8-Bit Music Theory is a Youtube channel that goes deep into music theory of 8-bit game music.
They are well made and interesting to see even if you are not interested in grating 8-bit sounds
and just want to learn some music theory, but if you want to get some authentic early video game music vibe going this is great.
Down below there are some examples but there are many more here:
​https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeZLO2VgbZHeDcongKzzfOw

Wanted to mention this for some time but kept on pushing it in hopes that I would find time to make some music with it first... but alas to no avail so better mention this now as for me this and Oscilab Pro is the two new apps that made me most excited 2015.

Bytebeat is a more or less new phenomena and have only existed for some years now. 
It is writing lines of mathematical equations that generate a chiptunish sound/noise so it is interesting as it is a way to accomplish minimal compositions in a new way. 
But think that it is a way to find inspiration for new tracks and rhythms that is hard to get in other ways and mixed in with other elements it can certainly give your tracks an edge.
There is two other Bytebeat apps on Android- Droidbeat and as a machine insert in Caustic.
All three of these apps have advantages but maybe this is the one I prefer for some reasons...
As both Droidbeat and Bytebeat Machine is for free so i suggest to download both and use as needed. Maybe I should mention as well that Caustic is for free without being able to export wav/midi but like Droidbeat it is possible to record directly into a DAW and the last session is saved. Plus that there is a fully functional version for PC... 

The Caustic version do have two engines in one instance that can be mixed together plus that it comes with sequencers and of course the possibility to use 14 of them in a composition. The presets are more meant to be used as instruments and not as whole composition but that is a small detail.

Droidbeat machine is great and it have something that the others do not have.
​It have the possibility to change the sound using four sliders. Meaning that if it is hard to write the code to get good results it is easy to use a preset and just phuck around with the sliders until something nice comes up. To be able to save directly to wav file there is a paid version but the free one saves presets and can of course be recorded directly into a DAW etc.

Bytebeat machine do have one very nice trick up its sleeve and  instead of being confined to low digital rates and bytes it is possible to use a cleaner sound setting with variations. This makes it more flexible as it can fit into mixes better depending on what you are looking for... The other advantage is that it comes with very good presets and presets with the inventor of Bytebeat!
​Just listening to them makes me inspired to start new tracks.
The Playstore page (as in this post underneath) and the app have a good explanation of how to create your own Bytebeat compositions without being to confusing. Well worth a read if you are using Caustic or Droidbeat.

There is of course also the possibility to take a equation from one app to another...
If there is someone using Bytebeat as part of a composition please send to musicalandroid@yahoo.com want to use some Bytebeat myself but never know with time etc and it would be nice to hear this utilized mixed in with other sounds...

Play Store info:

Bytebeat Machine is an experimental software synthesizer. Instead of structured composition or instruments it uses functions to generate audio in real-time.
Sometimes simple input functions contain a large amount of musical structure. Sometimes the result is unexpected.. and interesting. Or you can ignore all that and just use this app to generate bleep and glitch noises. Bytebeat Machine has several preset examples to get you started.
Features
• Free. No ads or other tracking garbage.
• Two modes: bytebeat (8-bit) and floatbeat (32-bit).
• Selectable sample rates from 8kHz to 44kHz.
• A number of preset input functions. Save your own input functions for later use.
• Custom text input mode with copy, paste, undo, mystery button (?) and more.
• Export output as .wav file.
• Various output visualizations. Yay.
• Speed slider (kind of hidden under the presets).
What is bytebeat?
Bytebeat output is fully defined by the input function. There are no pre-set instruments, samples or structures. Even slight changes in the input function produce significantly different output (as a hint, prime numbers generally result in less repetition).
Input function has a time index (t) and usually various bitwise and arithmetic operations. Input function is evaluated constantly and time index is incremented by one in each iteration.
The simplest input function is "t", which produces numbers 1, 2, 3, ... and outputs a sawtooth wave audio. Sawtooth wave is generated because the result is wrapped to 8 bits (bytebeat): 0-255 remain unchanged, but 256 becomes 1, 356 becomes 101 and so on.
Input function "t * 2" decreases the wavelength and produces a result one octave higher. Input function "t & 128" produces a square wave. Bitwise operators << and >> can be used for more interesting results. Input functions can be combined with bitwise operator "|" or even "&" and "^", for example "(t>>9) | (t>>13)".
Bytebeat Machine uses 'C -type syntax' and basic arithmetic operations, bitwise operations as well as comparisons are supported:
- arithmetic operations: +, -, *, /, %
- bitwise operations: <<, >>, &, |, ^
- comparison operations: <=, >=, ==, !=
Bytebeat was first introduced late 2011 in a blog posthttp://countercomplex.blogspot.com/2011/10/algorithmic-symphonies-from-one-line-of.html by 'viznut'. Online tools such as http://wurstcaptures.untergrund.net/music/ surfaced soon after, followed by a theoretical introduction http://countercomplex.blogspot.com/2011/10/some-deep-analysis-of-one-line-music.html and a paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.1368. Active community discussion and development in IRC and various forums (pouet.net) lasted a couple of months.
This app might be developed further based on interest and feedback. #bytebeat

