If there is one thing I love more than anything, it's when I discover an entire community of creative people who get together to make art for no reason other than to please the other members of...
If there is one thing I love more than anything, it's when I discover an entire community of creative people who get together to make art for no reason other than to please the other members of that community.
Battle of the Bits was built around a music competition where contestants were provided with a pack of samples and were asked to compose the best Tracker music using only the provided samples. Since then, it has expanded to more types of composition tools and synthesis methods - there's even categories for retro computers/consoles and even Mario Paint - and beyond, into art, coding, and writing as well. There's even level design competitions for Doom and Super Mario World.
The website itself also has a unique twist. It's an RPG! These aren't just competitions; they're battles, and you get XP for participating which go towards leveling you up in whatever categories you choose to join, which will affect your class. And of course, if you attempt to game the voting system, your class will become "troll". So much of the design of the thing is taken from 2000s web design and internet culture, which seems especially ironic given how many battles (competitions in their parlance) are focused on sound hardware which were already out of production by the 90s.
Of course this has the side-effect of making it somewhat hard to parse by outsiders, but I can assure you that it's more than worth your time to explore: It's chocked to the brim with unique original compositions by talented musicians - all of which is CC-licensed - which is sure to surprise you. Even if the audience might be niche, they are still competing, so the compositions can be pretty fantastic. I encourage you to visit the browser and sort by score to find the most popular songs if you just want to taste a bit of the best.
Some example songs just to lure you in a bit:
Blueshift Galaxy by HertzDevil - Many of the compositions on the site are in the ballpark of progressive rock, and I think this is a pretty good representation of how incredible they can get. If you like Megalovania from Undertale, you'll probably enjoy this.
Dream Driving by kgb525 - This guy is particularly inspired by 90s video game composers, and this one in particular is inspired by Magical Sound Shower from Outrun - but as an a capella production it's very different from a lot of the more common styles.
I wanted to list some more examples, but honestly I can't stop listening to new songs. This is seriously addictive. This site somehow has better music discoverability than the big music streaming subscription services.
Though one thing I will point out is that if you're not a fan of chiptunes, you might want to checkout the Allgear category, which is open to any tools and processes. (Please note that you will have to select the sorting method manually with this link)
Off topic: This may be a weird question, can I ask how did you manage to find this site? It's wonderful when people share interesting stuff but it seems like usually they started out already...
Off topic: This may be a weird question, can I ask how did you manage to find this site? It's wonderful when people share interesting stuff but it seems like usually they started out already well-versed with that niche to begin with, so I'm curious how someone "from the outside" could find their way in initially.
To start with, I was already familiar with mod music and trackers, and some of my favorite music is VGM; I already spent time on vgmrips checking out the newest packs to listen to new-to-me...
To start with, I was already familiar with mod music and trackers, and some of my favorite music is VGM; I already spent time on vgmrips checking out the newest packs to listen to new-to-me tracks.
But I stumbled across BotB by a tangent. I was looking for some more information about an FM sound driver called PMD, and they happened to have an article written about it that was more in depth than most.
It might not seem like much to you but from the story of your little adventure, I now know about vgmrips and PMD, which wouldn't have gotten on my radar otherwise, so thanks for answering!
It might not seem like much to you but from the story of your little adventure, I now know about vgmrips and PMD, which wouldn't have gotten on my radar otherwise, so thanks for answering!
vgmrips is a great resource, but I'm not really sure how much use you'll get out of PMD unless you're familliar with writing music in MML (which apparently has a history dating all the way back to...
vgmrips is a great resource, but I'm not really sure how much use you'll get out of PMD unless you're familliar with writing music in MML (which apparently has a history dating all the way back to a Microsoft BASIC command). But if you do you might also want to check out Yuzo Koshiro's relatively recently open-sourced MUCOM88 driver as well.
I would like to casually mention The Mod Archive. I started learning to use MilkyTracker because of this place (Milky's downloads were also hosted by them), and trackers are still how I make music...
I would like to casually mention The Mod Archive. I started learning to use MilkyTracker because of this place (Milky's downloads were also hosted by them), and trackers are still how I make music 15 years later, just Renoise, Polyend, Deflemask (for crunchy C64 stuff) and M8 instead of MilkyTracker. A lot of TMA is demoscene music, they've also got a lot of cracktros, and just tons of good stuff.
I should see about participating in BotB, because there's a lot of categories I like working in and some cool new ones (snibbletracker) that could be a treat.
Wow, I remember The Mod Archive from nearly 20 years ago. I am amazed they are still around. There are a lot of really obscure trackers and formats that I hadn’t heard of before finding this site....
Wow, I remember The Mod Archive from nearly 20 years ago. I am amazed they are still around.
There are a lot of really obscure trackers and formats that I hadn’t heard of before finding this site. Some of them were even made as a joke but then there is serious competition around them! You should check out their formats page for more details.
Deflemask is starting to lose popularity because it became a paid product, so it would appear that people are moving to Furnace instead. It’s compatible with the Deflemask file format and also supports more chips and has a few nice extras. What’s nice is that you can combine multiple chips in a project so you can easily mix different kinds of sounds together.
Oh wow Furnace looks badass. Tbh I prefer the limitations of a single system but jamming some Gameboy and NES would be a blast, and there's finally a SNES tracker! And yeah I saw some cool stuff...
Oh wow Furnace looks badass. Tbh I prefer the limitations of a single system but jamming some Gameboy and NES would be a blast, and there's finally a SNES tracker!
