pretty eight machine - chiptune tribute album by Inverse Phase

[BenAkenobi]

project overview http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...thing-like-tha 1st finished song here http://d1ej5r2t2cu524.cloudfront.net.../album/singles this guy seems to be slightly more communicative than AAISAD p. s. in all seriousness, why must everything nin-related since 2008 struggle with all sorts of delays???

[MAD]

I'm very sure there was a thread about this on the old ETS.
I know the project and I hope I'm sure it'll turn out great.

[InversePhase]

Hi. I'm that guy you're talking about up there. Didn't realise the forums got replaced. I wasn't getting notifications from the old ETS forums so I'm sorry if I missed any questions that were asked between my last reply and when it vanished.

My big delays are explained on the kickstarter (click the Updates tab) and are there for all to see. Long story short, a 4 month move to another state and an abusive landlord. Things are good for me where I am now but money has been tight the entire time so I've had to pick up a few odd jobs along the way to pay the bills. I'm making very good headway (as we speak, actually) on the album, and I am in a good, supportive place to do it. Lots of tracks are outright complete, and almost all of the rest are several minutes in. Right now I'm just trying to stay motivated and keep the momentum up. One or two of them I started over upwards of a half a dozen times but are finally progressing.

One story that hasn't made it up to the Kickstarter updates yet is the annoying story of procuring licensing. It seemed to take months (exaggeration aside, probably still weeks) to get through to anyone, and I kept getting bounced back and forth between Bicycle and Rebel Waltz. Basically, no one wanted to take responsibility for hearing me out and telling me the exact process they wanted me to go through. Finally, I made a good contact at Rebel Waltz that helped me through. Cheers to that.

Anyway, as long as forum notifications work here, please feel free to post questions and I'll try to reply to you in a reasonable timeframe. Due to the large amount of negative feedback I received towards the beginning of the project, I'd like to ask for a little bit of respect; if you have a question, I don't mind if it is critical or constructive, but I would appreciate if you at least keep it civil.

[InversePhase]

For anyone interested, I've posted some recent updates on the project that shed a lot of insight as to where I'm at, etc. here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...like-tha/posts
An interview about P8M with a few small anecdotes that aren't in my project updates also just went live: http://geek.pikimal.com/2012/04/16/m...ny-chiptuners/

[cheddamash]

Very cool. I'll have to check this out.

[Oblong Cheese]

I didn't get an opportunity to fund the project. How can I buy a CD / best support your effort & get a copy of the tracks?

[InversePhase]

Yo!

Once I'm finished, Pretty Eight Machine "regular edition" will go up on Bandcamp. There'll be a physical CD and a download. Which you buy is totally up to you, I receive about the same percentage either way, each will have the same artwork/etc. Really the best way you can support though it is to make some noise on facebook and twitter about it when it releases, or tell anyone you know that might be interested. The "special edition" tracks will only be available as a download if you weren't a part of the kickstarter,

Thanks so much for your interest!

[Leviathant]

When this project showed up on the old ETS, I was cautiously optimistic.

I'm really excited to hear the whole thing come together. Not sure I can say any more than that

[MAD]

I will buy it. I would like to get the physical CD, will have to see how much is the shipping.

[InversePhase]

When this project showed up on the old ETS, I was cautiously optimistic.
I'm really excited to hear the whole thing come together. Not sure I can say any more than that

Well, at the very least, the secret that you're on the listening team is now out. Whoops! Matt, you're welcome to share any feelings you have on the album here....just not the WIP tracks, please. =] Naturally, I hope others will take into consideration that we're talking about a work in progress.

I will buy it. I would like to get the physical CD, will have to see how much is the shipping.

I just checked the rates with my CD distributor, and they vary wildly; $4.30 for standard Air Mail, $32.00 for "Priority Mail International", both have the same delivery times according to their estimates, so unless you've had difficulty getting standard mail from the US, I'd go with the first option!

