The easiest way in the world to help me make music

Ways to help me keep making music (and it does help; the reason I have held off on my planned Metal Gear Peace Walker theme music YouTube promo is because I haven't made enough money to warrant my full attention):

Buying my stuff outright, preferably through CDBaby but iTunes is fine too.
The paypal donate button, especially if you want more YouTube efforts.

But there is another way.

If you find my music on a streaming service, like Napster or Rhapsody, and stream it at no cost to you, I get a penny or so. I know this because suddenly this week I've earned about 15 cents from people streaming the music.And if you go to Napster, you can stream 5 full length songs without even singing up! SO STREAM MY SONGS ;-)

Best of E3

This week is E3, one of the biggest shows in the video game industry. This is a music site with a healthy side of video game fandom, so of course I want to give my take on the event.

Nintendo was, in fanboy terms, "The Winner," as they unloaded a fantastic crop of games. The 3DS system looks amazing. I'm sure I'll be a day one buyer.

What I'm looking forward to the most:

3DS

Zelda: The Skyward Sword

Kid Icarus (the 3DS game!)

Metroid: The Other M

I own and enjoy the other systems, but so far there really hasn't been a ton that has knocked my socks off so far.

Best of Chip 6/17

I'm not a big punk rock guy, but I do like the Ramones, and I like chiptune covers of things.

Napster and You

Pitch to Pixel is now available on Napster! Search "Pitch to Pixel" in your Napster client and I should be in there (What Is Paragon and Zeitgeber are already in there. Its possible that Patience could be there by now too).

Xenoblade Preview at Waxing Erratic

Xenoblade is a fantastic looking RPG for the Nintendo Wii, made (I think) by the same folks who did the Xenosaga series on the PS2. ECM over at Waxing Erratic has a preview based on an imported copy. Us non-importers will have to wait to play this one!

Song or score? A tale of two approaches

When I was growing up, video game music was mostly made up of simple songs. For instance, you'd go into a town in Final Fantasy, and you'd here the "town song." Getting in a fight brings up the "battle music." Distinct songs that play in certain situations.

Occasionally a game would come along with a different musical approach. The original NES Metroid is one that sticks in my mind. Metroid didn't use a tuneful approach. It used something more like a musical score, with undertones, small musical swells that didn't serve to give the listener a melody that would play in a person's head. It instead serves to give atmosphere and feeling.

I prefer the "tune" approach in games, but Metroid got it right. I think many games today, however, use too much "underscore" and not enough *song*. What say you?

Best of Chip 6/8 A first time...

Here is a second Best of Chip, since I've slacked off on posts for the last couple of days. There's been a whole lot of "first chiptune" posts on YouTube. Here is one of the better ones.

Seeing the little 8-bit screen used for the video reminds me that I would like to at some point actually make proper videos of some sort, to add some visual entertainment to the music.

Best of Chip 6/8 More sleepless music!

More stuff from Jakeamon94, this time sent to me directly. Nice progression of beats, and of course as a product of a 3am "jam" it does have the same "audio diary" effect that his last piece has.

YouTube Chipsters, here is the deal: you subscribe to my channel, send me tips, and I'll do my best to hit you up here! Hopefully I can build a little community here. And of course if you appreciate all of that by all means hit the tip jar or buy something from me :-)

Another Promo Cover... FROM THE 80s!!!

I decided to go in another direction for my next YouTube promo. I just wish someone could do a sweet animated 8 Bit version of the original video...

Best of Chip 6/5

Sometimes I pick a best of chip because the song is terrific (actually, all of my Best of Chips have to be good songs in some form or another). Sometimes because it is a cover of a game I like, or because I like the instrumentation.

What makes this one from Jakeamon94 today's Best of Chip is his amusing intro text. Apparently he didn't think sleeping was a good idea on particular night, so he make some chip music. He thinks it is pretty bad, and while maybe reflecting a certain "stream of consciousness," it doesn't sound bad to me at all.

waiting on apple

Busy day today, so here's a short post to update you on things (I assume you care, that is one of the underlying assumptions I make when I write posts here).

June is a potentially big month. It is the first month in which I can receive any payout from apple iTunes. There is a two month lag in between a purchase and when that is reported to CDBaby. So if you bought something in April, you'd get the sale in June. As 99.99999% of the known universe buys music this way, this is obviously a big deal.

I know at least one person who bought the album (pitch to pixel) on iTunes in April. So logic dictates that I should be getting that lovin' from apple any day now!

more fun stuff

I've posted about this before, I think. There are midi guitars out there that can do this as well, but props for being inventive!

Best of Chip 6/1

Today we have a pretty cool Beatles arrangement from someone uploading their very first chiptune! Hopefully this will get the arranger a lot of views.

Some authentic NES chiptunes to chew on

So right on the heels of my discussion of my methods versus others, one of my YouTube subscribers, CrashNicker, sent me link to a NSF (NES Sound File), I assume for inclusion in my running "Best of Chip" feature. Since it is a file, not a YouTube clip, I can't show it to you here, so here are download links for it:


NSF File Link

Link to various NSF file players