Chiptunes: How Video Games Created a New Avenue into Music Production
by Benjamin Porter
Chiptunes: How Video Games Created a New Avenue into Music Production
by Benjamin Porter
Everyone loves it when their favorite artist releases a new album or EP, but after the initial phase of listening through the album a thousand times in a row, we tend to turn back to the songs that made us love that artist in the first place. What was new and fresh 15 years ago has aged enough to cause us to feel nostalgic whenever we listen to it, bringing back memories from childhood or simpler times. I, for instance, still love the songs I grew up with, and I remember daydreaming of making similar songs as a way to express my creativity as well as my love for the music. Unfortunately, I was faced with the reality that, in order to do so, I would be required to learn how to play, record, and mix live instruments (or pay someone to do these for me), and even then, the final product would probably not match the quality that professional artists attain.
Now, if you happen to have similar desires to make music, one solution is that you could go to college for music like I am doing now. If you don’t want to go through all that trouble, however, there is one genre of music whose sounds and style are not nearly as hard to replicate as those of pop, rock, and other common genres.
This genre is known as ‘8-bit’ music or ‘chiptunes,’ which referred originally to the music composed for classic video game titles such as Super Mario Bros., Mega Man, and Sonic the Hedgehog, but has since grown into a flourishing genre that stands on its own. Gamers and non-gamers alike can appreciate the catchiness and energy of old video game themes, and thanks to passionate and innovative members of the chiptune scene over the last few decades, many people have taken up the old chiptune style and put their own artistic spin on it. The emergence of video games created a lasting, impactful, and accessible musical outlet by having composers employ a unique method of composition in making chiptunes, providing tools for others to reprise existing compositions and produce original works, and attracting multiple communities that grew to love chiptunes.
The first widely accessible electronic devices with playable games, which include the arcade machine, the Apple II home computer, and the Atari VCS console, were made in the 70s and 80s. These possessed very little memory and processing power to put towards graphics or audio, and so the earliest video games rarely featured any audio components beyond simple sound effects and possibly a title-screen jingle. Video games that began featuring in-game music were either made for home computers such as the Commodore 64 or for consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Rather than having a single piece of hardware that produced audio and graphics simultaneously like earlier devices, these systems used multiple electronic chips that were dedicated separately to each component. The first dedicated audio chip, the Sound Interface Device or SID, was made for the Commodore 64 and utilized technology similar to that used for synthesizers at the time. The SID used 3 oscillators, each of which produced sound waves which could then be passed through envelope generators and filters in order to change the duration and character of each sound wave, resulting in more complicated sounds ranging from synth drones to tinny chimes. The NES and other consoles would later have similar implementations of the dedicated audio chip, and because of this new technology, along with increased data capacity, games could feature polyphonic melodies with greater depth and intricacies (Driscoll and Diaz).
While the Commodore 64 and NES were improvements compared to their primitive predecessors, they still severely limited the capabilities of sound designers and composers. In the case of the Commodore 64, for example, only three sounds could play at a time, since its SID had a mere three oscillators with which to generate sound waves. This made simple compositional elements such as harmonies and percussive rhythms difficult to implement. In addition, sound effects needed to play at the same time as the music, so composers also had to make sure neither element interfered with the other. Perhaps because of this, the composer was also the sound designer for many early games, as was the case for Manami Matsumae when she helped with the production of Mega Man. In an interview with Brave Wave chairman Mohammed Taher, she explains that “sound effects, which are one-note chords, play onto the music, which are three-note chords, so [she] had to do things such as shorten the sound effects, as well as adjust them so they don't cut into the melody of the songs” (Matsumae). She even had to playtest during and after the composition process in order to verify that all the music and sound effects played correctly throughout the game (Matsumae).
Another aspect of early game composition that made the process difficult was how audio had to be programmed into the games using code. Since the NES and Commodore 64 did not include a physical interface with dials and switches like that of a synthesizer, composers found that the most flexible way to encode their music into games was through the console’s assembly language. This involved typing sequences of letters, numbers, and symbols that told the system what notes to play, when to play them, what sounds and filters to use for them, etc. Whereas composers in almost any other genre at the time had great compositional flexibility and the ability to easily visualize their music, early game composers essentially had to be programmers and meticulously type in hundreds of arbitrary-looking character sequences in order to generate a simple 4-bar loop. Later on, software programs that worked similarly to digital sequencers were released, making this pain-staking process easier to accomplish and visualize. Even still, the composition process remained vastly different from any that had been practiced up to that point (Driscoll and Diaz).
