Chiptune
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A chiptune, or chip music, is music written in sound formats where all the sounds are synthesized in realtime by a computer or video game console sound chip, instead of using sample-based synthesis. The "golden age" of chiptunes was the mid 1980s to early 1990s, when such sound chips were the most common method for creating music on computers. In their desire to create a more complex arrangement that the restrictions posed by the medium apparently allowed, composers developed creative approaches when developing their own electronic sounds. This is due to the early computer sound chips having only simple tone and noise generators imposing limitations on the complexity of the sound. The resultant chiptunes sometimes seem harsh or squeaky to the unaccustomed listener. Chiptunes are closely related to video game music. The term has also been recently applied to more recent compositions that attempt to recreate the chiptune sound, albeit with more complex technology.
