[00:00.000 --> 00:01.120]  Okay, that's on.
[00:01.340 --> 00:02.940]  Is that enough space?
[00:03.220 --> 00:04.540]  Okay, good.
[00:06.500 --> 00:07.460]  Hello, everyone.
[00:09.040 --> 00:10.400]  Thanks for coming here tonight.
[00:10.860 --> 00:12.200]  My name is Peter Swim.
[00:12.600 --> 00:14.720]  I'm a blogger and chip musician.
[00:15.100 --> 00:18.090]  I blog for a website named TrueChipTillDeath.com.
[00:18.900 --> 00:22.240]  You can visit that right now, if you like, while we set up.
[00:23.880 --> 00:35.900]  I'm joined on the stage tonight with a chip music musician, Joe Mariano, who records as Animal Style, and a chip musician visualist, VJ.
[00:36.260 --> 00:37.380]  We had this argument earlier today.
[00:37.800 --> 00:38.280]  Visualist.
[00:38.780 --> 00:42.720]  Don Miller, who performs as No Carrier.
[00:42.920 --> 00:50.480]  They are also the organizers of a monthly in Philadelphia named 8static, which you can learn about at 8static.org.
[00:50.840 --> 00:51.460]  That's my T-shirt.
[00:52.140 --> 00:54.580]  Yeah, he wears his T-shirt so he doesn't forget the name of the event.
[00:56.940 --> 00:59.080]  We're going to just start in the beginning.
[00:59.660 --> 01:01.960]  This is going to be kind of like a walking tour of history.
[01:02.320 --> 01:04.180]  I'm not going to go over a lot of the facts.
[01:04.660 --> 01:10.500]  You can read the many debates on how this originated online, but we'll start with this basic fact.
[01:10.840 --> 01:18.060]  Chip music is music that is produced in real time off classic hardware from the 80s and sometimes the 90s.
[01:18.060 --> 01:28.240]  So you'll have your systems like the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Commodore 64 computer, the Sega Genesis, Nintendo Game Boy.
[01:29.060 --> 01:45.880]  And what these artists and musicians do is they take the hardware using either software they developed themselves or they've acquired or purchased from other developers, and they use it to create original works of music and visual art and movies and games and all kinds of stuff.
[01:46.140 --> 01:47.620]  We're still waiting on the projector, I think.
[01:47.760 --> 01:49.160]  We're still waiting on the projector, so...
[01:49.160 --> 01:49.360]  Are we?
[01:49.700 --> 01:49.960]  Are we?
[01:51.460 --> 01:52.100]  Still waiting.
[01:55.460 --> 01:59.800]  Well, my segment is less visual than your guys, so I think I could just like look over and talk.
[02:00.100 --> 02:03.740]  You guys don't need to read words that illustrate what I'm saying, do you?
[02:03.960 --> 02:04.900]  I think we can just move on.
[02:05.580 --> 02:09.600]  We're going to start with the early days of what was chip music.
[02:10.660 --> 02:15.580]  You have to go back to the 80s, and it's a large part an accidental discovery.
[02:16.140 --> 02:30.080]  You have software in the 80s for the Commodore 64, other hardware systems distributed on floppy disk, and with the advent of bolt and board systems, you started seeing people share these games and files with each other.
[02:30.260 --> 02:46.020]  I'm sure most of you have downloaded a crack, well, or had friends who downloaded a crack, that while it's installing, you hear like a happy little game music, you know, it's like, oh, yeah, this is a nice little tune, and then you continue installing your software.
[02:46.180 --> 02:51.300]  Well, the game software originally used this as a kind of calling card for their crack.
[02:51.500 --> 03:10.480]  You know, I have game X, and I cracked the copy protection on it before anyone else did, so I want to put a little greet screen on the front of it that says, eh, so and so crew did this, and we want to give shout out to all our friends and check out more of our cracks and we're the best.
[03:11.360 --> 03:13.200]  And the beginning of this was very simple.
[03:13.340 --> 03:29.260]  You know, it would just be like a couple lines of text, maybe a scroller, you know, and as it got more and more complex, as it got more and more complex, they would add things like graphical elements, they would code little graphic animations, and eventually they started coding music.
[03:30.120 --> 03:44.060]  The music, you know, would be like fanfares or something simple, but as the production became more and more sophisticated, you would find that the music and graphics were often better than the actual game themselves, the commercial game.
[03:44.560 --> 03:45.120]  You know, so...
[03:45.120 --> 04:01.120]  And then it became a point where people didn't want to have to crack a game to showcase their stuff, and they started making demo productions, where they would, you know, do the most they possibly can in six lines of code or, you know, push as much out of the can out of the program.
[04:01.340 --> 04:07.460]  So this arms race is kind of like the genesis of the chip music and the chip art scene, you know.
[04:08.900 --> 04:16.020]  A lot of the people that worked on this early scene eventually became, you know, mainstream programmers and developers for software companies.
[04:16.940 --> 04:21.720]  But there were a number that kept producing software for the community.
[04:22.120 --> 04:34.640]  And probably towards the mid to late 90s, it was kind of firmly underground because the commercial software was moving on to CD-based systems and other pieces of hardware that don't have a sound chip in them.
[04:34.760 --> 04:44.820]  You know, it's like, would you rather listen to a five voice Nintendo chip or would you rather listen to a CD audio of Rage Against the Machine while you're skateboarding, you know.
[04:45.160 --> 04:48.820]  For the majority of consumers, the choice was Rage Against the Machine, unfortunately.
[04:50.620 --> 04:56.460]  But the people who liked these sounds and liked the trackers and stuff still kind of felt, you know, a desire to do it.
[04:56.660 --> 05:00.420]  And they picked up these tools, these developer tools where they left off.
[05:00.660 --> 05:12.140]  And the tools enabled them to, instead of, you know, writing registers directly to the chip in assembly programming stuff, they had simple interfaces like sequencers.
[05:14.460 --> 05:19.780]  And the sequencers enabled them to easily make the music.
[05:19.960 --> 05:22.620]  So you're no longer limited to hardcore programmers.
[05:22.860 --> 05:26.620]  You actually get more of the creative types and musicians are into them.
[05:27.040 --> 05:36.060]  And some of the early software that kind of crossed over to non-programming musicians, you know, were things like Scream Tracker and Pro Tracker for the Amiga.
[05:36.600 --> 05:41.840]  And then later programs for the Game Boy became very popular because the Game Boy was very easy to gig with.
[05:42.040 --> 05:46.160]  So you started seeing programs like Little Sound DJ, which is a tracker.
[05:46.900 --> 05:48.340]  Some fans in the audience of that.
[05:49.160 --> 05:51.740]  Nanoloop, which is a more kind of esoteric sequencer.
[05:51.940 --> 05:56.260]  So even for people who aren't familiar with music, they could pick it up and start doing things.
[05:58.820 --> 06:01.560]  All right, so we're past Demostine Roots.
[06:02.840 --> 06:04.680]  We're getting into the micromusic era.
[06:05.360 --> 06:13.260]  Micromusic was kind of the name of a label and scene in Europe, which was the first to really embrace this...
[06:16.280 --> 06:18.760]  I remind you at this time to please turn off your cell phones.
[06:18.940 --> 06:24.740]  I don't mean to embarrass this guy in the front, but the only bleeps and bloops you should hear today are coming from up here.
[06:26.100 --> 06:35.360]  All right, so micromusic is a European collective who now has roots all over the world in San Francisco and England.
[06:36.200 --> 06:37.340]  I've forgiven you.
[06:37.620 --> 06:38.040]  It's okay.
[06:44.370 --> 07:02.410]  Micromusic is a European collective of musicians, and they're kind of unique in the sense that they were combined together not to make demo productions or to showcase the technology, but they wanted to make new and arresting music with the software that's being developed.
[07:02.590 --> 07:08.070]  So they didn't see that their competition was other demo sceners or other sceners.
[07:08.230 --> 07:10.530]  They were going after, you know, pop label people.
[07:10.750 --> 07:17.590]  They wanted to make songs to compete with this Pech Mode and the mainstream electronic artists that they grew up with.
[07:18.790 --> 07:19.270]  So...
[07:19.270 --> 07:27.570]  And micromusic was also the first chip music movement that actually was interested in playing for outside groups.
[07:27.830 --> 07:40.770]  You know, before you had demo scene parties, which were basically like, you know, small hope conventions kind of things where, you know, a bunch of your guys are over and you get a keg of beer and you're showing what you can do and you vote on who's the best.
[07:41.710 --> 07:55.830]  And micromusic was really the first organization that kind of took it into a club atmosphere where you had to compete with, you know, Nirvana cover band for, you know, like commercial music in terms of respectability and acceptance.
[07:55.830 --> 08:10.970]  So it was kind of interesting because the approach that they took that they took to do this was to kind of just ignore any of the demo scene conventions of, you know, of the cliches of the sound chip and whatnot.
[08:11.870 --> 08:16.850]  I should probably take a moment to describe, you know, the limitations of chip music sound chips.
[08:17.550 --> 08:22.210]  Most of the first generation of chiptune sound chips are extremely simple.
[08:23.190 --> 08:27.590]  You have basic waveforms like you'd find on an inexpensive synthesizer.
[08:27.930 --> 08:29.510]  You rarely have effects.
[08:29.850 --> 08:34.370]  You rarely have things like reverb and distortion and stuff like that.
