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What is 8 bit Music?

Music and sounds produced by computers with 8 bit processors, sounds synthesized from 8-bit sound chips, and 8 bit digitized samples could all be described as 8-bit music. Sounds synthesized completely by a sound chip, with no digital sampling, are the purest definition of 8-bit sounds and define the concept of chiptunes, but not all chiptunes are 8-bit. 8-bit music is a marriage of analog filters and tone synthesizers; the resulting sounds are unique and recognizable.

8-bit refers to the type of computer memory in the devices, and it’s not just computers. 8 bit music, chiptunes and artists using 8 bit technologies have had a place on the music scene since the 1980’s, and interest is still growing. Even a recent montage of 8 bit music and artists at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art could not capture the full spectrum of this edgy music and the artists it has nurtured.

8-bit music appeared in the early 1980’s when 8-bit home computers and consoles spawned a new generation of electronic video games. Programmers became musicians, and vice versa, as people discovered that the new 8-bit computer sound chips SID and POKEY could produce relatively complex polyphonic music. Video game hackers played an important role in demonstrating how versatile these 8-bit chips could be, by cracking the copyright controls on video games and then signing the bootleg copies with an original audio/video splash screen. These cracktunes assumed a life of their own and soon programmers/artists were performing live and the demoscene was legitimized. Countless 8-bit chiptunes, cracks and demoscenes are alive and living large on the Internet.

Commodore, Atari, Amiga, Nintendo and Gameboy, pretty much in that historical order, propelled the 8 bit music scene until the early 1990’s. If you can get your hands on them, these devices still hold the potential to make, mix and play music (and sounds) at their most fundamental level If not, emulators abound to tap into the sound of the 8 bit music scene.

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