Game Boy, square waves and a music beyond the limits
The chiptune culture and the new turmoil in Italy
LOADING…
A black d-pad. Two purple A and B buttons. Slanted grey Start and Select rubber buttons on the bottom in the middle. Green-ish screen and its black and grey pixels. The grandeur of the silhouette of that light grey plastic jewel. Battery door on the back and its perfect clicking sound once you loaded the 4 AA batteries. Each battery was loaded like a gun ready to shoot. Consuming each of the multitude of those games on the seemingly magic cartridges that made history, hour by hour.
We’re talking about the “DMG 01” the legendary first Game Boy model. Nicknamed “the brick”, it came out in 1989. Hundreds of millions of units were built and sold. It was the number one rival of the Sega “Game Gear”. Even if that had a colour-screen, it still couldn’t beat the grey beast branded Nintendo. It was everywhere and everyone had one. It revolutionized life for decades to come, the lessons (unless it got confiscated by the teacher), the afternoons, the trips and the holiday of every kid. And there’s more! Adult people got into it as well. As the years pass, the entertainment machines we use change. They evolve alongside technology.
One thing that became engraved in the minds of many was the incredible turning-on sound of the first model. The music tracks from the games, became so part of the collective memory of the time. So much so that some, like that of Tetris and Super Mario Land, got sampled, remixed and covered by a multitude of artists coming from a wide variety of genres.
Those unmistakable angular 8-bit tunes were written in assembly code and would then be reproduced by the Game Boy CPU through the only 4 audio- channels available on the console. This wonder of the portable gaming world evolved much like the home ones. With improved graphics and audio, the soundtracks did not just use the console processor. They begun to play proper tunes composed with analog or digital instruments. We can think back to the PS1 in games like “Wipeout” where one would dart inside futuristic anti-gravity vehicles at the beat of slamming Prodigy track played out loud.
We can also think back to the soundtracks of the “Final Fantasy” saga, the GTA San Andreas radio stations, the incredibly famous Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 one etc…
Very well. At this point you will be wondering: What does the Game Boy have to do with all of this? What if I told you that the well-known and celebrated console can become a real musical instrument that kicks ass? What if I told you that it is a genre that it’s not a genre but a cultural movement on its own right that it is called “Chiptune”?
START LEVEL 1: MICROMUSIC/CHIPTUNE THE BASICS AND THE MEDIUM
Summing it up in a couple of words, playing chiptune means making music with chips. Specifically one uses old videogame consoles like the Commodore 64, the Atari ST, the Amiga 500 and the Game Boy. This music has DIY written all over it as it re-uses objects and machines that are nowadays considered obsolete.
All comes back to the chips, the starting point of a computer. At the time they were a necessity since all IT in the 70’s did not allow to reproduce complex sounds. It was all limited to square waves sounds. In the 80’s computers that could generate and handle complex sounds were incredibly expensive. This is why chiptune in videogames became for a long time the only way to decently play music.
In the 80’s, together with the already established phenomenon of piracy, a new scene was emerging, “Demoscene”. It was made up of young hackers that by breaking down the protections put on games and programs would put a signature at the start of the program with a track, rigorously in 8bit. Those were the famous Cracktro tracks.
As time went on these cyber artists gave rise to a real, and healthy, creative competition. By improving on their techniques, the screens became proper artworks. The ”cracktro” became further and further more complex thanks to modern software that would allow to create ever-more beautiful and particular tracks. As a response, machines were stretched to their limits.This underground scene remained alive until half-way in the 90’s.
LEVEL 2: THE COMING OF LSDJ AND NANOLOOP AND THEIR PIONEERS
After the advent of CD ROM consoles 8 and 16 bit chips from the old machines still retained a group of aficionados that would continue experimenting with them. It’s now the 00’s when two people from the Demoscene write and publish two programs that would allow to make music using Game Boys: LSDJ by Johan Kotlinski and Nanoloop by Oliver Wittchow. This gave life to a new sound and to a global movement. Micromusic.net is born, it becomes the reference point in an underground scene that saw local ones thriving around the world.
The main locations or headquarters for this movement in Italy are: Milan, Bologna, Rome and Turin. We must then cite Cobol Pongide, Mangaluca e LO_LO. They were legends of the micromusic scene and were active ever since the early 90’s in RomeOther big names such as Micropupazzo (Rome), Secret Lab (Ostia) Tonylight (Milan), Pablito el Drito (Milan), Dj Minaccia (Fano) would then emerge in the early 2000 and organize microparties which are then becoming more and more influential.
Other historic names of the Italian scene are Fish n Chip 8 Bit, Gigi De Martino, Alessandro “Fil” Fileccia (Moncalieri – Turin), Postal Market (Bologna), Dr Bit ( Bologna), J8Bit (Rome), PCNA (Naples), Pira666 (Rome), Mat64 (Rome), Buskerdroid (Rome), Microman (Rome), Omino LEGO (Rome), Dj Balli (Bologna), Kenobit (Milan) and arottenbit (Milan).