[08:34.570 --> 08:41.010]  So you have to program what in your mind's eye is the trick of the effect.
[08:41.290 --> 08:49.190]  You know, like if I want to do a reverb, I play the sound quieter and quieter, you know, like, quieter, quieter, quieter, quieter.
[08:49.530 --> 08:51.170]  You know, you do that kind of effect.
[08:51.950 --> 08:59.350]  And, you know, the ear is tricked and you're on stage with a Game Boy and you sound like, you know, you've got an orchestra.
[08:59.650 --> 09:02.790]  That is the ultimate goal of, you know, the chip musician.
[09:03.410 --> 09:21.710]  So, back to my point of the micromusic people, as they, you know, started playing these gigs and stuff, they started finding more people and getting more people into music who had no idea about the demo scene roots and were just kind of like blown away that you can make music on a Game Boy.
[09:22.370 --> 09:24.910]  So, we move on to the next thing.
[09:25.610 --> 09:28.310]  The movement also had its mirrors in the US.
[09:29.350 --> 09:47.050]  In 1999, students at NYU, Jeremiah Johnson, aka No Sleep, and Minus Baby and other artists found each other making music on these Game Boy platforms and Commodores and stuff, and they started to do gigs in the New York area.
[09:48.350 --> 09:50.230]  It was kind of an uphill battle at first.
[09:50.390 --> 09:52.250]  You know, I moved to New York in 2003.
[09:52.710 --> 09:56.470]  And at that point, you know, they had found each other, this core group of musicians.
[09:57.550 --> 10:03.730]  Comes to mind, Null Sleep, which I mentioned, Bit Shifter, Glomag, Bubbly Fish.
[10:05.370 --> 10:11.230]  And they were thematically very different, you know, other than the, you know, the root share of the hardware.
[10:11.410 --> 10:14.270]  There were very different approaches to the way they made music.
[10:14.270 --> 10:14.350]  music.
[10:14.750 --> 10:23.330]  But, you know, it was such a competitive environment in the New York music scene that they quickly found themselves, like, playing shows together and stuff like that.
[10:24.210 --> 10:37.090]  And you would see a lot of, you see a lot of shows at galleries and at other new media events, hackerspaces such as that.
[10:38.190 --> 10:44.510]  But it wasn't really until, like, two or three years into it that they were able to cross over in New York into the professional music scenes.
[10:46.730 --> 10:51.470]  And even then, it was kind of a, kind of a crapshoot.
[10:51.610 --> 10:58.630]  You know, you would have one night where you're playing a gallery and computer speakers where you're PA, you know, and you would show up.
[10:58.630 --> 11:08.090]  And very early, they realized that they weren't going to get the leg up from the commercial music scene to, you know, play bigger venues on their own.
[11:08.370 --> 11:15.110]  So, they were able to connect with a local arts organization called The Tank, which is up here in Midtown Manhattan.
[11:15.370 --> 11:21.770]  If anyone has a chance to check them out, they do all kinds of great events, theater, dance, multimedia.
[11:21.770 --> 11:27.330]  Um, and they gave the chip music scene a really early leg up with, uh, the Pulse Wave shows.
[11:28.630 --> 11:33.870]  Um, what I'm going to do right now is play a video that was shot, um, by Two Player Productions.
[11:34.430 --> 11:38.570]  Uh, Two Player Productions later did a documentary, which will be coming out later this summer.
[11:38.810 --> 11:46.290]  But in this video, you can see, kind of, the early Pulse Wave shows and, kind of, how slapdash and fun it was back then.
[11:47.830 --> 11:49.050]  I think we have audio, so.
[11:49.550 --> 11:50.030]  That's good.
[11:50.030 --> 11:50.130]  Good.
[11:51.150 --> 11:51.470]  Alright.
[11:51.470 --> 11:51.850]  How's it going?
[11:52.050 --> 11:52.990]  How about you, 20 bucks?
[11:53.750 --> 11:56.610]  Um, I don't know how to...
[11:56.950 --> 11:57.490]  How about you?
[11:57.810 --> 11:59.390]  Some of them go like Meganannans.
[11:59.630 --> 12:00.050]  Yeah, yeah.
[12:00.250 --> 12:00.630]  Some of them go.
[12:00.850 --> 12:02.510]  It's like guys that work on Meganannans.
[12:02.670 --> 12:03.930]  So, I don't even figure out who they are.
[12:04.250 --> 12:04.350]  Yeah.
[12:04.590 --> 12:07.310]  I tried to get a Nintendo, cuz I wrote this, like, Symphony that's looking.
[12:07.470 --> 12:08.790]  It's all Nintendo sims.
[12:09.090 --> 12:09.450]  Uh-huh.
[12:09.830 --> 12:10.830]  So, I tried to get, like...
[12:10.830 --> 12:11.630]  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, they have.
[12:11.770 --> 12:17.490]  I tried to get, yeah, I tried to get Nintendo to, like, kind of, recognize it.
[12:17.490 --> 12:19.010]  Or just like say something about it.
[12:19.110 --> 12:20.570]  Or say, hey, this is cool.
[12:20.710 --> 12:21.790]  Or, hey, no, this is not cool.
[12:22.810 --> 12:24.490]  Just something, you know, they would...
[12:54.070 --> 12:58.350]  Our first artist tonight is Joe Mariano, who is going to rock it with Animal Style.
[12:58.570 --> 12:59.330]  Let's give it up for Joe.
[12:59.510 --> 12:59.990]  Come on, everyone.
[15:19.060 --> 15:22.640]  No Pacs, no Pacs, no Pacs, no Pacs!
[15:22.640 --> 15:23.040]  No credit to all!
[15:23.760 --> 15:24.980]  No credit to all!
[15:25.840 --> 15:27.560]  Are you ready for the future that's coming?
[15:30.000 --> 15:30.980]  No credit to all!
[15:31.600 --> 15:31.640]  Ha!
[15:31.820 --> 15:32.740]  No credit to all!
[15:33.740 --> 15:34.880]  Are you ready for the future?
[16:00.900 --> 16:03.280]  We're OMAC, thanks a lot, we all love you.
[16:04.320 --> 16:09.240]  Make sure to come to our show on next Tuesday at Nancy's Bayonne!
[16:41.740 --> 16:46.480]  So, that's a pretty good example of, you know, the early scene.
[16:46.620 --> 16:48.440]  That was probably 2006, 2007.
[16:50.760 --> 16:55.720]  We were kind of like, just getting to use the idea of having our own shows and having our own venue.
[16:56.080 --> 17:06.600]  And around that time, we had an email from a number of musicians from Japan who were commuting over the Internet who wanted to play a show here.
[17:06.600 --> 17:11.660]  And it was kind of too big for the Pulse Wave shows, and that was kind of the birth of the first Blip Festival.
[17:12.020 --> 17:16.300]  Blip Festival is an annual concert that we've had for four years now.
[17:18.260 --> 17:28.360]  And it's had, you know, on the average of 30 to 40 artists on a weekend from all over the world, Australia, Japan, UK, China.
[17:28.360 --> 17:36.620]  And what this has really done for the New York scene is kind of, like, allowed us to connect with other artists elsewhere.
[17:39.100 --> 17:43.940]  And that probably wouldn't have been possible without websites like 8-Bit Collective.
[17:44.680 --> 17:49.620]  The Lil' Sound DJ mailing list was a really early connection point for artists.
[17:51.140 --> 17:53.120]  Forums like chipmusic.org now.
[17:54.640 --> 18:02.500]  And the Internet is really kind of, like, essential for us to get any kind of, like, networking, to share resources, how it's made.
[18:02.520 --> 18:08.680]  Because there's certainly a lot of arcane questions we get, you know, of, like, you know, where's the game you're playing?
[18:08.920 --> 18:13.500]  You know, where is, you know, what are you doing on stage?
[18:13.500 --> 18:16.360]  You know, dancing and jumping on folding tables.
[18:18.740 --> 18:21.780]  So the Internet has been really kind of, like, our showcase.
[18:21.820 --> 18:30.660]  Because every time, you know, a media organization has tried to, you know, talk to it or dissect it, you get, you know, the Mario at a rave reference.
[18:30.700 --> 18:34.500]  Or you get, you know, the guys on Fox News, like, you know...
[18:34.500 --> 18:35.100]  Chips Ahoy.
[18:35.220 --> 18:36.160]  Chips Ahoy, yeah.
[18:37.260 --> 18:38.640]  As many puns as you could be.
[18:38.840 --> 18:40.180]  Let the chips lie where they may.
[18:40.400 --> 18:41.540]  I think we've heard them all, you know.
[18:43.920 --> 18:48.040]  But we've learned early on that we have to, you know, run our own image.
[18:48.040 --> 18:53.620]  Because if you let them, you know, pigeonhole you, it's kind of like some novelty act.
[18:53.780 --> 18:58.540]  You know, like, you know, I don't want to offend any barbershop fans in the audience or anything.
[18:58.720 --> 19:07.360]  But, you know, it's a serious, you know, it may be kind of a juvenile source of music, but it's a serious tool.
[19:07.880 --> 19:16.900]  And as such, you know, you go online to find resources, there's quickly becoming a lot of places that you can learn how to do things and talk of other artists.
[19:17.100 --> 19:27.840]  And that's kind of like the chief component of the scene where you'll have, you know, I was a person who only knew Null Sleep and them from a little sound DJ mailing list.
[19:27.840 --> 19:33.360]  So when I moved here, I introduced myself, but it wasn't like breaking into a stranger because I knew them from the Internet.
