8-bit music
8-bit or Chiptune is based on the musical sound of early home computers and retro video game consoles, where these sound cards had limited capabilities, only being able to play simple waveforms. Modern chiptune artists normally use an emulation of these sounds on modern hardware, but some use the original retro gear.
Chiptune originated firstly with Demoscene, a computer art subculture focusing on producing small programs which produced an audio-visual array. During the 1990s, some demosceners and music composers focused on the musical capabilities of early home computers. They were able to record and create music on Trackers, a music-making software for retro and modern computer systems creating electronic music. using this software, they were able to use the original sound capabilities of retro hardware, which is labelled as Chiptune, Tracker music, Mod-music or 8-bit music.
Near the end of the 1990s the first online chiptune community, called www.Micromusic.net, launched. Because of this, these musicians could share their compositions, download others for free and eventually release their work with certain netlabels. This community grew and formed an international social network.
Starting in 1978, the Japanese group “Yellow Magic Orchestra” used sampled arcade games, such as “Space Invaders”, “Circus” and “Gun Fight”. Whilst they are not typically known as a chiptune artist, Yellow Magic Orchestra was influential for other electronic artists and were the first group to use sounds from video games.
Jeroen Tel is a former video game composer, writing music for the Commodore 64 in the 80s and 90s. Jeroen was also a member of Demoscene, creating the audiovisual performances. Jeroen is considered a pioneer of this genre, not only using game audio technology for soundtracks but as a production device.
Jeremiah Johnson, or more commonly known as Nullsleep, was the first chiptune artist to tour the world, co-founded the first chiptune label 8bitpeoples, and helped create the Blip Festival, an international chiptune showcase. Nullsleep evolves his sound and performances over time, recently wearing a modular synthesiser on his arm.