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There's totally a parallel between this and the video game music of Mario, Zelda and Final Fantasy- they could only play 2-3 notes at once, so they had to work

There's totally a parallel between this and the video game music of Mario, Zelda and Final Fantasy- they could only play 2-3 notes at once, so they had to work with those constraints. The music couldn't be too complex, so every note had to go really, really far. The result? Extremely memorable tunes with catchy melodies. It was a matter of necessity.

deaconblues 13y ago
The Mega Man games had amazing music too, but I think Metroid still stands out as one of the best examples of fantastic 8 bit music. Haunting!
- egypturnash 13y ago
  Honestly I think a lot of this is nostalgia - I grew up with the c64, never had a NES. I enjoy chiptunes but none of the NES stuff really does much for me. I think you have to have had this stuff embedded into your brain by repeated play. I've listened to NES music and haven't had an urge to listen to it enough to learn and hum it, but I could totally hum the eerie opening theme to Parallax, the driving pseudo-Jarre of The Last V8, the electro-rock of Oxxonian, and more. I'm not entirely sure it's all nostalgia; the c64's sound chip was a bit more flexible than the NES's, and there was a real culture of musicians on the c64, so I may have just gotten used to a higher level of musicianship as a base.
mathattack 13y ago
There's a lot to be said about creativity coming from being forced to deal with constraints. It's counterintuitive, but we get most juiced about solving problems when they're tough. It's hardest to start writing when it's blank piece of paper. Here's one story on it: http://plumecopy.com/bach-picasso-on-the-creative-process/ http://plumecopy.com/bach-picasso-on-the-creative-process/
theandrewbailey 13y ago
This is the reason why I love chiptunes. Just the right amount of complexity, in that you can still focus on the individual waveforms/voices.
archagon 13y ago
When people think of "complexity" in regards to music, they often think of instrumentation, texture, production quality. But some of the most complex music ever written - the Well-Tempered Klavier - was written in mostly 2-4 voices for an instrument with no dynamics. I think the 2-3 note limit really forced chiptune composers to focus on compositional complexity, thus making that music stand out even today.

deaconblues 13y ago

The Mega Man games had amazing music too, but I think Metroid still stands out as one of the best examples of fantastic 8 bit music. Haunting!

egypturnash 13y ago
Honestly I think a lot of this is nostalgia - I grew up with the c64, never had a NES. I enjoy chiptunes but none of the NES stuff really does much for me. I think you have to have had this stuff embedded into your brain by repeated play. I've listened to NES music and haven't had an urge to listen to it enough to learn and hum it, but I could totally hum the eerie opening theme to Parallax, the driving pseudo-Jarre of The Last V8, the electro-rock of Oxxonian, and more. I'm not entirely sure it's all nostalgia; the c64's sound chip was a bit more flexible than the NES's, and there was a real culture of musicians on the c64, so I may have just gotten used to a higher level of musicianship as a base.

mathattack 13y ago

There's a lot to be said about creativity coming from being forced to deal with constraints. It's counterintuitive, but we get most juiced about solving problems when they're tough. It's hardest to start writing when it's blank piece of paper. Here's one story on it: http://plumecopy.com/bach-picasso-on-the-creative-process/ http://plumecopy.com/bach-picasso-on-the-creative-process/

theandrewbailey 13y ago

This is the reason why I love chiptunes. Just the right amount of complexity, in that you can still focus on the individual waveforms/voices.

archagon 13y ago

When people think of "complexity" in regards to music, they often think of instrumentation, texture, production quality. But some of the most complex music ever written - the Well-Tempered Klavier - was written in mostly 2-4 voices for an instrument with no dynamics. I think the 2-3 note limit really forced chiptune composers to focus on compositional complexity, thus making that music stand out even today.