Tag Archives: midi

Voltage – Dj CUTMAN’s Nice Sprite Chiptune Remix

Hai friends. Following up with the three Chiptune covers I posted earlier today is something I spent my whole weekend on: A chiptune remix of Skrillex’s new song, Voltage. Using production techniques similar to my hit Daft Punk – Something About Us remix, including a heavily filtered vocal sample for the original song. I spent a lot of time EQing to get the chiptune sounds to feel “full”, without combatting the vocals or bass instrument I created. As an homage to Skrillex, I have one instance of the synth Massive running in this remix. See if you can pick it out!

I feel like I summed up my feelings pretty well in the Soundcloud description, so here’s a little copy/pasta:

A lot of people rag on Skrillex now that he’s super popular grammy award winning gothic looking twenty something, but something always stuck with me about his songs. Even after the initial “wow-factor” of his trademark dubstep monster sounds wore off, I found myself remembering his melodies. Could it be that they’re actually well-written pieces of music? I took the Skrillex song Voltage and re-created it with Magic 8bit, basic processing in ableton, and a heavy dose of EQ, to create this piece. The harsh and crazy nature of the original dubstep tune is replaced with the light-hearted, optimistic chiptune arpeggios and square lead. An intensely sculpted vocal sample gives the piece context, although I feel it works without.

And the original piece by Sonny Moore, aka Skrillex:

And finally, the piano arrangement I used as a basis for my Chiptune remix was composed by Evan Duffy. Here he is playing his arrangement, which is beautiful.

Finally, the MIDI from Evan Duffy’s cover was programmed by someone who goes by “Tilt”. If you have a passion for rock solid MIDI arrangements ( I mean, who doesn’t?! right guyyz? ; ) check out Tilt’s website.

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Powerglove Shows us How to Make Music with Guitar Hero Controller

Turn your Guitar Hero controller into a synth instrument! It’s not as hard as you might think. And your old friend Powerglove will show you how!

You’ll need the following:

Guitar Hero Controller

Ps2 to Usb Converter:
http://www.netpcdirect.co.uk/joypadconverters_ps.php

Nostromo Gamepad or other game controller with buttons
Here’s the newer version:
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=157024

A computer with Direct X

Visual Studio (or SharpDevelop):
http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/

Some programming knowledge

Guitar Pro (or another midi program, or just a sample set of notes):
http://www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php

effects and an amp (optional)

Have fun, and check out Powerglove while you’re at it:
http://www.vgmetal.com