Some background about creating the remixes for Game Art Beyond.
When we started this project, the main question from a musical point of view was how to re-create the classic atmosphere while making it sound "fresh". Plus, I felt that I could not concentrate on the new SID, because there still are thousands of C64 with the old SID being used by enthusiasts.
Then there was the extra challenge of limited rastertime: As NUFLI eats up nearly all of it, using samples was a no-go from the start. That made things a little more complicated, as tunes like Arkanoid and To Be On Top rely heavily on the harsh sound. On the other hand, it let me stick to my favourite Editor SID-Wizard V1.7. :)
I composed each remix directly on my MixSID-equipped C64, using the 8580. That gave me maximum flexibility in sound design. But as I mentioned before, I wanted every C64-user to enjoy our show. So I created alternative versions of the tunes, optimized for the 6581. The SID is detected when you start Game Art Beyond, and each tune is then "patched" to sound correctly. I call this process "SID-Diffing", and I plan to release the tools I created for it later this year. (After killing those hords of bugs. ;))
So, please enjoy the show we created for you - it contains two years worth of sweat, tears and blood! =) |
