midierror has recently launched CHIPSHOP, a free collection of chiptune sounds which have been sampled from the Commodore 64 home computer, the Atari ST and an old Nintendo Game Boy.
I’m a huge sucker for anything that has the words “video game sounds” written on it, so it’s no surprise that I was very eager to download the pack and take a listen to the included samples. Although I’ve accumulated tons of sounds from dusty old sound chips on my computer over the years, it’s always fun to hear new samples of this type and see if they’re worth adding to my collection.
The samples included in CHIPSHOP are definitely worthy of your attention, especially if you enjoy using raw and completely unprocessed chip sounds. There’s over 800 individual samples inside, with an additional set of 70 audio loops. The sounds were sampled from three different sources:
- Commodore 64
- Atari ST
- Nintendo Game Boy
According to the info in the press release, most of the included samples have been created by midifan, however some of the sounds were sampled directly from old Atari video games. Because of this, the creator of the sample pack suggests that you should be cautious before using these samples in commercial projects.
Some of the download mirrors on the SoundCloud page linked below have expired, but the author has announced that additional download mirrors will be added soon. At the time of publishing this article, I can confirmed that the Loopbased mirror is working (although you’ll have to submit your email address in order to download the samples).
If you’re looking for more chiptune samples, you should take a look at the free Commodore 64 Synthesizer Sessions DELUXE sample collection which I’ve created in tandem with Rhythmic Robot. I’ve also created a free collection of Nintendo Game Boy samples a while ago, called Game Boy LSDJ Noise & Glitch Sessions.
Audio Demo
Check out the CHIPSHOP audio demo:
Download
CHIPSHOP is available for free download via SoundCloud (388 MB download size, ZIP archive, contains 800 samples and 70 loops in 24-bit WAV format).
