8-BIT Rationale

8-BIT is homage piece to chip music that was created from 8-bit machines in the 1980’s. For people who played first generation video games on the Commodore 64, Atari and Nintendo, chip music has a sense of nostalgia. 8-bit music has the ability to be dynamic or in contrast it can just sound like horrible noise. In the 1990’s chip music became a popular music genre as freeware software was released enabling musicians and hobbyists to create their own 8-bit music.

The project 8-BIT was constructed using a Game Boy emulator program with a specifically designed 8-bit music generator. An emulator is a virtual video game console that enables the user to play Game Boy games on a computer. A series of music generators have been designed for Game Boy emulators previously and through experimentation the program Nano Loop had the best possible functions to create project 8-BIT. Nano Loop is a step sequencer program that runs a continuous pattern of 16 1/16 notes. The notes are played on repeat on screen however the pitch, tone and panning can be controlled whilst the sequencer is playing. The program has an inbuilt flash memory to enable the user to save 16 note sequences into slots, which then can be arranged in the song generator.

8-BIT was constructed using individual recordings from Nano Loop and live game play from a Game Boy console; these elements were then mixed in Sound Track Pro. 8-BIT takes the listener through the highs a lows of a gaming experience from the Game Boy turning on, to then finishing the first level. The project has taken elements from Mario Land the Game Boy game and mixed these with the sound tracks created in Nano Loop. The project uses the sound effects of Mario going underground to change the mood within the piece. 8-BIT changes mood from a fast paced environment to a dark mysterious world several times and this reflects the nature of the first generation video games. The project successfully explores the chip music genre, and by using programs that were specifically designed for 8-bit consoles adds a layer of authenticity to the project.