Category: Blog

8 bit Bitpop (Chiptune) cover of Duke Dumont’s Ocean Drive. Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 home computer.

Ok, looks like I’ve got a bit of an automobile theme going on in this and the song song (Take On Me). I din’t plan it that way, it just happened.

This is a favourite of mine from the last few years. I hope you like it too.

Made with ♥
Gavin

Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 home computer.

Queen was one of my favourite bands growing up and for that matter, even today with Adam Lambert singing, they are still a favourite. There’s no replacing Freddie Mercury though. His voice, wow, he could do it all. Such an enormous talent!

The Commodore 64 game of Flash Gordon was pretty good. It gave me quite a few hours of enjoyment and the Rob Hubbard soundtrack was so good.

While I’ve got some interesting and challenging sounds from my C64 music driver, I’ve not tested it’s metal in doing sound effects. This song is laden with them and that is a big part of why I wanted to do it – for the challenge.

I hope it turned out ok.

Made with ♥
Gavin

Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 home computer. I frikkin love Sia. Her voice – wow! So that made this song a no-brainer to do. I’ve gone for a thicker EDM feel for this one. Dual basslines, nice sine wave drums to emulate the TR808-909 sound, multi-speed and timbre arpeggios riffing away. Mmmm. Goodness gracious me! Made with ♥ Gavin

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwMGXSyRTJI[/embedyt]

Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 home computer.

Ok so I’ve been doing more of the light and fluffy songs recently so I wanted to mix it up a little. I was given the suggestion of doing an INXS song and I was a bit indifferent about that. Though the idea has grown on me.

I then thought, Adam Ant. Then I was indifferent about that. Then it hit me, that snarly faced, blonde hair rock/pop artist Billy Idol. He’s got so many good songs to choose from too! I could decide between Rebel Yell, Mony Mony or White Wedding so there’s a good chance I’ll do the whole three. We’ll see how it goes.

I hope you enjoy.

Made with ♥
Gavin

Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 home computer.

I’ve really enjoyed doing classic 80s songs lately and I think this one sits amongst them. Pop with a reggae underpinning. Its pretty nice.
This time I’m back with those C64 arpeggios after having a break from them in my last song.

Back on the C64, there was some pretty cool tunes made by Mark Cooksey in games like Paperboy, Ghosts ‘n Goblins & 1941. Like the other musicians he had a distinct sound and I’ve tried to replicate his sound to a degree in honour of him.

I hope you enjoy.

Made with ♥
Gavin

Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 home computer.

Time get get 8 bit Rick-Rolled. 🙂
I’ve been doing a lot of songs lately with the signature arpeggio effect and I wanted to give that effect a break for a this song. Previously I’ve been using my C64 music driver in conjunction with Renoise. But this time around I’ve used my C64 music driver with Tracktion Waveform 9. It’s pretty great!

Made with ♥
Gavin

Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 home computer.

There are some artists that were legends of the 80s. I’ve done Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, Bon Jovi’s “Living On a Prayer” but I’ve wanted to do a Madonna song for quite some time. I had a go at doing “Like a Payer” but I just wasn’t satisfied with the result.

I chose “Material Girl” because it’s nice and bubbly and gave me room to light hearted riffs and arpeggios. I hope you like it! 🙂

Made with ♥
Gavin

Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 home computer.

This song draws parallels to real life for me – just the name is different. There’s a few 8 bit covers of Toto’s “Africa” but I wanted to do a Toto song that hasn’t been done to death.

Lots of swirly arpeggios, pulse leads & sawtooth/triangles incidentals.

Made with ♥
Gavin

Made with the sounds of the Commodore 64 home computer.

I went to a Guns and Roses cover band on my birthday this year and although GnR aren’t on my playlist, I thoroughly had an awesome time. I didn’t realise I knew seven of there songs. Anyhow, it inspired me to bitpop a heavier rock song so I chose this one. Its probably my favourite Bon Jovi song.

Made with ♥
Gavin