Game Boy music
Encyclopedia
Game Boy music is a type of chip music produced using a portable gaming console of the Game Boy line
. To produce music of the genre, one needs a Game Boy and a cartridge containing appropriate tracking software, such as LSDJ.
Pro Performer or Pixelh8
Music Tech,. Other software includes Carillon Editor, Music Box, Pocket Music, the Game Boy Camera
, and others.
Nanoloop was programmed by Oliver Wittchow, a German
art student. The user interface is very minimal and quite different from "normal" musical user interfaces. Little Sound DJ was programmed by Johan Kotlinski, who lives in Stockholm
. Little Sound DJ is a type of four-track tracker.
Game Boy line
The line is a line of battery-powered handheld game console sold by Nintendo. It is one of the world's best-selling game system lines with a combined 200+ million units sold worldwide....
. To produce music of the genre, one needs a Game Boy and a cartridge containing appropriate tracking software, such as LSDJ.
Software
There are several pieces of software available, but most Game Boy musicians use Nanoloop, Little Sound DJ, Pixelh8Pixelh8
Pixelh8 is the stage name for Matthew Applegate, a British chiptune composer.-Biography:Pixelh8 combines the sounds of video games and electronic toys, often those that have been reverse enginereed to avoid either copyright infringement or plagiarism to form original compositions, usually...
Pro Performer or Pixelh8
Pixelh8
Pixelh8 is the stage name for Matthew Applegate, a British chiptune composer.-Biography:Pixelh8 combines the sounds of video games and electronic toys, often those that have been reverse enginereed to avoid either copyright infringement or plagiarism to form original compositions, usually...
Music Tech,. Other software includes Carillon Editor, Music Box, Pocket Music, the Game Boy Camera
Game Boy Camera
The Game Boy Camera, released as in Japan, is an official Nintendo accessory for the handheld Game Boy gaming console and was released in 1998. It is also compatible with the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Light, Game Boy Color, Super Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Advance SP...
, and others.
Nanoloop was programmed by Oliver Wittchow, a German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
art student. The user interface is very minimal and quite different from "normal" musical user interfaces. Little Sound DJ was programmed by Johan Kotlinski, who lives in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. Little Sound DJ is a type of four-track tracker.
Timeline
- In 1997, Oliver Wittchow and Sebastian Burdach started to work on programming music applications for the Game Boy. During three nights, Sebastian Burdach wrote a very simple sequencerMusic sequencerThe music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
in Game Boy BASICBASICBASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
, probably the very first sequencer for the Game Boy, which allows the user to edit loops in real time. - In 1998, the Game Boy CameraGame Boy CameraThe Game Boy Camera, released as in Japan, is an official Nintendo accessory for the handheld Game Boy gaming console and was released in 1998. It is also compatible with the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Light, Game Boy Color, Super Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Advance SP...
was released (in Japan under the name "Pocket Camera"). Besides the ability to take photos, the camera also incorporates some games. One of these will lead the player to the dj game, a sequencer known as "Trippy-H". - In 1998, Oliver Wittchow switched to programming the Game Boy in CC (programming language)C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
. He performed for the first time with his newly written program "Nanoloop" at the "Liquid Sky Club", CologneCologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, at a Lo-fi contest, which he won. He recorded a 7" singleSingle (music)In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, which was released 1999 on the xxc3 label. - In 1999, Alec EmpireAlec EmpireAlec Empire is a German musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot. Also a prolific and distinguished solo artist, producer and DJ, he has released well over a hundred albums, EPs and singles and remixed over seventy tracks for various artists including Björk...
released under the project name "Nintendo Teenage Robots" an album titled "We Punk Einheit!". The music consisted solely of Game Boy sounds, made with the dj program of the Game Boy Camera. Later Alec Empire also used Nanoloop live on stage. - In 1999, "Nanoloop 0.8" was sold on flashFlash memoryFlash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
cartridges, in Germany only. - In 2000, "Nanoloop 1.0" was sold on ROMRead-only memoryRead-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
cartridges, made in Hong Kong. This version is marketed internationally. It was quite buggy, and was replaced later this year with the more stable version 1.1. - In 2000, the German electronic music duo "Klangstabil", consisting of Maurizio Blanco and Boris May, released two albums, "Sprite Storage Format" (12" lp), and "Gioco Bambino" (cd), consisting mainly of Game Boy music made with the Game Boy Camera, with some external effects and filtering.
- In 2000, Aleksi Eeben (a.k.a. "Heatbeat", from the CommodoreCommodore InternationalCommodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...
AmigaAmigaThe Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
demosceneDemosceneThe demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing demos, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time on a computer...
