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Nomad's Land

Inb4 somebody mentions the obvious. Punk = Chiptune, bcoz both are dead. Har har har.

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IL, US

chipmusic has been dead since at least 2007
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Gainl … c_Is_Dead/

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Earth
marcb0t wrote:

There is nothing simple about trying to squeeze Mozart out of a C64. People who can pull that off have some real talent.

Why would someone do that? I'm just saying, it sounds counter productive to impose such limitations on such virtuosic work. Sounds dumb.

Last edited by breakphase (Nov 24, 2016 8:26 pm)

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Chicago
chunter wrote:

There were a lot of people in my timeline looking forward to a new era of politically charged anger music a few weeks ago, and it had me listening to Midnight Oil and XTC again. If you want to be the one who brings that back, you certainly have my support.

man, I've thought so much about what chip stands for. More specifically, I've thought about from what I've seen, heard, and talked directly to people, what are we really getting out of it and why are we doing it.
I think very few are trying to make statements about what's going on, globally, locally or personally.

Last edited by theghostservant (Nov 26, 2016 1:48 am)

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Earth
breakphase wrote:
marcb0t wrote:

There is nothing simple about trying to squeeze Mozart out of a C64. People who can pull that off have some real talent.

Why would someone do that? I'm just saying, it sounds counter productive to impose such limitations on such virtuosic work. Sounds dumb.

Uh, Anyway, what I'm getting at is, what you are describing is radical, aggressive simplification. Even though the score may be complex, a Commodore 64 is an absurdly limited system, compared to what you can buy these days.

if someone came up to me (as a normal person), and said, "I've made a musical masterpiece on par with Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, entirely on a 25 year old Nintendo gameboy" I would think they were weird, and borderline scary. Why would you use a musical instrument which is so hilariously simple, and outdated, to compose something like that?

We are living in a time when technology has made it possible for one person to compose and score works of limitless complexity, from anywhere. For there to be a group of people who -- instead of using the readily available, fast, and cheap Mac/PC solutions -- seek out obsolete video game systems, which are sort of flakey, and severely limited in terms of music and technology -- this seems to me to make a very strong statement. Almost pathological. It's such a strong rejection of modern music techniques.

If you're a geek who's been programming this technology since it was cutting edge, I guess that's one thing. But I know most of us are not like that. So it's hard for me to believe that making Chip Music is not a rebellious act, in one form or another, for most of us. It's a rejection of something.

marcb0t wrote:

I like to give away source files to people because I like them, or think it will benefit them in some way. Not because of rebellion. Any one starting off chiptune music for rebellion is likely missing the whole point altogether.

.

all I said about sharing source materials, is that it invites participation, and makes it accessible. Unlike, for instance, a Dubstep artist who keeps his setup totally secret, or a band who's music only sounds right in a huge stadium that you will never play in, Or a studio band that makes nuanced, amazing, but over-produced, recorded music.


I'd also like to suggest to you the possibility that rebellion is already encoded within chipmusic

Last edited by breakphase (Nov 26, 2016 6:14 am)

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Brunswick, GA USA
theghostservant wrote:

I think very few are trying to make statements about what's going on, globally, locally or personally.

It's hard because we're not here to make enemies and many of us create music to relax or entertain, but there's always room for a little risky behavior.

Is choosing fewer waveforms and tracks rebellion against production norms? It depends on who is making it. It can work both ways, because at one point choosing to make tracks in FL or Live instead of a tracker or using eurorack modules was against the grain compared to other chipmusic.

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Chicago
chunter wrote:

It's hard because we're not here to make enemies and many of us create music to relax or entertain, but there's always room for a little risky behavior.

I guess that's my point. Most musical composers and producers since forever have been creating to relax or entertain others and themselves. I don't see many in chip having different motivations that that. Which is okay with me. There is totally a place and time for it, and that's most places and most times.
Most of the music I choose to attend live (that isn't chip) is hardcore/punk. Its a different place that most others, a different motivation. Making statements shouldn't make enemies, you know? If the person making the statement is reasonable (which is increasingly rare), then it shouldn't be contentious as much as it should create positive dissonance.

Maybe that's the two big differences:
Does our music offer the opportunity to create cognitive harmony, the reinforcing of cultural values?
Or does our music offer the opportunity to create cognitive dissonance, the questioning of cultural values?

I think a lot about these sort of things, and I might be taking this conversation in a different direction than intended

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ohio gozaimasu

Chiptune always felt more proto-goth than data-punk to me!

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Toronto, Canada

I don't know if Chiptune is intrinsically punk, though I think for a lot of people (myself included) it holds some kind of punk-connection. Personally, I think the connection comes from both the D.I.Y. aspect, the musical/artistic limitations, and the community associated with it.

...or we're all just sad nerds who just wanna be cool...

Last edited by Starshine (Dec 19, 2016 3:10 pm)

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Earth
Starshine wrote:

I don't know if Chiptune is intrinsically punk, though I think for a lot of people (myself included) it holds some kind of punk-connection. Personally, I think the connection comes from both the D.I.Y. aspect, the musical/artistic limitations, and the community associated with it.

Don't forget that punk was also retro. It was a throwback to 50s-60s garage rock. It was a revival of something old. Like chipmusic.

Starshine wrote:

...or we're all just sad nerds who just wanna be cool...

Why can't it be both? Maybe we are all lonely nerds, who want to work alone. Most of us aren't in bands. That's important too. It's like punk in some ways, but socially it may speak to a group of people who are alienated, and who are technology nerds.

I think if you put masking tape over the actual music, and just study how people relate to the medium, And relate to each other... That's important. Maybe more important than the music itself.

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Earth

******* self censorship ******

Last edited by Ermangaver (Dec 21, 2016 1:08 pm)

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Earth

Scratch all that before.
A summary of my previous attempt: I can't use the forum to teach myself English.
Sorry guys, you're wonderful smile

Last edited by Ermangaver (Dec 21, 2016 4:21 am)

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Brooklyn NY US

I thought it was an insightful and well-worded post actually!

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Finland
Ermangaver wrote:

Scratch all that before.
A summary of my previous attempt: I can't use the forum to teach myself English.
Sorry guys, you're wonderful smile

Bit Shifter wrote:

I thought it was an insightful and well-worded post actually!

Yeah I mean it was essentially: "It can be, but not necessarily." as a tl;dr... smile But yes, it was fine I thought.

And I agree: it is and it isn't. Even if we all came to an understanding that it is or it isn't, that's really only true until the day it is/isn't. As with everything. Scenes change, things pivot, what's punk yesterday may be someone's costume today. wink

Last edited by my.Explosion (Dec 22, 2016 9:37 pm)

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Earth
Ermangaver wrote:

Scratch all that before.
A summary of my previous attempt: I can't use the forum to teach myself English.
Sorry guys, you're wonderful smile

I thought it was a good post as well. I think you were saying that people are unaware of their own motivations, or possible messages in their own music? I absolutely agree with that. There's so much that we basically take for granted in modern society.

Last edited by breakphase (Dec 22, 2016 11:45 pm)

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Boise, ID

to me it's all about the texture of the sound; chipmusic is just electronic music stripped way down to the nitty-gritty...
nothing left but the bare essentials - like punk

I think Nullsleep said pretty much the same thing in reformat the planet

Last edited by ShintarouMusic (Dec 23, 2016 7:55 am)