µB - Wolf-Rayet

30 March 2011 at 11:41 pm, posted by
A new original song by µB. It is not a plain ZX Spectrum song, instead it has main part made with Beepola using Savage engine, 909 drums, and some EQ in Buzz: Wolf-Rayet

Mister Beep - Triton and mermaid

29 March 2011 at 10:19 pm, posted by
Another new original song by Mister Beep. This time it is the first song ever made with new Tritone engine. Recorded from real hardware: Triton and mermaid

Mister Beep - The Nuthouse

29 March 2011 at 10:17 pm, posted by
A new original song by Mister Beep. It is the first song made with Lyndon Sharp's engine after 20+ years of hiatus. The song is available as MP3 recording from actual hardware, and it is also was used in a new ZX Spectrum game Sid Spanners 3: The Nuthouse, also available for free download.

Jredd - 1 Bit of Advise Before You Take Off

28 March 2011 at 5:02 pm, posted by
A new original song by Jredd. Made with Beepola using Phaser1 engine with digital drums: 1 Bit of Advise Before You Take Off

1-bit music for Atari, C64, and MSX

26 March 2011 at 11:42 pm, posted by
In 1980s 1-bit music was used on computers such as Apple II, ZX Spectrum, or IBM PC, just because there was no other choice - all the audio capabilities these computers had by default were limited to a simple speaker controlled by an output pin of a port (a bit more complex for IBM PC). Additional sound devices for these computers, although existed, weren't widespread. Other computers of the time had sound chips, so you probably won't find 1-bit or other software-synthesized music on them.

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Mister Beep - Galactic coursing

25 March 2011 at 12:54 pm, posted by
A new original song by Mister Beep. It is the first song ever that uses new QChan engine: Galactic coursing

Jredd - 1 bit Lufia

21 March 2011 at 06:47 am, posted by
A cover version of music from Lufia game by Jredd. Made with Beepola using Phaser1 engine with digital drums: 1 bit Lufia

yar.songs - Beer and Ice Cream

21 March 2011 at 06:45 am, posted by
Original song by yar.songs. Made with Beepola using Savage engine: Beer and Ice Cream

Lyndon Sharp's engine in-depth

17 March 2011 at 12:20 pm, posted by
Recently, few brand new ZX Spectrum 1-bit music engines were released. However, there are still few interesting engines in old games, which is not avaiable for modern musicians because of lack of editors and converters. Hopefully, eventually these will be available too. This article is about one of these engines.

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Mister Beep - Psionic Activity

10 March 2011 at 4:43 pm, posted by
An original song by Mister Beep. Made using Octode engine: Psionic Activity

Shiru - Bicycle Ride

10 March 2011 at 4:42 pm, posted by
Original song by Shiru. Made with Beepola using SpecialFX engine: Bicycle Ride

b00daw - Comeuppance

09 March 2011 at 7:08 pm, posted by
An entry for Winter Chip VI compo by b00daw. Made with Beepola using Phaser1 engine with synth drums: Comeuppance

Warlord - Spectral Noise

09 March 2011 at 7:06 pm, posted by
An entry for Winter Chip VI compo by Warlord. Made with Beepola using SpecialFX engine: Spectral Noise

New ZX Spectrum engine - Phaser2

09 March 2011 at 7:04 pm, posted by
Another new 1-bit music engine for ZX Spectrum, Phaser2, was released. It is follow-up for the Phaser1 engine, with many improvements: two channels of phase synth, more synth features, customizeable synth drums, better tempo control.

Currently there is no way to make music for the engine other than to program in as data - no editor, and no converter. Hopefully it will get an editor one day.

Download Phaser2

Chip Champion - Cruising Through Space

09 March 2011 at 12:36 am, posted by
An entry for Winter Chip VI compo by Chip Champion. Made with Beepola using SpecialFX engine: Cruising Through Space

ant1 - Underground Cuckoldry

09 March 2011 at 12:34 am, posted by
An entry for Winter Chip VI compo by ant1. Made with Beepola using Savage engine: Underground Cuckoldry

zanzan - Dirty Mouseballs

09 March 2011 at 12:31 am, posted by
An entry for Winter Chip VI compo by zanzan. Made with Beepola using Savage engine: Dirty Mouseballs

irrlichtproject - Lake Vostok

08 March 2011 at 11:20 am, posted by
An entry for Winter Chip VI compo by irrlichtproject. Made with Beepola using Savage engine: Lake Vostok

null1024 - Desert Sands

08 March 2011 at 11:17 am, posted by
An entry for Winter Chip VI compo by null1024. Made with Beepola using SpecialFX engine: Desert Sands

FearofDark - Shooting Spaceships

07 March 2011 at 5:50 pm, posted by
An entry for Winter Chip VI compo by FearofDark. Made with Beepola using Savage engine: Shooting Spaceships

Mister Beep - Spring is coming

07 March 2011 at 12:29 am, posted by
Another new original song by Mister Beep made using Octode engine: Spring is coming

New game - Air Supply for iPod/iPhone

06 March 2011 at 11:31 pm, posted by
This is an advertising of a commercial game for iPod/iPhone platform, which costs $1. However, the game is strictly related to theme of this blog: it was made by a ZX Spectrum long-time fan, it has 1-bit graphics and features 1-bit music by Mister Beep. So, if you user of the platform or just interested, check the video below, a thread on WoS forums with the developer's posts, and its iTunes page.

Jredd - 1 Bit City

06 March 2011 at 11:17 pm, posted by
A new original song by Jredd. Made with Beepola using Phaser1 engine with digital drums: 1 Bit City

Early bits: Peter Samson, TX-0, and PDP-1

04 March 2011 at 10:00 pm, posted by
It was mentioned in the very first featured article in this blog that the roots of 1-bit music could be traced back to 1960s (actually even 1950s). This article digs into the details of one of the early bits of the computer music history - 1-bit music for TX-0 and PDP-1 minicomputers. It is not earliest and not the only work of the time in this area, but it is interesting nevertheless. Please note that the details are documented in a few sources, which aren't easy to find and they aren't always consistent, so mistakes are possible.

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SoDa7 - Octode Action

03 March 2011 at 6:20 pm, posted by
SoDa7 made a short test song using the Octode engine: Octode Action

Our banner

03 March 2011 at 2:22 pm, posted by
Just in case if someone wants to link this blog using 88x31 button, here is our banner and code:



<a href="http://shiru.untergrund.net/1bit/" target="_blank"><img src="http://shiru.untergrund.net/1bit/images/1bit_banner.gif" width="88" height="31" alt="1-bit music news blog" border="0"></a>

New ZX Spectrum engine - Tritone

01 March 2011 at 2:56 pm, posted by
Yet another new ZX Spectrum 1-bit music engine is released. This engine provides three channels of clean tone with duty cycle control and drums. There is no editor for the engine, the music should be created in a XM tracker and then converted with a custom tool.

Download Tritone

Coosh - Attack of the Atmega

01 March 2011 at 2:49 pm, posted by
ZX Spectrum is not the only hardware you can use to create 1-bit music. Coosh made an 1-bit song using popular Arduino platform: Attack of the Atmega

Beepola source code

01 March 2011 at 2:45 pm, posted by
Source code of Beepola is released to the public, as SVN and a snapshot of current version. It is written in Delphi. This does not mean that the project is abandoned, but if you impatient to fix some thing in the Beepola, now you have a chance.