Chiptune and Talk:Japanese writing system: Difference between pages

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Revision as of 20:07, 3 July 2007

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{{0.7 set nom|Writing systems}}

[[image:MOS Technologies 6581.jpg|thumb|right|MOS 6581 and 8580 Commodore 64 SID chips]]

{{WP Writing systems|class=Start|importance=Top}}

'''Chiptune''', or '''chip music''', or '''micromusic''' is music written in sound formats where all the sounds are synthesized in realtime by a computer or [[video game console]] [[sound chip]], instead of using [[sample-based synthesis]]. The "[[golden age]]" of chiptunes was the mid [[1980s]] to early [[1990s]], when such sound chips were the only widely available means for creating music on computers. The medium gave composers great flexibility in creating their own "[[electronic musical instrument|instrument]]" sounds, but because early computer sound chips had only simple tone generators and noise generators, it also imposed limitations on the complexity of the sound; chiptunes sometimes seem "harsh" or "squeaky" to the unaccustomed listener. Chiptunes are closely related to [[video game music]]. The term is nowadays also used to denote music that uses these distinct-sounding synthesizer instruments for their artistic value rather than due to hardware limitations.

{{FAOL|French|fr:Écritures du japonais}}

==Technology==

:I can't read French very much, so can someone explain how an article only five paragraphs long qualifies as a featured article? Is it referring to the page plus sub-pages, or something? Most of it is clearly translated / copied from the English pages anyway. --[[User:DannyWilde|DannyWilde]] 06:57, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

Historically, the "[[integrated circuit|chips]]" used were [[sound chip]]s like the [[analog (circuit)|analog]]-[[digital circuit|digital]] hybrid [[Atari POKEY]] on the [[Atari 8-bit family|Atari 400/800]], the [[MOS Technology SID]] on the [[Commodore 64]], the [[Yamaha YM2149]] on the [[Atari ST]], [[AY-3-8910]] or 8912 on [[Amstrad_CPC]], [[MSX]] and [[ZX Spectrum]], the [[Yamaha YM3812]] on [[IBM PC compatible]]s, and the [[Ricoh 2A03]] on the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] or [[Famicom]]. For the [[MSX]] several sound upgrades, such as the [[Konami SCC]], the [[Yamaha YM2413]] (MSX-MUSIC) and Yamaha Y8950 (MSX-AUDIO, predecessor of the [[OPL3]]) and the OPL4-based Moonsound were released as well, each having its own characteristic chiptune sound.

It seems like it might be the entire collection, which is odd: "l'ensemble d'articles est complet et (presque) en position pour postuler ici." They seem to have featured WikiPortals as well. On the other hand, I had a look at some of their other featured articles and they appear to be similar to ours (ie: longish, illustrated, complete). [[User:Exploding Boy|Exploding Boy]] 17:26, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

The technique of chiptunes with samples synthesized at [[runtime]] continued to be popular even on machines with full sample playback capability; because the description of an instrument takes much less space than a raw sample, these formats created very small files, and because the parameters of synthesis could be varied over the course of a composition, they could contain deeper musical expression than a purely sample-based format. Also, even with purely sample-based formats, such as the [[MOD (file format)|MOD]] format, chip sounds created by looping very small samples still could take up much less space.

:Actually, the listing seems to be wrong, now. The French page has no star in the right hand corner to show it as a featured article. Looking through the history, it was a featured article on April 15th, 2005 (probably when the project was still small), but had it put up for removal on December 14th, which was of course passed. The '''German''' article ''is'' a featured article, but I don't speak German. It seems to be substantial, however, so maybe there's been a change since Danny made his statement 9 months ago. &mdash; [[User:Yom|<font color="green">ዮም</font>]] | '''[[Special:Emailuser/Yom|<font color="#FFD700">(Yom)</font>]]''' | [[User talk:Yom|<font color="red">Talk</font>]] • <small>[[Special:Contributions/Yom|contribs]] • [[WP:ETH|Ethiopia]]</small> 01:02, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

These sample-based chiptunes were often used in [[crack intro|crack intros]], since they had to be squeezed into any spare space available on the [[floppy disk|disk]] of the [[software cracking|cracked]] software.

