Tech
This Hacked Nintendo Hardware Makes Insane Generative Music
Atchafalaya Arcade turns the simplest nintendo gaming systems into absolute musical chaos.
8-bit music has a long and celebrated history, but even with the rise of chipcore and other spin-off genres that use the chip sound, the Atchafalaya Arcade brings the style to a whole new level.
The creation is both a game and a generative electronic orchestra piece developed by Tammy Duplantis. The hacked hardware consists of a Game Boy cartridge docked inside of a Super Game Boy 2 cartridge, which is then again placed inside of an SNES, creating a Matryoshka doll-like chain of chips inside chips. Each chip then controls a different aspect of the final piece: the Game Boy controls rhythm, the SNES controls harmony and the Game Boy Advance triggers melody. Players then have ability to modulate these parameters as the composition is converted to pixels on a screen, creating beautiful visual accompaniment to the work. But what happens next might be the hardware’s coolest feature. Because of the varying sizes and models of chips inside the chain, “delays” and weird modulation feedbacks occur between each chip which leads to crazy sonic slips and twists.
As Duplantis has described it, “Atchafalaya Arcade allows its players to improvise chaotic chiptune music on a series of newly designed Game Boy instruments while creating images of abstract bayou pixelscapes.” Enough said. Check out how it works below and read more about it here.
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Read more: Make your own polysynth from two hacked Nintendos
