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Reformat the Planet: documentary about the Chiptune scene (pitchfork.tv)
13 points by bd on Aug 16, 2008 | hide | past | favorite | 6 comments


Until the Bubblyfish clip, I thought, "So this is a movie about people who suck at chiptunes."

I will be the old guy, and point out that folks were making chiptunes in the 80's and early 90's on Amigas and Atari STs and C64s...and most of these guys seem wholly unaware of that history, and are showing their musical immaturity because of it (i.e., they're still at the "Hey, look, I made music with this cranky little thing!" phase).

Nonetheless, I'm fond of chiptunes, and I'm amused to see that in NY, pretty much anything novel can collect a "scene". Obviously, these sounds are going to find their way into popular music in the near future. Though they'll be assimilated rather than take over--just like electronica and punk rock.


It's more impressive when they make music with something that was not intended for it...

Printers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHcV8vZ96OM

Floppy disks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4SCSGRVAQE


"I will be the old guy, and point out that folks were making chiptunes in the 80's and early 90's on Amigas and Atari STs and C64s"

Well, back then it wasn't retro.


Hehehe...By the 90's it was. Amigas and STs had awesome sound capabilities...chip tunes were kickin' it old school.


I grew up with MSX. I never really made music on it though, that started later on PC. But anyways, loads of MSX nostalgia lead to this: http://zwizwa.be/staapl/sheep


Is it just me, or do the people waving their fists and getting all excited about tinny blips comming from a Gameboy look utterly ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, it's cool in a sort of hackish way, but worth a scene?




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