{{FAOL|German|de:Japanisches Schriftsystem}}

As newer computers stopped using dedicated synthesis chips and began to primarily use sample-based synthesis, more realistic timbres could be recreated, but often at the expense of file size (as with [[MOD (file format)|MOD]]s) and potentially without the personality imbued by the limitations of the older sound chips.

:The German version has less material in it that the Japanese writing pages here and the material seems to be mostly translated or copied from the English pages. --[[User:DannyWilde|DannyWilde]] 06:57, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

==Early writing system==

The standard [[MIDI]] [[file format]], together with the [[General MIDI]] instrument set, describes only what notes are played on what instruments. General MIDI is not considered chiptune as a MIDI file contains no information describing the synthesis of the instruments.

I'm changing the given pronunciation for 神代文字 from ''shindai moji'' to how it is actually read, ''kamiyo moji''. There are also numerous kinds of ''kamiyo moji'', so I am slightly reworking the text of this area to reflect that. --- [[User:Eirikr|Eirikr]] 02:17, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Also, the bit on pronunciation and ''on-yomi'' and ''kun-yomi'' appears out of place here, but I'm not sure what else to do with it, so I'm leaving it where it is. --- [[User:Eirikr|Eirikr]] 02:55, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Many common file formats used to compose and play chiptunes are the [[SID (file format)|SID]], [[MOD (file format)|MOD]], and several Adlib based file formats.

It's a year late, but the actual pronounciation is actually "jindai moji", although "jindai" can also be read "kamiyo" on it's own. I changed the article[[User:Mackan|Mackan]] 02:12, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

==Style==

Generally chip tunes consist of basic waveforms, such as [[sine wave]]s, [[square wave]]s and [[sawtooth wave|sawtooth]] or [[triangle wave|triangle]] waves, and basic [[percussion instrument|percussion]], often generated from [[white noise]] going through an [[ADSR envelope]] controlled [[synthesizer]].

:: I concur. 神代文字 is read as "jindai moji". [[User:Bendono|Bendono]] 05:39, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

[[Crack intro]]s and [[demo scene]] intros came to feature their own particular style of chiptune music. Although ''chiptune'' could historically refer to any style of music, the term is mostly used today to refer to the style of music used in these intros, since other styles of music have moved on to more sophisticated technology.

== Borrowings from Korean ==

More recent "oldschool"/"oldsk00l" or "demostyle" [[MOD (file format)|MOD]] music, although sample-based, continues the style of the chiptunes used in these intros; new compositions in this style can still be regularly found in places such as the [http://www.modarchive.com/top10.shtml MOD Archive Top 10].

:チョンガー (Japanese: chongaa, Korean: 총각 &mdash; chonggak, meaning 'bachelor')

:ビビンバ (Japanese: bibimba, Korean: 비빔밥 &mdash; bibimbap, a rice bowl with vegetables)

Of course they couldn't be written in Han-geul in Japanese.

==Today==

The only non-kana spelling Japanese could possibly borrow from Korean would be Hanja.

Any Korean-speakers out there to replace Han-geul with Hanja here ? [[User:Taw|Taw]] 00:17, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

: While I agree that Japanese wouldn't use hangeul to write these words, 비빔밥 is tricky, because as far as I know there is no ''hanja'' for this word; it's a native Korean word. There is a literal translation for the same food ("mixed meal/rice") in Chinese (拌飯 in Traditional Chinese or 拌饭 in Simplified) but I believe these are not considered ''hanja'', since they're read differently (my dictionary says both characters are read "ban" in Korean). The main point of this section was originally to refute a mistaken "fact" posted declaring that ''katakana'' are never used for Chinese or Korean loanwords, but I see your point as well. --[[User:Che fox|Che Fox]] 01:28, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Modern computers can play a variety of chiptune formats through the use of [[emulator|emulators]] and platform-specific plugins for [[media player|media players]]. Depending on the nature of hardware being emulated, 100% accuracy in software may not be available. The commonly used MOS Technology SID chip, for example, has a [[mixed-signal circuit|multi-mode]] [[filter]] including analog circuits whose characteristics are only mathematically estimated in emulation libraries.[http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=1220&group_id=9266]

The chip scene is far from dead with "[[Compo]]s" being held, and groups releasing [[Music disk|Music disks]]. New [[tracker]] tools are making chip sounds available to less techy musicians. For example, [[Little Sound DJ]] for the Nintendo [[Game Boy line|Game Boy]] has an interface designed for user in a live environment and features [[MIDI]] synchronization.

