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I'm really digging this stuff, thanks!

I only have experience with the FMDrive VST, but I've found that I'm never totally happy with the percussion sounds (including kick, snare, hihats, etc) I can get out of it. Probably says more about my programming than the chip's capabilities though. The LFO can modulate the pitch, just find the right amount of pitch modulation and adjust the amp envelope to your liking. It will still sound closer to Simmons toms than anything I'd call "punchy".

For kicks I usually just use a short envelope and then play around with the algorithms and carrier/operator frequencies to achieve something that resembles a kick drum. If played higher up on the keyboard, I imagine the sound could pass as toms.

Hello, I happen to reside in Westland, nice to meet you!

I totally agree with this. "Experimental" doesn't really indicate anything about the music. I never assume I'm about to hear radio-friendly pop when I see a track labelled as "experimental", but other than that, I never know what to expect. Maybe that's the point.

There are some musicians who feel that experimental music should be just that, an experiment. Like say, Brian Eno's ambient albums where he sets up some tape loops and lets them all playback at different times to see what happens. Music that has a hypothesis and then goes about testing that hypothesis. I like this idea, and would probably say that's what experimental music should really be if we were forced to give it a strict definition.

I personally dig a lot of noise/drone/experimental/avant-garde music, though I don't listen to it for the same reasons I listen to the Beach Boys, say, or chipmusic. It has it's place. I made ONLY noise music for six or seven months back in 2008. I collected far too many guitar pedals during that period of time. I still play around with the genre every now and then, but more in a droney way. I haven't ever tried doing chip-noise but maybe that would be a fun experiment.

As long as using samples in a tracker counts as "making chip", then I'll be doing this forever. Whether it sounds like video games or not, well, fuck it.

Now, about the lack of growth or development of the "scene"... There's been a trend towards EDM in all music in general for the last decade. That will go away, probably sooner than later. I don't know if it will ever disappear from chiptunes, though. Think about how easy it is to make 4 On The Floor stuff in a tracker. Really fucking easy. There's more to it than just holding "Z" with a space value of 4 or 8, but basically, it's really fucking easy.

Then there's the use of pattern chains as the structural method, which lends itself to EDM production, and the use of common synthesizer waveforms in many different platforms for chipmusic creation, which also lends itself to EDM production, and it starts to seem like chipmusic and it's means of production is almost purpose made for EDM. It's not, but it's easier than attempting Beethoven using the same means.

Also, many of the older tracker group music disks were mostly an EDM genre of some sort. House, techno, jungle. The popular 90's stuff. It wasn't technically chiptunes but it's part of the heritage.

I personally prefer the ultra-melodic, European tracker stuff, like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRCZ8l4pAk4

That, and the other music like it, is what I have always thought of as chiptunes. Before I ever found this forum, or attempted making chip myself, I listened to tunes like that and imagined there was a world out there of musicians who were virtuosos with melody.

I came to find that currently, chipmusic IS mostly just EDM that's been realized on a Gameboy, but there are still people out there doing the melodic stuff, and those out there doing other things beyond, as well. EDM works well for live shows. It works well with the most popular non-tracker software, like Live. It's easier to get into than learning scales and theory, although maybe that's contentious because it requires it's own separate set of rules.

Of course, it all comes down to the fact that "chiptune" is one of the niche-iest of niche genres, and no one but people like us will even give two hoots about it. It's probably better to appreciate what you like, ignore what you don't, and try not to eat each other alive when there's only a population of MAYBE tens of thousands to begin with.

Cool stuff, I like the minimal setup. You're gonna love the Volca Beats when it arrives. I basically haven't touched my Monotribe since getting the 3 Volcas.