The first genres that people experiment with are Techno and Drum’n’Bass. As previously mentioned, chiptune is not a genre. I will here quote Kenobit saying during an interview:
“Chiptune is almost meaningless. It is as if we had a “guitartune” genre. One that is made with guitar that would include all going from Guccini to Cannibal Corpse”.
Whether one calls it Micromusic or Game Boy music each artist retains individual freedom. It covers the whole entire range of musical genres even if it is all about fun and getting people to move. This doesn’t mean that the same artist that plays Techno with their Game Boy won’t ever surprise you with a Hip Hop or Metal track. They might remix an old video game or movie soundtrack or even a cult track from the history of music.You can expect anything. The perfect example of this is arottenbit (Milan): when he plays with his amazing drummer they become arottenbit. They play in a style that alternates between moshpit metal and unrelenting dancefloor tight dance kicks.
LEVEL 3: A NEW WAVE
From a couple of years back we can say that Italy has one of the most numerous and active scenes in the field. Thanks to this new wave of enthusiastic micromusicists, growing together with the old one, a beautiful and varied scene has formed. We have the following:
- The northern Crew of Microbixia whose members are: Frash Pikass (Brescia – experimental 8bit and VJ), IDecade (Treviso – Drum n Bass), 0r4 (Milan/Berlin – Tekno) , Itspandaonair (Modena – Dubstep/rave/Drum ‘n Bass) and Overcesium (Lumezzane BS- Hardcore);
- in Trentino, IanO (Trento – lo-fi thrash metal);
- from Veneto Gas1312 (Treviso – videogame music) and TRNT (Verona – Breakbeat);
- from Lombardia, the Starving Gogo brothers (ICM) and Richter (Punk/Metal) from Cremona (this last one has their own online record label Bisso Multimedia) and Cowboy Bitpop (Mantova – lo-fi Patchanka/Dungeon Synth), Rbino (Seregno – Happy Hardcore)
- Tuscany: Tokyo Apartments (Lucca – Eurobeat/Melancholy Bass);
- Rome: the Square Terror Collective with: Daimon Chip (tekno/bass/melodic), Ick_(8bit Bass Terror) and B00leant (8bit Random Wave);
- Lazio: KCMA (Formia – Amiga 500/Game Boy Gabber/Terror)
- Abruzzo: Meru (Pescara – DnB/Dance also VJ) and N3R0H4Z3T (Pescara – Noise/Crust/8bit),
- Calabria: Stregatox (Cosenza- 90’s Chiptune)
- Finally the Bunny Black project (Noise/Post Punk) by Maiqqu (Game Boy and Guitars) and Francesco Less (Bass and vocals) from Palermo
We have asked each artist to give us their definition of the genre of their music. As previously specified one can expect to hear anything from these artists.
Level 4: It’s party time
One of the most fascinating things about the Chiptune scene is its diversity and inclusivity both in terms of the artists and those attending. The events are mostly organized in squats or self-managed venues and welcome people of any kind. One can find micromusicists coming from far and large to support their colleagues and spend a good square-waved night. Since it is a relatively small community, if you factor out local national events, international festivals are the most sought after and anticipated. People have the chance to meet like-minded individuals that you meet on the web, to exchange tips with their favourite artist and make new friends. Obviously the main thing is to get oneself heard while jamming with one’s Game Boys or other computers.
By digging a bit I found information about very important past events. I must talk about the historic events that took place on our territory.
L’Elettrozolla di Signor Nerto in 2009 in Falconara was a place where the scene met and it took place amongst hay-balls in the middle of a field.In Rome, Micropupazzo and Buskerdroid in 2012 organized the 8bit in Europe night at Circolo Dal Verme in order to finance a documentary about the Spanish scene with the same name. Again in Rome between 2008 and 2011, the events called Microaperitivi were organized at the Jolly Roger where big names in the 8bit international scene such as Bubblyfish and Patrick Catalani played. Let’s not forget the numerous events organized at the ZK in Ostia where in some cases they took the place of Saturday Techno nights and have helped shift the taste in EDM enthusiasts.In Bologna we had the EXTREME BIT TERROR nights organized by Dj Balli.
The MCU – Milano Chiptune Underground currently takes place every year in Milan and it has reached its 9th edition. It is organized by Kenobit and arottenbit. It is one of the most important events in general and it is a moment where both the international and national scene meet.
In Lucca, the staff from 8bit Italia organizes “Microcon” a new event at its second edition where the Italian scene gathers.
In terms of the international scenario we have festivals where artists from all over the world, as well as Italian ones, play.
