Tag: chiptunes

MAGFest X Roundup, Part 3

January 27th, 2012 Blog - Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PRELUDE:

Our apologies for the length of time between Parts 2 and 3. We’ve been super busy with…

  • A new release from R_Garcia
  • Protesting SOPA/PIPA
  • Our upcoming podcast

However, we are committed to telling the rest of our MAGFest story — so grab a delicious beverage, sit back, relax, and prepare to be regaled with a tale of EPIC MUNDANITY!

DAY THREE: SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 2012

Saturday was a barn-burner! The surge in attendees was significant, as all the folks who had to work on Friday began washing up on the shores of MAGfest. We rolled out of bed at the crack of 11:00am and went down the exhibition hall to crank up some tunes and enjoy our morning coffee. As with all cons, the first half of the day is best spent people-watching, because the cos-players are still fresh looking and the drunks from last night are still comically trying to make sense of their ambulatory abilities. Unlike MAGFest 9, we chose to stay away from the fire-water this year — lest we wind up singing Bill Withers songs with Duke Nukem again.

Q. What kind of music do you guys release? – A: Spacecore

We must admit: the daylight hours of Saturday were all work and no play this time around. Luckily, we met many awesome people from all over the country who were willing to give our music a listen. Many remembered us from the previous year, and some of those folks even came looking for our new releases. We had a great day selling our wares, and before we really had a chance to relax, it was already 9:00pm — so, rather than become dull boys, we opted to temporarily close the booth and take on some of the evening’s scheduled events. First on the list was the main attraction for the evening: Earthbound Papas.

Just in case you have no idea what we are talking about:

“The Earthbound Papas are a band formed by veteran Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu, after his other project, The Black Mages, disbanded. According to Uematsu, they will play Final Fantasy music that The Black Mages had not played. It has also been suggested that they will play video game music from titles other than that of Final Fantasy.” --Final Fantasy Wiki

The fun certainly didn’t stop there. At some point we stumbled into one of the performance halls and happened upon An0va, who’s track “Flow” opens our 99 Problems but a Chip Ain’t One compilation.

An0va writes really awesome chiptunes — some of the best we’ve heard to date. On top of that, he is one of the nicest people on the planet. It was cool to see him slinging a guitar + gameboy live rig. You can download his latest album, The Teaching Machine for for free. Check out a bit of his MAGFest X performance below.

Following the evening performances, we returned to the booth for a brief red-eye sale and impromptu DJ set by R_Garcia. We then ate more pocky and drank a every variant of Mt. Dew before closing down for the night and heading over to the arcade for some sweet-sweet retro gaming love. However, our attention was drawn to something much more interesting…

Ya… Srsly.

Stay tuned for the final installment of our MAGFest X recap where we develop a new sales strategy based entirely on polyhedral randomizers!

MAGFest X Roundup, Part Two

January 15th, 2012 Blog - Tags: , , , , , ,

DAY TWO: FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2012

Nophi's MAGFest Booth

It’s no easy feat to set up a functional convention booth on 3 hours of sleep. Our booth was not a run-of-the-mill set-up either, as we had integrated an audio mixer, amplifier, speakers and laptop to allow for playback. Additionally, we had all the makings for live DJ and chiptune performances (a feature we would eventually get good use out of.) We opened the booth at 11:00am and luckily were treated to a nice, slow start to the day.

View From the Booth

Above: The view from the booth. Below: POCKYHENGE.

Pockyhenge

Folks, we really must urge you to watch out for Japanese snacks. This stuff will take you from casual use to straight-up addiction in a weekend. Pocky is the gateway snack — simple, delicious, inexpensive. Pocky comes in chocolate, milk cream, strawberry, nut-encrusted, and a few other variations. If you’ve had it, you know it’s the sh*t. If you haven’t, we suggest finding an Asian market  near you and picking some up. The Pockyhenge above was just 20 feet away from our booth. Achievement Unlocked: Snackpocalypse.

Friday flew by criminally fast. Sales of our new chiptune compilation were brisk — and we were meeting so many freaking awesome people that we had completely lost track of time. This, unfortunately, meant that we missed out on the featured musical performances for the night. Tired, hungry, and razzed about missing out on some awesome tunes, we set out to console ourselves in the game-room… with a mouth full of Pocky.

