n00bstar
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Montreal, Canada

I was having this discussion yesterday with someone. And we both seemed to agree that there is very little high quality material being produced in this scene. There seems to be a general opinion that "meh, it's just chip music, it's okay not to put any effort in what I do" is an accepted fact of life. I've listened to a metric shit ton of releases lately and I'd say around 90% of it is entirely forgettable noise. People don't seem to take much pride in what they do, often using chip music just to put out unmusical pieces because "it's just chipmusic".

Now maybe I'm being extremely picky, I don't know. Maybe I'm not avantgarde enough to appreciate walls of noise and random notes, but I was wondering if anybody else feels this way. Or has it really become acceptable as a general concept that face-rolling the keyboard and making an "album" out of the results is just as good as spending two weeks on a single piece fine tuning every details?

Maybe the problem is indeed, as this thread suggest that there is no limits on the number of songs a user can post directly on this website? The general opinion in the thread seemed to indicate that people would like some kind of quality control in order to not be exposed to the bottom of the barrel. The countless works in progress that are clearly unfinished, and all the music that is definitely not even close chipmusic like bands that record themselves with a potato and think they're making chips because their keyboard player could not afford decent equipment?

Would peer review be acceptable? Or would that create a kind of nazi elite that dictates what's good and what's not? How do we solve the problem of bad crappy music? Do we just ignore it and move on to the next piece? Is it in fact a problem or am I just a grumpy old fuck?

Comments? Opinions? Threats?

Jellica
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England

Isn't this a problem in any form of art?

I'm sure that it is 10 times worse in dubstep communities or somewhere like Deviantart.

People seem to be entitled to share every single moment of their lives on the internet, art is no different.

Last edited by Jellica (Feb 25, 2013 4:50 pm)

roboctopus
Offline
Madison, Alabama

I think you see a lot of unfinished/WIP/experimental stuff in chip is simply because the bar for entry is very low. Gameboys are cheap, many of the programs you use to compose chip are free, and since it is mostly electronic, you don't even have to know how to play an instrument to start.

On top of all that, this is a forum for chipmusicians, so people upload tracks to get criticism or just to see what their fellow artists think about an idea or track.

Your best bet for quality control is to stick with people's official releases (EPs and albums).

Not sure about other people but I literally spend months just tweaking a release to make sure the quality is as high as I can muster. Whether I succeed in producing quality music is another matter...

e.s.c.
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IL, US

are you talking primarily about single-track uploads or full releases? i pretty much never listen to individual tracks at this point

egr
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Abandoned on Fire

Roboctopus is correct.  Stick with "official" releases that are presented with pride and at least an attempt at professionalism from the artist or label and the ratio of silly crap to decent tracks will increase a lot.  Maybe to even something around 1 good to every 12 bad which to me is pretty impressive!

n00bstar
Offline
Montreal, Canada

@Jellica, true that. We came to the same conclusion yesterday. The problem has always been there since the beginning of time. It's just that now people only need three mouse clicks to propagate their awfulness. God damn intertubes$#%^&

@roboctopus, yeah I tend to be the same. I can spend insane amounts of time of little details nobody will pay attention to. I think it does make for higher quality releases in the end, but I'm almost starting to wonder if it's worth the time since good releases get drowned in the flow of sewage so quick that they don't even get noticed. I've listened to your EP btw, rocking stuff smile

@esc, I think I was referring to both single tracks and EPs/albums really. I've seen terrible shit on either side. I see what you mean by not even listening to the individual releases anymore, but I kind of feel this part of the problem. If we don't pay attention to what others release, how can we expect them to pay attention to what we release? Shouldn't we collectively try to raise the bar instead?

extreme zan-zan-zawa-veia
Offline

all the review websites die out haha
or they run out of good material and are too timid to say anything about the bad stuff

also experimental certainly isn't the right word for gameboy music where the melody has been written as a random string of crotchets. i'd label a lot of the work on inpuj.net experimental, perhaps. most of the GOOD STUFF appears to be famicompo-core at this point

Bit wish
Offline
New Albany Indiana

http://www.8bitpeoples.com/discography/by/she -This is an example of hi-quality stuff.

O2star
Offline
Planet Zaxxon

I agree with it being present in all genres of music. Some people have passion and others don't. Some just make music to pass the time, mess around with sounds, while others spend weeks crafting the perfect OPL3 synth lead with supreme macro tables.

ForaBrokenEarth
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Nottingham, UK

I've realised recently that (generally) the most interesting (chip) musicians don't complain about the state of things and instead just set out to improve the scene by adding their best quality work to it.

Last edited by ForaBrokenEarth (Feb 25, 2013 5:32 pm)

n00bstar
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Montreal, Canada

Passive agressive much, sir?

ForaBrokenEarth
Offline
Nottingham, UK
n00bstar wrote:

Passive agressive much, sir?

Well someone has to maintain the cycle.


But more seriously, it was meant as an actual statement of how I feel about this. Seeing as I have been guilty of complaining about how people perceive chip myself.

I also used "generally" because zan zan always has something to complain about but regularly makes some of the most interesting chip music I've encountered.

Last edited by ForaBrokenEarth (Feb 25, 2013 5:42 pm)

n00bstar
Offline
Montreal, Canada

Well, from my point of view I wasn't complaining as much as trying to get a feel for how people feel about something that I've noticed. I haven't been on CMO long enough to be aware of the cyclic nature of things. You on the other hand, could have followed your own advice and not get involved tongue

But yes, I see your point. I will forever hold my voice and accept the mediocrity.

Hitboxx
Offline
France

another example of hi-quality Chiptune sound.

https://soundcloud.com/hitboxx/hitboxx-mystery-castle

kineticturtle
Offline
Matthew Joseph Payne

How do you define "high quality" music?

I look for musical development and intent, cohesive releases. I don't like repetitive music.
I don't particularly care about recording quality, aside from the most egregious offenders, nor do I care about advanced techniques unless they are used to achieve musical ends that otherwise can't be reached.

chunter
Offline
Brunswick, GA USA

Ie the DeviantArt analogy, nobody looks at a few preteen scrawlings and then says "all art sucks."

This article is relevant but not my opinion http://stephencorwin.com/blog/?p=97

When the "only" criteria for being chipmusic is the instrumentation, there is going to be clashing over quality and genre. Learning to find what appeals takes time.