Just a some wave forms that goes on five tracks and in a later update (that I have not tried) there is two sample tracks added.  So if you are looking for a genuine Chiptune experience that goes back into the misty beginnings of computer music making here you have it.

Play Store info:



8Tones is an app where users can create 8-bit music/chiptune music on the go!FEATURES
• Create 8-bit music
• 5 channels (channel 0 - square 50%, channel 1 - square 25%, channel 2 - square 25%, channel 3 - triangle, channel 4 - beats/noise)
• Tracker like interface
• Customizable interface like accent colors and background

Confused? Go to this website for more info:
http://guova.weebly.com/8toneshelp.html

or simply select HELP on the main menu.

ATTENTION!
Due to very low demands and poor reception, I updated 8Tones one last time and I will not update it again. However, if this app gains more downloads I will continue support it!

How to do Chiptune music using SunVox by Florida Music Tech Program.

This has been out for a while now and I did take a look at it before but kind of dismissed it 
as being too limited when it came to its sound creation capabilities, but after getting a bump over email from the developer was taking a second look and think that it can be interesting to take a look at if you like 8-Bit Buckaroo, the 8-bit synth in Caustic or Droidbeat.
What really makes it shine though is for using it connected to a bigger screen and get some bit sized video madness going for events etc or if you have the possibility to screen record it for parts in a video etc.
There is a free version that you can try and even record for samples from even if you will get a small time out periodically and it will give enough time to test it out for you noise freaks out there!

PlayStore link:
Crawling BIts

There is a very interesting article talking about these short programs written in C that creates 8-bit compositions and interesting noises. This relates to the applications 8-Bit Buckaroo, Droidbeat and the 8-bit synthesizer in Caustic 3 that are made using the same principles.
This article and accompanying videos have inspired a lot of people to bring this idea forward and it is the article that made Rej the developer of Caustic to make the 8-bit synth as well.
It is a new phenomena that only existed since 2011 and was discovered by Ville-Matias Heikkilä and already have a name- Bytebeat.
So look / listen to the videos and if you find any of this interesting you simply have to go to the original article and read on. Maybe it will help you to program Droidbeat or understand the 8-bit synth in Caustic better?
To read the article go here:
http://countercomplex.blogspot.com.es/2011/10/algorithmic-symphonies-from-one-line-of.html
Here is the videos maybe the third one is with more musical harmony.

