CVGM.net - Chiptune, Retro & Video Game Music

Hi,

Jyorge started a discussion on the oneliner last night about CVGM branching out into the world of a netlabel, distributing music and all other related tasks. Personally, I think its a great idea to bring attention to the site, and to distribute some of the great music that we receive.

CVGM is lucky enough to have a lot of very talented musicians frequent the site, from all ranges of sound and style whether it is pure chip on the GameBoy, C64, Atari etc. all the way up to more modern and real-sounding instruments such as pianos, concerto's and lots of other fresh sounds.

I have given the idea a good deal of thought, and I think it would be great to go forward and start working on a new CD to distribute via the web, showing off the best of the 70+ platforms that we now support on the site. Its also a good opportunity for the site to work together as a team to create something great

Some points that were discussed briefly on the oneliner:

1. The first disk should be by various artists, covering a variety of styles and sounds.
2. CVGM has plenty of local artists who may be able to contribute, before we start outfielding.
3. We have a few gfx guys that can help with cover art.

Please feel free to add to this and discuss it openly, so we can get started. If you can volunteer some time, resources or even music skills, we would love to hear about it

FishGuy876

Well i think to begin we can make a CD with music from CVGM users that are musician too. In the future we can release new talents in chiptune/demoscene music. I can help in watever you think i can make. I can make the promotion for exemple.

Label? Very interesting!
Cover design? Fine with me, challenging!
Thumbs up!

Hehe. Great i think we really have what is needed to make this go forward!

Great Seems ideas are flowing already

Last year I had the idea of making a chipdisk from tunes from around the world, I had spoken to a few artists who seemed pretty interested in the project, I will get in touch with those who are not on the site too often to see if they are still interested in participating.

@jyooruje: Im sure you can do more than promotion, you can probably help to dig out some of the best talent out there You seem to know more people in the field than I do Your ear is sometimes better tuned to the finer elements of the chip then mine

@parsec: Awesome I have been very impressed with the stuff you have been doing for bpoint lately, if you can do some artwork for a design that would be great Feel free to put some sketches together with some ideas that promote the album and cvgm as a global multiplatform effort.

Besides doing a CD, I would like to code a front-end that users can run on their PC/Mac machines, with extra info about the tracks, pictures etc. as long as others thought it worthwhile. I guess the more distribution methods the better. Perhaps in the future we can focus on other platforms, as an example I have been bugging Ultrasyd to do a GameBoy/atari EP (kind of like the M Rockers music disks) and I think they would be popular.

We should probbably start to think about how many tracks, which platforms etc. we should try to aim for. Any thoughts? I think we should try to get about 8 - 10 tracks, no more than 3 of any one platform (to avoid the disk being one-platform oriented).

Thoughts?

Yes a 8-10 track album seams to me the best idea. I agree with the idea of the front end to give info to the listeners but that is something that you have to do You are the coder hehe. Yes i can try find some contacts with chiptunes and see there interest in enter on the CD :), I think that even of we made the disk or later on the music to be player in the original plataform we have to keep with the mp3 because no every one have the plataform to test it hehe. Parsec i think the best to start is make a label logo for the CD cases for indentify it as a CVGM release.

I would suggest Ultrasyd to make a Roland MT-32 music disk as it can be multiplatform... PC and Atari ST/E/Falcon.. maybe Amiga also.

Oooh, interesting idea!

Not sure what I could do to help, but I'd definitely like to contribute. If you need any help coding the interface/frontend or want it ported to some exotic platform, just let me know.

Are the individual tracks going to be specific to one single platform, I presume?

@Stefan: Syd did say he would be willing to do a track or two, im not sure what he has in mind, but we can suggest him to do a MT32 track (if he doesnt read this beforehand). The disk (at least the very first one) won't all be the same platform.

