You know that mood you fall into when you discover music that really, really gets you going? Well, Niero’s disasterPEACE hook-up has rocketed me into one of those moods. This current musical obsession has me thinking a lot about this sort of music, what is colloquially defined as ‘chiptunes’. What is it about the sound of a hummin’ NES that invokes in us such feelings? Who gives a crap? Good music is good music, no matter the medium.
So, maybe you’re the type that listens to Kid Icarus‘ Stage 1 while you’re doing homework, or maybe you prefer to throw on Bubble Man’s theme while driving through heavy rain, but you’ve never really been introduced to chiptunes. If disasterPEACE is the kind of sound that rocks your world and you’re looking for more, there’s a place you should go: the 2A03 Archive. Named for the little Ricoh 2A03 microprocessor that gave the NES its distinctive square-wave sound, the archive is a compendium for all sorts of covers, original music, and other sound experiments that utilize the NES sound chip.
The archive ain’t exactly organized as well as it could be – browsing is restricted to by composer only – but there’s some really quality stuff to be found if you’re willing to take the time finding it. Of particular note are the amazing covers of Actraiser‘s Fillmore theme, Final Fantasy IV‘s “Within the Giant” , and a really stellar rendition of Final Fantasy V‘s “Battle on the Big Bridge”
The files are provided in .nsf format, and are extremely small in size — alas, they are not natively compatible with most players, so you’ll have to be creative if you want to get them onto a CD or your MP3 player. The 2A03 Archive provides an entire page of solutions to get you started, including standalone players as well as plugins for players like WinAMP and Foobar.
So get to it, folks. And while you’re at it, drop us a comment and tell us about your favorite chiptuners.