Playstore links:

8-Bit Buckaroo
Droidbeat
Caustic 3

It looks like something to be dismissed but give it a minute and an open mind 
and you will realize that it can be something useful to have. 
Either for just that little extra in your composition or for building up glitchy rhythms for whole songs. 
The video shows all the functions but not what for me is the most useful way of working with it. 
As it is a touch board you have the advantage of doing small movements back and forth creating personalised rhythms and more interesting variation than just placing the coordination point somewhere and changing the sound with the eight buttons on the side panel. 
My favorite is to take the speed down to slow and hear the separate glitches so it is even easier to create rhythms to it. In general here it is good if you have a multi track for recording as you can hear the track you are working on and play the application at the same time to hear what fits, record and cut it up.
Have in mind that it is useful for more than rhythms and this is just my personal obsession with creating glitchy rhythms making it sound that this is all it would be good for.
In the end it is a small but interesting and useful application that is for free and without any annoying publicity.

Playstore link:
8-Bit Buckeroo

Chiptune days continues...

So finally Europe in 8 Bits got premiered in IDFA a international documentary film festival 
based in Amsterdam it got well received and deservedly so. 
Saw it yesterday on the big screen and it gets the Musical Android two thumbs up! 
The basis of the film is the Chiptune scene and it involves using some well established 
chiptune musicians as the focal point. 
For me that know some but not too much about this scene it led me to some conclusions 
and revelations that I did not have beforehand. 
For someone that never had any knowledge of the chiptune scene / music it will be revelatory and think that whatever you think of the music you will be intrigued and if not anything else it will leave the viewer with understanding and not dismissal of a music that is for the uninitiated many times seen as too noisy, childish or just irritating. 
Actually wish that my Girlfriend had seen it as I have been in arguments with her many times of the excellence of some chiptune music which if she had seen it would at least opened up her mind to the sounds and ideas behind it.

What I learned that has not been too obvious to me is that even though it has a lot in common with the Demo scene it is many ways separate as it is more a question of hardware and DIY craziness and less computer coding and that it got started in serious manner later than the demoscene. Of course being more DIY it gets intermingled with circuit bending and there is a part dedicated to this specially in the form of one of Fela Borbone that impressed with his enthusiasm for old technology and making his own instruments.
Going to garbage dumps to find his digital and other thrown away building materials.

It gets clear that the growing community and interest in chiptune music started in the late nineties with the Gameboy and the two programs Nanoloop and LSDJ. Yes of course it started in the eighties and there is a lot of other ways and programs etc but todays chiptune scene would not have looked the same without these ingredients. It also that it helps that gameboys sold over a hundred million units and later became "obsolete" available to buy cheaply (was just taking a look at a second hand website and the prices range from 10 € to 20 € and there is plenty of them to buy just here in my city), And oh yes the Nanoloop cartridge is still sold and made to buy directly from it's creator Oliver Wittchow that appears in the film.

The appearance of one psychologist and one Sociologist is an nice touch as it adds another angle from these professionals that have no part and do not care for the music. They analyze why there is such an interest and one thing that gets brought up is why there is so many young people entering into this way of making music in this way as some are born so late that the technology has become more or less obsolete when they are old enough to do music.
They have their theories but listening to the different musicians it is part the restriction you find by limiting yourself a less is more way of thinking, the sound that is for at least two of the musicians got them to abandon fancy synthesizers and suchlike turning to the uniqueness of the lowbit sound and think that for many it is being part of an interesting scene because if there is one thing that the film transmits is the explosive joy and energy that is missing from many subcultures.
No puffed up egos and dark broody types. 
Just good will and cheer and a willingness to share.

With the good production, direction, beautiful animated parts, interesting musicians it is truly a joy to watch
and very very inspiring. 
Felt invigorated and full of lust to go do something different musically after seeing it.
And if you are being part of the Chiptune community you will just be happy to see what you already know being confirmed.


Will find out soon how you can see the film and will share this information with you as you should see it even if you do not do Chiptune music... but maybe afterwards there will sneak in a noisy expressive little sound into the mix of your next composition! 
Or maybe you will get the classic Chiptune maker you can get for your device... Nanoloop.

To know more and listen and read about the artists participating in the Documentary go here:
http://europein8bits.com/

So with Nanoloop getting a good upgrade yesterday and also been lucky enough to have seen the new documentary Europe in 8 Bits yesterday, there will now be a small chiptune bender for some days...
So maybe start with some music...