Contemporary interest in chipping has also led to numerous web sites dedicated to the history of music groups, artists, and antique platforms.

== Which of the four scripts is the most popular? ==

==Representative Artists and Ensembles==

The article is vague on this point, I'd like to clear it up but i have no idea of the answer to this question. -- [[User:AS Artimour|AS Artimour]] 17:24, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

===Classic chiptune composers===

{{col-begin-small}}

{{col-3}}

*[[Koji Kondo]]

*[[Hiro Tanaka]]

*[[Yuukichan's Papa]]

*[[Ben Daglish]]

*[[Tim Follin]]

{{col-3}}

*[[Geoff Follin]]

*[[Matt Furniss]]

*[[Martin Galway]]

*[[Jean Sebastien Gerard]]

*[[Gary Gilbertson]]

{{col-3}}

*[[Jochen Hippel]]

*[[Rob Hubbard]]

*[[Chris Hülsbeck]]

*[[Jeroen Tel]]

*[[David Whittaker]]

{{col-end}}

::Written Japanese uses multiple scripts, simultaneously, to compose sentences. The absolute most important ones are 1) kanji, 2) hiragana, 3) katakana, and to a much lesser degree 4) Latin. [[User:Bendono|Bendono]] 05:44, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

===Modern chiptune artists and groups===

{{col-begin-small}}

{{col-3}}

*[[1up]]

*[[8 Bit Weapon]]

*[[Bodenständig 2000]]

*[[Ceephax Acid Crew]]

*[[Dalezy]]

*[[DJ Scotch Egg]]

{{col-3}}

*[[dropdabomb]]

*[[Jake Kaufman]]

*[[Jonne Valtonen]]

*[[Laromlab]]

*[[Mark Knight]]

{{col-3}}

*[[Psilodump]]

*[[Puss]]

*[[Receptors]]

*[[Rez]]

*[[YMCK]]

{{col-end}}

Written Japanese uses a complete mishmash of characters from the Kana and Kanji scripts. Romaji isn't often used except to explain the language to foreigners. You can't get by only learning one script. There are too many loanwords not to learn katakana, too many native words not to learn hiragana, and kanji is used everywhere except very simple written Japanese. [[User:Dracker|Dracker]] 20:03, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

==External links==

====News====

*[http://www.vorc.org/ VORC] - chiptune news

*[http://c64music.blogspot.com/ C64 Music] - Commodore 64 music in the real world and other SID related stories blog

== Scientific names ==

====Meta archives====

*[http://www.chiptune.com/ chiptune.com] - lots of chiptunes in various file formats

*[http://www.chip-on.com/ chip-on] - chiptune archive

This is addressed to whoever put "scientific" names of plants and animals.

====Platform specific archives====

*[http://www.hvsc.c64.org/ High Voltage SID Collection] - Commodore 64 music archive

*[http://sndh.atari.org/ SNDH Collection] - Atari ST YM-2149 archive

*[http://www.exotica.org.uk/ Exotica] - Amiga exotic file formats music archive

*[http://bulba.at.kz/music_e.htm TR_Collection] - ZX Spectrum music archive

*[http://asma.atari.org/main.html ASMA Collection] - Atari 800 XL / XE music archive

*[http://home.hccnet.nl/c.v.walta/ KSS Kingdom] - MSX music archive

In Japan, as in everywhere else in the world, scientific names of plants and animals are written in Latin, of course, so not in katakana, in romaji.

====Hardware recording archives====

*[http://sid.oth4.com sid.oth4.com] - Commodore 64 recordings archive

*[http://blibbblobb.blogspot.com/ Blibb Blobb] - the chiptune podcast (all recorded from original hardware)

In Japan, the rule is that plant and animal species names are written in katakana. Perhaps it is because the kanji versions are so unreadable, I do not know the exact reason for this rule. Obviously "dog" and "cat" are written in kanji or kana, but generally speaking you will find that katakana is actually used for the names of most living things.

