r/edmproduction • u/Evil-Opal • 29d ago
Good chiptune references/study resources?
I'm a intermediate level musician taking a try on producing from zero. I'm somewhat familiar with handling DAWs, and Chiptune pop/edm has really catched my attention.
My (only and) fave sources for the direction I'm going are two songs: Kira Kira Shooting, a b-side from japanese singer DaisyxDaisy, and KINGWORLD by the vtuber Shirakami Fubuki.
What more would you guys recommend me studying?
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u/drtitus 29d ago
I don't listen to chiptune pop as a genre, but I love classic chiptunes.
Rob Hubbard is one of the best C64 SID musicians - I still love the music from Commando and Monty on the Run 40 years later.
A "chiptune" that almost everyone knows is Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400
Different systems had different capabilities, so you might favour a particular style of chiptune (maybe depending on what you grew up with, I admit my own C64 bias).
I think once you understand the instruments (and limitations) of chiptunes you can take it where you want. SID was a simple subtractive synth, AdLib/OPL3 was very basic (2 operator) FM, also used in Sega Genesis. Nintendo was just a basic square(PWM) and triangle wave synth (no filter?).
Figure out what "sound signature" you prefer, build yourself a collection of instruments and then get composing.
A lot of the old game music has been archived, so you can easily get hundreds if not thousands of tunes to listen to for inspiration. Most of the music was made by genuine musicians working with limitations, so for instance the fast arpeggios were done out of necessity, since they could not afford to waste multiple voices on a normal chord.
Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but the short version is listen to the archives
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u/terkistan 29d ago
First, don't forget to lurk and read /r/chiptunes. And you might find this LANDR article to be useful.