Galaga Screen Shot

Above: Our first wife. Below: Our new mistress

Milk Pocky

To be continued…

Chip Chip Hooray! — New Compilation OUT NOW!

January 4th, 2012 Blog - Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We’ve always had a dangerous love affair with video games. Nophi’s first logo was actually a riff on the Atari logo, and we’ve been borrowing from video game culture ever sinse. It’s safe to say that Nophi would not exist — at least not in the same capacity — without influence from the gaming world.

Last year, we entered our name into the chiptune/vg music hat with a compilation of classic chiptune covers known as Eightest Bits. The project was so much fun, that we just had to have another go at it in 2012. This time, however, the compositions would need to be originals!

We certainly wanted to pay respect to the “hardcore” chiptuners, but also highlight composers who employ elements of chipmusic alongside broader instrumentation. Therefore, we opted not to limit the tracks on this compilation by the equipment used to create it. What we ended up with was an excellent cross-section of compositions ranging from Gameboy bangers, to slickly-produced “crossover” tunes.

We seriously can’t thank the artists who participated in this project enough, and we hope you enjoy this collection as much as we do, because we feel it’s right up there with the most awesome things we’ve ever done!

So we herd u liek chiptunez…

November 30th, 2011 Blog - Tags:

We’re looking for a few good chiptunes — for our next compilation. Following in the footsteps of last year’s Eightest Bits compilation of videogame covers, we’ll be releasing a new collection of ORIGINAL chiptunes from many artists at this years MAGFest! One and all are invited to submit. We have already received some amazing tracks from some chiptune veterans, so you will be in excellent company!

The rules are pretty simple: I.) Write a sweet tune using chip sounds. II.) You are not limited to just chip sounds, as you are free to sing, play instruments or use some additional samples or instruments to spice your track up. III.) Post your song to a downloadable server and send a link to us@nophi.net. IV.) Please do not include file attachments! V.) All submissions must be in uncompressed .wav or .aiff format. VI.) You can submit as many songs as you like. VII.) Deadline is December 28, 2011

If your track is selected: I.) You will be asked to sign a very simple non-exclusive licensing agreement. II.) Your track will appear on our upcoming compilation, to be released at Magfest  and III.) will be played on many a podcast and (god willing) college radio stations. IV.) You will receive a modest percentage of the physical copies of the disc — to keep, sell, give away, or use as decorative coasters. V.) You will be loved and regaled by all. You may also be asked for more tracks for an EP or full length release though Nophi.

Time is short, so get chippin!

Podcast – Episode 4: Burgin’

January 26th, 2011 Blog, Podcast - Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Randy, Matt & company convene to discuss the finer points of MAGFest, videogames, chiptunes, and what it truly means to be burgin’ for something. Featuring music from our new release — Eightest Bits, tracks from MAGFest performers Metroid Metal and DJ Cutman, and a veritable cornucopia of chiptunes!  The first Nophi podcast of 2011 is on the couch and waiting to play with YOU!

Intro:

  • DJ Cutman – Drop It Like It’s Mogg [Gamechops]

Track List:

  1. Metroid Metal – Crateria [Expansion Pack]
  2. Machinae Supremacy – Koala in the Spider’s Web [Jets N'Guns Soundtrack]
  3. Dim – Secret of Mana [Eightest Bits]
  4. Mindelixir – Bionic Commando [Eightest Bits]
  5. citizenGreen – Simon’s Quest [Eightest Bits]
  6. Front Line Assembly – Hostage (Singaya Remix) [Soundcloud]
  7. cTrix – fourTek2 [8bitcollective]
  8. Sonny Hancock – Flashback (Chaos Mix) [Forthcoming Nophi LP]
  9. Manteis – Terrene Vale [Forthcoming Nophi LP]
  10. Nordloef – Buddy Holly [Weezer - The 8-Bit Album]
  11. Bit Shifter – Particle Charge [Information Chase]
  12. DJ Cutman – Stay Conscious (Requiem) [Soundcloud]
  13. Overthruster – Tampo2 [Hexawe 005]
  14. Klubkuttaz – Neuromancer (b57 Remix) [Kockrock 3000 EP]
  15. EPMD – Strictly Business (Corridors of Time Remix) [Chrono Trigger Mixtape]
  16. Tricil – The Emancipation (Proclamation Mix by R_Garcia) [Tricil.net]

Intersticial Music:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:33:02 — 85.2MB)