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Commodore 64 Covers

Dr Kenny McAlpine discusses cover versions of popular music on the Commodore 64.

The Commodore 64 was really the first 8-bit machine that had a sound chip that was sophisticated enough to allow composers to create cover versions of popular music.

Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Yellow Magic Orchestra, John Lennon and Kraftwerk all ended up in C64 soundtracks at one point or another. In this video we’ll introduce the notion of covers and think about what might be involved in translating the original tracks for the SID.

Once you’ve completed the video step, click on the link below to the article step that follows, where I’d like you to download and listen to a selection of music tracks from classic C64 titles. We’re going to compare and contrast these with the music from other platforms.

This article is from the free online

Video Game Design and Development: A Bit-by-Bit History of Video Game Music: Video Game Sound and Music

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