====Remix archives====

*[http://remix.kwed.org/ Remix.Kwed.Org] - SID remixes and remakes

*[http://chipcovers.free.fr/ chipcovers] - chiptune covers

This information is correctly recorded in the Wikipedia "katakana" page, which seems to be a largely error free effort. The "Japanese Writing" page, on the other hand...

====Radio stations====

*[http://www.kohina.com/ Kohina] - old school game and demo music (recorded from 80's computers, consoles, arcade games)

*[http://www.slayradio.org SLAY Radio] - Commodore 64 Remixes

* [http://www.scenemusic.net/ Nectarine] - demoscene radio

== Scripts - romaji ==

====Labels====

*[http://www.8bitpeoples.com/ 8bitpeoples] - label with professional releases in mp3 format. Featuring the likes of Nullsleep, psilodump, goto80, lo-bat and Paza Rahm, among others.

*[http://www.micromusic.net/ micromusic.net] - net label/community for chiptune/8-bit style music - lots to download

*[http://www.rebelpetset.com Rebel Pet Set] - home of the Swedish chip music elite. puts out 7" vinyl and CD:s. web shop online.

*[http://www.gainlad.gameboymall.com/ gainlad] - net label for chiptune /lo-fi/ 8-bit music

*[http://www.relaxbeat.com/ Relax Beat] - [http://www.relaxbeat.com/boyplayground.htm Boy Playground] project

*[http://www.x-dump.com/eng X-Dump] - Net label founded by psilodump, featuring Din Stalker, Dorothy's Magic bag, himself and his brother Paza Rahm.

*[http://ReceptorsMusic.com/ ReceptorsMusic ] - Record label specializing in 8-bit electro. Home of Receptors, Mommy Was an Asteroid(MWA), Autocide, Ksine & Futurisk.

*[http://www.myspace.com/chipcache ChipCache] - 8-bit and Chiptune label with mp3 and limited cd releases. Featuring: acrodot, Alex Mauer, Cheap Dinosaurs, disasterPEACE, Phlogiston, Spamtron, 11hz Robot, Animal Style, BubblyFish, syntax cataract, Shawn Phase, lutin, capitalSTEPS, Postal_M@rket, The Fatal Exception, Nrgiga, Last Ninja, The Geek Beat King, LongWalkShortDock, C64 Messiah, tb

I have just added a few extra words about romaji. Nothing dramatic. [[User:Jimbreen|Jimbreen]] 04:02, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

==References==

I have added some books and papers which I have found invaluable for this topic. I intend to edit the page a bit and will cite as much as I can back to these references. [[User:Jimbreen|Jimbreen]] 05:36, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

====Documentation====

*[http://chiptunes.free.fr/ chiptunes documentation project] - chiptune documentation and history

*[http://www.mcld.co.uk/flatfour/chiptunes/ Chiptunes documentary series] - four radio programmes about chiptunes

== Written Language Reforms ==

====Crossplatform music editors====

*[http://covertbitops.c64.org/ Goattracker] - crossplatform C64 music editor. Supports HardSID soundcard, CatWeasel MK3 or emulation via reSID

*[http://www.jackdark.net/novuzeitneoretro.html NeoRetro] - Synthesizer designed to blend SID and NES sounds into one device

*[http://www.jackdark.net/syntendo.html Syntendo] - Synthesizer which simulates the NES soundchip perfectly

*[http://bulba.at.kz/vortex_e.htm Vortex Tracker] - crossplatform Spectrum music editor

*[http://raster.infos.cz/atari/rmt/rmt.htm Raster Music Tracker ] - crossplatform atari xe/xl music editor

*[http://www.spicypixel.net/blog/index.php?itemid=1 BlipGen ] - Win32 RAW Chip-Sample generator

I have just replaced the old "Written language reforms and Western influence" section with a complete rewrite. Much of it has been drawn from the references I added a couple of days ago. I'll be delighted to debate (and improve) its contents. [[User:Jimbreen|JimBreen]] 06:24, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

== Scripts section ==

{{Electronica-footer}}

[[Category:Electronica]]

[[Category:Computer and video game music]]

I'm removing lots of details from here. The rationale is

[[de:Chiptune]]

#Most of the details already exist on the individual pages for each script, e.g. there is a very detailed description of various usages of katakana on the katakana page. The stuff here which didn't exist I am moving, e.g. to the [[romaji]] page.

