- "Thunderdome" (chip part), Ultrasyd
"Thunderdome" by Checkpoint is a 14-minute Atari ST demo that won a 2014 compo in Poland. One of the main attractions was a 5-minute opening rave techno track using the Atari STe's additional PCM audio chip, but what interests me is the score in the second half, which works the hell out of the ST's unusual original sound chip. Great sound design and an intense energy like something straining at its limits.
- "illogical", Jack Howell
"Music 2000", released in America as "MTV Music Generator", was a complete and apparently highly capable DAW released as a commercial video game for the Playstation 1.
Jack here has a YouTube channel where for 15 years he has consistently uploaded nothing but Gran Turismo 2 recordings and songs made in Music 2000. He uploaded this one last weekend, and it rocks actually. Grinding rave techno with 303s and Juno hoover.
- "audioreactive generative visuals with pure data", Artiom Constantinov
PureData is a flow-based visual programming environment, Max/MSP's weird open source little sister. I think Ryoji Ikeda uses it? Here it simultaneously generates music and a captivating, glitchy visualization (warning, some flashing). Pours enigmatic, alluring sounds all over you for two minutes, then abruptly stops leaving you imagining a half dozen possible truncated futures
- "Seven", Koreless
A fun little electronica track. Has enjoyably strange sound design and a peppy, shuffling beat, as if you'd caught Burial on an up day. The video (which is not a still image) actually seems to encapsulate the track pretty well, something that the longer you look at it starts to seem fleshy and organic in an unidentifiable way.
- "Samsara", Diode Milliampere
This is a song for the OPL3 FM chip (found in the Sound Blaster Pro and contemporary PC sound cards), composed (and here played back) in Adlib Tracker II for DOS, for an album the musician recorded in 2014 and released in two formats: As MP3s on Bandcamp; and as 84kb of datafiles on a 3.5" floppy disk shipped in a tiny pizza box.
The song begins with strange FM beeps that slowly coalesce into chill trance music, with spacy, futuristic vibes. Very quiet but has a strong energy.
⬇️ Click below for modular synth music in two flavors: "Sounds like a Radiohead remix" and "Noise" (also: crimes against Boy George) ⬇️