Maybe OP should judge " the state of the online scene" by his own interaction with it??
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buffalo, NY
Lesson to take away:
Internet will be a constantly evolving circle jerk. Sometimes better than others. Try not to worry about it so much, your favorite site might disappear tomorrow, but the people remain the same.
You should really make an effort to go to some shows or festivals. That's how you feel the magic, that's how you really find great artists. Lots of people travel cross country or internationally for fests. Calmdown Kidder came from the UK for 8static and I'm sure he had an incredible time, despite the expense. I know it can be hard and scary, but no risk no reward.
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IL, US
i kind of feel like both the long-distance communication via internet and IRL stuff need to go hand in hand... i've been to plenty of shows and festivals of course, but since half or more of the people i know have ditched forums and (in some cases) facebook staying in touch just isn't happening the way it used to.. i have to imagine its as bad or worse for some others and it can leave you feeling isolated as fuck...
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UK, Leicester
danimal cannon wrote:
Lesson to take away:
Internet will be a constantly evolving circle jerk. Sometimes better than others. Try not to worry about it so much, your favorite site might disappear tomorrow, but the people remain the same.
You should really make an effort to go to some shows or festivals. That's how you feel the magic, that's how you really find great artists. Lots of people travel cross country or internationally for fests. Calmdown Kidder came from the UK for 8static and I'm sure he had an incredible time, despite the expense. I know it can be hard and scary, but no risk no reward.
but aren't you just asking people to join your circlejerk? you seem to be saying "guys, the internet is shit, but come to un-named chipmusic event and be one of the in croud who don't need internet communication method anymore"
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In the opposite perspective to @e.s.c. before I started writing chiptune I was in rock/metal bands for years and that looking back on it now made me feel more isolated that I do now being part of the chiptune/chipmusic scene online/irl.
Thats because I felt that although we had regular shows, a decent group of fans etc no one would help you or want to talk to you or engage in deeper conversation that just a hello. Everyone was out for themselves. Which although it was great being on stage and performing I always felt stuck in our home scene that even if you did say hi to other bands from further away or across the country you didn't get the chance to play shows there or keep in touch with them online. It just didn't happen, I going to that kind of gig now I still feel like it hasn't taken any steps further forward in the area I live in particular.
Whereas coming to the chip music scene on the forum and off has been the best sense of community I've ever experienced. In the last year I've done a bunch of shows all over the place people who I've only previously spoken to on the internet have welcomed me into their homes to have somewhere to stay overnight after a gig and have been generally welcoming. If I had a problem I know someone on the forum could help and usually would be willing to help to grow and educate other people within the scene.
I cannot compare what I see now online to years previous as I wasn't involved then but as a relative newcomer I've been nothing but impressed and I feel quite lucky to have found such a community.
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NC in the US of America
Alpine wrote:
danimal cannon wrote:Lesson to take away:
Internet will be a constantly evolving circle jerk. Sometimes better than others. Try not to worry about it so much, your favorite site might disappear tomorrow, but the people remain the same.
You should really make an effort to go to some shows or festivals. That's how you feel the magic, that's how you really find great artists. Lots of people travel cross country or internationally for fests. Calmdown Kidder came from the UK for 8static and I'm sure he had an incredible time, despite the expense. I know it can be hard and scary, but no risk no reward.
but aren't you just asking people to join your circlejerk? you seem to be saying "guys, the internet is shit, but come to un-named chipmusic event and be one of the in croud who don't need internet communication method anymore"
jerking in person vs. jerking over text on the internet are very different experiences, I'd reckon. To borrow the analogy.
And also I'd like to point out that e.s.c. and danimalcannon, though they are singing the praises of live show attendance, are also using the internet to participate in this conversation. Balance.
Last edited by SketchMan3 (Oct 22, 2014 9:34 pm)
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buffalo, NY
Alpine wrote:
but aren't you just asking people to join your circlejerk? you seem to be saying "guys, the internet is shit, but come to un-named chipmusic event and be one of the in croud who don't need internet communication method anymore"
I am in fact asking people to join my circle jerk. The going to shows, making new friends, and loving music circle jerk. The Internet is fucking great, but it's missing the best part of chipmusic.
Last edited by danimal cannon (Oct 22, 2014 9:50 pm)
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IL, US
like i said though, whats the point of meeting everyone if no one keeps in touch?
