FX3
Posted by virt on January 23rd, 2007 filed in General
Over the years I’ve released two EPs of Konami-style NES chiptunes – FX1 and FX2 – which have been fairly popular among the chiptune and VGM crowd. After what seems like forever, I’ve finished a new full-length album, and released it with awesome chip label 8bitpeoples. Even better, Prozax and I are working on a double-disc set containing arrangements of all these tracks – watch this space!
Download FX3 from 8bitpeoples!
If you haven’t already, while you’re there, download some of the other awesome stuff they have – over 70 albums, all for free, from the best names in chiptunery! Love to everyone who has helped me get this done, and cheered me on while I’ve been under such insane amounts of stress.
January 23rd, 2007 at 3:01 pm
I can’t wait to get home so I can download this and burn a CD! I have all of FX1 and FX2 on a CD and still pop it in now and then while cruising in my automobile (’specially on long drives).
January 23rd, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Great stuff!
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Love it!
You’re an amazing artist!! :D
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Virt, you are the flagship of NES chiptunes. It’s hard to believe that anything could have topped FX2.0 but here it is! Thanks for making this bro.
And these truly are tears of joy.
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:18 pm
The most amazing thing about this piece of work is how it was conceived in such a flash. I’m very proud of you. The fact that I’m telling you this via a university computer lab PC should speak volumes to both you and me.
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:19 pm
PS: It’s about time to update my profile, don’t you think?
January 23rd, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Just yesterday I was showing off your FX1 and FX2 to one of my friends, and now this! It is always a pleasure to hear more music from you. I can’t wait to give these tracks a listen.
“Blast Off Again” is one of the most wonderfully crafted chiptunes I have ever heard.
By the way, your Impulse Tracker work years and years ago inspired me to write a couple quick nintendo style tunes of my own. Maybe one of these days I’ll upload them somewhere.
January 23rd, 2007 at 7:45 pm
awesome!
January 24th, 2007 at 6:23 am
Jake, this is incredible. I wish I could hug you. :D
January 24th, 2007 at 8:10 am
This will make the long day of work go by so much shorter. Awesome!
January 25th, 2007 at 3:41 am
Excellent work Virt as always.
It was a very very enjoyable listening experience.
January 25th, 2007 at 8:58 am
“Survivors” was the soundtrack to our “pre-game” session before band practice last night. On one hand, it was hard to try to play our own material after getting slammed by that track… but on the other hand, it totally inspired us to rock hard!
January 25th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Hey virt, nice album, I know I’m breaking the rules of internet by liking something that someone I hate made, but oh.. I don’t hate you, it takes alot more from you to accomplish that haha!
January 26th, 2007 at 11:23 am
“He’s a Radical Rat” is, quite simply, awesome.
Best chiptunes ever. It wins many Internets.
January 26th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Fantastic, virt!! I’ve always enjoyed your work over the years, and FX3 is a nice addition. Congrats!!
January 27th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Excellent work.
SUGOI!
January 31st, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Hello.
Virt, this release is amazing. I’m loving it!! Me hace volverme loco…loco O_o…loco!!!!!! increible hombre, continúa así ;).
Entonces usas el impulse tracker…no lo conozco, pero espero algún día hacer algo así :D
Un beso y un abrazo? xD
February 6th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Hey man,
We played Incident 01 this week on the Gamewave Podcast.
February 14th, 2007 at 12:41 am
this is just damned incredible. i can’t stop listening to it.
and, if’n ya don’t mind me asking, what did you use to make this? (if you used mml i’ll just off myself right now…)
February 18th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
I’ve listened to FX3 straight through probably about 13 times now (just a rough estimate).
There is something about “Try” that has had me simply amazed ever since this thing was released. I’ve probably listened to that single track about four times as much as any of the others.
I love the album as a whole, and the crazy insane amount of intricacy packed into each song is just amazing, however, every time I get to “Try,” I just have to stop everything else I’m doing, and take it in. The song’s clear emphasis on the melody, from the intro all the way to the very last note, and the amount of emotion that it’s able to bring out is astounding to me.
It just progresses so flawlessly. And is sounds so good! I especially want to make note of the phrase which is first introduced at 2:40. Dear Lord, it is possibly the greatest thing I have heard in my entire life. I am not exaggerating even slightly. I have had that hook stuck in my head for days, and I have not once gotten tired of it. No. Never. It just makes me want to listen to the song again.