[BenAkenobi]

according to http://inversephase.bandcamp.com/alb...-eight-machine
the release is on 12th June

i almost preordered the CD but i remembered something about special (extended) edition initially planned, has that been dropped?

[InversePhase]

according to http://inversephase.bandcamp.com/alb...-eight-machine
the release is on 12th June

i almost preordered the CD but i remembered something about special (extended) edition initially planned, has that been dropped?

Hi Ben and everyone else, sorry I didn't post earlier about the preorder. Bandcamp allows you to give people a track with their preorder and I was hoping to wait until I had that up and working, but since Only Time is already a free download, I guess it's safe to say go nuts.

The way the editions are handled:

Actual CD: Regular edition available to everyone. Special edition contains regular edition tracks and some b-sides, extras, etc. The physical CD is only available to kickstarter backers.
Downloadable album: Regular edition releases now. Special edition tracks release later as a sort-of "b-sides EP" -- that is, I'm not gonna make you download the P8M tracks a second time -- that just feels redundant to me. So you'll still be able to download them when they come out. I don't want you to feel like you're paying for the same album twice either, so that's why I'm splitting them up that way. I will try to price appropriately (probably another 5 bucks for the SE download). As a side bonus, if you decide you don't like what I've done "to" Pretty Hate Machine, this way you're not out as much money, I guess? =]

Does that help?

[BenAkenobi]

Yes, that surely helps. Thanks for explaining it thoroughly, except i see Kickstarter doesn't allow orders anymore, it means i missed out on SE on CD, right?

[InversePhase]

Yes, that surely helps. Thanks for explaining it thoroughly, except i see Kickstarter doesn't allow orders anymore, it means i missed out on SE on CD, right?

Yeah. Really sorry about that, but I wanted to reward people that jumped on the kickstarter -- after all, if it hadn't succeeded, I probably wouldn't have been able to afford the rights to release the album, etc -- and making sure the Special Edition CD was limited seemed like the easiest way to do it. I might do a few giveaways or something but at least this way you still have a few choices so you can pick the one that suits you the best.

[InversePhase]

Just a heads up that kickstarter backers just got their surveys today and download codes will start going out to them once I get most of them back; I've got one or two tracks to finish for some other gigs and then I'm polishing off the rest of P8M, putting it up on bandcamp, and calling the regular edition good.

Then I work on the SE tracks, and when they're ready to go, I have a lot more work to do. =]

[InversePhase]

Don't mean to keep bumping the thread, but release is set. Thursday the 14th (or the 15th if you're in europe/asia/australia) is the day. There'll be a listening/release party with a live IRC chat if anyone wants to join in. If the timing sucks, you can just listen all the way through on the bandcamp once it's out and ask questions here.

Point is, you're all invited!

Anyway, full details on the kickstarter update including where/how to listen and fb event here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...a/posts/240019

[InversePhase]

100% of the composition is complete, onto mastering.

or, this: https://twitter.com/inversephase/sta...27771004362752

glad the radio show is tomorrow and not today. =]

[MAD]

Bump! Four hours to go!! I'll be a wreck tomorrow at work, this will be at 5AM for me.

[DigitalChaos]

lol. I am listening to the radio show. Downloadin' It is playing. The "voice" sounds like Flat Beat Eric talking. I can only imagine that puppet dressed up like Trent while signing this.

[InversePhase]

The album is officially released! Listening to the entire thing is free if for whatever reason you don't want to buy it: http://inversephase.bandcamp.com/alb...-eight-machine

[bgalbraith]

The album is officially released! Listening to the entire thing is free if for whatever reason you don't want to buy it: http://inversephase.bandcamp.com/alb...-eight-machine

Really enjoying this so far. I like how you did the voice for Downloadin' It.. it gives me some ideas

[Henrie_Schnee]

I listened to the songs you posted and I really, really like the results! Great job, InversePhase.
However, what I really LOVE is that artwork you (or you collaborators) came up with... and I wanted to ask, if you could upload a high-res version somewhere... because I'd really like to hang it up as a poster on my new flats wall. That would set the right mood... from the beginning!