[[fr:Chiptune]]

#Having lots and lots of qualifications on the usages makes it hard for people coming to the article who aren't experts to read. A lot of the current contents are just distracting for a newcomer I think.

[[fi:Chiptune]]

I suggest that details e.g. of usage of katakana or hiragana can go on the [[katakana]] or [[hiragana]] and the scripts section of this page can be left as a reasonably accessible introduction for people who don't need to know every little detail but just want a quick basic introduction to Japanese scripts. I put the coloured examples right at the top since they are probably the most useful part of the section for a newcomer. It seems to me that this is a general article and it should be intended for people who don't know Japanese writing, not for people who are already experts. --[[User:DannyWilde|DannyWilde]] 06:25, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

[[ja:チップチューン]]

[[sv:Chipmusik]]

: While I agree with you in principle, I think you may have simplified it a bit too much -- the statement "Some Japanese words are written with different kanji depending on the meaning of the word" doesn't really make much sense, and it would be better just not to mention it at all. I'm going to try to put a little more information on that back in without making it too complicated.

== Gojuon ==

[[Gojuon]] article/section is missing. [[user:mikkalai|mikka]] [[user talk:mikkalai|(t)]] 21:17, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

:I've added a paragraph in "scripts" about word ordering. --[[User:DannyWilde|DannyWilde]] 00:16, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

== Japanese typewriters ==

Having seen a Japanese film in which someone was typing, I wondered how Japanese typewriters were designed and what writing system they used. I cannot find a Wikipedia article about it, so I wondered if someone could point me in the right direction (or add a paragraph to this article, if that is deemed appropriate)?

: they produced regular Japanese (kanji & kana). They had trays of characters and one used a complicated picking system to select and print each character. I saw one being used about 1981. You only find them in museums now. [[User:Jimbreen|JimBreen]] 01:32, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

::Thanks! Also sorry for not signing my question above. [[User:Rachel Pearce|Rachel Pearce]] 11:20, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

== External Links ==

I have removed the link to the "Romanji-kana converter" (sic). It's not really appropriate to this page, and there are better sites available. [[User:Jimbreen|JimBreen]] 01:32, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

== Rōmaji is the name of writing system also ==

From ''Iwanami Kokugo Jiten'' Fifth edition 『岩波国語辞典 第五版』 (c) 1994

ローマじ【ローマ字】

(1) 古代ローマでラテン語を書き表すために用いられ、現在世界で広く行われている、表音文字。＿「ローマ」は「羅馬」とも書く。イタリアRoma(2) 「ローマ字綴(つづ)り」の略。ローマ字<1>を用いた日本語の表記法。訓令式・ヘボン式など、いくつかの方式がある。

It says Rōmaji is the name of Alpahabet and name of writing system.--[[User:RedDragon|RedDragon]] 10:11, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

: Good point. It does also say that as the name of a writing system it is only an abbreviation of the proper term. Some other dictionaries don't even give sense 2, e.g. 大辞林 only says it's the name of the alphabet.

: You are right, though, it would be useful to clarify this point. I have edited [[Romanization of Japanese]] again - see the new second paragraph. Does that look accurate to you? (If so, similar wording could be added in other places where the term is discussed.) &mdash; [[User:Haeleth|Haeleth]] <small>[[User_talk:Haeleth|Talk]]</small> 16:06, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

== Langmaker link broken ==

Unfortunately the link for the examples of pre-Kanji characters is broken and currently displays:

Alp jindaimoji.htm

From Langmaker

(There is currently no text in this page) <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/82.34.254.214|82.34.254.214]] ([[User talk:82.34.254.214|talk]]) 00:27, 26 April 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

[[User:Monchavo|chavo]] 00:28, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

== "Tokyo" Example ==

For the example contrasting the writing scripts, the katakana for Tokyo is written as トウキョウ.

Shouldn't it be written as トーキョー?