A lot of music has been composed for retro computers. Of course many tracks to accompany games. But the demo scene should certainly not be left unmentioned. And then the legion of hobby musicians. Modizer for iOS and iPadOS unlocks the past again!
When you talk about music for retro computers, you cannot escape the Commodore 64. That was the first home computer with an affordable analog and programmable synthesizer chip on board: the SID chip. Although it took many years to properly emulate that component in software, nowadays, thanks to in-depth knowledge and sufficiently fast hardware, this is no longer a real problem.
A generation later we arrive at the Amiga, also a Commodore machine. It had an 8-bit DAC (and you could digitize analog signals via an external module). The MOD files date from that time. Made in a tracker – say the predecessor of today’s modern music production systems – you could play multiple samples at different speeds (and therefore pitches) simultaneously. In stereo too. Although it all sounds very basic (8 bit versus 16 bit resolution of a CD and nowadays even 24 and 32 bit floating point audio) it sounds surprisingly good.
On the PC, it was Adlib that caused a breakthrough in the field of sound. No more boring bleeps and beeps from the computer, but on to a real (albeit simple) FM synthesizer. Game consoles had their own audio hardware on board, which grew rapidly in quality and capability.
Settings
In short: a lot of music has been written for all those different systems. And thanks to modern fast CPUs, it will also be preserved for future generations. The app Modizer (for iOS and iPadOS) plays a mountain of well-known and more exotic music files. Where the focus is on sound quality. After installing the app, it is not unwise to be the first to dive into the settings (click on More bottom right of the screen and then on Settings. below Plugins you can adjust things like sample rate, resampling quality and more per synth emulator as desired. Keeping in mind that the SoC of an iPad can handle the best settings effortlessly.
Built-in access to music collections
To play music, you can download music from major retro music databases directly from Modizer. In the original file format; the emulation is handled on your device. The big advantage is that you often only have to download very small files for a cacophony of sound. There is the HVSC or High Voltage Sid Collection containing all the music ever released for the C64 in Commodore 64-own music format.
Tap on HVSC in the main Modizer window and then one of the categories. Browse demos, musicians and more and listen to SID music from yesteryear. Click and go. Listened (and therefore also downloaded) tracks are saved in Downloads. below MODLAND you will find all kinds of mod files (first common on the Amiga, later also on the PC thanks to the Creative Soundblaster). And under Samples a selection of various music files divided into various categories. And nothing else stands in the way of downloading and playing retro music files from the wild meadow web. Relive old times!