[19:34.340 --> 19:40.260]  And it's happened time and time again where, like, you know, a stranger comes up and says, you know, I make a little music here and there.
[19:40.400 --> 19:50.900]  And then they play Pulse Wave and then they release something on a net label like Apet Peoples or Paws or, you know, Kitten Rock is another great net label.
[19:51.880 --> 19:55.580]  And then quickly, you know, they become known within our scene.
[19:55.760 --> 20:03.940]  You know, it may not be, you know, radio sales or anything like that, but, you know, there's a certain brotherhood and comradeship.
[20:07.180 --> 20:19.360]  And I think that's kind of like what's really been driving the chip music scene for like the last two or three years is like, you know, as Apet Peoples is not big enough to contain all the hundreds of new artists coming on the scene.
[20:20.360 --> 20:21.920]  People start their own net labels.
[20:22.180 --> 20:24.000]  People start their own chip music night.
[20:24.160 --> 20:27.880]  Now there's at least, I think, three regular chip music nights in New York City alone.
[20:27.880 --> 20:36.840]  There's been events that popping up in San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago, Austin, Texas, Montreal, Nashville, Tennessee.
[20:37.500 --> 20:38.600]  That's just in the U.S.
[20:38.600 --> 20:53.180]  There's also scenes in Edinburgh, Scotland, you know, England, Indonesia just is about to do their own blip festival size event for the members of the East Jakarta chip tune scene.
[20:53.800 --> 20:58.960]  There's a video that's posted on the True Chip blog last week about, you know, their scene.
[20:59.020 --> 21:06.860]  It's really interesting because it's not, you know, there's not a strict genre and there's not a strict, you know, cultural reason.
[21:07.020 --> 21:14.920]  You know, it isn't, you know, because now we're getting to the point where we're having musicians come to the scene who weren't alive when, you know, Nintendo Entertainment System was in its prime.
[21:14.920 --> 21:16.820]  So they can't claim nostalgia factor.
[21:17.120 --> 21:26.240]  You know, there's a visceral attraction to making music on the, on this kind of hardware, um, um, where to find the good shit.
[21:26.400 --> 21:33.460]  You know, there is a, there is a, with increased amount of usage, you know, there's increased amount of, uh, wheat and chaff, as it were.
[21:33.460 --> 21:38.460]  Um, so net labels are very important in terms of, for the casual listener.
[21:38.800 --> 21:43.300]  Um, 8Bit Peoples is a great label, as I said, Paws, Kitten Rock.
[21:43.800 --> 21:46.500]  Uh, there's a European label named Ubictune.
[21:46.980 --> 21:49.740]  Um, Micromusic is still active in Europe.
[21:49.740 --> 21:58.000]  They do a quality filter system where their, uh, expert chip tune scientists evaluate your chip music for highest, uh, chip music quality.
[21:58.660 --> 22:03.920]  And, uh, you may say what you will about their secretive process, but all the songs are very good.
[22:04.500 --> 22:09.080]  Um, but you know, you, you can get as deep into it as you want to.
[22:09.180 --> 22:15.680]  You know, there's, uh, you know, there's stuff that filters on to the mainstream blog press, like Engadget and Boing Boing.
[22:15.940 --> 22:22.360]  Um, what I'm gonna do is turn it over to Joey now, who will tell you a little bit about how the music's made, uh, in a little more technical detail.
[22:22.920 --> 22:24.100]  And I thank you for your time.
[22:24.420 --> 22:25.680]  So, it was Joey Mariano.
[22:30.890 --> 22:38.230]  Okay, uh, so, uh, the question I have up on, uh, on this, uh, this thing here is, uh, what is, uh, chip music?
[22:38.670 --> 22:45.510]  And, um, basically it's, uh, you know, waveforms created from synths that were inside old computers.
[22:45.770 --> 22:50.250]  And I like to say computers because, you know, Nintendo's a computer, Commodore 64 is a computer.
[22:50.850 --> 22:56.870]  And, um, also, I used to get into fights with guys back in, like, 2005, uh, uh, on these forums.
[22:57.190 --> 23:00.450]  Uh, they would be like, oh, if it's not coming out from a chip, it's not chiptune.
[23:00.670 --> 23:01.030]  You know?
[23:01.290 --> 23:03.570]  Because they were, like, very purist and literal.
[23:03.570 --> 23:07.150]  But it's, it can also be emulation of the waveforms, basically.
[23:07.410 --> 23:14.970]  Because there's a lot of people who don't necessarily have money to shell out on all the different equipment and little gadgets you can buy to kind of improve your sound.
[23:15.150 --> 23:18.010]  So, and some of them may even be programmer heavy.
[23:18.170 --> 23:23.890]  So, they'll actually build their own, like, virtual synth, um, you know, in, like, a PC environment or a Mac environment.
[23:23.890 --> 23:32.170]  So, um, so, I just kind of like to say it's, like, sound sources originating from the IC chips, typically vintage in nature.
[23:32.750 --> 23:40.270]  And they're usually limited in sound, uh, you know, and, uh, usually limited in number of outputs and, like, options.
[23:40.570 --> 23:45.210]  Because Peter was talking about that echo effect you could do by just, you know, which is your volume before.
[23:45.870 --> 23:52.710]  Um, so, you know, and also, it's kind of, it's, it's a, it's a genre of music that's very difficult to define.
[23:52.710 --> 23:58.310]  And it's also sort of dangerous to define, uh, to define because, uh, you know, you could light a shitstorm on the forums, too.
[23:58.490 --> 24:02.190]  Because these kids will go, go crazy if you start, uh, you know, defining stuff, so.
[24:02.370 --> 24:09.070]  I, I think we all know the Internet is equally interested in music as is and trolling and forums doing.
[24:09.490 --> 24:12.950]  Um, so I just put up here, you know, it's not Mario music.
[24:13.430 --> 24:15.970]  You know, that's, that's something that Peter was talking about.
[24:16.170 --> 24:22.610]  You know, we get pigeonhole into that kind of category because normal people just see it and they're like, oh, it sounds like Mario music or something.
[24:22.610 --> 24:32.450]  But, you know, there are, like back here, you know, you can have all these various wave forms, way, lots of different effects, um, that you're doing.
[24:32.710 --> 24:34.830]  And that really has nothing to do with, uh, Mario.
[24:35.090 --> 24:40.950]  That has more to do with programming and, um, and all the, and electronic music and all those kinds of things.
[24:41.070 --> 24:45.350]  So, you know, I try to stay away from that whole, uh, that whole thing.
[24:45.790 --> 24:54.370]  There are, don't get me wrong, I like, uh, a lot of the old video game music and I probably wouldn't get into this music if I didn't had that, have that, like, initial kind of catalyst.
[24:55.410 --> 25:01.210]  But, you know, at, at some point when you're an artist, you gotta grow, you gotta, uh, kind of branch out from there basically.
[25:01.470 --> 25:06.150]  So, um, these are just a couple pictures of, uh, some SID chips.
[25:06.150 --> 25:07.910]  There are all the different revisions of them.
[25:08.250 --> 25:12.170]  You know, this is, uh, this is stuff that I like to look at on the Internet, you know.
[25:14.930 --> 25:16.690]  Yeah, that's pornography for...
[25:16.690 --> 25:20.750]  Yeah, this is like, that's like chip music, uh, chip, uh, musician pornography right there.
[25:21.370 --> 25:23.750]  Um, so why chip music?
[25:23.930 --> 25:24.130]  Okay.
[25:24.670 --> 25:31.370]  Um, so creating, uh, electronic music within limitations from another era, it's challenging.
[25:31.370 --> 25:40.610]  You know, you don't have, uh, some crazy commercial, uh, interface that you can deal with that can do, you know, pretty much anything you can think of.
[25:40.770 --> 25:44.310]  So you have to sort of, it sort of forces you to be creative.
[25:44.690 --> 25:55.390]  Um, you know, and also too, um, if you're using hardware, you're gonna get certain artifacts in the actual, you know, timbers and sounds that you're creating within there.
[25:55.390 --> 26:05.090]  And it's those imperfect, you know, imperfect imperfections that are gonna make, uh, you know, you know, your sound sound good, basically.
[26:05.310 --> 26:12.630]  So I like the way these, uh, these things sound when, uh, the IC chip doesn't exactly do everything you thought it was gonna do.
[26:13.050 --> 26:14.550]  Um, it sounds good.
[26:14.910 --> 26:20.570]  Um, so also, you know, the noise your mom hated, you know, my mom would be like, hey, can you put your headphones on with that Game Boy?
[26:20.910 --> 26:22.310]  You know, cause it'd be coming out of the speaker.
[26:22.310 --> 26:24.730]  Or, you know, it's not like your rock and roll music, you know?
[26:24.890 --> 26:26.630]  And that, there's nothing more beautiful than that.
[26:26.730 --> 26:29.430]  I mean, they, you know, their parents hated their music.
[26:29.430 --> 26:31.030]  Uh, my parents hate my music.
[26:31.190 --> 26:32.830]  So it's, it's pretty good like that.
[26:32.950 --> 26:36.630]  So, also too, um, art within limitations.
[26:37.310 --> 26:39.850]  Um, I like to use the Star Wars example.
[26:40.150 --> 26:41.970]  We all know that the new Star Wars movies suck.
[26:42.570 --> 26:48.350]  But the old ones are awesome because they didn't have all this crazy technology to deal with, you know?
