chipmusic

Mr. K

~ Clicky Steve ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I got pished on a Saturday night and just recorded some music. Well, I ended up recording after an hour of fighting with my mixer to work out why the stereo output was only producing mono…

There’s always the risk that it could have been my crappy soldering, which meant testing out every possible step. So many variables. Surprisingly, it wasn’t actually any of the Gameboys, but the mixer.

I’m pretty pleased with the result, and it should give a hint as to what the next album will sound like. Listen to and download it below:

To finish off, here’s a picture of my tidied up workspace.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

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On Friday I spent some time in the studio working on different tracks. One of them was an experimental cover of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ with my sister and her boyfriend singing and playing guitar. They studied music at University, and it was nice to record with people who knew what they were doing.

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We used a bunch of different effects to layer the sound up, and I added in chip drums later on.

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You can hear and download the track below. It’s ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ like you’ve never heard it before. In someone else’s words:

I could imagine it being played at a f**** up fun fare with porcelain dolls singing as they go round in a Ferris wheel.

Bringing my Commodore 64 to life

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Gameboys are great, but arguably the classic analogue chip sound belongs to the Commodore 64.

The C64 was my very first computer, one that my parents got me when I was only about 4 or 5. As a result, it holds a particularly special place in my heart. Sadly the actual one that I had from back then disappeared at some point, but I tracked down a replacement later on, complete with one of the coveted working 6518 sound chips (or ‘SIDs’).

For ages I’ve wanted to bring the C64 back to life and use it as a vintage analogue synth, but the space required to leave it set up was always prohibitive. In my foray back into music, I decided it was time to take the plunge.

I already had all the bits and pieces I needed, including a really sweet expansion device called the ‘MSSIAH‘ cartridge, which plugs into the back of the ‘breadbin’ and adds MIDI support. Making use of a composite video to HDMI convertor that I use for my N64, I hooked it up to a monitor, and hey presto…

My desk is a bit of a jumble just now with various things on the go, but that’s not where it’s going to live permanently.

For the technically curious, here I’m using a C64 DIN out to phono/composite cable, with the video end going into an AVI to HDMI box for the monitor, and the audio portion connected up to my headphones using a phono coupler and phono to mini jack cable. This is just the testing setup though. When I switch to actually recording with it, I’ll be using a VGA monitor and running the phonos straight to a mixing desk for output.

I’m going to use it in a couple of different ways: to play directly as a synth, but also as an external synth controlled by the Gameboy, using LSDJ as a sequencer (see my previous post on this…). Using a MIDI thru box, I could run different channels into different devices simultaneously, which would sound amazing.

There’s loads of things to explore with the C64, which is pretty exciting, and should keep things fresh. Here’s a couple:

C64 SD tape emulator – To save sounds and patterns and all that you need an external device to store them on. The C64 used to rely on either cassette tapes (!) or floppy disks… and not the kind that most people are familiar with, but large, 5 and 1/4″, truly floppy disks. As it turns out, I actually have both of these…

  
  
but they’re not the most practical – taking up a lot of space and being a pain to use. In the past few years some intrepid people have developed gadgets such as a C64 cassette tape hardware emulator – that plugs into the back and allows you to save onto SD card. They’re pretty smart, but relatively pricey, so I need to see how much I’m actually going to use the thing before I commit.

Second SID – You can install two sound chips in the C64 with a bit of modification so that it can play polyphonically, and make it really sing. This doesn’t look too difficult to do, and could be a fun project for later down the line. I’d be interested to see if I can run two different chips (with different sound qualities) simultaneously, but I’m not sure if it’s possible because of voltage etc. Needs further research.

Picture upscaling – the video output was never designed for modern monitors, and certainly not to be run over HDMI at 1920×1080. As a result, the picture looks terrible – and the controls are almost incomprehensible with my crappy eyesight. I’m sure there are ways to improve upon it, such as through the use of a decent upscaler, but it also needs a bit more exploration.

The most important thing though, is getting it working as a synth first and foremost. At the moment, the sounds sound pretty weak. I suspect that might be because I’m not running them through an amp – so I’ll check that out. I’ve ran the diagnostics and the chip is fine, so it’ll require a bit more investigation. Just a matter of getting time to sit down and play with it.

~ Clicky Steve ~ Leave a comment

As you may probably have picked up from the previous posts, it’s been a bit of a tough slog getting into the whole electronics modification side of chiptune music.

It reminded me a bit of learning to drive. You keep thinking – how on earth can I find this so difficult when so many other people find it so easy?

After hours and hours and hours of accumulated research though, I’ve finally taken a big jump forward and managed to front-light the Gameboy Color so I can use it to compose stuff on whenever and wherever. I did also add an extra 3.5mm line-out, but discovered that Maplin had given me the wrong jack… mono instead of stereo… which put the kaibosh on that plan.

Either way, soldering mistakes and cut hands aside, things are starting to settle in. Here’s a couple of shots of the Gameboy in all its illuminated glory; nestled snugly beside the other electronic gear.

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As with any creative area, you can all too easily get absorbed in the gear and equipment side of things, and overlook the fact that the uh.. whole point of it is to do make something with it.

I’ve been so consumed lately with trying to get things soldered and the frustration at being unable (yet) to make much headway with electronics and modifying them to make cool sounds that I thought it best to actually write some tunes.

It’s okay to be excited about new things and the possibilities they bring… as long as you act upon the possibilities too.

A sneak preview of a new track from a release which is going to be based around chiptunes, and aptly titled ‘giving up on circuitry’, is up over at the 8 bit collective. Composed and recorded on an old Gameboy before I butchered it to install some LEDs.

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The past week I’ve become immersed in a whole new world of exciting sounds – that of the chiptune. You’ve probably heard about people making music with gameboys and old computers.. It’s something that I’d dabbled in years ago, but never quite had the creative energy or enthusiasm to carry through to any worthwhile end.

However, unexpected bowtie is the perfect place to experiment and see just what a Commodore 64 sounds like when played alongside a musical saw. I’m pretty sure that can’t be a combination that’s been brought together that often before, surely? It’s actually pretty wonderful to see how things can interact. A tune that I’d just written up today electronically came out of something originally composed on the accordion, which I then ported over for quite a different feel, and even having the accordion playing the bassier notes in the background. Quite a shift about from what it was in the first place.

I had been concerned that it had all gotten a bit guitar-led and folky round here with the last release, so this new venture just proves (even if just to one’s self) that it’s really all about experimentation in all its kinds, rather than being stuck to any set of defined limits. Like has been said elsewhere – I keep forgetting that there’s no rules.

Either way, the dizzying amount of cables and different technical things that are required even to just hook up something like an Amiga 600 to a modern LCD screen is pretty daunting, but I’m managing to get my head round it all (well, maybe). Despite the minor hiccup of having err.. ‘misplaced’ my old C-64, it should mean that within the next few weeks I’ll be fully kitted out to record directly from the old sound-chips and see just what can be done.

In the meantime (and before I possibly electrocute myself in the noble pursuit of sound), you can listen to a track that lasts a whole sixty seconds – composed on the Gameboy, and filled with guitar and musical saw. Nice.

bees are prisoners

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Without being entirely sure of where this all may head, you can check out the finished mix of ‘let’s get explicit’, composed with Commodore 64 sounds, guitar parts and other samples over at the 8 bit collective. – and only from there at the moment.