On the Eighth Day of Christmas, My True Love Sent to Me
December 4, 2009 7:12 AM Subscribe
I really like this sort of thing in concept, but I find it almost impossible to actually listen to. "Little Drummer Boy" is pretty great, though.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:26 AM on December 4, 2009
posted by uncleozzy at 7:26 AM on December 4, 2009
Click here to buy a $3 digital copy with 12 high-quality, DRM-free MP3's & extra content.
It's of sufficiently high quality for me already.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 7:49 AM on December 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
It's of sufficiently high quality for me already.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 7:49 AM on December 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
THIS IS AWESOME! Santa is climbing ladders, leaping gaps and dodging fireballs. Happy Bleepmas.
posted by Elmore at 7:59 AM on December 4, 2009
posted by Elmore at 7:59 AM on December 4, 2009
This is going to make me sound like Scrooge McDuck, but I think 8-bit music has really hit its saturation point. It's just so entirely overdone and way too easy as a gimmick at this point. I could make an 8-bit christmas album in an hour or two - just import some Christmas MIDI files into Fruityloops or Garageband, load up the NES plugins, then tweak until I'm satisfied. This past year alone we've seen 8-bit tribute albums for Depeche Mode, Weezer, Miles Davis, Michael Jackson, Daft Punk, Kraftwerk, Muse, and surely others. No one else is tired of this? I used to feel a powerful emotional and nostalgic connection to these tones, and maybe I still do, but I no longer see why the internet continues to get excited about it.
posted by naju at 8:00 AM on December 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by naju at 8:00 AM on December 4, 2009 [1 favorite]
First person to make a "we need a little Christmas" crack gets a snow shovel to the groin.
posted by The Whelk at 8:04 AM on December 4, 2009
posted by The Whelk at 8:04 AM on December 4, 2009
I used to feel a powerful emotional and nostalgic connection to these tones, and maybe I still do, but I no longer see why the internet continues to get excited about it.
You just answered your own question: nostalgia makes everything better (even when it isn't).
posted by infinitefloatingbrains at 9:11 AM on December 4, 2009
You just answered your own question: nostalgia makes everything better (even when it isn't).
posted by infinitefloatingbrains at 9:11 AM on December 4, 2009
nostalgia makes everything better (even when it isn't)
True enough. Time to get to work on my 8-bit Mad Men album.
posted by naju at 9:23 AM on December 4, 2009
True enough. Time to get to work on my 8-bit Mad Men album.
posted by naju at 9:23 AM on December 4, 2009
I think 8-bit music has really hit its saturation point.
I don't know about saturation point, but I agree with the gimmicky. I only posted this link because I non-ironically and non-nostalgically enjoyed some of these songs.
posted by DU at 9:33 AM on December 4, 2009
I don't know about saturation point, but I agree with the gimmicky. I only posted this link because I non-ironically and non-nostalgically enjoyed some of these songs.
posted by DU at 9:33 AM on December 4, 2009
Little Drummer boy is definitely using samples from Blaster Master.
posted by autodidact at 10:35 PM on December 4, 2009
posted by autodidact at 10:35 PM on December 4, 2009
I like O Christmas Tree the best... but are those Sonic samples? I'm thinking of the skidding noise his shoes make when you're running fast and then try to turn around. That's 16-bit, not 8-bit.
I thought this would be a collection of Christmas-themed music from actual games. Robocod had a bunch; there's probably more out there.
It's just so entirely overdone and way too easy as a gimmick at this point. I could make an 8-bit christmas album in an hour or two - just import some Christmas MIDI files into Fruityloops or Garageband, load up the NES plugins, then tweak until I'm satisfied.
As a listener, it doesn't matter to me how easy or hard to make they are.
posted by painquale at 1:00 PM on December 5, 2009
I thought this would be a collection of Christmas-themed music from actual games. Robocod had a bunch; there's probably more out there.
It's just so entirely overdone and way too easy as a gimmick at this point. I could make an 8-bit christmas album in an hour or two - just import some Christmas MIDI files into Fruityloops or Garageband, load up the NES plugins, then tweak until I'm satisfied.
As a listener, it doesn't matter to me how easy or hard to make they are.
posted by painquale at 1:00 PM on December 5, 2009
These are incredibly well done. I especially like the Contra-style aspect of Little Drummer Boy.
I could make an 8-bit christmas album in an hour or two - just import some Christmas MIDI files into Fruityloops or Garageband, load up the NES plugins, then tweak until I'm satisfied.
You could make a shitty one, for sure. You wouldn't make one nearly this good, though, because there are very skillful rearrangements of the tunes here; these aren't just MIDI imports, but complete overhauls of the tunes to make them more appropriate for the instrumentation. That takes a lot more than a few hours.
posted by Frobenius Twist at 8:58 AM on December 6, 2009
I could make an 8-bit christmas album in an hour or two - just import some Christmas MIDI files into Fruityloops or Garageband, load up the NES plugins, then tweak until I'm satisfied.
You could make a shitty one, for sure. You wouldn't make one nearly this good, though, because there are very skillful rearrangements of the tunes here; these aren't just MIDI imports, but complete overhauls of the tunes to make them more appropriate for the instrumentation. That takes a lot more than a few hours.
posted by Frobenius Twist at 8:58 AM on December 6, 2009
You could make a shitty one, for sure.
Good lord this is true, and I speak from personal experience. I picked up a midiNES for the pure dorky joy of it and I haven't been able to write a single thing for it. I'm not blaming the 'NES for that, as it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools, but writing in such a constrained, minimalist style as chiptunes is totally beyond my skill.
posted by lekvar at 12:25 PM on December 7, 2009
Good lord this is true, and I speak from personal experience. I picked up a midiNES for the pure dorky joy of it and I haven't been able to write a single thing for it. I'm not blaming the 'NES for that, as it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools, but writing in such a constrained, minimalist style as chiptunes is totally beyond my skill.
posted by lekvar at 12:25 PM on December 7, 2009
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posted by DU at 7:13 AM on December 4, 2009