POSTED BY

Mike Nowak

AT 3:45 PM
Tuesday June 9, 2009

Music

chiptunetimex 2048zx spectrum

Listen: Mister Beep's 1-Bit Bleeps

MISTER_BEEP-MONOPHONIC_GENE.gif

Recently released on Berlin's B-Hack Records is Mister Beep's "Monophonic Generator" album. It's a chiptune album containing, mostly, cover versions of various songs by Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, amongst others, that is notable for being composed entirely on a Timex 2048. That one I had to look up.

The Timex 2048 was a cousin of sorts of the British favourite Sinclair ZX Spectrum. The system was mostly compatible with the "Speccy" and was most popular in Portugal and Poland, which accounts for its somewhat obscure nature. It's also a computer that had a one channel "Beeper" for audio production. The entire album is 1-bit, which is trumped on the label site as "the first 1 bit album ever to be released on a netlabel!!!" I can't confirm or deny that, but either way it is certainly rare.

Monophonic Generator [Mister Beep software page, 8bitcollective profile, via the excellent True Chip Till Death]

1 Comment

MrShrubber

#1 – 9:12 AM June 10, 2009

The last song, Cosmic Escape, strongly reminds me of the music of Munchies (parts of it do, at least). Munchies is an old Mac game I played when I was a kid. Ahh, the memories. If you want to hear what I mean, here's a link: http://www.mirsoft.info/gmb/music_info.php?id_ele=MTQwNjI

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