The Commodore 64, or C64, was a popular home computer in the 1980s and early 1990s. It had an impressive sound chip that produced unique and recognizable chiptunes. These cheerful, bouncy tunes are still beloved by gamers and music enthusiasts alike. In this article, we’ll take a nostalgic journey back…
8-bit music, also known as chiptune or chip music, refers to a genre of electronic music that originated in the late 1970s and gained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. It is characterized by the use of sound chips from vintage video game consoles, home computers, and arcade machines, which…
Rocket Man [ Bitpop Chiptune ] – Tribute to Elton John – Made with C64 Driver/Samples & DAW (6 Channels)
I remade Elton’s “Club at the End of the Street” on Bitpop 6 and I’ve been wanting to do another one of his songs. Since the movie Rocketman has come out, it’s inspired me to SIDifiy this one.
Made with ♥
Gavin
So Am I [ Bitpop Chiptune ] – Tribute to Ava Max – Made with C64 Driver/Samples & DAW (6 Channels)
It’s ok to be different, like a not so pure chiptune. 🙂
The lyrics of this song is something I can relate to:
Do you ever feel like an outcast?
You don’t have to fit into the format
Oh, but it’s okay to be different
It compelled me to do this song.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Star Wars Cantina Band [ Bitpop Chiptune ] – Tribute to John Williams – Made with C64 Driver/Samples & DAW (6 Channels)
My cover of the Star Wars Cantina Band song has been influenced with a combination of the styles of Rob Hubbard, Fred Gray and Ben Daglish. They’re Some of my favourite Commodore 64 Maestro’s.
It’s all the usual people you think of when asked which C64 musicians are your favourite. Add Martin Galway and David Whittaker to the list, also.
This time I’m using multiple sound channels for layered trills and arpeggios, filters and some quirky wavetable modulations to try to make an alien sounding set of Cantina Band instruments.
Made with ♥
Gavin
The Ecstasy of Gold [ Bitpop Chiptune ] – Tribute to Ennio Morricone – C64 Music Driver & Daw (6 Channels)
A classic theme from a totally classic movie. Not the main theme but I seem to be focusing on secondary themes that I feel, get overlooked.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Made with C64 Driver/Samples & DAW (6 Channels)
Not their #1 song, “500 Miles” as that would be two obvious. I sometimes like doing songs that I have a personal liking for in preference to songs of popular choice. This is one of those.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Made with C64 Driver/Samples & DAW (6 Channels)
Why am I doing this? Still? I think most fundamentally, that I enjoy stripping sounds back to their most fundamental elements that a home computer can generate and that is ‘single cycle waveforms’. Yes.
It might be more voices than what the C64 was capable of but its still the same fundamentals.
Again, Martin Galway was such a source of inspiration on this one. His cover of this El DeBarge song was amazing.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Magnetic Fields IV – Yie Ar Kung Fu [ Bitpop Chiptune ] – Tribute to Jean Michel Jarre & Martin Galway – Made with C64 Driver/Samples & DAW (6 Channels)
This piece of music was one of my favourites of Jean Michel Jarre from his Les Chants Magnétiques album. Then 4 years later, a friend and me made a tape-to-tape copy of this game using a stereo system inside our local Chandlers store in Caloundra. We would ask if we could load the game in store to have a look at it and while we had the tape, we’d pop it in one of their dual tape Hi-Fi systems and copy it onto a black tape that we had just bought in the store. Haha. Naughty boys.
Anyhow, I loved Martin Galway’s rendition of this music. Since I’m a huge fan of both Jean Michel Jarre and Martin Galway, I wanted to do my own six channel version of this song.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) [Bitpop/Chiptune] – Tribute to The Eurythmics – Made with C64 Driver/Samples & DAW (6 Channels)
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a big fan of Annie Lennox. I couldn’t resist this song when it was suggested to me.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 – 6 Channels
A collaboration between Gavin Graham & Taikan Liao.
