Category: Chipmusic

Toons from various consoles.

  • GMC-4 Appeared

    gakkenNight6The newest Gakken kit is a 4-bit computer, and there is  a programing guide for this here. Will try to find some audio, but looks it might be good for fans of beeper music.

    The GMC4 has a 16-key keyboard, a build-in speaker, a 7-segment LED display, and a 6 LED display. A tennis game, music software, and two other 4-bit games come pre-installed in the GMC-4.

    While drinking some great Kirin beer with friends from Sansai Books and Gizmodo Japan, I listened to the introduction speech by the Gakken editors. The inspiration for the GMC-4 comes from the TK-80, released by NEC in 1976, and partially, from the FX MYCON R-165, which Gakken released in 1983.

    Several people in the room had the GMC-4 with them, so the speaker started to read some code and help everyone with a GMC-4 to program it “live.” Then they introduced the Arduino, and being Italian, I was really happy to see how a board “Made in Italy” is so well received by Japanese engineers and toy hackers!

    With the presentation finished, it was time for my friends Polymoog and Gan to play live with a special setup of three GMC-4s patched into Gakken SX150 analog synths. Gan is the guy who designed the SX150, and once in a year, with Abe, he organizes the Analog Synthesizer Builders’ Summit Party in Tokyo.

    via Make: Online : Gakken mag and 4-bit computer rollout party in Tokyo.

  • STFUAJPGM #3 Is Out

    The worlds premier chip podcast/art/thingy is out with text, art, and music by EvilWezil, Zen Albatross, Phlogiston, Malmen, and Cheap Dinosaurs:

    This week’s theme: Travel Tunes

    Act 1:

    John woke up that morning feeling what he considered to be fine. His week was long, so it seemed essential to savor every second of his passing weekend. He began his morning routine by sitting down at his computer. No new e-mails. No new Friend Requests. No responses to any of his posts. It was hours later when he finally realized that he had spent his entire day pacing back and forth within the confines of his 200 square foot apartment.

    via STFUAJPGM.

  • little-scale: PCM Support Added to Sega Mega Drive / Genesis MIDI Interface

    [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/OhEheftzVVw" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]

    Sample playback of some sort seems to be a popular request for the Mega Drive stuff, and some people have said that it requires something, if only some basic drum sounds. So, I have added basic support for PCM sample playback – specifically percussive and drum sounds – for my Sega Mega Drive MIDI Interface.Currently, the mapping is as follows. MIDI channel 6 can be put into a “DAC Mode”, after which the following notes that wrap around every two octaves will trigger the following samples:01. C-1 – kick 102. C#1 – snare 103. D-1 – hat closed 104. D#1 – hat open 105. E-1 – tom low 106. F-1 – tom hi 107. F#1 – cow bell08. G-1 – kick 209. G#1 – snare 210. A-1 – hat closed 211. A#1 – hat open 112. B-1 – tom low 113. C-2 – tom hi 114. C#2 – ride 115. D-2 – crash16. D#2 – kick 317. E-2 – snare 318. F-2 – ride 2A note-on will trigger sample playback. A note-off will stop sample playback. Furthermore, using MIDI CC changes the sample playback speed / pitch.

    via little-scale: PCM Support Added to Sega Mega Drive / Genesis MIDI Interface.

  • Legowelt, Amiga powered.

    Legowelt goes back to basics
    Legowelt goes back to basics

    So, I catched this through Goto80’s amazing Chipflip, and I wanted to post it.

    Well known dutch “disco nouveau” formation Legowelt are going to release a new record, entirely made with a bunch of Korg synths, a Roland 808 and an Amiga 1200 computer running Octamed. Why do this today with its limitations? Evidently, there’s something for them that they liked about it. Whatever the motivation was, this is a very nice, gloomy, electro beat (the real electro, not that whatever they call electro nowadays) album that’s going to land a special spot in my collection once acquired. It’s not as “disco-ish” as other Legowelt releases, so think more of their older, electro-oriented releases. You’ll recognize the 808 beats and surrender to their powerful dominance…

    I take it that as well as the sequencing of the vintage hardware, the few non-synth samples you hear are being shot from the tracker too. Whatever the method is, it sounds cool. I can already hear the screams of “This is not cheaptoon! Where’s my squarewave!? I’m gonna cry!” and, to be honest, I couldn’t care less about your fundamentalist moaning :).

    So, here’s the link where you can check out previews of this album’s 16 tracks. Available for purchase soon through Strange Life Recordings!

  • GoatTracker Tutorial released

    Sorry guys, I forgot to post these news as soon as they went on air!

    Many times people have asked for something like this, and someone finally did it.
    A tutorial on GoatTracker has been released! Mr. ZeroZillion gets on the task of dissecting GT to pieces for you n00bs to swallow directly. Spoonfeedin’ pleasure!

    You can find it clicking here