One might think that such technological limitations would discourage compositional creativity, but quite the opposite occurred as young, computer-savvy individuals, including Manami Matsumae and Keiji Yamagishi, accepted the challenge offered by early gaming systems. Both Matsumae and Yamagishi, as they related in separate interviews with Taher from Brave Wave, were fresh out of college when they were picked up by the gaming companies of Capcom and Tecmo respectively. Yamagishi’s first project for Tecmo was a separately released NES port of the arcade shooter Star Force, and he went on to work on many NES titles that became popular in Europe and the Middle East, including Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo Bowl, and Captain Tsubasa Vol. I & II. In his interview, he relates that “it was tough making audio for the NES, but [he feels] it was a valuable experience” (Yamagishi). Even though he had to go as far as to create a program and sound driver to generate sounds for the games he worked on, he says that “it was interesting work, being able to yield good sound even with the limited capabilities of the NES” (Yamagishi). Meanwhile, Matsumae was able to draw from her classical music studies, such as her experience playing the 3-4 voice texture of Bach’s The Well Tempered Clavier, when composing with the NES’s three sound channels. She also listened to pop music by artists such as Propaganda, Phil Collins, and Mezzoforte to help her grapple with rhythm-based songs. Neither Yamagishi nor Matsumae had originally aspired to be professional composers before taking their jobs at Tecmo and Capcom, but these opportunities allowed them and other composers to share a brand-new style of music to a growing gaming community (Matsumae; Yamagishi).
In a blog post on Soundtrap, Tero Potila describes some of chiptunes’ main distinguishing characteristics, including use of a limited number of channels, simple sound waves, looping patterns, and rapid, arpeggiated sequences of notes often used to mimic chords and harmonies. All of these things are byproducts of the miniscule amount of data accessible to the technology that was originally used (Potila). To make up for their limitations, composers borrowed two tools from popular music: repetition and simplicity. Loops were necessary to minimize the amount of data that the audio used, usually requiring melodies to be relatively short and simple compared to what one would hear in concerts or movies. However, these qualities also made video game tunes more likely to resonate with the listener through repeated exposure of the same theme, allowing it to get ‘stuck in their head.’ Fast tempos, often ranging from 120 bpm to as high as 160 bpm, were also common since they supported the fast-paced gameplay showcased by many video game series (Lynch). Finally, the recognizable sounds of the various audio chip synthesizers, when paired with the creativity and style of a chiptune composer, produced compositions that were, and still are, sonically and musically interesting (Reid). The iconic sounds, the technology, the gameplay, and the musical styles and interests of individual composers all contribute to defining the chiptune genre.
One can see all of these elements in the music that was composed by Sega’s Sonic Team for Acts 1 and 2 of “Flying Battery Zone” in the game Sonic & Knuckles. A short, 12-bar loop, lasting a mere 40 seconds, makes up the entirety of each Act’s music; however, the fast-paced, punchy melodies provided by lead synths keep the player on the edge of their seat. Both Acts play at a very fast tempo (between 149 and 150 bpm) that can keep up with a hedgehog running at the speed of sound. The slapping bassline also supplies energy through arpeggiation, especially in Act 1, providing the piece with a sense of rhythm that accompanies the basic beat produced by the electronic kick and snare. Even though the composers had the “luxury” of using Sega Genesis’s 6 channels of audio at once – twice as many as was available in the NES – nearly all channels are utilized at almost any given time in each piece: two channels are consistently playing the bass synth and drums, and two more channels are usually playing mid-range synths to form the harmonies, leaving the last two to be used for the melody and in-game sound effects (“YM2612: The Chip That Powered Music on the Mega Drive”). The main difference between Acts 1 and 2 is that the upper parts are re-orchestrated with different sounds in Act 2, and, on the low end, the bass synth takes a back seat rhythmically to allow a more dynamic beat to be played by the kick and snare. In addition, the chorus section in Act 2 includes a new counterpoint melody, renewing the player’s interest in the theme as they race through the zone’s second level. These two catchy themes are prime examples of what video game chiptune composers could accomplish to elevate one’s gaming experience.
Years after the first consoles and games came out, and as technology and video games became more advanced, composers began to move away from the iconic sounds of audio chip synthesizers. Instead, they approached many game scores as composers did for movies, often recording live instruments and creating longer, more intricate works to be played as audio files during gameplay. One can think of orchestral scores featured in recent games from the Super Mario Bros. or Legend of Zelda series as well as those of other series like Skyrim. Though the role of 8-bit music in video game production diminished, its popularity and relevance in the video game scene did not. Nostalgia for the old games and love for their music have inspired artists and gamers alike to replicate, as well as emulate, the style and sounds of the original chiptunes to create remixes and covers as well as original works.
DAWs and MIDI
Many casual and commercial chiptune artists stay true to the original art of the chiptune practice, performing and publishing music that is produced using repurposed consoles like the NES and Gameboy (Driscoll and Diaz). For those who don’t want to bother with figuring out how to use and access decade-old devices, however, modern music technology makes it easier than ever to enter into the chiptune scene. Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) such as Ableton Live and FL Studio use MIDI, an intuitive and flexible method of electronic composition that allows one to visualize their song and map individual pitches onto a plane of defined bars and beats. Audio samples or synthesized sounds are assigned to these MIDI notes, which are then able to play back exactly what one writes using any sample or sound they have access to.