This is another one those classic early 80’s songs by Australian Singer/Songwriter , that gets the occasional revival. It’s been used in Boogie Nights and also in an episode of Glee.
It has been my (dis)pleasure to work again the the talented Taikan Liao on this song. Although it took a lot of time to get it right, Taikan has provided what is one of the best vocal performances I’ve heard.
Made with ♥ and the sounds of the Commodore 64
Gavin
Two Tribes [Bitpop/Chiptune] – Tribute to Queen – Made with C64 sound driver & DAW
Frankie Goes to Hollywood only made two albums and their first, “Welcome to the Pleasuredome” had multiple massive hits. Their music videos got banned then edited or replaced. They were ever so briefly huge!
Just another classic FGTH song gone Lo-Fi.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Superstition [Bitpop/Chiptune] – Tribute to Stevie Wonder – Made with C64 Driver/Samples & DAW (6 Channels)
I started doing a cover of Stayin’ Alive by my ex-neighbours, The Bee Gees but the bass riff morphed into Superstition so I gave up fighting it and decided to do Superstition instead.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Kyrie [Bitpop/Chiptune] – Tribute to Mr. Mister – Made with C64 Driver/Samples & DAW
I was originally going to do this one with vocals but after trying to wedge the vocals in I thought, how would it go just as an instrumental. Maybe a few Galway-esque lead instruments…. Hmmmmm. Yeah, to hell with the vocals. 🙂
Made with ♥
Gavin
All I Want for Christmas was made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 using a C64 music driver then sampled into a DAW – 6 Channels
Merry Christmas you bunch of marvellous fuckers.
Made with ♥
Gavin
I Want to Break Free [Bitpop/Chiptune] – Tribute to Queen – Made with C64 sound driver & DAW
Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 – 6 Channels
I wanted to do this one as a bit of a Rob Hubbard and Martin Galway hybrid in its feel. I don’t know if I’ve pulled it off bit I hope so.
Queen have gotta be my favourite band back in the 80s when I was growing up. I went back into their 70s stuff at the same time because they fascinated me with their “virtuoso” approach to music.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Just Can’t Get Enough was made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 8bit home computer – 6 channels
Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 – 6 Channels
I remember when I was friends with this guy I went to college with saying that “this should be my anthem”. He said that as a devout Christian making an unfounded assumption about my sexuality as being a promiscuous person. Haha. Boy, did he get that wrong! – I don’t consider it a bad thing if you do run wild and free, btw. More power to you!
Still, this song just brings back a memory.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Mony Mony [Bitpop/Chiptune] was made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 – 6 Channels
“Mony Mony” means nothing – literally nothing. In the late ’60s, Tommy James and the Shondells crafted the tune as a party song, with an emphasis on the beat and little thought given to the shout-along nonsense lyrics. Was “Mony” a girl? Was “Mony” a command? Was this a secret reference? Actually, none of the above. It was an acronym for the Mutual of New York Insurance Company (M-O-N-Y), whose illuminated sign gave James the idea for the title of the 1968 hit.
But to William Michael Albert Broad – better known as Billy Idol – “Mony Mony” always meant sex. That’s because when young William was 14, he lost his virginity in a public park via a tumble with a more experienced partner. He recalled in his autobiography, Dancing With Myself: “As we went at it, ‘Mony Mony’ by Tommy James and the Shondells was playing on someone’s transistor radio nearby…”
Made with ♥
Gavin
I Am Australian was made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 8bit Home Computer (6 Channels)
Sometimes I have grand fits of patriotism. I guess this is one of those moments. I tried hard to really capture the harmonies between the male & female voices in this one. Sometimes when I stop thinking about it as a musician and just listen, I can almost your the sawtooth wave (male voice) and the square wave (female voice) express the lyrics.
I’ve shortened this version a little but this is for all you chose to live here both past and present. I don’t care where you’ve come from, this is our land together.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Echo Beach was made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 8bit home computer (6 Channels)
One of my subscribers on Youtube requested that I do this song and I must say I had a lot of fun doing it. I hope you enjoy it too.