In turn, I'll promise to order the CD as soon as I re-activated my PayPal-Account - and spread the word, of course.

Will The MIDI Spiral be next?

[Leviathant]

I'm curious to hear what people have to say about the album - if you for any reason can't buy it from Bandcamp, but have listened to the stream and like what you hear, share your thoughts here. Next week I'll pull a name at random and I'll hook you up.

Personally, I've had the pleasure of hearing it as it developed, and I was impressed from the first download. I thought I might get tired of it as it progressed, but each MP3 that came my way upheld a standard of quality that had my psyched for when I would have all ten tracks, and could finally listen to the reconstructed album from start to finish. I've heard a number of chiptune covers in the past, some good, most merely passable. The attention to detail that InversePhase has is pretty incredible.

[adrenalinejunkie]

I had a perpetual smile listening to this entire thing. Very well done!

[bgalbraith]

I'm curious to hear what people have to say about the album - if you for any reason can't buy it from Bandcamp, but have listened to the stream and like what you hear, share your thoughts here. Next week I'll pull a name at random and I'll hook you up.

Personally, I've had the pleasure of hearing it as it developed, and I was impressed from the first download. I thought I might get tired of it as it progressed, but each MP3 that came my way upheld a standard of quality that had my psyched for when I would have all ten tracks, and could finally listen to the reconstructed album from start to finish. I've heard a number of chiptune covers in the past, some good, most merely passable. The attention to detail that InversePhase has is pretty incredible.

I agree, the whole album was a solid tribute to the source. I'm especially impressed with the usage of so many different platforms. Having done my own 8-bit compositions on the GameBoy, and knowing how cumbersome the tools can be to work with, just adds to the appreciation I have for the effort InversePhase put into this. Combine that with the fact that, while guitar tabs or piano transcriptions of songs are typically available and give you a great starting point, there are rarely vocal note transcriptions available (or I just don't know where to look). That is a tremendous job of transcription to get the rhythm and tonal quality of the vocal track to match up as well as it does.

I must confess the only *minor* disappointment I had was there was no "Get Down 8-Bit Love" bonus track

Awesome job.

[otnavuskire]

I was pretty skeptical about this at first, but I ended up loving it.

[Oblong Cheese]

I had a perpetual smile listening to this entire thing. Very well done!

+1 to this.

I think of chiptunes as an amusing novelty, so I was interested to see what a full conversion of PHM to PEM would actually do to the album. I seriously think it's a great cover. The cheekyness of the 8-bit sounds emulating the emotion and rawness of PHM puts a huge smile on my face for some reason. For lack of a better phrase, it's kind of like a cute and cuddly version of PHM - but don't take that negatively! It's meant as a compliment.

I am also super impressed by the actual production/mastering/cover itself. I don't really know much about chiptunes, but this is definitely not like a MIDI cover. It's so much more, and better, it's great.

[thelastdisciple]

Getting lots of buzz!

http://loudwire.com/nine-inch-nails-...-bit-makeover/

For lack of a better phrase, it's kind of like a cute and cuddly version of PHM - but don't take that negatively! It's meant as a compliment.

Yes this!

It's basically a genius parody in every positive fashion of the word, some parodies can be degrading or completely insulting when compared to the original source but this just sounds fantastic and it's so innocent!

I've only listened to the stream but i had to hear it in full, I'm huge on 8-bit chiptunes as a genre of music... it's amazing how a technical constraint of the past when compared to today can ultimately produce intentional works of art. I've read some critiques of this just being noise-y nonsense but that couldn't be further from the truth as far as I'm concerned.

TR would be proud.

[exilajei]

Ordered the CD, will blast it driving down the street with absolutely no regard of what other people are probably going to think.

Fantastic work man. These are probably the best 8-bit covers I've ever heard.

[InversePhase]

Hey! First of all, I want to thank everyone for their stellar support and positive feedback. It feels good...really good. Second, I was gone for the weekend and I'm just getting around to replying to these. Hope you guys don't mind me just snipping everything up and replying in one go.

