Beeper music during gameplay/action

[kokkiklhs]

It is well known that almost all 48k games do not include in-game beeper music and this is because it would dramatically reduce speed, programmers needed full processing power available for the rest of the things. There are many nice beeper musics on the Speccy but only on starting or Game Over screens, while displaying static graphics and text... Of course there are some 48k games that support AY music during gameplay, but this is another story...
BUT, looking back at titles like Manic Miner (some people find its repetitive music annoying) and especially Kung Fu Master (I love its music, it's quite atmospheric) we realize that in fact this COULD be done, and also when a lot of moving action was simultaneously displayed on screen.
There are also the Justin Beeper demo for the 16k by HOOY-PROGRAM and the Rain demo by Life on Mars (less action but great multichannel music score) that do the same trick!

These are only a few I remember with a quick flashback...
Do YOU know any more to suggest? There should be, that's for sure!

I enjoy very much seeing such stuff on a stock Speccy, one big caveat back in the days was the complete absence of in-game music, even for great titles, while on other machines (especially the C64 with the mighty SID) there were some rather crappy or silly games that people loved and still remember mostly for their nice musics...

[Stefan]

Two classics that jump to mind:
Thunderbirds
Dynamite Dan II

[Rorthron]

Tapper, though it's stretching the definition of "music".

[kokkiklhs]

Two classics that jump to mind:
Thunderbirds
Dynamite Dan II

Cheers, I knew both titles but never had played them, nice!!

Tapper, though it's stretching the definition of "music".

Oh, I had forgotten that... You're absolutely right, but IMHO this ridiculously simple music makes this great game even more addictive and enjoyable!

[toot_toot]

Booty and it’s sort of sequel Midnight Madness have beeper music playing throughout the game (both written by John F Cain who also wrote the previously mentioned Thunderbirds). Although I’d imagine most people would have switched it off!!

[kokkiklhs]

Booty and it’s sort of sequel Midnight Madness have beeper music playing throughout the game (both written by John F Cain who also wrote the previously mentioned Thunderbirds). Although I’d imagine most people would have switched it off!!

Booty...!!! What a nice game, I had also forgotten about it! Very addictive, there's also an interesting hidden stage when you plug a CURRAH μSpeech...
I'll check out Midnight Madness, I don't know it... EDIT: [mention]toot_toot[/mention] you mean Moonlight Madness, right?
You are right, in most cases programmers forgot to add a software option for disabling the music... As the Speccy has no hardware switch for the beeper, no matter how nice such a music could be, it may blow the player's mind after a certain time!

[Lethargeek]

Three Weeks in Paradise
Big Ben Strikes Again
Ramon Rodriguez

[bluespikey]

Gilligans Gold has a catchy tune that doesn't aggrevate or get in the way of the game like the Manic Miner tune did.

Geoff Capes Strong Man warbles all sorts of tunes at you.

[kokkiklhs]

Three Weeks in Paradise
Big Ben Strikes Again
Ramon Rodriguez

Gilligans Gold has a catchy tune that doesn't aggrevate or get in the way of the game like the Manic Miner tune did.

Geoff Capes Strong Man warbles all sorts of tunes at you.

Three Weeks in Paradise, wot a superb game!! I remember having it and played a little, I liked it very much! But due to lack of instructions (pirate alert - copied game) I never understood its complexity... I don't remember, though, its nice in-game music and this surprises me... I'm getting old!!
As for the other titles, I don't know them, I never had them! I will try them out!

Thank you all, fellows, so far for your interesting suggestions!!!

[Ralf]

Less known:
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... rum/OK_Yah

and if I remember correctly also:
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... rum/Murphy

The games are so-so (very difficult) but the music is allright if we consider how much animation is going on.

[kokkiklhs]

Less known:
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... rum/OK_Yah

and if I remember correctly also:
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... rum/Murphy

The games are so-so (very difficult) but the music is allright if we consider how much animation is going on.

The second doesn't have music, but the first....!!! Not a great game to play, but why didn't they make more classic hit titles like that?

[Morkin]

Dynamite Dan II

I think both Dynamite Dan I and II are outstanding examples because they include ace in-game beeper music (more 'ditties' I suppose) along with good in-game sound effects.

Rather than some other games that just have a constant warbly tune that you get fed up with after about 10 minutes...

The author (Rod Bowkett) is a pro musician and composer, it's great that he managed to bring his multi-talents together to create some cool games.

[akeley]

Let's face it, Spectrum games really are better off without any "music". The examples in this thread are valiant efforts, but most of them would drive me up the wall quite fast

[Turtle_Quality]

Same for me, when I get some quality time playing games I'm usually listening to some "real" music, so in game music tends to be unwelcome, or preferably optional. I do like plenty of sound effects though. Tim Follin music was the exception, though it was never in game - technically amazing but also musically excellent

[GreenCard]

Kung-Fu has a fairly irritating beeper tune that plays during gameplay. It does indeed slow the game down considerably, there's a multiface poke to turn the music off and the game plays a lot quicker as a result.

[Sparky]

I don't know why some of you think beeper music slows down games? They are loaded into memory using machine code, and made to repeat. Then, the game executes and plays. The effect of this is probably less than 5% of the overall speed.

P.S. I am talking about music, not sound effects.

[equinox]

A Day in the Life has in-game beeper music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmwd6isYu2A

[XTM]

Less known: https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... rum/OK_Yah

and if I remember correctly also: https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... rum/Murphy

Thanks for the links. It's always nice to find out about games you've never heard of after all these years! Both games have good scrolling and I'm sure I'd have been quite impressed by Murphy with its tall "tree" structures scrolling fairly smoothly.

[Pegaz]

There's nothing better, than ingame beeper music from Dynamite Dan II.
I would also mention Bear Bovver, it sounds surprisingly good.
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... ear_Bovver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G79jT8RB2eE

[madaxe]

It's not a game, it's a demo but Sgt Pepper 5 from Sgt Pepper it's a good example of smooth animation and beeper music during the action
https://demozoo.org/productions/13705/

[Morkin]

Let's face it, Spectrum games really are better off without any "music". The examples in this thread are valiant efforts, but most of them would drive me up the wall quite fast

...You need to sit down and listen to the Automania in-game tune non-stop for 1 hour straight...

Every other game's music will start sounding incredible after that

[kokkiklhs]

Let's face it, Spectrum games really are better off without any "music". The examples in this thread are valiant efforts, but most of them would drive me up the wall quite fast

...You need to sit down and listen to the Automania in-game tune non-stop for 1 hour straight...

Every other game's music will start sounding incredible after that

LOL, this is like a chinese torture!!!
But on the other hand, I wouldn't imagine Manic Miner without its irritating tune, it just wouldn't be as fun as it is...

[Lethargeek]

another one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k4lFzo1F9w

[Ast A. Moore]

Dark Fusion pulls off some pretty amazing stuff in the animated menu with multichannel beeper music.

[Stefan]

Dark Fusion pulls off some pretty amazing stuff in the animated menu with multichannel beeper music.

While the music is one of the best beeper tunes around - I think your childhood memories are merging the menu music into the silent animated 3D balls that are shown /before/ the menu? The menu only consists of a three level parallax star field and an attribute flash of the selected control method.