And yeah I saw some cool stuff on BotB but was oddly familiar with many of the platforms.
In the mid 2000s, I used to spend a lot of time on Song Fight, which I had forgotten about until I saw this. It’s basically a similar concept to Battle of the Bits, but instead of using the same...
In the mid 2000s, I used to spend a lot of time on Song Fight, which I had forgotten about until I saw this. It’s basically a similar concept to Battle of the Bits, but instead of using the same samples, everyone writes and records a song around a common title.
I was honestly amazed to see that the site is still up and going. The site design hasn’t changed at all, so I got a huge blast of nostalgia when it loaded. They did add a TWENTY YEARS! banner on their logo which make me feel all sorts of old though.
If there is one thing I love more than anything, it's when I discover an entire community of creative people who get together to make art for no reason other than to please the other members of that community.
Battle of the Bits was built around a music competition where contestants were provided with a pack of samples and were asked to compose the best Tracker music using only the provided samples. Since then, it has expanded to more types of composition tools and synthesis methods - there's even categories for retro computers/consoles and even Mario Paint - and beyond, into art, coding, and writing as well. There's even level design competitions for Doom and Super Mario World.
The website itself also has a unique twist. It's an RPG! These aren't just competitions; they're battles, and you get XP for participating which go towards leveling you up in whatever categories you choose to join, which will affect your class. And of course, if you attempt to game the voting system, your class will become "troll". So much of the design of the thing is taken from 2000s web design and internet culture, which seems especially ironic given how many battles (competitions in their parlance) are focused on sound hardware which were already out of production by the 90s.
Of course this has the side-effect of making it somewhat hard to parse by outsiders, but I can assure you that it's more than worth your time to explore: It's chocked to the brim with unique original compositions by talented musicians - all of which is CC-licensed - which is sure to surprise you. Even if the audience might be niche, they are still competing, so the compositions can be pretty fantastic. I encourage you to visit the browser and sort by score to find the most popular songs if you just want to taste a bit of the best.
Some example songs just to lure you in a bit:
Blueshift Galaxy by HertzDevil - Many of the compositions on the site are in the ballpark of progressive rock, and I think this is a pretty good representation of how incredible they can get. If you like Megalovania from Undertale, you'll probably enjoy this.
Dream Driving by kgb525 - This guy is particularly inspired by 90s video game composers, and this one in particular is inspired by Magical Sound Shower from Outrun - but as an a capella production it's very different from a lot of the more common styles.
I wanted to list some more examples, but honestly I can't stop listening to new songs. This is seriously addictive. This site somehow has better music discoverability than the big music streaming subscription services.
Though one thing I will point out is that if you're not a fan of chiptunes, you might want to checkout the Allgear category, which is open to any tools and processes. (Please note that you will have to select the sorting method manually with this link)
Off topic: This may be a weird question, can I ask how did you manage to find this site? It's wonderful when people share interesting stuff but it seems like usually they started out already well-versed with that niche to begin with, so I'm curious how someone "from the outside" could find their way in initially.
To start with, I was already familiar with mod music and trackers, and some of my favorite music is VGM; I already spent time on vgmrips checking out the newest packs to listen to new-to-me tracks.
But I stumbled across BotB by a tangent. I was looking for some more information about an FM sound driver called PMD, and they happened to have an article written about it that was more in depth than most.
It might not seem like much to you but from the story of your little adventure, I now know about vgmrips and PMD, which wouldn't have gotten on my radar otherwise, so thanks for answering!
vgmrips is a great resource, but I'm not really sure how much use you'll get out of PMD unless you're familliar with writing music in MML (which apparently has a history dating all the way back to a Microsoft BASIC command). But if you do you might also want to check out Yuzo Koshiro's relatively recently open-sourced MUCOM88 driver as well.
Hey you'd never know, there could be little surprises around every tangents ;)
I would like to casually mention The Mod Archive. I started learning to use MilkyTracker because of this place (Milky's downloads were also hosted by them), and trackers are still how I make music 15 years later, just Renoise, Polyend, Deflemask (for crunchy C64 stuff) and M8 instead of MilkyTracker. A lot of TMA is demoscene music, they've also got a lot of cracktros, and just tons of good stuff.
I should see about participating in BotB, because there's a lot of categories I like working in and some cool new ones (snibbletracker) that could be a treat.
Wow, I remember The Mod Archive from nearly 20 years ago. I am amazed they are still around.
There are a lot of really obscure trackers and formats that I hadn’t heard of before finding this site. Some of them were even made as a joke but then there is serious competition around them! You should check out their formats page for more details.
Deflemask is starting to lose popularity because it became a paid product, so it would appear that people are moving to Furnace instead. It’s compatible with the Deflemask file format and also supports more chips and has a few nice extras. What’s nice is that you can combine multiple chips in a project so you can easily mix different kinds of sounds together.
Oh wow Furnace looks badass. Tbh I prefer the limitations of a single system but jamming some Gameboy and NES would be a blast, and there's finally a SNES tracker!
And yeah I saw some cool stuff on BotB but was oddly familiar with many of the platforms.
In the mid 2000s, I used to spend a lot of time on Song Fight, which I had forgotten about until I saw this. It’s basically a similar concept to Battle of the Bits, but instead of using the same samples, everyone writes and records a song around a common title.
I was honestly amazed to see that the site is still up and going. The site design hasn’t changed at all, so I got a huge blast of nostalgia when it loaded. They did add a
TWENTY YEARS!banner on their logo which make me feel all sorts of old though.