Chiptune artists have taken full advantage of these newer capabilities, using an unlimited number of channels and synthesized sounds that mimic those produced by SIDs and other audio chips. Some reimagine older video game themes in the same style but with more depth, such as in this remix of Flying Battery Zone (the piece we analyzed earlier from Sonic & Knuckles) made by an artist known as MyNewSoundtrack.
Other artists incorporate genres, styles, and sounds to create contemporary, pseudo-chiptune songs, such as this EDM-infused original by Unicorn Kid, “Feel So Real.”
Minecraft!
Even video games themselves can give players, musical or non-musical, the tools to make their own music in the chiptune fashion with watered down versions of MIDI technology that use in-game features to visualize a player’s composition. Minecraft is probably the most well-known example of this, allowing players to map out their songs using note blocks that can be given any pitch within a 3-octave range. Different sounds can be played by a given note block depending on what type of block is placed underneath it. For instance, a note block placed on a dirt block will play a piano sound while a note block placed on an ice block will play a bell sound. One can utilize this limited sound/block library to create multiple rows of note blocks that play percussion or accompaniment lines alongside a row of note blocks that plays a melody line. Through a tedious process of placing blocks, setting pitches, and making sure each block activates at the right time, anyone can use these tools to recreate countless songs in the Minecraft style.
Though a genre of music is driven by its artists, it is largely defined by, and cannot really exist without, the listeners of that genre. Initially, fans of chiptunes and 8-bit music were primarily individuals who grew up with video games during the last two decades of the 20th century and did not identify as a “fandom.” As those individuals came together in various circles as adults, however, they found that the tunes from their childhoods created an inclusive common interest among their generation. Chiptunes also appealed to younger generations, showing that their popularity was not solely dependent on nostalgia.
One instance of chiptune fandom that demonstrates its widespread appeal is the popular UK gaming nightclub GamerDisco, run by Nicholas Thurgood and Dave Fade. In 2010, following a night of playing through their childhood games together, Thurgood and Fade came up with the idea for a club that primarily plays classic video game themes. This idea inspired them to start GamerDisco, which turned out to be a grand success; only a few months after opening night, Nintendo hosted their official launches for the Nintendo 3DS handheld in their venue. The nightclub is still active today and attracts a diverse audience, including young and old, and it manages to break away from the common misconception that the gaming demographic is predominantly male, having a male/female split of 60/40. “I think chiptune is a really welcoming scene,” Thurgood submits, “so no one is put off going to those sort of events. I'd say the gaming music and clubbing demographic is pretty much the same; it's people who want to go out and dance to decent tunes after all” (Lynch). Similar venues within the underground club scene exist around the world, allowing a variety of crowds to relish in the nostalgia and enjoyment of video game music (Lynch).
The influence of chiptunes is not limited to classic video game fans either. For example, many indie game developers, harkening back to the humble beginnings of the video game industry, use retro graphics and gameplay for their original titles, often complementing this stylistic approach with 8-bit music and sound effects. This style seems to be especially popular in the horror genre, which uses 8-bit sounds to generate certain moods, anxieties, and fears that stray far from the typical, up-beat quality of synthesized music. Chiptunes are also able to appeal to non-gamers by integrating them into other musical genres, such as in 2016 when chip-musician ‘Rock’ composed a tribute to David Bowie’s "Starman" using an original SID from the Commodore 64 (Reid). Even Classic FM, a radio channel known mainly for playing classical music, recognized the influence of video games on music and started a show dedicated to video game music. Thurgood claims that “though it focusses on the more symphonic modern soundtracks from the likes of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, it’s an incredible validation of the audio work that began back in the 8-bit era” (Lynch).
After seeing the uniqueness and prevalence of the chiptune genre, it is not difficult to see how video game music has impacted the music world. New but limiting technology challenged the first video game composers and programmers, motivating them to invent a new style of music with new sounds. Gamers from multiple generations would come to love the games and their music, and that love prompted countless individuals to create their own chiptunes using the many tools available to them, including original hardware, MIDI technology, and video games with music-creating capabilities. Due in part to the different ways musicians have integrated the chiptune style into their covers and songs, one can hear the classic FM synths and drums in several electronic genres, not just music that is explicitly 8-bit. And unlike the old days of classical composers and the current age of multi-millionaire pop artists, anyone can write chiptunes using the same methods used by composers like Matsumae and Yamagishi.