[26:48.750 --> 26:51.590]  Uh, and they could, they were creative with what they had.
[26:51.990 --> 26:52.490]  You know?
[26:52.830 --> 26:55.750]  And, uh, it actually made you use your imagination a little bit more.
[26:55.910 --> 26:58.270]  So, that's the beauty of, uh, chiptune music as well, too.
[26:58.750 --> 27:02.150]  So, and, uh, also I like to bust on some, uh, commercial software here.
[27:02.410 --> 27:05.070]  So, commercial software is sort of like a shallow girlfriend.
[27:05.810 --> 27:08.470]  Looks hot, but you're afraid she might be getting around the block.
[27:08.730 --> 27:09.910]  You know, like everybody's using it.
[27:10.250 --> 27:13.070]  Plus, she costs too much, uh, to take out all the time, you know?
[27:13.070 --> 27:18.450]  So, the initial cost of buying some commercial software is, uh, you know, it's crazy.
[27:18.710 --> 27:24.010]  You know, why, why even go buy those things when you can, uh, download Famitracker for free?
[27:24.230 --> 27:24.830]  You know what I mean?
[27:24.890 --> 27:25.970]  It's an open source program.
[27:26.190 --> 27:28.010]  You can start writing music right away.
[27:28.190 --> 27:32.530]  You know, you bought the computer, you know, uh, I feel like some of the software should be definitely free.
[27:32.530 --> 27:41.410]  So, you know, if you go buy Propellerhead's, uh, Reason or something like that, you know, it's, uh, you know, it's a lot of money to shell out right in the beginning.
[27:41.610 --> 27:43.030]  And a lot of people are poor nowadays, so.
[27:43.470 --> 27:47.530]  Um, so, and also, too, you know, nostalgia is powerful.
[27:47.870 --> 27:48.570]  You know, watch out.
[27:48.750 --> 27:52.230]  The Mario analogy will eat your career for breakfast, basically, you know?
[27:52.490 --> 27:56.550]  So, if you play into that too much, you know, people in the scene won't take you seriously.
[27:56.550 --> 28:02.690]  And, and, you know, it just, it kind of demoralizes the whole art scene.
[28:02.910 --> 28:05.370]  Um, but yeah, recycle, reuse, and rock.
[28:05.570 --> 28:09.690]  So, that's another thing, you know, uh, you know, we talk about recycling all the time.
[28:09.930 --> 28:15.410]  Uh, what's better than recycling, like, old, uh, video games from the past and kind of using them for the future?
[28:15.550 --> 28:21.630]  That's, like, uh, that's something that's, I think, is something beautiful and definitely related to, uh, stuff that's going on now.
[28:22.070 --> 28:26.930]  Um, okay, so, there's a bunch of different ways you can actually make chiptune music.
[28:27.230 --> 28:29.210]  Um, I put up here, there's MML.
[28:29.710 --> 28:33.450]  You can use MIDI, which is Musical Instrument Digital Interface.
[28:33.930 --> 28:38.490]  And then you could use native trackers, which is, uh, what I have on this Game Boy right now.
[28:38.690 --> 28:42.070]  It's a tracker where you can actually write the music with button presses on the Game Boy.
[28:42.310 --> 28:48.670]  Or you can use a PC tracker, too, which is, like, something that you would write music on your, uh, computer with, okay?
[28:48.670 --> 28:56.970]  So, um, yeah, music macro language, if you, if you Google search MML, you're gonna get something that says, uh, music markup language.
[28:57.130 --> 28:58.310]  And that's something different, okay?
[28:58.850 --> 29:08.690]  And, um, NullSleep, actually, the guy, the last guy you saw on the video, basically, he has, uh, um, he gets a lot of hits to his website, probably for this specific reason.
[29:09.010 --> 29:13.030]  He has, uh, an MCK MML beginners tutorial on his website.
[29:13.210 --> 29:15.330]  So, um, so that's one way.
[29:15.330 --> 29:21.270]  If you're heavy into programming and you wanna mess around with it, you might be even more comfortable with, uh, like, an MML kind of thing.
[29:21.630 --> 29:25.430]  So, um, MIDI hardware, uh, there's tons of these options now.
[29:25.750 --> 29:27.450]  Um, there's, like, uh, things you can buy.
[29:27.590 --> 29:28.570]  There's MIDI-ness.
[29:28.970 --> 29:33.770]  There's all sorts of, uh, there's Arduino Boy, which is, uh, something that Trash80 made.
[29:33.810 --> 29:36.590]  I believe he actually played here at one time?
[29:36.990 --> 29:37.210]  No.
[29:37.450 --> 29:37.830]  Oh, did he?
[29:37.910 --> 29:38.370]  Well, I don't know.
[29:38.450 --> 29:40.850]  I've seen pictures of him here at one point.
[29:40.850 --> 29:46.090]  So, but he made a whole, uh, MIDI interface for the Game Boy, um, through Arduino.
[29:46.410 --> 29:54.070]  And then, uh, Vblank, who is here, and he's gonna be doing visuals later, he built a, uh, YM synth that's, uh, got some Atari features.
[29:54.430 --> 30:00.750]  And, um, LittleScale hasn't released this yet, but he's, uh, made a MIDI interface for, uh, Sega Genesis.
[30:01.230 --> 30:06.850]  There's also this thing called Messiah, which is another, uh, it's a Commodore interface that uses MIDI.
[30:07.390 --> 30:09.650]  Um, the, the options are endless.
[30:09.810 --> 30:10.850]  There's tons of things, okay?
[30:11.410 --> 30:15.190]  Um, and then I have over here, there's a link here, I know, obviously you guys can't click on it.
[30:15.670 --> 30:17.590]  But, uh, um...
[30:17.590 --> 30:18.310]  Click with your mind.
[30:18.510 --> 30:24.490]  Yeah, if you, if you Google search, uh, Moogle charm, uh, trackers, something like that.
[30:24.950 --> 30:28.590]  Uh, Moogle charm, everybody knows Google, so maybe it sounds like that, so you can remember that.
[30:29.110 --> 30:30.430]  Um, but they have a...
[30:30.430 --> 30:31.090]  What's that?
[30:31.210 --> 30:32.410]  It's a video game reference.
[30:32.670 --> 30:33.750]  Oh, yeah, that's what, yeah, exactly.
[30:33.750 --> 30:38.310]  Uh, but they have a list of almost every tracker you could possibly imagine on their website.
[30:38.690 --> 30:40.990]  Uh, native trackers and PC trackers.
[30:41.110 --> 30:42.670]  So, and most of them are free.
[30:42.850 --> 30:45.150]  So, you know, you guys should try it or something, okay?
[30:45.850 --> 30:47.710]  Um, so LSDJ is really popular.
[30:48.150 --> 30:52.670]  Um, and PC trackers are for people who don't have money to shell out on hardware.
[30:53.030 --> 30:54.330]  So, if you just got a computer.
[30:55.050 --> 30:59.770]  Anyways, so, uh, this is just a picture of LSDJ on a EMS flash cart.
[30:59.770 --> 31:05.330]  And you basically put the LSDJ ROM onto the flash cart with a USB cable.
[31:05.590 --> 31:10.430]  And then you can save your songs with, uh, it saves them with a battery backup, basically.
[31:10.550 --> 31:12.250]  So, if your battery goes, so do your songs.
[31:12.490 --> 31:14.470]  But, um, you can back it up on your computer, too.
[31:14.990 --> 31:19.250]  Um, I also use a Sega Genesis flash cart, too, for my Sega Genesis music.
[31:19.250 --> 31:22.670]  And this is a Toto Tech MD Pro 64 flash cart.
[31:23.050 --> 31:25.470]  Um, and it uses a serial cable.
[31:25.590 --> 31:30.850]  So, a lot of people don't want to use it because they don't have serial ports on, or the printer ports on the back of their computer anymore.
[31:31.130 --> 31:33.810]  But, um, let's see.
[31:34.450 --> 31:45.430]  So, yeah, also, uh, people use the, just a standard mixer a lot of times to, um, help the sound of the, the Game Boy or other, you know, things that they're plugging in.
[31:45.430 --> 31:47.730]  Um, the EQ, you can bump the bass.
[31:48.070 --> 31:57.370]  Um, and it's also useful if you have, like, a DJ-style approach, too, where you're, like, beat matching and, you know, putting, maybe using two Game Boys at the same time or something.
[31:57.530 --> 31:59.030]  And it gives you a little independent control.
[31:59.450 --> 32:02.210]  And, uh, it can also be used in, like, your recording chain.
[32:02.210 --> 32:05.330]  So, if you want to get an EQ before you actually record your songs.
[32:05.610 --> 32:08.130]  Some people like to actually record the hardware.
[32:08.750 --> 32:13.490]  So, and then I put, uh, here that, sorry about that video before.
[32:13.490 --> 32:15.430]  That was, like, early days of my stuff.
[32:15.630 --> 32:18.170]  So, it, it, I'm very ashamed of it, actually.
[32:18.550 --> 32:18.930]  So...
[32:18.930 --> 32:20.530]  Uh, it was very good.
[32:20.710 --> 32:21.470]  It's all right, whatever.
[32:21.850 --> 32:27.110]  But the, the stuff that I worked on after that, uh, I'm a, I'm a guitar teacher.
[32:27.450 --> 32:29.170]  And I'm a, I have, like, a jazz guitar degree.
