While I’m not particularly crazy about the games themselves, I do enjoy the music produced with that system. I have a small collection of “SID music” sitting here. Recently been listening to Drax’s “Resolution (Extended)” on loop. It can be found and listening on Youtube.
I think you’ve mentioned that on your blog in the past.
What’s so amazing about C64 music, is there was only something like three channels [I believe that’s what they are called] that can produce sound…So, it’s not like modern PCs and software, where you can just keep layering on more synths and tracks.
They literally had to juggle all of the “instruments” over a mere three channels…which meant some channels had to produce more than one “instrument”, on the more complicated music.
I recall reading articles on manually manipulating the C64 sound in order to create music…It was not honesty intuitive, I’ll say that much…You had to already have a working knowledge of musical notes and their variations, in order to have any hope in getting anywhere.
If you had that basis plus organized imagination, you could get somewhere.
As for the games…there were honestly some great, cutting edge games on the system for the time.
Any of the arcade games of the day had C64 ports that were indistinguishable from most of the games you found in the arcade…There are some noteworthy RPGs that were on the C64…like Sid Meyers Pirates!…Quite a few AD&D games…There was even a live action Zelda like RPG called Times of Lore.
All the same…I’m mentioning major standouts…and many of the games of that era are painfully meager by today’s standards. I can think of at least one game I used to love above most others…which I cannot even force myself to play today…It’s just that shallow and boring…but for it’s time, it was honestly among the best available in the genre.
Correct, three channels, according to the official documentation. But then one person, I believe it was Martin Galway, found a glitch in the MOS 6581 sound chip that enabled a 4th channel for clicking drums. A variation of the same glitch can be used to play back recorded audio samples. And, in the previous decade (around 2016, I think), someone found a way to shove samples in the regular 3rd channel.
Times of Lore had it’s music composed by said Martin Galway. Not sure if you noticed, but the third part of the song sounds different from time to time. That’s because it’s coded in such a way that the third part of the song is selected at random from a poll of available melodies. I found that to be quite awesome. The third part itself is clearly inspired by those ominous Pink Floyd intros.
This music left quite an impact on me at the time [as did the game]…so much so, that I vividly and fondly remember it all these years later. It’s really a remarkable composition for the C64. I think you’re right…some music in that game is kind of Pink Foyd in style.
I hope the C64 one sold enough, tho. I can’t imagine many people of my generation playing that.
Happily, I still own my original C64. 🙂
Great PC.
Thing is, a lot of the games are really antiquated by today’s standards.
It can be hard even for me to get into some of them, anymore…Plus, I only have one, barely functional joystick to use.
It’s amazing to look back, and realize what used to be the standard…even though, some of these games still hold up well.
While I’m not particularly crazy about the games themselves, I do enjoy the music produced with that system. I have a small collection of “SID music” sitting here. Recently been listening to Drax’s “Resolution (Extended)” on loop. It can be found and listening on Youtube.
I think you’ve mentioned that on your blog in the past.
What’s so amazing about C64 music, is there was only something like three channels [I believe that’s what they are called] that can produce sound…So, it’s not like modern PCs and software, where you can just keep layering on more synths and tracks.
They literally had to juggle all of the “instruments” over a mere three channels…which meant some channels had to produce more than one “instrument”, on the more complicated music.
I recall reading articles on manually manipulating the C64 sound in order to create music…It was not honesty intuitive, I’ll say that much…You had to already have a working knowledge of musical notes and their variations, in order to have any hope in getting anywhere.
If you had that basis plus organized imagination, you could get somewhere.
As for the games…there were honestly some great, cutting edge games on the system for the time.
Any of the arcade games of the day had C64 ports that were indistinguishable from most of the games you found in the arcade…There are some noteworthy RPGs that were on the C64…like Sid Meyers Pirates!…Quite a few AD&D games…There was even a live action Zelda like RPG called Times of Lore.
All the same…I’m mentioning major standouts…and many of the games of that era are painfully meager by today’s standards. I can think of at least one game I used to love above most others…which I cannot even force myself to play today…It’s just that shallow and boring…but for it’s time, it was honestly among the best available in the genre.
Correct, three channels, according to the official documentation. But then one person, I believe it was Martin Galway, found a glitch in the MOS 6581 sound chip that enabled a 4th channel for clicking drums. A variation of the same glitch can be used to play back recorded audio samples. And, in the previous decade (around 2016, I think), someone found a way to shove samples in the regular 3rd channel.
Times of Lore had it’s music composed by said Martin Galway. Not sure if you noticed, but the third part of the song sounds different from time to time. That’s because it’s coded in such a way that the third part of the song is selected at random from a poll of available melodies. I found that to be quite awesome. The third part itself is clearly inspired by those ominous Pink Floyd intros.
This music left quite an impact on me at the time [as did the game]…so much so, that I vividly and fondly remember it all these years later. It’s really a remarkable composition for the C64. I think you’re right…some music in that game is kind of Pink Foyd in style.