breakphase
Offline
Earth
Cooshinator wrote:

This is probably because of the rock/punk shows I've been going to recently, but I've been noticing that chiptune up to a certain purity forces me to write music in a way that's like stupidly specific. No matter how fancy I or anyone else gets with LSDj it's still just a sequence of loops & it'll never be as expressive or dynamic as a 4-piece rock band/orchestra/jazz trio/whatever. I can name plenty of chip songs I think are hypnotic, raw, or even beautiful, but I can't name a single chiptune song I would describe as "catchy". It's still possible to write great music but it's never going to be anything other than some fucked up techno loops trying to pass off as some other genre

Sounds like you are getting frustrated by the limitations of chip music.

Yes, you are objectively, verifiably correct. A 3-4 voice PSG will never sound as *expressive or   dynamic as an Analog instrument of any sort, especially those with moving parts.  it's something I struggle with as well. I have recently started using real DAWs again, and composing with samples, and midi controlled synthesizers; it's quite liberating. Don't feel as though you MUST adhere to chip purism.

If you feel you can do something with an extremely limited digital palette, do it. It's quite fun sometimes. If you feel like writing a 6 track EP in 6502 assembly code, that could be awesome.
On the other hand, If you'd like to try incorporating  more instrumentation, there's nothing stopping you.

EDIT: *expressive in a sonic sense, not an emotional one.

Last edited by breakphase (Oct 27, 2016 11:28 pm)

chunter
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Brunswick, GA USA

Consider the diatonic harmonica, an instrument that only plays the notes of a particular major scale, only plays the tonic chord when you blow through several holes, only plays the dominant or subdominant depending on where you suck in, and sounds a little like a train wreck if you pick the wrong spot. Then there's John Popper.

Like the harmonica, chips have extended tricks that dazzle instead of just toots and beeps, so there's room for virtuosity. Also like the harmonica, you can't escape the inherent limits of timbre and range.

chunter
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Brunswick, GA USA

.

Last edited by chunter (Oct 28, 2016 12:40 am)

PlainFlavored
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Cooshinator wrote:

This is probably because of the rock/punk shows I've been going to recently, but I've been noticing that chiptune up to a certain purity forces me to write music in a way that's like stupidly specific. No matter how fancy I or anyone else gets with LSDj it's still just a sequence of loops & it'll never be as expressive or dynamic as a 4-piece rock band/orchestra/jazz trio/whatever. I can name plenty of chip songs I think are hypnotic, raw, or even beautiful, but I can't name a single chiptune song I would describe as "catchy". It's still possible to write great music but it's never going to be anything other than some fucked up techno loops trying to pass off as some other genre

Only as long as you think these nonsensical limiting thoughts will they be true. The L and P and V commands, along with some well-placed pulse modulation and volume envelopes, add massive presence and life to a simple pulse channel melody. Just listen to Chibitech and tell me that's not expressive! The problem is that people don't have the patience or motivation or knowledge or whatever to juice it up, or they're distracted by the limitations of a genre.

Last edited by PlainFlavored (Oct 28, 2016 5:58 am)

PlainFlavored
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I'm also pretty bummed out by the pervasive Eurocentric notion displayed here that dance music = techno. Almost every time I've actually danced to music, it's been rap or R&B, two deeply underrepresented genres in this scene.

Last edited by PlainFlavored (Oct 28, 2016 6:07 am)

Cooshinator
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ohio gozaimasu
PlainFlavored wrote:

Only as long as you think these nonsensical limiting thoughts will they be true. The L and P and V commands, along with some well-placed pulse modulation and volume envelopes, add massive presence and life to a simple pulse channel melody. Just listen to Chibitech and tell me that's not expressive! The problem is that people don't have the patience or motivation or knowledge or whatever to juice it up, or they're distracted by the limitations of a genre.

I'm not saying I can't juice things up, just that the tools I use are an essential part of composition. If someone writes a song with a tracker and it ends up the same as a song he'd write with a guitar, then he's not approaching his work with enough playfulness and creativity to be worth listening to. Wouldn't it be better for him to play off the limitations of his instrument and come up with something entirely expressive of that instrument? An instrument that changes any time I touch it is going to sound less calculated than an instrument that has to be intentionally fucked with to sound at all different, and that's going to be frustrating at times and liberating at others

e.s.c.
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IL, US
PlainFlavored wrote:

I'm also pretty bummed out by the pervasive Eurocentric notion displayed here that dance music = techno. Almost every time I've actually danced to music, it's been rap or R&B, two deeply underrepresented genres in this scene.

true, but thankfully no one refers to them as dance music... you can dance to any music, but some music is made almost solely for that purpose (as in, might otherwise not be as enjoyable for various reasons).. i've seen people dance to harsh noise, which is simultaneously baffling and impressive

breakphase
Offline
Earth
chunter wrote:

Consider the diatonic harmonica, an instrument that only plays the notes of a particular major scale, only plays the tonic chord when you blow through several holes, only plays the dominant or subdominant depending on where you suck in, and sounds a little like a train wreck if you pick the wrong spot. Then there's John Popper.

Yes the diatonic harmonica is limited, and you can get creative with the limitations. But even with a harmonica, blowing at different velocities, Moving your lips slightly in any direction, how you hold the harmonica, the temperature of the reeds, the shape of your mouth; these will all yield very different harmonics, with minimal effort. That instrument is a good example of a different set of limitations  that can be very inspiring.


PlainFlavored wrote:

I'm also pretty bummed out by the pervasive Eurocentric notion displayed here that dance music = techno. Almost every time I've actually danced to music, it's been rap or R&B, two deeply underrepresented genres in this scene.

Techno != Electronica. wink   I think he was saying that bleeps and bloops sound like techno, I may be wrong.

Last edited by breakphase (Oct 28, 2016 6:02 pm)

spacetownsavior
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San Diego, CA
Cooshinator wrote:

chiptune up to a certain purity

this is the problem

Starshine
Offline
Toronto, Canada
Boner wrote:

definitely the fans

Can you elaborate on this?

Starshine
Offline
Toronto, Canada
e.s.c. wrote:

where are my god damn dark brooding monochrome minimal tech chip shows?!

TRVE CHIP

Though honestly, that would probably be a really interesting show, I'd love to see that sort of thing happen

e.s.c.
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IL, US

not what i said, but i'd probably go to that show tbh... for a while, i toyed around with putting together a show with stagediver, nikaena vizukae, ccdm, 8cylinder & myself which would have been a nice combo of different darker styles of music done with chip gear

ForaBrokenEarth
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Nottingham, UK

My least favourite thing is accidentally putting the GB down too hard and corrupting the song I'm working on.

Warez Waldo
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Planet Zaxxon

Least favorite thing about chiptune:

Not enough people know about it.

And how "genres" within chiptune get negatively approached, creating some sort of turmoil. Musical diversity and variety should be encouraged. Step one in creating chiptune or any music for that matter, should heavily include the desire to create the music that you yourself actually want to create. No need to get discouraged when your "genre" gets compared to other "genres." Do what you like and keep it up!!!

this-is-embr
Offline
United States
Shifty Pixlz wrote:

Got an Android phone and an EMS cart?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta … emsflasher (shameless self promotion!)

No I do not, very sadly :b

sandneil
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Cooshinator wrote:

I can name plenty of chip songs I think are hypnotic, raw, or even beautiful, but I can't name a single chiptune song I would describe as "catchy". It's still possible to write great music but it's never going to be anything other than some fucked up techno loops trying to pass off as some other genre

what the fuck