http://soundcloud.com/thebellows/density-high
Better sound quality: https://archive.org/details/DensityHigh_201403
I also made a video for this in Renoise, which i posted here: Renoise Video FX
Might as well embed it:
Hmmm, i’m wondering why there is so little interest in this? Is it that bad? Are you all sick of chiptunes?
I’m very curious of this, should i stop making chiptunes and find another genre or something? I really don’t want to waste time making crap music that no one wants and i don’t seem to have the skill to separate my good ones from the bad ones.
As an example, why has this track been downloaded 37 times and not a single “like”:
while this one has 4 “likes” and not a single download:
http://soundcloud.com/thebellows/dyskinetic
It seems very incosistent and it makes me even more confused, is it just a coincidence?
I feel like a blind person driving a car, i have no sense of direction whatsoever. 
Any honest feedback would be very much appreciated, even if you hate my music i relly could learn something from knowing why. I guess i’m asking for much here, but it can’t hurt to ask?
It is not bad (but as you said chiptuns are getting little borring). The first soundcloud track is very nice. Your tracks are something between chiptunes and more experimental modern stuff IMHO…
What I dont like is your sound, it is very agressive and drums sound like some soundfont without any dynamics.
I think that composition is good! But the sound should be more user friendly (not so harsh),more modern (mainly drums) and less sega megadrive if you get me 
Thank you very much, this confirms some of my suspicions. I have my whole life listened to noisy music, like black metal and all sorts of alternative lo-fi stuff. I guess that has done something to my perception of sound. I can listen to Burzum one moment and then put on some The Residents and round off with some Necrophagist. Then i go make a chiptune. Hmmm, maybe not so strange i’m confused? 
The drums (in Density:High) are actually one of the factory sets where i modified a couple of phrases, so i should blame dblue or whoever made it. Haha, no i’m shure i mixed away the dynamics all by myself. 
Drums has never been my strong side, i think i concentrate too much on melody. In the jungle of music i’m not really quite shure what is “modern sounding drums” and what is "sega mega drive though. I guess you mean the drums should sound more acoustic realistic and less compressed?
I guess the reason why the “Low Down Zero”(first of the two SC tracks) sounds better to “normal people” is because it’s made of sine waves and because of that every attempt to make it louder sounded so awful, so i was forced to moderate myself. 
Thanks for your helping hand Akiz, i very much appreciate it!
No problem, I am glad that i´ve could “help”.
It is bad that english is not my native language so it is hard for me to say everything I can 
.
What i mean by “modern sounding drums” is mainly some sensation of space (using of reverb, panning, layering of weak sounding samples etc.).
I thought that you used that default drums. I like them for sketching ideas but i always layer them with some other drum sounds later. Your melodies and composition are good but these weak drums make it sound somehow like unfinished track IMHO.
And it is not just about compression but when i wanna create that strong drums i often use NY compression (paraller compression). Then you dont loose peaks and create strong body.
Sega mega drive sound is this (just my idea and feeling ): harsh and too much sharp sounds (because of that used fm synthesis) :-). What i would suggest you is using LP filters where you roll off high frequencies (sometimes even everything from 16khz up can be quiten). But maybe you are adding high frequencies on the master. I can not tell 
Btw. I am also black metal fan 
. Funny is that i loved that black metal lofi sound till the moment i was serious about music production and mixing. From this day I prefer black metal that is mixed good and has massive sound. I am talking about new Mayhem, Watain, Inquisition and some other bands.
But that doesnt mean i dont like Burzum i am just more demanding about sound even if i understand that strenght in lofi production…
I know i’m doing some things wrong, but everytime i try to do it “right” i’m not satisfied with the sound. I do like detailed drums and such when other people make it, but i find it very hard to produce it myself. The jungle of drum samples doesn’t make it any easier either. 
I’ll definately be concentrating a bit more on the drums from now on, hopefully i’ll be able to improve that part at least.
Hmmm, to be honest i don’t like that very much, i really prefer the old school stuff. Not that i don’t like massive sound, but over produced black metal is really not my thing. Old Burzum, old Darkthrone and stuff like My Dying Bride’s “As The Flower Withers” and “Trinity”, the eery atmosphere that modern mixing just can’t match. If i want technically good metal i listen to Necrophagist, Mastodon and such instead.
I guess it’s just me that is stuck in the old stuff while most people have moved on. Maybe i’m just damaged for life. 
I like the big over the top orchestral black , like Tvangeste. Chanting choirs and big strings, I eat that shit up.
Drums sounding old = you’re using an almost vanilla 909 drumkit — that’s a typical early 90’s sound, except you’re not using typical early 90’s drum patterns, so it just sounds a bit lost / unrelated to any typical music style either past or present.