[32:29.330 --> 32:33.450]  So I wanted to come up with a way to kind of improvise, um, chip music.
[32:33.630 --> 32:40.210]  So what I did was I built a Game Boy foot controller so that I could trigger loops with my foot and then play guitar over top of it.
[32:40.210 --> 32:45.010]  And then I also, uh, got a guitar pedal that kind of makes my guitar into a square wave.
[32:45.250 --> 32:51.790]  So that, um, you know, you wouldn't hear this, like, like, Game Boy beat and then all of a sudden it's like this weird guitar sound over top of it.
[32:51.930 --> 32:56.550]  Everything would sound kind of, uh, you know, like one texture almost, basically.
[32:56.870 --> 33:01.230]  So, a lot of people come up to me and they go, I don't know what you were doing on the guitar, but it sounded good, okay.
[33:01.650 --> 33:10.970]  Um, I also built, uh, recently a homebrew Arduino CV sequencer that hooks up to one of my pedals so that it, um, can sequence the pulse width of my guitar.
[33:11.450 --> 33:18.350]  And, uh, that's like a very standard thing that one of the, the NES could do or the, uh, Commodore 64 could do.
[33:18.650 --> 33:21.550]  And, uh, you know, I like to, I, I played Sega Genesis a lot.
[33:21.770 --> 33:23.090]  It's Sega Genesis when I was a lot.
[33:23.210 --> 33:25.230]  So, um, I make a lot of music with that.
[33:25.350 --> 33:29.690]  And I'll use a Yamaha DX 100 with that because it has a similar sound chip.
[33:29.690 --> 33:30.810]  And that's a keyboard, basically.
[33:31.050 --> 33:33.050]  So, it has a similar sound chip to the Sega Genesis.
[33:33.390 --> 33:42.010]  So, again, I was kind of trying to go about that the same way as my, the pulse, uh, guitar thing to keep the textures the same, basically.
[33:42.290 --> 33:44.470]  So, um, so here's some of my junk.
[33:44.970 --> 33:48.030]  Uh, that's the, uh, sequence that I built.
[33:48.150 --> 33:51.530]  This is the, the top unit of the Game Boy foot controller.
[33:51.710 --> 33:56.210]  It basically just sends the switches down to a breakout box so I can hit the buttons with my foot.
[33:56.910 --> 33:59.390]  Uh, how are we doing on time here?
[34:00.110 --> 34:00.470]  Okay.
[34:03.410 --> 34:06.710]  Okay, so, yeah, there's a bunch of hardware modifications you can do.
[34:06.910 --> 34:09.410]  You know, I was just talking about, like, the foot controller and everything.
[34:09.630 --> 34:12.650]  But, uh, you know, there's a pro sound output for 8-bit systems.
[34:13.010 --> 34:16.310]  You know, people overclock, underclock their, uh, Game Boys.
[34:17.050 --> 34:21.470]  Um, people backlight the Game Boys so that they can see it in a club because it's really hard.
[34:22.110 --> 34:27.090]  There's also, like, a crystal clear, uh, thing, mod for the Sega Genesis that you can do.
[34:27.970 --> 34:29.710]  Anti-noise C64 mod.
[34:29.850 --> 34:31.330]  There's endless possibilities you can do.
[34:31.490 --> 34:35.370]  And I put at the end here, you can be creative and try to come up with your own unique approach.
[34:35.370 --> 34:36.190]  That's always good.
[34:37.090 --> 34:51.030]  Um, and then also, too, I have, uh, you know, people have been, uh, increasingly sort of, like, uh, not just doing what I'm doing, trying to keep the textures the same, but they'll, they'll basically, uh, you know, integrate it with other instruments.
[34:51.430 --> 35:00.230]  Anna Managuchi, who's a New York bass band, and Starscream, they both have, like, drummers, and bass players, and guitars, and all these things, and they make, like, a whole rock show out of it.
[35:00.710 --> 35:04.610]  Uh, I have a picture up here of Glomag, Chris playing guitar, and he has a lot of vocals with it.
[35:05.070 --> 35:17.830]  Um, Dino, who's gonna be playing later, he plays a keyboard with it, and, uh, there's a guy at the end here, John Backen, who's a new, uh, Philly guy, who's, uh, also playing keyboards and everything like that.
[35:17.930 --> 35:20.010]  So a lot of people use conventional instruments with this stuff, too.
[35:20.130 --> 35:24.330]  I don't want you to think it's just always just, hey, I have my Game Boy, and that's it, you know.
[35:24.810 --> 35:27.090]  Uh, but also, cross-genre compatibility.
[35:27.670 --> 35:37.350]  Um, old game soundtracks pretty much covered every genre, genre you can think of, so a lot of these guys try to actually incorporate those into their music.
[35:38.190 --> 35:50.050]  So, um, you know, it has like a, it seems to have like a genre sponging ability, basically, where we just kind of like absorb all these different genres, and it's almost becoming a new genre because of that.
[35:50.370 --> 36:01.910]  So, um, and many types of musicians have experimented with chip music, um, from popular musicians like Beck, actually, um, to, uh, experimental musicians like Oliver Wichow from Germany.
[36:02.590 --> 36:09.830]  So, and there's like, uh, pretty much an open-minded, uh, nature in the scene, um, as far as genre and musical tastes go.
[36:10.150 --> 36:12.330]  There's a lot of people who go about it a lot of different ways.
[36:12.930 --> 36:18.950]  So, um, also covering non-electronic songs is extremely common, and it sort of brings a casual listener in.
[36:19.470 --> 36:25.970]  Uh, so yeah, sequencing music makes it easy to play, uh, stuff that might otherwise be hard or impossible, too.
[36:26.050 --> 36:30.750]  So if you're not really good at playing one style of music, you can always sequence it and have the Game Boy play that part for you.
[36:31.390 --> 36:32.430]  That's some stuff that I do.
[36:32.530 --> 36:34.810]  If I can't play it on guitar, I'll get the Game Boy to do it.
[36:35.190 --> 36:39.430]  And then, this, uh, so we're gonna have the visualist, uh, talk in a second.
[36:39.630 --> 36:43.570]  And, uh, so, uh, you know, if you are getting into chip music, you gotta have a visualist.
[36:43.770 --> 36:51.570]  So, you know, getting the visualist to make you look cool, you might wanna give him some, um, alcohol, or some money, or give him some praise, you know.
[36:52.130 --> 36:58.010]  Uh, it's important to publicly thank him, uh, because they provide the atmosphere and move beyond just the music, you know.
[36:58.010 --> 37:00.910]  The visuals are a really important part, and they're, they're like the bass player.
[37:01.030 --> 37:03.870]  They always get sort of like, you know, it's like afterthought.
[37:03.970 --> 37:05.270]  Oh, yeah, it's like animal style.
[37:05.450 --> 37:07.510]  Oh, and no carrier, or something like that.
[37:07.690 --> 37:09.350]  But this guy knows more than I do.
[37:09.490 --> 37:10.630]  I, I do have to agree with that.
[37:10.730 --> 37:17.550]  When I first started booking those Pulse Wave shows, uh, you saw on the website, um, um, I knew I was gonna book musicians.
[37:17.850 --> 37:26.290]  And then someone said, oh, um, uh, a, uh, visualist who records as Paris Graphics wants to VJ for the show.
[37:26.450 --> 37:29.650]  And I'm like, I, I don't wanna split the bill that much, you know.
[37:29.890 --> 37:31.370]  Do we, we don't really need it.
[37:31.450 --> 37:33.570]  And then, you know, they talked me into letting him perform.
[37:34.150 --> 37:35.030]  You know, letting him.
[37:35.210 --> 37:36.430]  And he blew me away.
[37:36.530 --> 37:42.690]  It's very, you know, I, I think it has a lot to do with how thematically we're used to the graphics and the music together.
[37:42.690 --> 37:49.910]  And it really does kind of glue the two things together as a art firm when you have two artists at the top of their game doing their thing.
[37:50.270 --> 37:52.790]  Um, so I'm gonna turn it to Don right now, who will talk a little about VJ.
[37:53.130 --> 37:53.710]  Thanks, Joe.
[37:53.930 --> 37:54.110]  Peter.
[37:54.610 --> 37:54.910]  All right.
[37:55.210 --> 37:55.250]  Um.
[37:58.410 --> 38:00.130]  So, um, again, yeah.
[38:00.250 --> 38:01.910]  As I said, um, chip visuals.
[38:02.130 --> 38:02.310]  All right.
[38:02.450 --> 38:08.250]  So, um, this is something that if you don't know much about chip music, you probably know very little or nothing about chip visuals.
[38:08.530 --> 38:10.030]  And, um, you might hear the term visualist.
[38:10.110 --> 38:11.530]  You probably heard the term VJ before.
[38:11.530 --> 38:15.090]  Uh, VJ might mean something different if you're from Europe than it does in America.
[38:15.430 --> 38:19.530]  Most of the time, if you're American, you think VJ, oh, I've seen those hosts on MTV.
[38:19.750 --> 38:22.230]  They're the ones that introduce the videos, the top 20 countdown.
[38:22.570 --> 38:28.570]  But if you're from Europe, you probably think of a VJ as someone who is at a club providing visuals for a DJ.
[38:29.010 --> 38:30.530]  And that's what we're talking about here.
[38:30.950 --> 38:32.590]  I'm gonna use the term visualist a lot.
[38:32.870 --> 38:34.010]  And, um, what's the difference?
