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t.ppot winner
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2023-02-26
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PRESS PLAY ON TAPE
COMPETITION WINNER
Commodore Free
Finally I had 3 entries to the
competition so the CDs were mailed
out, I have confirmation that the Cds
have been received by these readers so
well done. I picked the best entry and
have reprinted it for your reading
delights, the other two winners would
rather not be named but James has
agreed to the printing of his name and
the article. Thanks to the 3 entrants
for there efforts.
Why I like SID music,
by James Bray.
This may be just a personal thing, but
to me SID music is better in many ways
than some commercial music being
produced today, or even back in the
day! Commodore Free has already
mentioned about hooking up your
Commodore to an amplifier and
recording SID tunes directly, and I
know various people have created MP3s
of SIDs, which is brilliant.
Recording SID to tape is something I
have done since the heady 1980s. I
would Record my favourite sounds from
games and demos onto audio cassettes
and listen to them in my dad's car or
on my Sony walkman (do you remember
tapes? we used to use them to save
applications on, how times have
changed). Now in a digital age the
music is saved electronically in MP3
format or similar and then copied onto
my music player of choice and carried
around with me wherever I roam.
The SID sound is, and I'm sure that
you would agree with me when I say,
unmistakable and completely unique.
Okay, sometimes it has a little
interference and not all units seemed
to produce the same quality of tone,
probably due to Commodore's various
production methods over the years. I
do however think that is what makes
the sound unique and personal to you.
For example, you and you alone will
remember how a game sounded, and if it
was good to your ear, then hey who
cares if there was interference or
even sounds slightly different on your
friends machine, eh?!?
SID music was special because of the
limitations imposed on the composer,
the amount of processor time or Raster
time the composer took could cause
real problems with the other game
developers involved. So, the musician
had to put careful thought into every
note every slide every arpeggio had t
be clinically tested and checked to
see if it took too much away from the
programmer. Then there is a limitation
about the number of sounds that could
be played together the SID has 3
voices and 1 digital replay device so
3 voices could be used to produce a
full orchestra or group, not an easy
task but with careful manipulation of
the sounds filters and ring modulation
some composers made 3 voices sound
like 6 or more. Furthermore today
remixes have looked at the old SID
tunes and recreated them using modern
computers and synthesisers even on
real instruments drums, keyboards,
bass guitar and so on. The superb
Press Play On Tape are special because
they have added words to the music in
some cases. This music stands on its
own because there is a definite tune,
there is a melody that can and in my
case is hummed and running round my
head, weaving through the brain
connections, sending love to every
brain cortex.
Rather than pick out a handful of
composers or tunes I would rather tip
my hat off to all composers and every
tune, even the truly awful still have
a special meaning to me, a bleeping
one-voice happy Christmas is still a
crafted tune and one just hopes the
composer went on to produce better
works. Hey, I remember when even
commercial games were written in
BASIC!
One thing composers quickly learnt was
that a tune is everything. Without it,
there was little else left for the
overall song, so this is why you lie
in bed humming thing on a spring or
the theme to some shoot-em-up game.
Some composers work was so good the
game sold because they wrote the
music, remember crazy comets awful
game but playable because you wanted
to listen to the tune, I have
purchased many games as other did in
the time just to listen to the
stunning music, then record it 20
times to a C120 tape and carry it
around on my Sony walkman
May be its age or just lack of talent
but how many can remember a tune in
the charts, this is where SID tunes
win because of the melody and
harmonies the composers used, SID is
indeed very memorable for people of my
generation. True classics in every
way, and should be recognised as such
by the wider musical world.
Regards
James Bray.
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