Made with ♥
Gavin
I Dream of Jeannie was made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 8bit home computer
Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 – 6 Channels
Hugo was rather influential as an electronic musician but he also penned (or co-penned) some of the most iconic themes. To his credit are “The Partridge Family”, “Outcasts” and covers of “The Man With No Name” & “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”.
Once he added Moog Synths to his instruments, he help shape the musical landscape for future electronic musicians. His version of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” is a classic example.
Another case on coincidental timing here as Bill Daily just passed away. He was an American actor and comedian known for his sitcom work as Roger Healey on I Dream of Jeannie and Howard Borden on The Bob Newhart Show.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Hawaii Five-O was made with the the sounds of the Commodore 64 8bit home computer from the 80s.
Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 – 6 Channels
Morton is probably best known for composing the theme music for Hawaii Five-O, a television series for which he won two Emmy Awards (in 1970 and 1974), and was nominated seven other times for work on television programs including Gunsmoke and Police Woman.
Yes, I’ve taken that from Wikipedia. I don’t know much about him but I really like this tune. 🙂
Made with ♥
Gavin
Chariots of Fire was made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 – 6 Channels
Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 – 6 Channels
Another progressive synth artist favourite of mine. He’s done some awesome scores for movies over the years but my first run-in was the duo of Jon & Vangelis with the song “I’ll find my way home”. He’s still a favourite and he’s definitely a legend.
This interpretation is a bit heavy on effects but I wanted a full sound without extending into more sound channels.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Calypso – Tribute to Jean Michel Jarre was made with the sounds of the Commodore 64
The song, “Calypso 1” was the lead song off the album ‘En attendant Cousteau’ (English title: Waiting for Cousteau) is the tenth studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre. The album was dedicated to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and was released on his 80th birthday 11 June 1990. Allmusic described the album as “groundbreaking stuff”, due to its extreme stylistic differences from his other albums. The album reached Number 14 in the UK charts.
It may not be too well known but Jarre was a hero of mine when I was growing up and doing music on the C64. This album was different to anything else of his that I had previously heard and for that reason, it’s memorable.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Mission Impossible was made with the sounds of the Commodore 64
The theme is written in a 5/4 time signature which Schifrin has jokingly explained as being “for people who have five legs”. However, a more likely explanation is that Schifrin started from the Morse Code for M.I. which is dah dah dit dit. If a dit is one beat and a dah is one and a half beats then this gives a bar of five beats exactly matching the underlying rhythm.
In 1996, the theme was remade by U2 members Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. for the soundtrack to the film.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Crockett’s Theme (Miami Vice) was made with the sounds on the Commodore 64 – 6 Channels
I love Jan Hammer’s work and not just his music in Miami Vice. Particularly his music in Vanishing Son. That said, he’s probably best known for Miami Vice and out of his work on that series, Crockett’s Theme has to be my personal favourite.
Made with ♥
Gavin
We Didn’t start the fire – Tribute to Billy Joel – Made with the sounds on the Commodore 64 – 6 Channels
This song has 119 historical references and if you listen to the melody while disregarding the lyrics, it’s kinda like a dentist drill. 🙂
Made with ♥
Gavin
Bitpop/Chiptune cover version made with the sounds on the Commodore 64 – 7 Channels
I need to remind myself sometimes that this isn’t chiptunes and that I’m trying to be my own little corner of Bitpop. Unlike some of my recent covers, I’ve intentionally gone a bit heavier-handed with filter use and channels as I needed them so not to affect the qualities I wanted from it.
Made with ♥
Gavin
Bitpop/Chiptune cover version made with the sounds on the Commodore 64 – 6 Channels
There’s two thing guaranteed to make you humble, The Iron Sheik and a night in Bangkok. Given the choice, I’d prefer the latter. 🙂
The chorus extol Bangkok’s reputation as an exciting city while the verses are dismissive. Two members of ABBA were involved in the writing and production of this song.
This was a fun song to do.
Made with ♥
Gavin (zer0Page)