@bpoint: I'm going to finish working on the engine I started for Xerxes and Chill 4, and merge it in with the Zine code so the engine can be configured quite easy. For the downloadable versions, probbably an MP3/OGG format would be better for distribution, recorded from the original sources. the same files the audio cd would be burned with anyways. In time, I would like to do platform specific stuff, which can then be played natively. I'd like to get syd to do a gameboy EP some day, and I know you have an engine to assist there

On another good note, TDK (Mark Knight) stopped by the site for a good natter and some requests, he also uploaded a bunch of his music tracks. He offered to do a track for the CD if we wanted it, for which I told him we would be honoured if he could

Now I think is a good time to start figuring out who is going to do stuff, as we need to start thinking of a date so we can give the musicians plenty of time to make the music part. If you have people in mind, send them a message and give them the link to this thread so they can follow along. Anyone got any suggestions for a date? Perhaps 3 months, or is that too long?

Anyone who wants to make a track should post to this thread with the platform that they want to do it on, so we can see whats happening and in which areas

3 months sounds enought time to make it. Maybe some people are now interested on BP11 so we have to wait for that pass and they can concentrate on this CD hehe.
Btw, when can we start making some promotion? i will like to tweet this threat tagging some musicians i follow to see if i get some support for them

i'm down for submitting a track for the compilation. i'm also down for being a part of any other release through the netlabel. sounds like a good idea

yea i can give u a new track to. np.

Thanks for the support Starpilot and DBB!

Thanks for volunteering guys, the more help we can get the better

OK, let's hammer out some finer details.

Im going to set a target date for release on July 1st, 2011. This is just an initial target date, and if all goes well, the CD and executable versions should be ready by then. Of course, we can change the date a bit as the time gets closer to ensure last minute stuff gets done. This gives us a comfortable 3 months to slack hard during the project

Musicians: If you are willing to produce a track for us, let us know in this thread (if you didn't already do so) as well as the platform/platforms you want to try and aim for. There are no limits, just pick one out of the main platforms list on the side of the site page The more different platforms we can support for initial release the better, and in the future we will most likely focus on individual platforms and systems. Right now, we want to get a rounded amount of work out. You are all extremely talented, so we need to tell the world about it The best way to communicate is through music If you wish to preview work, you can do so via a private message to myself or Jyooruje.

Parsec/GFX: If you have some thoughts for sketching a CD cover, let us know, or if you need more info. Ideally we should have a Front/Back image and perhaps something for the CD itself for special releases, like limited copy. High DPI for printing purposes. I know we cant do a track list until we know whats coming

Me: I will get cracking on fixing up the engine needed to power the executable portion. This is basically a download that will work on Mac/PC/Linux that carries MP3 versions of the tracks. The difference is the engine will be a little more interactive, and i'll have it display artist profiles, bio's, links to websites, facebook music pages, twitter feeds etc. so that artists can use it as a promotion tool. If we can get one more person to your site and download your work, then it was a success.

Everyone else: If you think you can help us, let us know. If you know a musician who may be interested, forward them this thread or have them get in touch with me directly. If you are a musician interested in participating in this project, let us know!

Thanks to everyone for their time and efforts on this Let's get stuck in and make this happen!

well i'm in

Awesome, rams A couple of people have asked if they can mix platforms together, like Atari/Renoise etc. Any combo of platforms is fine, or even all-synthetic mixes and VST's etc. If you can make it sound good, we can use it

Count me In, as it sounds like a cool project!

Cheers,
Marcer

I can contribute a song if u like...

DJ Derp: We would love it if you could contribute a song to the label Thanks

I will do a ST track ! Will drop you the MP3 and the SNDH when I will finish it !!!

Sooooo, How's the progress on the chip disc coming along? Any new we should know about?

@DJ Derp: Nothing major to report yet, we are still working on a few things behind the scenes here. Hopefully we should have something to preview to the musicians soon. we will let you know when we have something Thanks

btw DJ Derp you can send your tune as soon as finish in a email for me or FishGuy876

This is very interesting! I'd like to contribute, if possible.

Is possible yes. Just send us you music. You can send them to me or to Fishguy876. Im from Portugal so if you need some more info i talk portuguese hehe

Hi, which date is the deadline to send in the tune?

// Marcer

We got a litle delai so the new dead line is 1st of August! Anyway you can send the tune as soon as you have it ready

I hope sunday.... if all goes well

So... any progress on this chip disc. Hows everything going for everybody?