1. I listen to an 8 hour loop of just the "brk" sample until i go into euphoria.
2. I don't remember I usually just black out and wake up at waffle house. day repeats.

1. I don't really have an inspiration to write music, until I start. I'll pick up a guitar or a keyboard, and just fuck around. If something sounds nice, then I'll develop it, and that will be my motivation.

2. Without trying to sound 2 hurad-core, I don't put emotions into my music. I don't write angry songs when I'm angry, I just write songs.

Personally I try to take things that I have feelings/thoughts about and try to convey that through music. I used to be a serious lyricist when I was younger, writing mostly topical political songs. Now that I'm making chiptune as my primary musical project, I've been trying to use my songs to tell more personal stories. Some turn out more like expository nature writing, or even like the condensed overture for a little play, but a lot of them can be summed up in a single sentence: "Emotions run wild as young love develops" or "Don't let the burdens of adult life dull your childlike wonder at the universe" or "Playing Outrun at a pizza parlor during a sweet birthday party circa 1994". Keeping that seed concept in mind, the song (hopefully) develops into a representation of that feeling.

All things considered, it seems like inspiration is where you find it. It's an incredibly personal phenomenon. Some writers have a story to tell that drives and informs their songs, some have a person who they use as a muse, some have drugs, some have emotional torment and/or fulfillment, others use and recycle other media. Maybe the question isn't so much "where does one get inspiration" but "where do I get inspiration". To me it seems like the answer to that should be easy. People usually know what they like.

Gaming, a lot of it, especially oldshool games. My songs NEED to give you a feeling that you want to turn on that old NES again. If so, my mission is accomplished, if not, back to the drawing table.

I don't have a real source of inspiration, it's just that while composing I try to think about what kind of game could fit with the song itself. Most of my songs are a kind of rock styled megaman/castlevania atmosphere. And a good amount of beer also helps with finalizing.

Sometimes I feel like it's not even me who creates the tracks but my 8bit digital alter ego... I like to call those moments *working on auto pilot* as it feels like translating what is in my head .

Does this makes you want to play some Castlevania?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt35vUQ … sQ49pkisfw

Just sit down and work on your songs, you lazy bastards. Don't waste your time on this forum. And take more drugs. Much more.

Durgs.

1. I get inspiration from my favorite music and artists, inspirational stuff I find online or wherever. Personal life experiences can influence me as well. Sometimes I let my imagination run wild, and sometimes it's all of these things I've listed.

2. Depends on my mood, though my mind usually has to be cleared and focused in order to write any /good/ material. So yeah, it can help, but sometimes in can hinder.

1. toilet, shower, driving, in bed when i'm just about to sleep. just gotta make sure i write that shit down ASAP and/or repeat it in my head/out loud for long enough that it's committed to memory. right now i've got a whole bunch of full songs just floating in my head until i have time to record them all (but they've been there for at least 3 months, some of them way longer).

2. not really, i can't sit down and just make music if i feel at all like shit.

At the moment I just experiment and let my subconscious do all the work. I wrote a concept album about space travel without even thinking about what my songs would be about when I made them. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that making music is a great way to know what you're really feeling deep down.

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^ He might be joking, but I'm much more creative and expressive when I'm working with an altered headspace. (excluding alcohol)

2. Sometimes yes, most of the time no. I pick a vibe I'm going for before I start writing, and work/add on to songs over a longer period of time. I give my self a lot of time to go back over songs and perfect them to my taste.

Well, nowadays all of the stuff I write is inspired by events in my life and this special person that I know. I come up with a concept first and then the title and then I try to make something that fits the mood of that concept. For example, the last concept song that I worked on is called "Krafptrov" (it translates to "effort" in English). The bassline is kind of uplifting because effort is very often an enjoyable thing but then the pad and melody were a bit more dramatic and moody because these sorts of feelings can also be a part of that.

Edit: Also, caffeine. Usually in the form of energy drinks.

I really like these deep stories you guys have, keep em coming!

Also, being inebriated seems to work wonders, as previously mentioned.

I tend to start with ryhthm and bass and build around that. Sometimes I'll have a melody pop in my head. I sing funny made up songs to my dog and use those. My inspiration comes from just throwing random code into lsdj from time to time.

Feelings play a huge role in my style. A lot of times, my song are the inverse of my actual feeling. I write happy songs, but they have a darker or morbid message. An earlier song of mine (Push Off the Ground) is super happy, but was derived from a pure state of apathy. I felt like no one cares about me or what I had to say, so the only option when I was my lowest point was to push myself past it.

Hope that helps in some way.