) released his program "Carillon". Although it was not intended for live use, one could nonetheless program one's own music, and one could (and still can) download it for free. - In 2000, Johan Kotlinski created the program Little Sound DJ. Before that, according to Johan Kotlinski, "it was just a hack 'instrumentor.gb' that I sent to my demo groupDemogroupDemogroups are teams of demosceners, who make computer based audio-visual works of art known as demos. Demogroups form a subculture collectively known as the demoscene....
friends." At this early stage, lsdj was nowhere near finished. The first versions, which were put on cartridges and sold, came out 2001. - In 2001, Chris McCormick, from Chrism and FenrisChrism and FenrisChrism and Fenris are an experimental electronic band from Perth, Western Australia.-Biography:Forming in 2001, Chrism and Fenris are notable for their circuit bending approach to retro computing electronic music. Using rewired and Commodore 64's, a Game Boy Advance and other musical equipment,...
, created the program Looper Advance. It is a looper/sequencer for the Game Boy Advance. - In 2002, Jester Interactive created Pocket Music for the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance which was published by Rage. They are Sample based sequencerMusic sequencerThe music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
s and the Game Boy Advance version has a mild dub of EminemEminemMarshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
's single "My Name Is." - In 2002, the now defunct label "Disco Bruit" released the various artists compilation "Nanoloop 1.0". Several in the electronic musicElectronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
scene established artists (like Dat politicsDAT politicsDAT politics is a French electronic band created in 1999. Their energetic live shows explain the cult like enthusiasm that surrounds the French electronic combo as they’ve been touring the world extensively over the years...
, MerzbowMerzbowis the main recording name of the Japanese noise musician , born in 1956. Since 1979 he has released in excess of 350 recordings.The name "Merzbow" comes from German artist Kurt Schwitters' artwork, "Merzbau”. This was chosen to reflect Akita's dada influence and junk art aesthetic...
, Felix KubinFelix KubinFelix Kubin is an electronic musician. He has been involved with music since he was 8 years old, when he studied piano, organ and glockenspiel. His youthful experiments really took off in 1980 when he got a Korg MS-20 synthesizer. His early works have been released under the title The Tetchy...
, etc.) were given nanoloops. Supposedly also Aphex TwinAphex TwinRichard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
was to contribute, but somehow it didn't happen. - In 2003, the CD "Boy Playground" was released on the Relax Beat label. Most of the tracks were created using the program Little Sound DJ and the record was gathering the best Game Boy musicians worldwide (Johan Kotlinski, Bit Shifter, Covox, Lo-Bat, Mark DeNardo, Tobiah, The Hardliner, Goto80, Nim, Handheld, Bud Melvin, Adlib Sinner Forks, Dilemma, Keichi Hirao, Puss, Teamtendo).
- In 2003, Malcolm McLarenMalcolm McLarenMalcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
(of Sex PistolsSex PistolsThe Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
fame) was collaborating with Relax Beat producers Jacques Fantino and Thierry Criscione who initiated him to Chip music during the studio sessions. After listening to the first Game Boy track, Malcolm McLaren’s comment was : "It sounds ugly... but this music is so beautiful !". Malcolm McLaren was so excited to discover this new genre that he proposed to write a promotional article in Wired for the release of the CD "Boy Playground". He wrote an article in WiredWired (magazine)Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
magazine, claiming Game Boy music (or 8-bit music, or chiptunes in general) to be the new punk rockPunk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
. This article was very controversial, and McLaren's effort to create a hype around the new "8-bit punk" was not welcome by very many chipmusicians, and resulted in an open letter by chipmusician gwEm (Gareth Morris). McLaren did arrange a "Fashion Beast" party in Florence, Italy, in 2004. Chinese girl group "Wild Strawberries", and Game Boy musicians Covox and Lo-bat were playing. Lately it has become a bit silent around McLaren's "8-bit punk". In 2005 he designed clothing for kids, seemingly inspired by 8-bit aesthetics. - In 2005 8 Bit Weapon8 Bit Weapon8 Bit Weapon is a chiptune music band created by Seth Sternberger. The instrument set of 8 Bit Weapon consists primarily of old 8-bit and 16-bit computers such as the Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore Amiga 500, and the Apple II, as well as game consoles such as the Nintendo...
played their songs "Bombs Away" & "Gameboy Rocker" off an old Game BoyGame BoyThe , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
using LSDJ on G4's Attack of the Show live broadcast Episode #5058. [6] [7] - In 2006, the CD "Glitter & Bleep : Joystick Pop" was produced by the Relax Beat label. It features original songs by the greatest talents of the European 8-bit scene. Besides Game Boys also various other 8-bit consoles were used.
- In 2007, the cd "8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk was released in 2007 by the group 8-Bit Operators on Kraftwerks US homelabel Astralwerks and EMI Records worldwide. It features cover versions of Kraftwerk songs by several prominent chiptune artists...
" was released on the AstralwerksAstralwerksAstralwerks is a New York-based record label that releases primarily electronic music. It is owned by Virgin Records/EMI and distributed by Caroline Distribution in the United States....
label. It features cover versions of KraftwerkKraftwerkKraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
songs by several prominent chiptune artists. Besides Game Boys also various other 8-bit consoles were used. - The Game Boy music scene is quite small and spread around the world, with musicians creating music in a wide range of styles. Several major signed artists have also been known to use LSDJ and Nanoloop.