[38:34.150 --> 38:34.490]  Who cares?
[38:34.650 --> 38:35.410]  Well, I'm the one that cares.
[38:35.590 --> 38:36.370]  And there is a difference.
[38:36.370 --> 38:42.530]  Um, mostly, uh, when I say visualist, I'm usually talking real-time versus pre-rendered.
[38:42.630 --> 38:43.830]  So, we say live visualist.
[38:43.970 --> 38:47.350]  I think of that as different from VJ, or VJ, your video jacket.
[38:47.510 --> 38:48.690]  You're playing video clips.
[38:49.130 --> 38:55.150]  Where, um, when I think of somebody that's a visualist, I think of someone that is using dynamic content in real-time.
[38:55.150 --> 38:58.230]  Using a variety of different, um, soft and hardware options.
[38:58.550 --> 39:00.330]  Various computers, various consoles.
[39:00.570 --> 39:05.910]  But most often, usually, some of the vintage, uh, computers and consoles that you'd see people make the music on.
[39:06.090 --> 39:09.930]  And like Joey said, it helps complete the experience for the concert attendee.
[39:11.690 --> 39:12.210]  Right.
[39:12.650 --> 39:14.010]  And why chip visuals?
[39:14.190 --> 39:17.190]  Again, um, dynamic visuals versus static movie clips.
[39:17.350 --> 39:24.070]  I've seen VJs before who will take a clip from Star Wars, right, and add effects to it, mirror it, motion blur.
[39:24.070 --> 39:26.150]  But you can only do so much to a static movie clip.
[39:26.290 --> 39:31.690]  But if you have dynamic visuals that you can control, I think that's something much better.
[39:32.110 --> 39:37.010]  Again, crisp, clear, low-resolution aesthetic that is, uh, meaningful to some people.
[39:37.150 --> 39:39.690]  Probably the people that are coming to the chip music shows to begin with.
[39:39.810 --> 39:42.310]  And finally, again, completes the experience for the viewers.
[39:42.530 --> 39:46.110]  This here is a picture of Oxygen Star playing at our monthly 8 Static in Philadelphia.
[39:46.310 --> 39:47.130]  That's a wig.
[39:47.530 --> 39:54.050]  Um, and, uh, some visuals by V-Blank, who's performing at tonight's chiptune concert that I'll continue to promote throughout the rest of it.
[39:54.050 --> 39:54.690]  This time.
[39:55.890 --> 39:59.430]  And, uh, again, different techniques for chip visuals.
[39:59.710 --> 40:04.150]  Just as there's, as, uh, Joey said, there's many different types of music choices.
[40:04.310 --> 40:05.330]  You have the same thing for visuals.
[40:05.670 --> 40:08.850]  Almost every visualist, though, has a different set-up and style.
[40:08.990 --> 40:12.850]  Where there's a lot more software available, like LSDJ for the Game Boy for music.
[40:13.050 --> 40:18.250]  A lot of the people doing video, myself included, tend to write their own software or build their own hardware.
[40:18.690 --> 40:20.490]  And a few programs, like I said, exist.
[40:20.870 --> 40:24.570]  Um, and, uh, it's very common to see custom set-ups.
[40:25.890 --> 40:28.190]  So, I'm gonna talk a little bit about local chip visualists.
[40:28.270 --> 40:33.290]  One's that I, and, um, I'm very neurotic, so I put this in the order of, uh, people I've worked with in chronologically.
[40:35.010 --> 40:36.230]  Just cause you need to know that.
[40:36.650 --> 40:39.190]  Um, so, um, first of all, no Tendo.
[40:39.350 --> 40:39.810]  He's a great guy.
[40:39.950 --> 40:42.730]  You saw some of his visuals in, uh, the video that Peter showed.
[40:42.730 --> 40:43.930]  He's been doing it a long time.
[40:44.210 --> 40:45.490]  He uses circuit-bent hardware.
[40:46.090 --> 40:48.570]  This Nintendo you see right here with the patch bay is his work.
[40:48.890 --> 40:49.630]  Paris Graphics.
[40:49.690 --> 40:51.090]  Used to be known as voltage-controlled.
[40:51.330 --> 40:52.470]  Uh, New York City as well.
[40:52.790 --> 40:53.990]  Writes custom software.
[40:54.970 --> 40:56.610]  Uh, V-blank, a gentleman from Philadelphia.
[40:57.030 --> 40:58.290]  Um, he'll be at the concert tonight.
[40:58.630 --> 41:00.710]  He does custom software and hardware.
[41:00.970 --> 41:04.010]  So, he's like, kind of like the hybrid of the first two guys.
[41:04.710 --> 41:06.310]  And, uh, finally, Enso.
[41:06.410 --> 41:07.930]  He does pixel art and animation.
[41:08.170 --> 41:09.990]  Which, again, has its place in chip music visuals.
[41:10.110 --> 41:14.190]  Because if you think of a lot of the older video games, the animations are drawn pixel by pixel.
[41:14.510 --> 41:16.250]  Um, animations are done frame by frame.
[41:16.350 --> 41:17.030]  There's no tweening.
[41:17.230 --> 41:19.750]  There's no 3D models in the older, uh, games.
[41:19.950 --> 41:24.990]  So, that pixel aesthetic kind of holds true for, uh, visual performance in the chip scene.
[41:26.250 --> 41:26.670]  Notendo.
[41:26.990 --> 41:28.570]  This is a picture of one of his consoles.
[41:28.930 --> 41:31.270]  And, again, you can see the dials and the switches.
[41:31.290 --> 41:32.390]  It's, um, circuit-bent.
[41:32.890 --> 41:37.170]  And, um, here's some pictures of, um, a performance he did, I believe, in Prague last year.
[41:37.330 --> 41:41.210]  And you can see this very glitchy, um, aesthetic that he's kind of become known for.
[41:41.590 --> 41:43.370]  And, um, his work is very amazing.
[41:43.670 --> 41:46.910]  And, um, uh, he's been doing this for a long time.
[41:47.030 --> 41:51.310]  And it's very recognizable when you see, uh, his stuff up on a screen.
[41:51.810 --> 41:52.730]  A pair of graphics.
[41:52.970 --> 41:57.610]  Um, this is some of his, uh, work, um, when we were in, uh, Denmark last year for Blip Europe.
[41:57.610 --> 42:02.690]  And, um, as you can see here, there's patterns that are procedurally generated by some of the software that he writes.
[42:02.830 --> 42:08.050]  So, it has a much different feel than that glitchy, random circuit-bent, uh, stuff that Notendo does.
[42:08.670 --> 42:14.050]  Um, he also incorporates, um, you know, uh, recognizable imagery in there.
[42:14.170 --> 42:17.310]  Almost like traditional, uh, VJs that might use movie clips.
[42:17.470 --> 42:22.170]  But, again, um, kind of adds his own twist to it with some of his, uh, software that he writes on his own.
[42:23.430 --> 42:25.610]  VBlank, uh, again, he'll be out tonight.
[42:25.790 --> 42:27.390]  You should definitely come to the Chip concert later.
[42:27.530 --> 42:28.950]  We'll have the details at the end of this talk.
[42:29.170 --> 42:31.150]  And, um, this is some of his custom software.
[42:31.350 --> 42:32.930]  This is called the Pocket VBlank.
[42:33.010 --> 42:38.410]  He's been selling this after using his circuit board, um, his breadboard version at concerts.
[42:38.450 --> 42:44.130]  And this is something you can buy and you can plug in your own music and the visuals react in real time.
[42:44.850 --> 42:48.950]  Um, this is another one of his shots, um, from our show in Philadelphia.
[42:49.830 --> 42:52.010]  And so, again, um, he's a pixel artist.
[42:52.170 --> 42:56.810]  So, all of these logos you see are this one for Tony Light, Chromix, and this is for Arrival.
[42:56.990 --> 42:58.490]  He does these pixel by pixel.
[42:58.810 --> 43:00.070]  So, these aren't fonts.
[43:00.250 --> 43:01.330]  These are things that he's drawn.
[43:01.570 --> 43:03.770]  So, he takes an incredible amount of time to prepare.
[43:03.770 --> 43:13.410]  Although he's not programming his own software, he's, he spends as much if not more time, um, painstakingly laying things out, um, to make sure everything's right.
[43:13.730 --> 43:15.610]  And, uh, this is another design of his.
[43:16.310 --> 43:18.530]  Um, this is an 8Static logo he did.
[43:18.650 --> 43:19.850]  This is projected on a wall.
[43:20.170 --> 43:22.070]  And this is, uh, it says 8Static.
[43:22.070 --> 43:24.690]  And that's, uh, a rip-off of the Castlevania screen.
[43:25.010 --> 43:26.630]  And, uh, he put a lot of work into that.
[43:26.830 --> 43:28.590]  And, uh, his stuff is very stunning live.
[43:28.790 --> 43:30.750]  And he'll also be performing this evening.
[43:30.990 --> 43:31.950]  And he did the poster.
[43:32.150 --> 43:33.290]  He did the poster, yeah.
[43:33.390 --> 43:35.590]  So, if you see, there's, there's very few of these posters around.
[43:35.650 --> 43:39.590]  I've understood they're for sale later, which is interesting, because they're supposed to be promotional.
[43:39.590 --> 43:43.310]  But, uh, you, you may find them later at the, at around.
[43:43.590 --> 43:45.570]  Finally, uh, my chip visuals.
