Hidden Fortress New Release
So not strictly about home-ed, or any of my usual blog topics he he.
Hidden Fortress
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Select, Remix Volume 1 (September 18, 2006)
http://www.archive.org/details/upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbaslectremix
The new release from the prolific Hidden Fortress is the first volume of remixes of chiptune artists (It's titled derived from an infamous cheat-code). A brief run down of what chiptune is may well help here! Chiptune is music written in sound formats where all the sounds are synthesized in realtime by a computer as opposed to using sample based synthesis. During the mid 1980's to early 1990s sound chips were the only widely available means for creating computer based music. Because early computer sound chips had only simple tone generators and noise generators, the complexity of the sounds available were fairly limited, giving the music a distinct sound.
But to scoot back to using soundchips to make music for a purpose (rather than just for the pleasure of the music) you have to step back to the 70s and the rise of video-games. As arcade machines were developed so was the means of producing a digitally created sound, where a specific computer chip would change electrical impulses from computer code into analog soundwaves on the fly for output on a speaker, creating either music or sound effects to enhance the game. The music then would usually be monophonic loops used mostly at the start of a new game (think of the beginning of pacman) or between game stages. Including music in a game meant it would need to have code written by a computer programmer, who would often not have any musical experience. This was then developed through the 80s, and the newer chips allowed for more channels at once, whereas the original chips could only produce 2 channels (ie. two sounds at the same time) arcade chips could generate 8 or more channels, vastly improving the depth and flexibility of music creation. By the mid 80s home consoles, like the NES, could produce 6 channels. By this time technology was able to sample sounds to use, but the file size of these sounds was far more than the computer generated sound, so even then when used, it was often very small looped samples.
Anyway, to get back to the music, by the end of the 80s game music was being developed by musicians rather than computer programmers, (Some of the chips used were sound chips like the analog-digital hybrid Atari POKEY on the Atari 400/800, the MOS Technology SID on the Commodore 64, the Yamaha YM2149 on the Atari ST, AY-3-8910 or 8912 on Amstrad_CPC, MSX and ZX Spectrum, the Yamaha YM3812 on IBM PC compatibles, and the Ricoh 2A03 on the Nintendo Entertainment System or Famicom) and so the quality of the music, and the popularity rose.
Now chiptune music is written simply for the artistic value of the sounds created, rather than only having those sounds as a limitation of the technology. Generally chip tunes consist of basic waveforms, and basic percussion often generated from white noise going through an ADST envelope controlled synthesizer.
Historically chiptune could refer to any style of music. Modern computers can play a variety of chiptune formats through the use of emulators, although not always 100% accurately. This means that there is new chiptune music being written, and also some artists are revisiting and reworking classic video-game tracks.
Phew, got there in the end. Onto the album.
Hidden Fortress’ aim was to collect together a bunch of chiptune artists and work their own brand of magic on them.
Taken from their download page:
“…Our main aim was to bring the wonderful and varied sounds of chiptune to our friends and to further connect the world of chip tune artists with each other…..”
Which they seem to have done pretty well. I'm not that familiar with the artists they have remixed, and I haven't heard the originals of the tracks to really know where they've come from, but overall the album provides a cohesive journey through a wide variety of tracks, leaving you with that kind of uplifted feeling, that seems to fit very nicely with the autumn season we are moving into. I was sat in my car, the early autumn sun bright into my windows when track 6, FOR N TO EQUAL 80 (a remix of GOTO80’s Stag 3) came on and seemed to provide the perfect soundtrack for the journey. Upbeat, with a catchy bass riff to get stuck in your head, it seems to summerise the feel of the whole album, with just that hint of darkness Hidden Fortress seem to exploit so well. Followed by Hexidecimalover (remix of Schotastic's The Binary Walls Between Us) another feel good, happy dance tune. Other tracks to note are the opening track I Need A Quater (remix of Kidd Video's 25 Cents), a great pop song you'll find yourself singing along to. Along with the more pop like sounds, there are more classically video-gaming sounding tracks (such as Baby Buggy remix of Pixelh8's Baby Carrier and Blitx Pixel remix of MSX Crew's Pixel Addict), and some chilled out reflections notably Immobilizer (remix of 8 Bit betty's And I know That You're Happy) leaving you pondering just what volume 2 will bring!
I think this album should appeal to chiptune, electronica and dare I say pop lovers alike.
Hidden Fortress can be seen at various gigs around the south over the next few months, including The Drum & Monkey in Ipswich on the 23rd September 2006.
