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The Impact of Jungle Music in 90s Video Game Development

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Re: The Impact of Jungle Music in 90s Video Game Development

#52

To me there is/was a natural connection between electronic music and game development just by the sheer involvement with technology . And jungle just happened to be very popular and going thru some major grassroots scene development around the same time. Personally, alongside earlier exposure to popular/underground dance music, my deeper exposure to electronic music came from tracker music and the demoscene which of…

It's also just a natural thing for a game to make bleeps/bloops/whoomps/booms vs storing raw audio type data.

Re: The Impact of Jungle Music in 90s Video Game Development

#53
GTA + Moving Shadow record label... legendary for showcasing d&b to a wider audience.

https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Moving_Shadow

For those interested I can highly recommend the "Moving Shadow Sampler Series" mix anthology [0]

[0] https://www.discogs.com/label/396717-Movingshadow-Sampler-Se...

Re: The Impact of Jungle Music in 90s Video Game Development

#54
I recall the Wipeout 2097 soundtrack[1] blew me away as a kid.

I had heard some techno and eurodance was popular at the time, but the sounds coming out of the speaker at the store where the demo ran was on another level.

Bought the CD and listen to it every now and then, and Orbital's Petrol track is still up there on my top 100 list.

There was something raw, and edge, that seems lost in so much electronic music these days.

[1]: https://www.discogs.com/release/6385-Various-Wipeout-2097-Th...

Re: The Impact of Jungle Music in 90s Video Game Development

#55

When I read jungle music I totally thought about Diddy Kong Racing or the Donkey King games for SNES.

Donkey Kong is peak jungle music (besides other music types (which is basically all of them)). Sometimes I imagine that when the first jungle evolved, it did so because it anticipated that Donkey Kong will eventually be created. As something inevitable. And so is the ocean, the tundra, pretty much everything. Sounds unlikely? Listen to the Soundtrack und think again. Something so beautiful, so magnificent, it's like the opus magnum of some higher being. Something for us to ponder about, to marvel at. Just like life itself.

Re: The Impact of Jungle Music in 90s Video Game Development

#56
post #16

If anyone's interested and wants to hear more, I have a mix of 92/93 era Jungle [1] Some rough mixes here and there (especially the first one) because it was live from a NYE event. But it suits the style of music, that era was so raw and fresh, the future was being invented right there! Very happy days :) 1) DJ SS - Intro 2) Higher Sense - Cold Fresh Air 3) Deep Blue - The Helicopter Tune 4) Roni Size - Time Stretch…

> that era was so raw and fresh, the future was being invented right there! Very happy days I've been told by several Gen-Z that they've never been to a "rave", and I feel sorry for them. In my town, we had quite the underground scene, but then times changed and it is so much smaller now. Now, "kids" just call it all EDM instead of the specific genre that we know and love.

There's still plenty of fresh underground music and the 'kids' are doing just fine. Yeah there's loads of mainstream garbage out there, but there always was. The main difference is that this stuff was being invented, whereas most electronic music now is derived from those early 90s invented genres, but even saying that there's still plenty of creativity.

There's a night in London called Cartulis (which is usually at Fold), when I go there it feels very much like the early rave scene to me (this is just one example, of course). I think there's a tendency when we get older to not be as exposed to the bubbling undercurrent of music, so it's easy to just say "it's not as good as it used to be", but that would be a mistake imho. It's there if you look for it.

Re: The Impact of Jungle Music in 90s Video Game Development

#57
I can't accept Drum and Bass, we need Jungle I'm afraid.

Genuinely glad I got to experience so much of it growing up with a PS1 and the genre's stuck with me. If you want to focus on listening or have some soothing background noise, it's perfect, versatile.

While not all jungle, shouout to PS1 racing games for their killer soundtracks. The glorified mixtape of Gran Turismo 2 (all versions!), Colin Mcrae Rally's acid beats, everything in Ridge Racer. Really feels like vidya soundtracks peaked there.

Re: The Impact of Jungle Music in 90s Video Game Development

#58
post #51

Noclip has an amazing documentary about Wipeout 2097 music: https://youtu.be/-nwWpQJFGp8?si=f96-_G3bBqmGEP_c

Ah, I'm glad the demoscene gets a mention. One does not make music on a computer in the 90s without at least some, or possibly a whole truckload of, influence from the demoscene.

Re: The Impact of Jungle Music in 90s Video Game Development

#60
I've recently been into game development, and I needed music which lead me to discovering synthesizers--I was hooked the first time I saw so many buttons, knobs, and flashing lights--and now I've gone off on a huge tangent and am studying music theory instead of making my game. Oh well, it's all for fun.

Does HN have any advice on how to get started with synthesizers, with an eye towards creating a game soundtrack?

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