I dont want to spread hours here writting nonsense in my bad english. If someone is interested take a look at the netlabel I’m in.

http://www.gainlad.gameboymall.com
I guess there you can find enough reasons to understand lo-bit music, if you are prepared to receive something from anyones soul. I think music is not about just hate and intolerance. Am I so wrong?

I don’t know if Dr Lysoff article deserves so hard critics. I would like to say just, thanks for the hype :) We, 8 bit musicians deserves, ok, will it be a new fashion? Blame consumism but not musicians. Thank you.

I also agree about thant on minimalist aproach and experimentation. How much monkeys will understand? I really don’t care much about that… Is art for everybody?

really cool to hear you’ve got mod scene roots … along with the names you mentioned i have to drop: 4MAT … his work on the amiga is stunning, and he’s often pointed at as the start of chip-style wav-tracking (looping very small chunks to get osc shapes) after most of the scene had moved on from c64 and st synth-hacking.

“8-bit music isnt underground” is obviously naive to write off noise and 8bit genres (what genre doesn’t have a few stars on a pile of crap unlistenable to everyone but total affectionados) … and dude, take your head out of your a$s along with that sidstation. “skilled in the use of synthesizers and software, (especially Reaktor)” … you seriously think reaktor is heavy? try again.

i’ve used a lot of expensive software and big daws (lots of friends going to school to be music techs), but i feel most at home relaxing with a gameboy, exploring the tight control LSDj gives of those four monophonic syntheziers. and let me tell you: i am “amazingly good at programming diverse sounds” … i’ve had releases writen up in the german print rag de:bug, all about techno 8) :p :roll

it’s funny hearing people outside the scene speculate as to why someone would decide to make 8bit sh!t … i haven’t seen CRAFT mentioned. if you’re familiar with a platform like the gameboy, sid, etc, it’s really interesting to listen to a pure chip tune and be able to pick apart what another composer has done. it’s actually quite academic :zzz

i hope this sounded pissed :roll

for those still wondering, there is a forum all about chip you can check out!

I want to clarify a couple of points regarding the quoted passages of my comments found in a recent Wired.com article. First, I was discussing a specific recording, a compilation of “covers” of past rock tunes done in 8-bit midi style using text to speech software (sounding much like Windows .mid files) . I was not impressed with the compilation nor did I believe that “it” (the compilation) reflected an exciting new trend in contemporary digital music. Second, using 8-bit sound is obviously a legitimate compositional technique in new digital music. I used it myself when I was creating MODs (Digital Music Modules) in the 1990s. However, just because one uses 8-bit sound does not mean the composer is freed from being creative and interesting in making music. “It” (the compilation I was asked to comment on) was not, in my opinion, very interesting nor particularly skillful, neither in the way it was conceived nor in the way the way any of the pieces were executed. I know that there is far better 8-bit music out there. Third, I differentiate between midi music (those old Windows .mid files using GM) and true MIDI based music, and I made that clear to the writer. He chose to ignore that part of my comments. Since the late 1990s, I have moved on to MIDI based music myself, using Emagic Logic (now, unfortunately, owned by Apple) and Abelton Live, working with Reaktor and other soft synths as well as various hardware synthesizers. For me using 8-bit sounds, or scratchy old vinyl recordings, is a legitimate (and even fascinating) compositional technique. But, the idea is to use these techniques skillfully and innovatively. There’s nothing more lame, in my opinion, than a bad piece of music hiding behind the latest trend or radical idea. To all those digital composers out there: by all means, use 8-bit sounds, use text to voice software, dust off that old 386 (or 286) in your garage, go low-tech, go retro–but do something interesting and do it well. I’d advise anyone interested in 8-bit compositions to check out the old MODs by composers such as Purple Motion, Awesome, or Skaven (go to http://www.united-trackers.org or http://www.maz-sound.com for info).

Thanks,

Rene T.A. Lysloff

i’d have to say that most 8-bit music is quite lame, unfortunately - although that is my personal opinion, which is also akin to my aversion for most experimental electronic and/or “noise” acts… simply due to the fact that anyone can break sh!t or fiddle with a bunch of sliders and come up with nasty sounds - its exceptionally easy, in fact

thats not to say that all experimental electronic music is talentless uninspired garbage - just the majority of it

for those of us skilled in the use of synthesizers and software, (especially Reaktor) - aleatoric music is the epitome of “easy”

on the 8bit front, you are working with limited tools - so you will get limited results… at the same time some of those chips produce tonal qualities not found anywhere else, so you have that going for you.. for example i own a synth called the “Sidstation” which is made from the sound chip of a C64 computer…

but in my case, the sounds serve my music - the focus is on composition and structure… for many experimental musicians, the sound IS the music - and the focus is on randomness, chance or pure noise

the problem with purely 8-bit music is that even if the song is really good and the sounds are all well done - its still limited to that tonal quality alone.. and that can get boring really quick unless the artist is amazingly good at programming diverse sounds or possibly has a bunch of various different 8-bit sound sources

Thank you for the clarification. Maybe I was feeling touchy because you also dissed bagpipes in there and I’m a PhD student doing a dissertation on bagpipe music. (Yes, I know you were joking about the bagpipes, but no, I’m *not* joking about my dissertation topic! See my vanity page, http://www.cstarrett.com, for corroboration.)

One thing I know for sure, if I ever get enough publications to my name to merit a call from Wired, I’m going to say, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

And as for the topic, I’ve logged enough hours with funky electronic instruments in analog studios and good old-fashioned acoustic instruments to know that the hardware *does* matter to the person making the music. The interface is one of the mystery variables in the creative equation. And like you said, the point is the music that comes out at the end.

Que es mas macho staircase or smoke rings?

Charles