- In late 2007 Pixelh8Pixelh8Pixelh8 is the stage name for Matthew Applegate, a British chiptune composer.-Biography:Pixelh8 combines the sounds of video games and electronic toys, often those that have been reverse enginereed to avoid either copyright infringement or plagiarism to form original compositions, usually...
designed music software such as Music Tech for the Nintendo Game Boy which turns the Game BoyGame BoyThe , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
into real time synthesizer, whereby the user can design the sound and play notes by using the keys. - In 2008 the Pixelh8Pixelh8Pixelh8 is the stage name for Matthew Applegate, a British chiptune composer.-Biography:Pixelh8 combines the sounds of video games and electronic toys, often those that have been reverse enginereed to avoid either copyright infringement or plagiarism to form original compositions, usually...
designed Pro Performer for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DSNintendo DSThe is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
which was an upgraded version of the Music Tech for Game BoyGame BoyThe , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
. - April 15, 2009 Pixelh8 released Pixelh8 Music Tech V2.0, Pro Performer, Drum Tech and Death Ray software free for download from his official website.
- In April 2009, Sony Creative SoftwareSony Creative SoftwareSony Creative Software is a subsidiary of Sony, focused primarily on their line of media production software...
released "8 Bit Weapon8 Bit Weapon8 Bit Weapon is a chiptune music band created by Seth Sternberger. The instrument set of 8 Bit Weapon consists primarily of old 8-bit and 16-bit computers such as the Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore Amiga 500, and the Apple II, as well as game consoles such as the Nintendo...
: A Chiptune Odyssey" loop and sample Library. The library contains music loops and samples made by the band using various vintage computers and video game consoles, including the original NintendoNintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
Game BoyGame BoyThe , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
.
Artists
- 8 Bit Weapon8 Bit Weapon8 Bit Weapon is a chiptune music band created by Seth Sternberger. The instrument set of 8 Bit Weapon consists primarily of old 8-bit and 16-bit computers such as the Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore Amiga 500, and the Apple II, as well as game consoles such as the Nintendo...
- AnamanaguchiAnamanaguchiAnamanaguchi is a chiptune indie rock band from New York City that "makes loud, fast music with a hacked NES from 1985." The band has four members: lead songwriter Peter Berkman, bassist James DeVito, guitarist Ary Warnaar and drummer Luke Silas. Akin to other chiptune artists, Anamanaguchi creates...
- Baseck
- Bit Shifter
- ComputeHer
- Dammit! I Lost My Cookies!
- Gameboy Music Club
- Horse the BandHORSE the bandHorse the Band is a band from Lake Forest, California who are best known for their 8-bit Nintendo-influenced sound combined with metalcore. Frontman Nathan Winneke once described their sound as "Nintendocore".-Biography:...
- I Fight DragonsI Fight DragonsI Fight Dragons is a rock band from Chicago. Their music combines pop/rock songs with original electronic sounds made using Nintendo Game Boys and Nintendo Entertainment Systems. They have released 2 EPs, 2009's Cool Is Just a Number and 2010's Welcome to the Breakdown, and they released their...
- FuturNari
- Fauxhound
- NullsleepNullsleepNullsleep is an American electronic musician and computer artist currently residing in New York City. In 1999 he co-founded the low-bit art collective 8bitpeoples, and has served as its lead director since its inception...
- PDF Format (the band)David Dineen-PorterDavid Dineen-Porter is an actor, comedian and musician from Toronto, Canada. He is one of two grand prize winners of the Cambrian House's Robinhood Fund $20,000 Christmas Wish giveaway event for a "selfish wish".-Career:...
- pixelh8Pixelh8Pixelh8 is the stage name for Matthew Applegate, a British chiptune composer.-Biography:Pixelh8 combines the sounds of video games and electronic toys, often those that have been reverse enginereed to avoid either copyright infringement or plagiarism to form original compositions, usually...
- Random Select
- Trash80Trash80Trash80 is a micromusic/bitpop project from Timothy Lamb , a pioneer of independent Game Boy music. He has published several songs online under the Creative Commons License under the Trash80 and Tresk banners...
- Wet Mango
- Unicorn KidUnicorn KidOliver Sabin, also known as Unicorn Kid is an electronic music/chip music composer and musician from Edinburgh. Educated at Leith Academy...
- HuoratronHuoratronHuoratron is the brainchild of electronic music producer Aku Raski. He originally began producing music simply by creating remixes witnessed by his 2003 remix of Zarkus Poussa's track "One More Shake", which appeared on Poussa's self-released EP "Vol. 1". "Vol...
- Doctor OctorocDoctor Octoroc]Levi "Doctor Octoroc" Buffum is an American chiptune musician and pixel artist currently based in Philadelphia. Drawing influences from 80's pop culture and beyond, primarily video games from console systems made by Nintendo, the artist initially gained notable Internet recognition in December...
- 1up Collectif
- Karolis Burzinskas