that is the music that you hear in the game. but when you think about it, if you re trying to adapt music from a 1980s computer game, you re basically talking about taking beeps and bloops, that s all it is, just single notes, and somehow adapting it and turning it into something that can be played by an orchestra this size. i mean, that s a hell of a lot of work. game music plays. i say beeps and bloops, but those early theme tunes were actually pretty clever, managing to give the impression of chords and multitrack audio, even though the computers could only make one sound at a time. it s something that astounded a young matt rogers, who s now been asked to arrange a new version of the theme tune to this the 1987 zx spectrum game chronos. i did like the game, but i used to load the game more to listen to the music. so i d be loading that game and then sitting with my ear to the.to the spectrum. and that s. .. the thing was, when i came to arrange it, i already knew it inside out be
got our first console. robert ames is a conductor and arranger who s worked on film scores and who s conducted previous proms based on experimental electronic music and sci fi movies. he s helped to curate the choice of music here, which is a journey from the 80s, through pokemon, final fantasy viii, shadow of the colossus, and right up to battlefield 2042. and in order to recreate the sounds and feelings of these games, some of which emerged through tiny, tinny speakers on the zx spectrum, he s augmented the traditional orchestral make up ever so slightly. you have an electronically expanded orchestra. can you show me your electronic expansion? yeah, ican. ican. it s not a large electronic expansion. well, you know, it s quality not quantity that s important. electronic notes. so this is. this is spectrum sound, i guess you d call it. so it s loaded with actual zx spectrum sounds. yeah. spencer laughs. yeah, absolutely. yeah. the main expansion,
and they re being controlled individually and blended in with what the orchestra are doing. a lot of modern video games come with ready made orchestral scores. that is the music that you hear in the game. but when you think about it, if you re trying to adapt music from a 1980s computer game, you re basically talking about taking beeps and bloops, that s all it is, just single notes, and somehow adapting it and turning it into something that can be played by an orchestra this size. i mean, that s a hell of a lot of work. game music plays. i say beeps and bloops, but those early theme tunes were actually pretty clever, managing to give the impression of chords and multitrack audio, even though the computers could only make one sound at a time. it s something that astounded a young matt rogers, who s now been asked to arrange a new version of the theme tune to this the 1987 zx spectrum game chronos.
point in your life that you were at when you were playing that game, and maybe who you were playing it with. so i m in my thirties. growing up with. mega drive was my first - console, and if i hear sonic, i immediately get put straight into that, that christmas - where me and my two sisters got our first console. - robert ames is a conductor and arranger who s worked on film scores and who s conducted previous proms based on experimental electronic music and sci fi movies. he s helped to curate the choice of music here, which is a journey from the 80s, through pokemon, final fantasy viii, shadow of the colossus, and right up to battlefield 2042. and in order to recreate the sounds and feelings of these games, some of which emerged through tiny, tinny speakers on the zx spectrum, he s augmented the traditional orchestral make up ever so slightly. you have an electronically expanded orchestra. can you show me your electronic expansion? yeah, ican. ican. it s not a large electronic expan
well, you know, it s quality not quantity that s important. electronic notes. so this is. this is spectrum sound, i guess you d call it. so it s loaded with actual zx spectrum sounds. yeah. spencer laughs. yeah, absolutely. yeah. the main expansion, i would say, is finding, like, super creative ways to make the electronic sound acoustic. i thought this was just a kind of stress reliever when i saw it, but. yeah. steadily vibrating note fast and slow notes. it s good fun. they re awesome, aren t they? this is white noise, basically. crinkling. the sound of that will be coming through, you know, a massive array of speakers. so you get this lovely. do you have to tune these. ..crinkly sound. ..before you go on? no. sure? no. cos the heat would change the note. this is true. you re going next level. yeah. which is great. this is the electronic powerhouse set up. right. so especially for battlefield. so here you ve got a load of electronic stems from the original score