However, what I really LOVE is that artwork you (or you collaborators) came up with... and I wanted to ask, if you could upload a high-res version somewhere... because I'd really like to hang it up as a poster on my new flats wall. That would set the right mood... from the beginning!

What I would recommend, personally, is to just click on the album cover on the bandcamp, and that will give you the top res. version that I submitted. Save, print. Zoom without any interpolation to retain the effect. There isn't a "smoothed out" version because, well, I pixelated everything on purpose, 8-bit/retro systems and all that, so that would be the best way to DIY your own poster.

Will The MIDI Spiral be next?

My availability is probably shot for about the next year. I have three game soundtrack contracts that I should be working on (they were even booked before P8M, actually), but the outpouring support I've gotten from everyone has me pretty floored. It's completely the polar opposite of what people said when I first announced that I was gonna do P8M. Also, I have a few buyers that are talking about commissioning other (NIN) albums and such...all I can say is, let me finish what's on my plate and then we'll figure out where to go from there.

I am also super impressed by the actual production/mastering/cover itself. I don't really know much about chiptunes, but this is definitely not like a MIDI cover. It's so much more, and better, it's great.

I "shoinked" this comment next to the above one because I want to clear the air about a few things. Mainly, no proper chiptune is MIDI. There's a lot of confusion about how the two relate.

• There's a program called GXSCC that will play MIDI files as "chiptunes" (the "8-bit remix"es you see all over youtube), but it doesn't follow any rules/limitations of the original sounds, per se. It's just acting as a synth with the sounds from the SCC. You can hear some similarities between the "instruments" in SYNCtified and any of these GXSCC tunes because it does somewhat faithfully reproduce the sounds of that chip...just...there's more to making an authentic chiptune than that. I usually call GXSCC tunes "riptunes" for that reason.
• MIDI allows you to assign an instrument to a channel and then just go nuts with as many notes at a time as you can play with that instrument. Most of the time, chiptunes are limited to 3, maybe 4 notes at a time, total, period.
• MIDI is a language that says what the instrument is but doesn't define what it sounds like. "Grand Piano" sounds different on 43276 different MIDI synthesizers. Chiptunes, by contrast, you've got a square wave (or other possible waveforms) but they are always the same waveform and it always sounds the same. MIDI cannot dictate "this is what the waveform looks like for this instrument".
• "Chiptunes" as a term specifically refers to sound chips making sounds. So like, in an Atari, the POKEY chip accepts commands like "channel 1: frequency value 172, volume value 7, waveform 2". But the chip actually produces the sound from those instructions on its own, it doesn't poke a DSP or some other chip with a wavetable to produce sounds.

Anyway, it doesn't really bother me because this is all really technical and full of jargon and I realise a lot of people just plain don't know the difference, but you can often upset a (real) chiptuner by calling their music MIDI. On the other hand, if it sounds like a MIDI rip, it may very well be one! A non-chiptuner might just be going for that aesthetic and just not know how to categorize their music.

OK. TECHNICAL MODE OFF.

Combine that with the fact that, while guitar tabs or piano transcriptions of songs are typically available and give you a great starting point, there are rarely vocal note transcriptions available (or I just don't know where to look). That is a tremendous job of transcription to get the rhythm and tonal quality of the vocal track to match up as well as it does.

Don't mean to toot my own horn (well, maybe a little ) but I can't read sheet music. Or tabs. Or anything really. I do it all by ear/hand and I don't use other people's transcriptions.

I must confess the only *minor* disappointment I had was there was no "Get Down 8-Bit Love" bonus track

A little bird told me that you might be able to find it in the Special Edition....hmmm...wonder if that's true? =]

TR would be proud.

Man, I really hope he is. I have no idea. I'm already following him on twitter but if anyone catches him saying anything I would love to know about it.

Anyway, thanks again for all your kind words, and feel free to ask me questions in the thread!