At times also held in Denmark, Australia and Japan, we have the historic “Blip Festival” in New York where Postal Market played in 2007 and Tonylight did in 2008. Also thinking of Tonylight in 2008 they performed at Pulsewave in New York. Another very important festival is the Square Sounds Festival which takes place both in Australia and Japan. Kenobit played at both festivals, in Melbourne in 2020 and in Tokyo in 2017 and 2019. We have Starving GOGO and Richter playing there in Tokyo in 2019 as well. Denmark: on the island of Bornholm the largest open-field chiptune festival, where in 2018 IanO and in 2019 Kenobit performed, “Chipwreked” takes place.
Utrecht, the Netherlands: we have “Eindbass” with Buskerdroid and Microman playing there in 2009 and Kenobit in 2019. Nuremberg, in Germany: we have the “Chip Hits the Fan” festival which saw IanO performing on the open stage in 2019.In Manchester, England, the “Chip Bit Day” saw Kenobit playing there in 2015 as well as Starving GOGO in 2018.Again in Manchester we can find “Superbyte” with Kenobit playing there in 2015. In Antwerp, arottenbit and Kenobit played at the “Bitgrid” festival in 2014. Finally, I must mention the “Mag Fest” that takes place in Washington.
LEVEL 5 BOSS: LET’S MAKE SOME NOISE (playing a Game Boy)
The peculiarity of playing Game Boys is that they are cheap and hundreds of millions of them were produced. They can be found in flea markets, on ebay and various marketplace sites, social media included, and it is easy to take it with you. You can play any model of Game Boy but going beyond the technicalities of specs, sounds and portability, the two mainly used models are:
Game Boy DMG 01 (the first model)
Game Boy Color GBC
In order to transform your Game Boy in an earth-shattering machine “on tha dancefloor”, you only need two things: A Game Boy and a LSDj or Nanoloop installed flash cart.
FLASH CART AND TRACKER/PROGRAMS:
As I previously mentioned, LSDJ and NANOLOOP are two programs used to create music on a Game Boy. They have different approaches to musical composition. LSDJ it is a tracker in the most classical of definitions, It is the most widely used software that allows to make more articulated tracks. On the other hand Nanoloop has a more sequencer-determined graphic interface and it is better suited for improvisation.
LSDJ: it can be downloaded from the official website and it is pay-what-you-want. In order to use it, you need a Flashcart where you can install the ROM of the program. The most widely used cartridges are EMSs. They are currently out of production but with a bit of luck they can be found on the web for varying prices.
Otherwise you can find the EL CHEAPO by BennVenn cartridges on the market. You can also use the EZ FLASH JUNIOR.
If you don’t own a Game Boy yet you or are currently waiting for to it be modified and you want to practice, you can run the ROM on PC or Mac through emulators.
NANOLOOP: unlike LSDJ the complete version of the software is available only on an especially built cartridge which can be bought from the official website.
When it comes to LSDJ you can find tons of Youtube tutorials by chiptune artists themselves. We warmly recommend the four-part one by Kenobit,.
Do not be discouraged by their length as they are very smooth. When it comes to Nanoloop there is a lot less stuff but reading the manual is a must. You are now ready to plug the Game Boy to some speakers or a mixer through the headphones jack output!
BONUS LEVEL
That is not all! There are some optional mods that we endorse that can improve looks, sounds and comfort. The first and the most important is the
- PRO SOUND: it is and audio mod that allows to bypass the headphones circuits by soldering the cables directly on the audio exit potentiometer which effectively make it a line exit. It amplifies the sound a bit and it removes buzzing and background noise. You can use different solutions for it like a 3,5 mm female jack, a 6mm female jack or an RCA.
- BACKLIGHT: in order to play in clubs, venues or dark concert halls you will need a retro illuminated screen. Something that the Game Boy lacks. There are various colours you can employ and they allow you to personalize your console. You will be able to play it in the dark and to see the screen while you perform.
They are available both on eBay and other websites:
https://store.kitsch-bent.com
https://www.deadpanrobot.co.uk
https://www.gameboyshack.co.uk
For both the audio and the backlight installation mods you do not need incredible technical capacities. You just need some soldering basics and a steady hand. At any rate on the web or on Youtube you can find many helpful tutorials. If you’re unable to do so and you do not want to damage your Game Boy, you can ask some artist to do it for you. Many chiptuners do modify their own consoles. Alternatively you can find complete and modified Game Boys ready to play, for a mark-up.
Get in touch:
On Facebook I am part of many groups. You will always find someone happy to help and to answer.
http://www.8-b.it/
Micromusic Italy (fb)
Chiptuna Europa (fb)
Chiptunes = WIN (fb)
Daimon Chip
///S.T.C.///
What do you think about it? Contact us if you have further info about chiptune.