[43:45.750 --> 43:47.170]  I perform under the name No Carrier.
[43:47.330 --> 43:49.110]  This is a picture, again, from our show in Philly.
[43:49.390 --> 43:51.890]  I, uh, mostly use software I've written for the NES.
[43:52.950 --> 43:57.830]  And, um, this is, uh, another picture of, uh, mine from, uh, the tank in New York City.
[43:57.830 --> 44:04.850]  And, again, um, I, uh, write my own software for the NES, Commodore 64, Atari 2600, a number of different consoles.
[44:05.430 --> 44:15.210]  And, um, you know, when I really got into this, I, I, one of the reasons I really, uh, was interested in the chip music scene, uh, to begin with, is because I really like the music.
[44:15.490 --> 44:23.650]  And I, uh, really enjoy going out to shows, but I didn't see a lot of video that I thought matched well with what was going on on stage.
[44:23.650 --> 44:28.570]  So I'd see VJs that were using video clips, and I'm like, well, these guys are putting so much effort into making music.
[44:28.930 --> 44:33.430]  Um, and then you have this aesthetic that doesn't really seem to fit, uh, behind them.
[44:33.550 --> 44:34.790]  Being projected, being shown.
[44:35.070 --> 44:40.450]  So, um, you know, I've done a lot of work, um, right away on software and releasing it open source as well.
[44:40.730 --> 44:43.350]  And trying to really help other people get started on that same path.
[44:43.610 --> 44:48.910]  Because, um, I think it's really, uh, an important thing, um, to have that whole experience there.
[44:48.990 --> 44:50.270]  And I think it makes the show a lot better.
[44:50.870 --> 44:52.310]  I was gonna show a quick video clip.
[44:52.310 --> 44:54.370]  Um, I'll show that at the end if we have time.
[44:54.550 --> 44:59.810]  Uh, it's a performance, um, I did with, uh, Cal P, a Japanese guy, at Blip Festival 2008.
[45:00.690 --> 45:03.810]  Um, but first I want to talk about how you could get into it.
[45:04.090 --> 45:08.530]  And, um, we have, uh, a party again in Philly called Eight Static.
[45:08.730 --> 45:11.750]  And there's open mics available at a lot of chip music shows.
[45:11.890 --> 45:14.610]  And as Peter said, there's a lot of people getting into chip music all the time.
[45:14.810 --> 45:21.550]  So, if you want to come out and try your hand at playing a song, you can come out and play a song, um, before the main show starts.
[45:21.550 --> 45:24.150]  Well, on Eight Static we actually started doing open visuals, too.
[45:24.350 --> 45:31.550]  So, if you are into making video, you can come out and while the open mic performers are playing their songs, you can try out some video.
[45:31.910 --> 45:35.690]  And, you know, there's never really been a place where you could do that before Eight Static.
[45:35.690 --> 45:37.890]  And, uh, it's been very successful so far.
[45:38.370 --> 45:42.910]  Um, I have a number of open source, um, programs on my website.
[45:43.670 --> 45:51.690]  And chipmusic.org has a forum for motion graphics, another fancy term, like live visualist, that makes it sound a lot cooler than most of us are.
[45:51.910 --> 45:57.710]  So, again, uh, motion graphics, um, if you want to go there and check that out, you can see other people that might be getting into it as well.
[45:59.050 --> 46:02.610]  Um, there's one thing to think about, though, and I'm gonna stress these last couple slides.
[46:02.910 --> 46:07.990]  Um, I think these are very important because, um, again, many of you may know people that have been musicians.
[46:08.150 --> 46:13.070]  Maybe not know so many people that have done live video or lighting or anything like that.
[46:13.190 --> 46:14.930]  But it's kind of a different realm sometimes.
[46:15.410 --> 46:23.250]  So, again, besides just the software or the hardware, if you're gonna use your laptop, if you're gonna use Nintendo's, whatever you're going to use, um, you're gonna need some type of mixer.
[46:23.610 --> 46:27.890]  Um, I use an Edroll V4, which is used to mix between separate video inputs.
[46:28.130 --> 46:30.630]  A monitor used to preview a single channel.
[46:30.770 --> 46:31.950]  Think of it like a DJ, right?
[46:32.070 --> 46:37.010]  If you have a DJ, he's got two turntables, he has a mixer in the middle, he's got headphones to listen to the next track.
[46:37.250 --> 46:37.930]  It's the same thing.
[46:38.090 --> 46:41.050]  You need to preview what's coming up before you put it on the screen.
[46:41.710 --> 46:45.530]  So, again, some type of color monitor hopefully, um, will help you do that.
[46:46.230 --> 46:47.990]  Um, again, uh, hardware.
[46:48.210 --> 46:50.730]  If you're gonna use consoles, think about the concerns of older parts.
[46:50.730 --> 46:51.370]  For performance.
[46:51.870 --> 46:53.250]  And especially taking these things abroad.
[46:53.470 --> 46:57.910]  There hasn't been a time I've gotten to another country and taken out my suitcase of my stuff for a gig.
[46:58.090 --> 47:02.570]  And there hasn't been, like, a notice from multiple government agencies that have rooted through my bag.
[47:02.950 --> 47:08.830]  Because when I see people bringing 20-year-old computer hardware through security, they're usually a little curious.
[47:09.090 --> 47:10.850]  You can only imagine Nutendo's hassle.
[47:11.090 --> 47:14.330]  Yeah, Nutendo has those circuit-bent consoles that look like bombs.
[47:14.610 --> 47:16.090]  With patch base on the top.
[47:16.310 --> 47:17.510]  So I feel bad for him.
[47:18.070 --> 47:18.530]  Uh, computers.
[47:18.530 --> 47:20.210]  There's concerns with outputs, of course.
[47:20.410 --> 47:20.470]  Right?
[47:20.890 --> 47:25.510]  Um, most, um, some places that you go might only have a, uh, S-video.
[47:25.870 --> 47:28.630]  Or, um, composite line run, composite line run.
[47:28.790 --> 47:29.470]  Not VGA.
[47:29.790 --> 47:30.650]  And projector.
[47:30.810 --> 47:32.470]  If you're thinking, is resolution really important?
[47:32.530 --> 47:36.870]  If your screen resolution is 256 by 240 that you're projecting, probably not.
[47:37.030 --> 47:41.810]  Look for a projector that has brightness or throw, contrast, other things that are gonna be meaningful.
[47:42.810 --> 47:43.710]  Putting it all together.
[47:43.910 --> 47:45.290]  These are two pictures of my live setup.
[47:45.550 --> 47:50.550]  As you can see, I have a video mixer here, a monitor right here, and two Nintendos on each side.
[47:50.910 --> 47:54.550]  And this is, um, and this is kind of another shot right here.
[47:54.770 --> 47:56.790]  But again, um, live setup.
[47:56.950 --> 47:57.970]  It's a lot to bring out.
[47:58.130 --> 47:59.730]  And, uh, you'll see that later at the concert.
[48:00.250 --> 48:02.450]  Um, things to keep in mind while performing.
[48:02.450 --> 48:04.410]  Again, you're performing with someone else.
[48:04.550 --> 48:07.530]  Just like Joey said, um, you know, he tries to keep the visualist in mind.
[48:07.730 --> 48:10.090]  Um, you know, I try to keep the musicians in mind.
[48:10.230 --> 48:10.310]  Right?
[48:10.870 --> 48:12.050]  Um, don't compete.
[48:12.310 --> 48:18.050]  Because if you're up there and you're performing, it's, it's a lot better if you're both performing together than performing against each other.
[48:18.150 --> 48:23.910]  Don't try to upstage the person that's playing the music by, you know, constantly strobing lights that are gonna give people seizures.
[48:24.490 --> 48:26.650]  But, you know, I mean, but...
[48:26.650 --> 48:29.250]  Yeah, don't, don't, like, Rick roll him.
[48:29.610 --> 48:29.770]  You know?
[48:30.170 --> 48:30.430]  Exactly.
[48:30.430 --> 48:33.730]  He doesn't have to pace his face on Rick Astley's body while he's performing.
[48:33.850 --> 48:34.590]  That might be distracting.
[48:34.850 --> 48:34.950]  Yeah.
[48:35.210 --> 48:36.670]  This has happened, by the way.
[48:36.810 --> 48:37.450]  Of course.
[48:38.330 --> 48:39.630]  Uh, beat matching and counting, right?
[48:39.710 --> 48:47.570]  If you have an idea of how music works and you can count off time signatures and you can synchronize with the musician, it's gonna make the experience better for everyone.
[48:47.930 --> 48:55.090]  One of the best compliments, uh, people have come up to me afterwards and said, wow, how are you synchronizing, um, you know, your video to his music?
[48:55.190 --> 48:58.350]  And I'm usually like my, you know, beer and my hands, right?
[48:58.350 --> 49:00.250]  Those are like the two tools necessary.
[49:00.690 --> 49:02.490]  And, um, that's very important, right?
[49:02.670 --> 49:04.730]  Because it, again, people are getting into the music.
[49:04.850 --> 49:13.470]  They may not always remember what you were projecting, but if it was synchronized to the music, it may be meaningful enough for them to walk away and think, wow, that was a great show.
[49:13.610 --> 49:16.770]  Not a great musician, not a great visualist, but everything fit.
[49:17.390 --> 49:21.250]  Um, again, um, different types of mixing and chroma king.