909 drums as a whole are very treble-heavy and the hihat is pitched, which sounds really cheesy. Resist the urge to use hihats so much unless you’re deliberately aiming for annoying, like arthouse cinema for your ears 
Musical pieces must have a function and excel at it. Can you dance to it? Can you relax to it? Is it stimulating? Enjoyably so, but not annoyingly so? How should it make your listeners feel?
Thank you very much for your reply martyfmelb, it’s very much appreciated! 
To be honest i think early 90’s music sounds way better than most new stuff. 
I kinda make all my music on feeling and it has been my point the whole time to try to avoid being influenced too much by rules and trends and stuff, trying to make something original. Maybe i have strayed away from it too much? Should i go back to my roots, back to guitars and realistic sounding drums instead of trying to make drum styles/sounds i don’t even listen to and therefore have no clue on how to make them sound good?
The Bellows actually started as a 2 man noise band using drums, guitars, a minidisc recorder and ScreamTracker3. />
When i listen to music it’s mostly older stuff and rarely with no guitars. There are some gems in between though, like Aphex Twin, Cheephax Acid Crew, Chemical Brothers and so on, but in the jungle of electronic music i really don’t care too much about most of it.
Something tells me this is maybe not the best starting point for making electronic music.
I’ve known for a little while that i have underrestimated the importance of drums, but i also thought i was improving a bit. Now i realize that is not the case and i have a long way to go. The easiest thing would be to go back to music i’m more familiar with, but i doubt i have made my last electronic tune, so hopefully i’ll be able to produce some nice sounding drums to accompany it in the future.
Anyone who can explain or lead me to how i can achieve good sounding drums for my kind of music, a nice free drum kit and a tutorial on how to make über awesome drums perhaps? Haha, it’s a long shot i know, but i just had to ask. />
Hey Bellows!
Here’s the thing about chip tunes, it’s all about the composition, and there is far less stress on sound design, usually. This is why I love making chip tunes. Especially “experimental” ones.
I really enjoyed your vision in Density:High. I need to listen to more of your stuff, because I’d love it if I heard you push the limit even further. More experimental. Less repetition. That’s the only negative feedback I have. I think I heard a lot of what you were trying to do, and you largely succeeded, but what my ears heard was less dancy, more experimental, and maybe more heavy. But then again, that’s me.
Here’s a track from me:
More on Soundcloud, if you like the above.
Don’t let anyone tell you that sounding 90’s is of itself a bad thing. The 90’s had balls (or guts), a soul, and a middle finger pointed at the system.
And as far as Soundcloud listens/downloads/likes, there’s some randomness to it for sure, and some ground work that needs to be done. The more active you are on Soundcloud, the more listens you will get. The more you promote your music on forums like this one (also check out WATMM forums, they have had a decent community for experimental electronic music, lots of peer reviews - if you make an account, the right thing to do is to offer comments/constructive criticism on 10 tracks before you post one of yours), the more listens you get. The more you post on other people’s songs on Soundcloud, the more listens you get. The more Soundcloud Groups you submit your tracks to, the better. Social networking is a fools game in my experience. Your Farcebook posts go to a percentage of your friends unless you pay money to Farcebook. Getting people to give a shit on Twitter is tedious. Do the work yourself, there’s no golden formula. Just keep promoting your stuff all over the interwebs and be active on Soundcloud.
Furthermore, if you enjoy the music you make, and you enjoy making it, that has to be enough. To expect more is to place expectation on something based at least partially on chance, which can lead to disappointment. Be happy that you create awesome music.
Also, semi-related: in the next few months I’d like to have a compilation album put together. Experimental chip tunes, from artists around the world. Album available by donation. Proceeds from the album to go to a charity, maybe this one: http://www.musicforafrica.org.uk/welcome_01.php maybe a different one. The contributors get a bit of exposure (probably not much!), and children somewhere get to learn music, or programming, or something else awesome. I’ll be posting here and elsewhere in the coming weeks to get this done and get all deets hammered out.
Keep on keeping on man, from one metal composer to another.
Thank you Doomczar!
Before i read your reply here i was uploading my possibly most experimental tune ever, if you’re looking for less repetition, look at this: [3.0] [XRNS]1 Instrument - 32 Lines
I agree to most you say, i enjoy making the music i do, but i would also like to do some changes to make it more appealing to people. Maybe one day i can write for computer games or commercials or whatever, that would definately beat selling fish.
Very cool stuff you have there, i like it very much!
I also like the idea of making this compilation of yours, if you want me to contribute i’m in. 