Chiptune

Chiptune is music made with sound-generating hardware associated with early computers and video game systems. Its distinctive timbres come from the constrained waveforms, channels, and control methods of those devices.

Programmable sound generator: An integrated circuit that produces sound under software control, often through several tone and noise channels. Many classic chiptunes are composed by programming these chips’ limited voices.
MOS Technology SID: The sound chip used in the Commodore 64, known for three voices, filters, and distinctive modulation options. The SID became a defining instrument for early computer music and later chiptune.
LSDj: A music tracker for the Game Boy designed for composing and performing electronic music. Its step-based tools turn the handheld’s sound channels into a compact chiptune studio.
Bitpop: A style of electronic pop that draws on the sounds and aesthetics of early video games and computers. Bitpop may imitate chiptune timbres without using sound-generating hardware.
Pulse-width modulation: A method of varying a pulse waveform’s duty cycle to change its harmonic content. Changing pulse width gives simple chip voices distinct, adjustable timbres.
Nintendo Entertainment System: A home video game console released by Nintendo in the 1980s. Its audio hardware supplied iconic sounds that later chiptune musicians recreated and reworked.
Nanoloop: A pattern-based music sequencer created for the Game Boy and later adapted to other platforms. It makes Game Boy hardware a direct tool for composing and performing chiptune.
Chipbreak: A style combining chiptune sounds with breakcore rhythms and related experimental electronic music. Chipbreak uses chip timbres in a broader, often more abrasive rhythmic setting.
Wavetable synthesis: A synthesis method that produces sound by repeatedly reading stored waveform data. Some sound chips use short waveform tables to create chiptune tones and samples.
Game Boy: Nintendo’s handheld video game system, first released in 1989, with a built-in four-channel sound generator. Its portable hardware became both a source of classic game music and a live chiptune instrument.

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