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Why is Genesis music considered "chiptune" but SNES music isn't? They both use specialized sound chips to generate music rather than having the whole thing pre-recorded and streamed from the cartridge.
Some people say it's because "SNES music uses samples", but why should that make a difference? Even the NES and Genesis had built-in functionality to play samples. Hell, a lot of Sunsoft games for the NES had basslines that were exclusively made by repitching sound samples, just like the SNES. And if sound samples are what separates "chiptune" from "not chiptune", then we can't consider most Amiga music to be chiptune, either.
You might say it's because systems like the Genesis and NES synthesize most of their sound on-the-fly rather than play short prerecorded samples, but if that's the case then why do we consider TurboGrafix-16 music to be chiptune? The TG16 uses wavetable sound generation, which is also entirely sample-based, just with extremely short samples that only last one wave cycle.
I don't get it. Why is the definition of chiptune so arbitrary?
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>>3616248
It's simple actually. The Genesis music isn't considered chiptune.
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>>3616289
And why the fuck wouldn't it be?
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>>3616289
Nothing is chiptune. Reality is an illusion.
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>>3616302
Chiptune is a specific tone. It died off with 4th gen. The Genesis produces actual FM sound, which already eliminates it from being a chiptune console. Chiptune is a specific way to produce music via channels with specific voices.
This video sums it up pretty well:
https://youtu.be/q_3d1x2VPxk
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>>3616248
Has anyone said the Amiga was chiptune? I associate the Amiga with tracker music, not chiptune.
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>>3616248
MIDI =/= chip tune.
MIDI uses sound samples, arranged into sequences. Chip-tune uses, you guessed it, tones generated by an electric chip, meaning the sound options are limited.
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>>3616395
Bullshit. SNES music is similar to MIDI on the surface but functionally it's not at all the same thing. Plus, MIDI is traditionally sequenced in software, but the SNES's sound synthesis is all done with a specialized sound chip.
You obviously didn't read the whole post.
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