Perhaps being inspired by my research for this blog post and drawing from my love for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, I tried out Minecraft’s music-making system to create a portion of the “Green Hill Zone” theme from the original Sonic the Hedgehog game. It took me a while to make, and I could have easily used my DAW to recreate the song in about a quarter of the time. But, somehow, seeing each meticulously placed note block playing their programmed pitch and hearing the original 8-bit theme I listened to as a kid brings me great satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. Perhaps this is similar to the charm held by old video game consoles and audio chips, stimulating people to continue using them to play games and make music. Love for the music and love for the games go hand in hand for many chiptune enthusiasts, and as long as the love for the games persists, I think we all will keep rocking to 8-bit tunes old and new.
Works Cited
Driscoll, Kevin, and Joshua Diaz. “Endless Loop: A Brief History of Chiptunes.” Transformative Works and Cultures Vol. 2 (February 17, 2009). https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2009.096.
“Flying Battery Zone.” Sonic Wiki Zone | Fandom. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Flying_Battery_Zone#:~:text=Flying%20Battery%20Zone%20(%E3%83%95%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3 %E3%82%B0%E3%83%90%E3%83%83%E3%83%86%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC.
JPhands. “Megaman 1 Music Full OST Soundtrack.” YouTube. JPhands, April 23, 2009, 10:42. Accessed April 29, 2024. https://youtu.be/C1QC3CtGGJ4?si=IH0Ecc14PXuE5wHc.
Lynch, Gerald. “From 8-Bit to Chiptune: The Music That Changed Gaming Forever.” TechRadar, March 8, 2017.
https://www.techradar.com/news/8-bit-music-the-soundtrack-to-a-gaming-revolution-that-resonates-today.
Matsumae, Manami. "A Conversation with Manami Matsumae." Interview by Mohammed Taher. Brave Wave Productions, 2012. https://bravewave.net/interviews/a-conversation-with-manami-matsumae.
NintendoComplete. “Mega Man (NES) Playthrough- NintendoComplete.” YouTube. NintendoComplete, June 18, 2018, 42:48. Accessed April 29, 2024.
https://youtu.be/hkD3lEANa_4?si=-xxT1e5pgYYTR0Hx&t=402.
NoteBlockMatt. “The Legend of Zelda Main Theme - Minecraft Note Block Cover.” YouTube. NoteBlockMatt, February 9, 2023, 1:39. Accessed April 14, 2024. https://youtu.be/ZuRmg1hpTII?si=Hk34bRdrDb_de9gQ.
MyNewSoundtrack. Flying Battery Zone (from Sonic & Knuckles) (single). Spotify: GameLark Records, 2016. https://open.spotify.com/track/6ue9zhw5aCD6WCrtPBMWxD?si=6077708f2ab54be6.
———. Flying Battery Zone (from Sonic & Knuckles) (music video). YouTube: MyNewSoundtrack, 2016, 4:14. Accessed April 29, 2024. https://youtu.be/EzXo5uDkq0I?si=fEjtjVW40uON8OnB.
Potila, Tero. “What Is Chiptune and How to Make Chiptune Beats.” Soundtrap, November 29, 2023. https://www.soundtrap.com/content/blog/how-to-make-chiptune-beats.
Reid, George. “Chiptune: The Ludomusical Shaping of Identity.” The Computer Games Journal 7, no. 4 (October 20, 2018): 279–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40869-018-0070-y.
SonicJGB. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Complete: Flying Battery Zone Act 1 (Sonic) [1080 HD].” YouTube. SonicJGB, May 13, 2016, 3:21. Accessed April 28, 2024. https://youtu.be/q9UHEQsV0qI?si=NNOmMRM8WGqTxDu2.
Unicorn Kid. Feel so Real (single). Spotify: Unicorn Kid, 2014. https://open.spotify.com/track/7tvYbJnZCRud0d6okFXlGj?si=9e4ef4cb9ffb4c9e.
———. Feel so Real (music video). YouTube: 3 Beat, 2012, 3:07. Accessed April 29, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrMcdz0HQ10.
Yamagishi, Keiji. "A Conversation with Keiji Yamagishi." Interview by Mohammed Taher. Brave Wave Productions, August 2012.
https://bravewave.net/interviews/a-conversation-with-keiji-yamagishi?rq=interview.
“YM2612: The Chip That Powered Music on the Mega Drive.” Yamaha, n.d. Accessed April 29, 2024. https://au.yamaha.com/en/news_events/2021/1203_YM2612.html#:~:text=Every%20Sega%20Mega%20Drive%20had.
Opening and Section Banner image credit to Pixel Art Shop, other images not credited come from one of the sources listed above.
Benjamin Porter is a song writer and majored in Music Technology at UMBC. He is also a National Merit Scholar and was awarded UMBC’s Centennial Scholarship for his academic achievements. His devotion to Jesus Christ, enjoyment of videogames, and love for rock and pop music all influence his musical identity, and he hopes to use the skills he has learned in college to produce songs about his faith as well as electronic instrumental music.