If you are using Nanoloop go now and sign up for this Soundcloud account and get your music heard.
Go here:
https://soundcloud.com/groups/nanoloop-for-android

Do not play any games anymore but maybe this one while waiting for the new Nanoloop.
It is a funny idea and it looks well executed.
Their other games looks interesting to as they have a look to them that you do not see elsewhere... Maybe have to play a some games after all.
Guess you have to see the video as that explains it much better than I could.

Playstore link:
Chiptune Runner

Mr Nightradio... The title says two minutes but...
Why oh why do you lie to us!

Playstore links-
Pixitracker 
Pixitracker 1 bit

So Europe in 8 bits is a documentary that just got finished...
It looks like it is going to be excellent and have impatience to see it!
They can't release to the public just yet as they have submitted it to various film festivals and some of them have as condition that the films are unreleased to be shown in the festival.
But the website is an excellent source of some of the key players  in the Chiptune making scene in Europe and highly recommend that you go and take a look.
And so you may be inspired to bring out Nanoloop for a ride 
or maybe why not Pixitracker 1 Bit.

Link to the website for further investigation and listening of excellent Chiptunes-
http://europein8bits.com/

And of course some music. 
This piece by XYCE 

Ohhhhh- 
Love the digital crunch!!! 

Today as my daughter is sick and did not have any possibilities to go through the second Muramatsu tutorial  so this very nice one bit video to a 8 bit composition made in SunVox gets posted instead, it is by a man called Victor Rom.
Must find out how he did this!
Emailed him earlier today and hopefully he agrees to help us out...
Anyone help us learn Pixilang!!!
Please send any help to musicalandroid@yahoo.com or if there is something that you have made in Pixilang and wants to share with us...
In an earlier post there is a comment that people also make games with Pixilang-
Anyone have Pixilang game they want to share with us?
Can not offer any money but exposure to your work and the pleasure of helping us out...
Well at least the interested ones...
Enjoy the video!

Link-
Pixilang

Dirty grit that sticks like magick mayonnaise in blinded earlobes. Yes that is how good it is!

So Mr Nightradio does a roundup of the best SunVox tracks every month- and now he went and did one for PixiTracker for the period 2012-2013. It sounds good and outside of the Chiptune music there is one guy kochetkov that have used Pixitracker more for sampling his own instruments and made more traditional sounding music...
Always wanted to do a project with Pixitracker with just voice as it is so easy to use for recording samples and play around with without having to go into the murky deep waters of distracting options...
Recommend that you listen to the music as it showcases what can be done with a great small application with just a basic set of functions. 
Also realized that there is a Soundcloud page just for PixiTracker with a more varied quality compared to the roundup- 
But just like as for other applications that have Soundcloud or similar it is nice to share and hear what others are doing and maybe most importantly get people to hear your music and get feedback.

Links:
Pixitracker roundup
PixiTracker Soundcloud page
Playstore PixiTracker

As the last week started another one of my lazy side-projects, 
to translate homemade fingerstyle guitar pickins to Nanoloop on the phone, 
lead me to acquaint myself again with the dirty  brilliance that is Nanoloop.
Was thinking that of course  you to want to hear some digital grit and get inspired...
Go to Nanoloop collective and hear some singles and albums that's been made:

http://www.nanoloopcollective.com

If you haven't played with Nano loop 
and are searching for true four bit feeling in your music you can't go wrong with Nanoloop, 
and you will be surprised how deep the application really is, 
recommended is to read through the manual as there is tricks in there that is not so obvious.
Made the mistake myself of thinking that there was less to it than it is when I got it.

Of course it has export to Wav so you can continue your funtime somewhere else.

Frank Malm


Playstore link:
Nanoloop

This chinese electronic musician is one of many that have taken Nanoloop and used as a basis for music composition, 
if you're a purist it should be done with a game boy,
but just do it on the phone and if some god damn hipster asks you- 
just lie. 

Link to Sulumi's Soundcloud page:
https://soundcloud.com/sulumi