I will be giving a presentation on the Compositional Techniques of Chiptune Music at the North American Conference on Video Game Music at Texas Christian University on January 18, 2015. Information about the presentation and the conference can be found at this website: http://vgmconference.weebly.com (current as of December 24, 2014).
This presentation is a culmination of over two years of research and work including accurate note and effect transcriptions of eight full NES and Famicom soundtracks as well as additional tracks from a dozen more. I got in touch with composers Masashi Kageyama, Neil Baldwin, Alberto Jose Gonzalez, and Troupe Gammage, as well as NESDev members Bucky and Matrixz who assisted with software tools and sound engine dissection at the programming level. Brent Weinbach of the Legacy Music Hour shared how he raises awareness of 8 and 16-bit video game music and the composers who wrote it on his weekly podcast. I had the assistance of a Japanese translator who translated numerous webpages and facilitated composer interviews. All of this work appears in full in my doctoral dissertation which is pending approval.
The documentation available from this forum and the Wiki page was a valuable resource in forming a connection between the musical characteristics found through my transcription work and the programming challenges presented by the NES and Famicom soundchips. I will be pleased to acknowledge the contributions of the NESDev community in the area of NES programming and the individuals who make this community thrive.
This presentation is a culmination of over two years of research and work including accurate note and effect transcriptions of eight full NES and Famicom soundtracks as well as additional tracks from a dozen more. I got in touch with composers Masashi Kageyama, Neil Baldwin, Alberto Jose Gonzalez, and Troupe Gammage, as well as NESDev members Bucky and Matrixz who assisted with software tools and sound engine dissection at the programming level. Brent Weinbach of the Legacy Music Hour shared how he raises awareness of 8 and 16-bit video game music and the composers who wrote it on his weekly podcast. I had the assistance of a Japanese translator who translated numerous webpages and facilitated composer interviews. All of this work appears in full in my doctoral dissertation which is pending approval.
The documentation available from this forum and the Wiki page was a valuable resource in forming a connection between the musical characteristics found through my transcription work and the programming challenges presented by the NES and Famicom soundchips. I will be pleased to acknowledge the contributions of the NESDev community in the area of NES programming and the individuals who make this community thrive.