spacetownsavior wrote:like an0va I also got really into different genres of music and wanted to start incorporating them into my own style, but I also found that gameboy-only (LSDJ was my main tool) stuff really didn't do it for me as far as composition went. so I bit the bullet and ended up writing things in ableton and using other synths and things (<3 my microbrute) to make it
but I ended up in this weird area where I don't feel like I'm "chiptune" anymore, and coming back on this forum to hear people talking about "pure" chiptune and how it's sacrilegious to pander to audiences with square waves kind of confirmed it for me
one of the bigger turning points for me happened when chibi-tech released that moe moe kyunstep song -- it was amazing and hugely expanded the possibility space for what the NES could do soundwise, but it also sounded exactly like a skrillex song? so to hear people say "man dubstep is the WORST" followed by "holy shit this song is AMAZING" when it's literally skrillex on an NES was weird for me
and this isn't meant as a slight toward chibi-tech or the song, it was just weird to see that double standard. a skrillex song made on an NES is chiptune, but an NES + other instruments that skrillex might use isn't chiptune? I personally would have liked the definition to expand to include the second scenario, but it didn't seem to happen, so that's kind of where I fell off of listening to "pure" chiptune
the actual solution is for us not to care though so whoops!
The thing about Moe Moe Kyunstep is that it /doesn't/ sound exactly like a skrillex song. "Literally skrillex on an NES" would be... literally skrillex producing a song on an NES. Moe Moe Kyunstep isn't even virtually skrillex on an NES. It executes its melodic and harmonic and thematic elements in a way that skrillex never could. The tune in and of itself is excellent, regardless of the things it has in common with a skrillex song. For me, at least. Moe Moe Kyunstep is literally a chibi-tech chiptune song that happens to be teh brostep.
I seriously doubt that all those people who loved kyunstep but hate dubstep magically started listening to and enjoying skrillex and dubstep artists and gameboy EDMstep, etc, that they had previously hated, and all lived happily ever-after. (Perhaps some did, and to them I say congrats on expanding your horizons and learning to see things from another point of view). Maybe I'm wrong, but from what I understand, people dislike dubstep because it lacks elements that would allow them to enjoy it, not so much because it's down-tempo and wubbulous. Chibi-tech created a song that infused the brostep with elements that they can enjoy, thus unlocking a world where they were able to partake in the joy that regular dubstep fans enjoy.
Not only did kyunstep expand the possibilities of what the NES could do soundwise, but, for me, it also expanded my perception of the possibilities of what growlstep could do melodically, harmonically, rhythmically (it had some really cool drum n bass/breakbeat elements that I haven't heard in your typical skrillstep) and thematically.
Also, if your usage of square waves is to pander to an audience and your artistic self-expression are mutually exclusive, then at least a few people are going to feel that and turn away from it. Any form of pandering is going to be frowned upon by /somebody/.
i'd say those people talking about that are the vocal minority in this case... most people who've been in this scene for any length of time consider any argument about purity to be silly and really missing the point of making music as an artistic statement
People enjoy what sounds good to them. It's not their fault that the artists they've heard being "impure" don't execute their impurity in a way that sounds pleasing to them.
As someone who loves all kinds of chiptune, be it solo or with an orchestra, One of the things that I, at least, enjoy about "pure" chiptune vs. "impure" chiptune is that pure chiptune can do a lot of creative things with the sound design of the chiptune element that a lot of impurists often /can't/ do, due to the fact that their choice of unchiply instrumentation wouldn't mix very well with those chiptune elements. They'd be tripping all over each other and fighting for attention and getting mutually lost in the muddled mix (as I've heard often enough, even with some of the popular "big hitters" in the "scene"). My beloved chiptune elements that would normally be taking center-stage get pushed to the back, playing second fiddle and being limited in what they can do (square wave leads or maybe some arps. Or if you /really/ want to be edgy, throw in a 25% pulse wave or a SID PWM lead 
) Maybe an artist might throw in a 4 measure bridge of gameboy solo here or there to try and jam the more creative sounds into the song somewhere, but then they get stripped away again, or buried in the mix.
There's a certain way of caressing the soundchip that /usually/ doesn't happen when it's having to share space with other instrumentation. Kinda like having a 1-on-1 tutoring session vs. a group study.
Last edited by SketchMan3 (Feb 10, 2016 9:40 pm)