Anyway, it builds into that phrase perfectly when it’s first presented, and then the second time it’s brought in, at 1:46, the drums cut out, which adds a dynamic shift making for the most powerful part of the song, that is then adorned by the best chiptune lead ever! This is then followed by repeating that glorious melody line that I can’t stop gushing over a couple more times by the end, just to satisfy my lust.
So basically, my only complaint about this song is that it ends. I cannot wait to hear the arranged version. And actually, I’m thinking about writing my own vocal cover, because I have to sing this melody. It’d be a strain, but I think after a few weeks of practice I could get it without having to drop to a lower key.
My hope is that if I could maybe accomplish that feat… that I might just live forever.
February 18th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
I just remembered that I have the timer on Winamp set to count down, not up, so the times I referenced above should be read as such (time until the end, not from the beginning), though I’m sure anyone reading this would have figured that out anyway.
February 20th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
“Survivors” is the best thing I’ve heard since “bewm” and “Flowerguy’s Pool Party.”
I let my jazz instructor (I’m a student) listen to it and a few others tracks today, he got a real big kick out of it. Thanks for continuing to rock the gamebox!
February 25th, 2007 at 4:18 am
The album is phenomenal, truly phenomenal.
February 25th, 2007 at 4:45 am
There aren’t words. This is on an entirely different level.
March 7th, 2007 at 5:02 am
Thanks for the comments on he’s a radical rat though honestly I did a shitty job but that’s not important… what’s important is CONGRATS JAKE!!!!! YOU’RE SUCH A MENCH!!! I SEE THAT NOW… What I was mistaking for arrogance on your part was just you being a good Jewish boy… you see, now that I can really place your behavior in the context of a culture, I realize I don’t have to be frustrated with you. Passover is coming up so let me put it this way.
I am the Wise Son.. the Weiss Son, you are the Naive Son. I wanted you to be Weiss like me but I see now, you’re not Weiss, You’re Kaufman, that’s just fine! YOU DONT HAVE TO BE AS SMART AS ME! ITS OKAY ILL STOP DEMANDING IT OF YOU!
NOW!!!! FRAIDY CAT! PICK UP YOUR GOD FORSAKEN PHONE WHEN I CALL OR LIKE OR ILL SMACK THAT THAT GOOFY LOOK OFF YOUR FACE! I LEFT YOU SOME FUNNY MESSAGES. I’ll leave more, and of course I’ll never call your home phone until I have your permsission!
March 18th, 2007 at 7:19 am
excellent work.. Virt still rocks :)
i also take the time to download older FX from where i know lot of tracks.. but not all :!
March 26th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
The more I listen to it, the more it blows my mind. The solo at the end of Bedtime Story is absolutely amazing. I have been trying to recreate that sound to no avail. The album as a whole is inspiring. I love the melodies.
May 31st, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Simply Amazing! Visitor and Across the Rooftop are my faves. You probably over-score what Konami did during the NES era. Thank you Jake.
August 16th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Been listening to this album a lot since when it was posted but never commented. When you posted the mp3 from Blipfest I couldn’t get enough of it, I listened to that a lot too. 0:58 and on in Choppastyle makes me drive 80 when the speed limit is 40 mph, along with a lot of other parts.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Haha, I missed this in the days when I didn’t have a total grasp on who you are/were, and so I missed this album on 8bpeoples because I thought that the ‘cover looked kind of lame, color-wise’
Then I got all down and dirty (and sweaty and pleasured) with the Castlevania 3 soundtrack and listened to all the small details in the sound, the switching between square-pattern density, the octave ‘blips’ and then I remembered reading stuff on your page about your tweaking with stuff to recreate the konami sound, and I realized that I now knew what that sound was, and was so hungry for more. So I downloaded it. I’m not particulary a fan of guitar-ish rock-ish sounds, but on the other hand, things that annoy me in rock music make me drool in bit form. Like the soundtrack to Castlevania 2: Belmont’s revenge, it’s all pure metal, but in pure bits. So beautiful.
So yeah, anyways, I was listening to She the other day, and realized that he’d created something best described as ‘bit-lounge’, with a wonderful house feeling underlining his work. I loved it.
This is quite important because without knowing what to expect, I crank up ‘across rooftops’, and I get a goddamn 4-minute blast of PURE BIT LOUNGE-KONAMI STYLE
I mean, I didn’t even know that that was what my heart longed for the most, but hey, you totally rocked my world with that song. Oh, and by the way, you’re a total master of the konami-chip-fu. You rock it with such grace, I get totally hot and stuff. Mmm.
So yeah, thank you for rocking. Make more. More music. We want it.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:10 am
OK this is my favorite music. EVAR!