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buffalo, NY
Your mileage may vary, I chat with chipbros on the Internet literally every day, and rarely on this site
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Brunswick, GA USA
That kind of thing becomes up to you as well as up to the people you meet. If the event doesn't give the time and space for that, it isn't a good event. I relate to J3wel's story, because I occasionally think to myself, my town has great local music for its size...
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UK, Leicester
danimal cannon wrote:
I am in fact asking people to join my circle jerk. The going to shows, making new friends, and loving music circle jerk. The Internet is fucking great, but it's missing the best part of chipmusic.
You see I find more music on the net than I do when I go to gigs, chip or non chip.
I get that forums aren't the best place to talk to people, but they're certainly a decent place to meet people, if you see where I'm comming from. I've met a few chip people here, but I talk to them on facebook, with friends from a gaming forum I visit, I met them there, but talk to them on steam.
plus going to gigs just straight up isn't feasable for a lot of people, I'd love to go to more gigs, but apart from the fact that a several hundred mile journey costs a lot of money, anyone under the age of 18 is shit out of luck. There have never been non-chip gigs that I've wanted to go to, but wasn't able due to age restrictions, but there have been with chip things.
Last edited by Alpine (Oct 22, 2014 11:13 pm)
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Alpine wrote:
plus going to gigs just straight up isn't feasable for a lot of people, I'd love to go to more gigs, but apart from the fact that a several hundred mile journey costs a lot of money, anyone under the age of 18 is shit out of luck.
I mean, you don't necessarily have to travel out of your own city to find people that may be interested in what you're doing. Sure you might not find a collection of people putting on an international chiptune festival, but chances are likely you may find someone who wants to work with you in parallel. swimm's genuinely right about linking up with fellow other cultures. even chiptune as we know it itself benefitted from the interest of hackers, gamers, and experimental artists. even the most remote locations have people that could be interested in meeting up and discussing things. it seems that we sometimes forget that "scenes" exist because at their base foundation lie great friendships and if those friendships didn't exist than neither would the motivation
http://meetup.com is a surprisingly good resource to find things in your area. hell i've even had people reach out to me via craigslist sometimes too: just find the musicians/artist community tabs and introduce yourself. find some bulletin boards or local places with lots of foot traffic and put up flyers. hang out at local music shops or record stores and meet the staff or others that come in. make business cards for crazy cheap and hand them out to anyone that you spark a conversation about chiptune with. 
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Los Angeles, CA
I actually avoid talking to strangers about chiptune like the fucking plague. There is nothing more demoralizing that having to explain for the millionth time "What game I'm playing"
Also this thread has been going for a week. I think we all loose.
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Melbourne, Australia
Mrwimmer wrote:
I actually avoid talking to strangers about chiptune like the fucking plague. There is nothing more demoralizing that having to explain for the millionth time "What game I'm playing"
This is quite true. I agree a lot... Although, I've personally reverted to saying that it's the punk mentality equivalent for electronic music, and a surprising amount of people get what I mean and move on.
Now, just my two cents: I wasn't really part of the online chip scene back in the "glory days" of 8bc (sad I missed them, I know), however, since joining, I find the online scene here is pretty interesting. Where I am at, there is no such thing as a chiptune scene. There is one guy who gets a few gigs, but mainly through his art, than through his music. I find that because of this, I sometimes lose a lot of motivation to make chip stuff. The online scene may not be super impressive, but it gives enough motivation, and new ideas to keep me getting my gameboy back out, and even buying a megadrive! And that to me is what counts. One of my friends has recently got into chip as well, and having someone else to talk about it to irl makes the stoke even better 
But the online scene to me is very important to remind me that there are people out there doing rad things, and to inspire me to keep trying. It's inspiring to be around like minded people, but when you can't find them irl, the internet is the next best thing...
So, yeah, that's my two cents... I still think it's more important to make music than to worry about this, but eh, I can't really say that, as here I am posting :') haha
Edit: My point was that even if the online scene isn't as great, it's still enough to keep me going.
Last edited by Panda Chan (Oct 23, 2014 9:25 am)
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Gosford, Australia
Panda Chan wrote:
Where I am at, there is no such thing as a chiptune scene. There is one guy who gets a few gigs, but mainly through his art, than through his music.
referring to gentle hurst? used to be sydney fam if you ever get a chance to cross the bass strait let us know and we can do chiptune stuff m8