References:
www.wikipedia.com
www.myspace.com/hiddenfortressmusic
http://www.archive.org/details/upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbaslectremix
Hidden Fortress
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Select, Remix Volume 1 (September 18, 2006)
http://www.archive.org/details/upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbaslectremix
The new release from the prolific Hidden Fortress is the first volume of remixes of chiptune artists (It's titled derived from an infamous cheat-code). A brief run down of what chiptune is may well help here! Chiptune is music written in sound formats where all the sounds are synthesized in realtime by a computer as opposed to using sample based synthesis. During the mid 1980's to early 1990s sound chips were the only widely available means for creating computer based music. Because early computer sound chips had only simple tone generators and noise generators, the complexity of the sounds available were fairly limited, giving the music a distinct sound.
But to scoot back to using soundchips to make music for a purpose (rather than just for the pleasure of the music) you have to step back to the 70s and the rise of video-games. As arcade machines were developed so was the means of producing a digitally created sound, where a specific computer chip would change electrical impulses from computer code into analog soundwaves on the fly for output on a speaker, creating either music or sound effects to enhance the game. The music then would usually be monophonic loops used mostly at the start of a new game (think of the beginning of pacman) or between game stages. Including music in a game meant it would need to have code written by a computer programmer, who would often not have any musical experience. This was then developed through the 80s, and the newer chips allowed for more channels at once, whereas the original chips could only produce 2 channels (ie. two sounds at the same time) arcade chips could generate 8 or more channels, vastly improving the depth and flexibility of music creation. By the mid 80s home consoles, like the NES, could produce 6 channels. By this time technology was able to sample sounds to use, but the file size of these sounds was far more than the computer generated sound, so even then when used, it was often very small looped samples.
Anyway, to get back to the music, by the end of the 80s game music was being developed by musicians rather than computer programmers, (Some of the chips used were sound chips like the analog-digital hybrid Atari POKEY on the Atari 400/800, the MOS Technology SID on the Commodore 64, the Yamaha YM2149 on the Atari ST, AY-3-8910 or 8912 on Amstrad_CPC, MSX and ZX Spectrum, the Yamaha YM3812 on IBM PC compatibles, and the Ricoh 2A03 on the Nintendo Entertainment System or Famicom) and so the quality of the music, and the popularity rose.
Now chiptune music is written simply for the artistic value of the sounds created, rather than only having those sounds as a limitation of the technology. Generally chip tunes consist of basic waveforms, and basic percussion often generated from white noise going through an ADST envelope controlled synthesizer.
Historically chiptune could refer to any style of music. Modern computers can play a variety of chiptune formats through the use of emulators, although not always 100% accurately. This means that there is new chiptune music being written, and also some artists are revisiting and reworking classic video-game tracks.
Phew, got there in the end. Onto the album.
Hidden Fortress’ aim was to collect together a bunch of chiptune artists and work their own brand of magic on them.
Taken from their download page:
“…Our main aim was to bring the wonderful and varied sounds of chiptune to our friends and to further connect the world of chip tune artists with each other…..”
Which they seem to have done pretty well. I'm not that familiar with the artists they have remixed, and I haven't heard the originals of the tracks to really know where they've come from, but overall the album provides a cohesive journey through a wide variety of tracks, leaving you with that kind of uplifted feeling, that seems to fit very nicely with the autumn season we are moving into. I was sat in my car, the early autumn sun bright into my windows when track 6, FOR N TO EQUAL 80 (a remix of GOTO80’s Stag 3) came on and seemed to provide the perfect soundtrack for the journey. Upbeat, with a catchy bass riff to get stuck in your head, it seems to summerise the feel of the whole album, with just that hint of darkness Hidden Fortress seem to exploit so well. Followed by Hexidecimalover (remix of Schotastic's The Binary Walls Between Us) another feel good, happy dance tune. Other tracks to note are the opening track I Need A Quater (remix of Kidd Video's 25 Cents), a great pop song you'll find yourself singing along to. Along with the more pop like sounds, there are more classically video-gaming sounding tracks (such as Baby Buggy remix of Pixelh8's Baby Carrier and Blitx Pixel remix of MSX Crew's Pixel Addict), and some chilled out reflections notably Immobilizer (remix of 8 Bit betty's And I know That You're Happy) leaving you pondering just what volume 2 will bring!
I think this album should appeal to chiptune, electronica and dare I say pop lovers alike.
Hidden Fortress can be seen at various gigs around the south over the next few months, including The Drum & Monkey in Ipswich on the 23rd September 2006.
References:
www.wikipedia.com
www.myspace.com/hiddenfortressmusic
http://www.archive.org/details/upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbaslectremix
Labels: music
2 Shout:
At 1:50 PM, Nic said…
I played the track you linked to the other day to the children and they loved it. I really like track 13 on that album. Reminds me of Tetris and Donkey Kong :-)
At 1:59 PM, Em said…
yes, my kids love most of the album actually. Its that bouncy happy-go-lucky thing with added bonus silly noises. Irristable to children! (and some adults!)
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