Magical Game Boys: Demystifying The Live Chiptune Performance

zenalbatross:

I haven’t been playing live shows as a chiptune artist for very long compared to some of my peers, but nearly every time I do, people ask me the same question: “What are you doing with that thing!?” They’re referring of course to my Game Boy, the world-famous portable gaming system that chip musicians have re-purposed as a self-contained 8-bit synthesizer.

For many of these artists, the Game Boy (or one of its variants) is the focal point of their entire performance. As such, onlookers are oftentimes left completely bewildered as to how a videogame system with four buttons and a d-pad can possibly be used as an instrument. Sometimes they’re even snarky or downright rude. Both however are unsurprising reactions to a decidedly non-traditional form of live musical performance. It seems to me that this question of ‘how chiptunes work’ needs to be addressed, and that’s exactly what I’ll be doing today.

Click through to MOTHERBOARD, where I’ve assembled an illustrated guide on how chipmusic is made and performed in a live setting.

Excellent post, and pretty much sums it all up. 

Source: zenalbatross

3 Notes/ Hide

  1. cheezeitz reblogged this from zenalbatross and added:
    pretty much sums it all up.
  2. zenalbatross posted this