Atari ST Forum

Anyone into that?
I have a 1040STFM and the biggest reason I even bought it is because of the music some people do on it these days. Yes, these days.
There's a whole scene of people still making music and programs for the ST. Of course, there are old game tunes that are cool as well. Like most songs by Jochen Hippel(aka Mad Max of The Exceptions).

The music is very limited of course, seeing as the sound chip even at the time was so inferior to other sound chips, like the Paula sound chip in the Amiga.
The YM2149 chip in the Atari is able to produce 4bit sounds on 3 separate channels. That might sound like a very poor sound chip. And in fact, it is :)
But as time passed, people developed new techniques to produce different sounds on the chip. For example, sampled drums, deep bass sounds and "SID" sounds.
Comparing early ST game music to music by some current composer like Stu makes you wonder if its even the same computer :)

Ok, so here are some examples for those that have no clue what it sounds like. You should look at it as very simple electronic music and NOT game music!:

So Stu's style is very hard pumping and heavy sounding. It might be too much for people new to chip music, but I like it.
Stu - MEGAblaST
Stu - chiprape

Tao on the other hand is much more melodic and soft sounding.
Tao - Sidchimes
Tao - Warryorz

Then there is Crazy Q who has a kind of unique style as well. Don't really know what to call it.
Crazy Q - Outlaw
Crazy Q - Phunky Shapeshifter 2149


I could go on all day but those are really good songs and I hope someone will get interested in it :)
Let's finish with a really old game tune for comparison :D
Elite for Atari ST on youtube

...well, now you see what I'm talking about ^^

I kinda liked it. But it's still a bit too hi-fi for my taste :)
But thanks for the tip, I'll check them out.