[49:21.550 --> 49:25.090]  Um, how you're going to put your stuff together, background, foreground layers.
[49:25.470 --> 49:28.310]  Um, these are, uh, things that all artists have to deal with.
[49:28.330 --> 49:32.390]  Um, but it's especially important when you are, you know, like I said, when you're drinking.
[49:33.090 --> 49:35.950]  Um, dealing with promoters and venues.
[49:36.130 --> 49:40.430]  This is something, again, I really wanna, I stress this a lot when I talk about this type of stuff.
[49:40.430 --> 49:43.830]  If you're doing video, get in touch early and often.
[49:44.130 --> 49:50.070]  Look how much trouble we had trying to get a projector set up here for a laptop, uh, right before this talk.
[49:50.290 --> 49:52.410]  No, um, but again, get in touch early and often.
[49:52.830 --> 49:54.410]  Know what you have and what you need.
[49:54.530 --> 49:56.550]  If there's something you need from the venue, tell them.
[49:56.690 --> 49:58.950]  They probably have no idea what you're doing.
[49:59.290 --> 50:02.650]  Many times I've gotten there and been set up and said, oh, I'm doing video tonight.
[50:02.770 --> 50:04.070]  They're like, oh, well, where are you gonna tape?
[50:04.190 --> 50:06.550]  I think this is the best angle if you're trying to get the stage.
[50:06.550 --> 50:10.550]  Say, no, I'm not filming, I'm not, I'm not, I'm doing live video.
[50:10.770 --> 50:11.590]  Why'd they try to kick him out?
[50:12.290 --> 50:13.490]  We're not gonna talk about that.
[50:14.790 --> 50:18.110]  I've, yeah, I've, yeah, no, we can, we don't have time, thankfully.
[50:18.510 --> 50:22.330]  Um, so again, know exactly, let them know exactly what you do.
[50:22.710 --> 50:24.770]  Don't get overlooked because of ignorance, all right?
[50:24.870 --> 50:28.130]  You need to let them know you're doing live video and this is what you need.
[50:28.310 --> 50:30.510]  Push for proper pay and promotion.
[50:30.750 --> 50:34.530]  Most of the time, you're, as a musician, you play one set for 35 minutes.
[50:34.530 --> 50:43.350]  Sometimes video artists have to do an entire night's worth of music, but end up getting paid, or night's worth of video, but end up getting paid less or not at all.
[50:43.650 --> 50:45.530]  Usually their names are left off of flyers.
[50:45.710 --> 50:48.650]  So you gotta be proactive because most people just don't understand.
[50:49.370 --> 50:51.450]  Uh, load in when the bands or acts do.
[50:51.630 --> 50:54.710]  I'm not blaming performer, I'm not blaming these venues all the time.
[50:54.870 --> 51:00.690]  Don't show up 10 minutes before and say, all right, I'm just gonna set up my table in the back and think the sound guy's gonna be okay with that, right?
[51:00.690 --> 51:04.530]  Get there early when the band's doing load in and always be over-prepared.
[51:05.790 --> 51:09.750]  Um, thank you very much, uh, for coming out and listening to us.
[51:10.810 --> 51:12.890]  And, uh, and, uh...
[51:12.890 --> 51:15.310]  That was your cue for applause as well played.
[51:15.530 --> 51:16.070]  Good job, audience.
[51:17.330 --> 51:21.430]  And if you wanna get in touch, these are our, um, names and email addresses.
[51:21.430 --> 51:24.930]  Um, I'm not gonna leave this up there long, not because I don't want you to get in touch.
[51:25.250 --> 51:29.610]  But, um, I wanna show you that tonight, um, there's Chit Music at HOPE this weekend.
[51:29.810 --> 51:35.830]  So there's, uh, concerts tonight and tomorrow, um, from 11.30 till 2.30, at least, I hope.
[51:36.050 --> 51:39.310]  And that's in the Video Temple downstairs near the hackerspaces.
[51:39.530 --> 51:41.270]  It's free for you if you're already here.
[51:41.470 --> 51:47.750]  It's $10 for your friends or people that you see outside, um, that aren't attending the conference, if they just wanna come in.
[51:48.150 --> 51:54.770]  And, um, if you're curious about how some of this stuff works, you didn't understand something I was saying, or Joey or Peter, you can come up and talk to us.
[51:54.890 --> 51:55.270]  We'll be there.
[51:55.370 --> 51:56.890]  You can see our setup, see our gear.
[51:57.150 --> 52:02.290]  And for those of you that are interested in how it works, this is the best time to, um, see it, uh, up close.
[52:02.510 --> 52:02.810]  All right.
[52:03.210 --> 52:05.930]  And I guess we'll use the rest of our time and take some questions.
[52:05.930 --> 52:08.170]  If anyone has any questions in the audience, if we can have...
[52:08.170 --> 52:09.090]  We have time for two questions.
[52:09.150 --> 52:09.990]  Two questions.
[52:10.410 --> 52:12.150]  Two short, concise questions.
[52:12.730 --> 52:13.050]  Anyone?
[52:13.530 --> 52:14.590]  Any questions or questions?
[52:14.770 --> 52:16.250]  Oh, no, the microphones are in the front.
[52:16.250 --> 52:16.330]  All right.
[52:17.490 --> 52:18.330]  Uh, here we go.
[52:18.430 --> 52:18.470]  Right.
[52:18.910 --> 52:21.550]  Um, Joey, uh, what...
[52:21.550 --> 52:28.190]  You were describing something, uh, you put your guitar through something pulse, pulse width?
[52:28.570 --> 52:29.790]  Uh, yeah, there's a couple...
[52:29.790 --> 52:29.990]  Can you elaborate?
[52:30.010 --> 52:35.430]  There's two pedals, um, I use, uh, there's one, uh, by a company, Effects Doctor.
[52:36.010 --> 52:41.030]  Um, it's basically a high gain fuzz pedal, and it just turns your guitar into a square wave.
[52:41.190 --> 52:43.050]  There's actually a couple DIY schematics.
[52:43.210 --> 52:44.990]  I know you guys, uh, can put that stuff together.
[52:44.990 --> 52:46.410]  Uh, online.
[52:46.790 --> 52:49.530]  Uh, and, uh, the one...
[52:49.530 --> 52:51.750]  The other one that I actually use a lot, too, is the...
[52:51.750 --> 52:53.170]  It's called the Pulse Monger.
[52:53.370 --> 52:54.810]  It's sort of a boutique pedal.
[52:54.950 --> 52:55.450]  It's, it was...
[52:55.450 --> 52:56.230]  It's kind of expensive.
[52:56.630 --> 52:58.470]  That's the one I built, that CV sequencer.
[52:58.650 --> 53:00.610]  I didn't know how to build a...
[53:00.610 --> 53:04.130]  One of those pedals with a CV output, which is control voltage.
[53:04.670 --> 53:08.110]  So, uh, that's why, uh, I bought that pedal, basically.
[53:08.110 --> 53:09.750]  So, but there are lots of...
[53:09.750 --> 53:10.110]  There's...
[53:10.110 --> 53:16.650]  If you, like, look up square wave guitar, or, like, 8-bit guitar schematic on Google, you'll find all sorts of stuff.
[53:17.950 --> 53:19.710]  Um, it would be cool if some...
[53:19.710 --> 53:23.330]  Some people here got more into it, you know, because then I could use your stuff, you know?
[53:24.610 --> 53:25.410]  All right, one last...
[53:25.410 --> 53:28.770]  I'm sorry, and he's performing tonight, so if you have questions, you can see that stuff there.
[53:29.010 --> 53:29.850]  Yeah, that's true.
[53:30.050 --> 53:30.670]  One last question.
[53:30.910 --> 53:36.010]  All right, um, could you elaborate a little bit more about what you meant when you were talking about Mario music?
[53:36.190 --> 53:41.790]  Were you just getting at, um, it's not covers, it's not remixes, but it's original work, or did you mean something more than that?
[53:41.790 --> 53:57.110]  Yeah, I mean, the perception is, like, you know, uh, I've... I've seen video perform... interviews where, uh, when I first started getting into chip music, someone had done a techno remix of the Tetris theme, for example, where it was just the theme from Tetris over a house beat.
[53:57.330 --> 54:06.730]  And they... a lot of people have the misconception is, like, oh, you're playing in the music from a game, and you're not doing anything, and you're adding, like, a techno beat to it, or you're doing some kind of remix.
[54:07.270 --> 54:09.150]  And it's not to slam those composers.
[54:09.270 --> 54:12.010]  A lot of those songs are very well done and very well made.
[54:12.230 --> 54:15.110]  But, um, it's just kind of, like, it...
[54:15.110 --> 54:23.270]  it kind of devalues the effort the artist is putting into to kind of pigeonhole them as a remixer or an appropriator of classic game music.
[54:23.590 --> 54:24.530]  Are you doing lessons?
[54:25.710 --> 54:27.950]  Um, if the price is right, yeah.
[54:28.330 --> 54:29.370]  So, uh, thanks a lot.
[54:29.490 --> 54:30.250]  Check out the concert.
[54:30.370 --> 54:31.170]  It'll be in an hour.
[54:31.170 --> 54:34.770]  Uh, so you have time to refresh and get drunk and come down and party.
[54:34.950 --> 54:35.690]  We'll see you there.
[54:35.690 --> 54:35.710]  Thank you.
[54:35.790 --> 54:35.950]  Thank you.
[54:36.450 --> 54:36.690]  Thank you.