracker
● ...
Hands-on tip
Explore the structure of multichannel modules:
https://mod.haxor.fi/Falcon/sofa_surfin.xm
26. Sounds like chiptune
Using some elements of chiptune
Often not …
… produced on authentic hardware
… produced using a “traditional” form
… played back on authentic hardware
… limited by the original HW constraints
Chiptune purism
Contemporary Chiptune Music
27. Rob Hubbard (Commando, Warhawk, …)
Nicholas Scharim (Spy vs. Spy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBJn3SHfDyY
Kemal Ezcan (Cavehunt, …)
http://asma.atari.org/asmadb/search.php?play=179
Jason Brooke (Feud)
YMCK
Musicians
