Martin Galway
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Martin Galway (born 3 January 1966,
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
) is one of the best known composers of
chiptune Chiptune, also called 8-bit music (although not all chiptune is 8-bit music), is a style of electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video gam ...
video game music Video game music (VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to t ...
for the
Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
and the
ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...
. His works include '' Rambo: First Blood Part II'', '' Comic Bakery'' and '' Wizball''s scores, as well as the music used in the loader for the C64 version of '' Arkanoid''.


Career

Galway was the first musician to get published with sampled sounds on the Commodore, with the theme for the '' Arkanoid'' conversion. When asked about how he did it, he answered:
I figured out how samples were played by hacking into someone else's
code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...
... OK, I admit it... It was a drum synthesizer package called Digidrums, actually, so you could still say I was the first to include samples in a piece of music. ... Never would I claim to have invented that technique, I just got it published first. In fact, I couldn't really figure out where they got the sample data, just that they were wiggling the volume register, so I tried to make up my own drum sample sounds in realtime – which is the
flatulence Flatulence is the expulsion of gas from the Gastrointestinal tract, intestines via the anus, commonly referred to as farting. "Flatus" is the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels. A proportion of intestinal gas may be swal ...
stuff that shipped in ''Arkanoid''. ... After the project was in the shops I gained access to some real drum samples, and I slid those into my own custom version of the tune. The one that's in the shops is kind of a collage of farts & burps, don't you think?... Later I was able to acquire some proper drum samples and by '' Game Over'' it got quite sophisticated.
Galway was appointed as Audio Director at Origin Systems in 1990. He worked at Digital Anvil from 1996. Galway's most recent post was working as Audio Director for Cloud Imperium Games on their upcoming PC game '' Star Citizen'', created by Chris Roberts of ''Wing Commander''. ''Star Citizen'' was expected to release Q1 2015. Galway has since left this post.


Video game music

*'' Atomic Protector'' ( Optima Software, 1983) *''
Cookie A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...
'' (
Ultimate Play the Game Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited, trading as Ultimate Play the Game, was a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher, founded in 1982, by ex-arcade video game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a seri ...
, 1983. An unreleased
BBC Micro The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a family of microcomputers developed and manufactured by Acorn Computers in the early 1980s as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project. Launched in December 1981, it was showcased across severa ...
conversion, unearthed in 2002) *'' Daley Thompson's Decathlon'' ( Ocean Software, 1984, includes a
chiptune Chiptune, also called 8-bit music (although not all chiptune is 8-bit music), is a style of electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video gam ...
cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra's " Rydeen") *'' Swag'' ( Micromania, 1984) *'' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' (Includes a remix of
Jean-Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the Electronic music, electronic, Ambient music, ambient and New-age music, new-age genres, and is known for organising out ...
's "Les Chants Magnétiques part IV", Imagine, 1985) *'' Hyper Sports'' (Imagine, 1985) *'' Kong Strikes Back!'' (The first C64 song ever omposed in 1984to use arpeggio which soon became an essential part of C64 sound,
Ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...
, 1985) *'' The Neverending Story'' (Ocean, 1985) *'' Ocean Loader 1 & 2'' (The two different songs were used in several games released by Ocean, playing during the loading sequence of the game. Ocean Loaders 3 to 5 were composed by Peter Clarke and Jonathan Dunn; Ocean, 1985) *'' Roland's Ratrace'' (Ocean, 1985) *'' Mikie'' (Imagine, 1986, like the arcade game, this includes the arrangements of
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
songs " Twist and Shout", " A Hard Day's Night") *'' Ping Pong'' (Imagine, 1986, ZX Spectrum and C64 conversions) *'' Comic Bakery'' (Imagine, 1986) *'' Stryker's Run'' ( Superior Software, 1986, includes a chiptune cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Rydeen") *'' Terra Cresta'' (Imagine, 1986) *'' Green Beret'' (Imagine, 1986) *'' Helikopter Jagd'' (Ocean, 1986) *'' Highlander'' (Ocean, 1986) *'' Hunchback II'' (Ocean, 1986) *'' Match Day'' (Ocean, 1986) *'' Galaforce'' (Superior Software, 1986) *''
Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, Ricardo "Rico" Tub ...
'' (Ocean, 1986) *''
Parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different sightline, lines of sight and is measured by the angle or half-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to perspective (graphica ...
'' (Ocean, 1986) *'' Rambo: First Blood Part II'' (Ocean, 1986) *''
Short Circuit A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit ...
'' (Ocean, 1986, contains the cover of "Who's Johnny" by El DeBarge) *'' Arkanoid'' (Imagine, 1987) *''
Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...
'' (Imagine, 1987) *'' Game Over'' (Imagine, 1987) *'' Rastan'' (Imagine, 1987) *'' Slap Fight'' ( Imagine, 1987) *'' Yie Ar Kung-Fu II'' (Imagine, 1987) *'' Combat School'' (Ocean, 1987) *'' Crazee Rider'' (Superior Software, 1987) *'' Wizball'' (Ocean, 1987) *'' MicroProse Soccer'' (
MicroProse MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilizat ...
, 1988) *'' Galaforce 2: Aliens' Revenge'' (Superior Software, 1988) *'' Times of Lore'' ( Origin, 1988) *'' Insects in Space'' (
Sensible Software Sensible Software was a British software company founded by Jon Hare and Chris Yates which was active from March 1986 to June 1999. It released seven number-one hit games and won numerous industry awards. The company used exaggeratedly small sp ...
, 1989) *'' Wing Commander 2: Vengeance of the Kilrathi'' (Origin, 1991) *'' Ultima VII: The Black Gate'' (Origin, 1992) *'' Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'' (Origin, 1992) *'' Strike Commander'' (
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
/Origin, 1993) *'' Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom'' (Electronic Arts/Origin, 1995) *'' The Kilrathi Saga'' (Electronic Arts, 1996) *'' Starlancer'' ( Digital Anvil/
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
, 2000)


Notes


References


High Voltage SID CollectionSTIL


External links


Artist profile
at OverClocked ReMix *
Information about Martin Galway on Certain Affinity web page
Sánchez, Claudio (10 July 2003)

Carr, Neil (28 March 2001) {{DEFAULTSORT:Galway, Martin 1966 births Living people Chiptune and tracker musicians Commodore 64 music Male composers from Northern Ireland Musicians from Belfast Origin Systems people Sensible Software Irish video game composers People educated at Parrs Wood High School 20th-century composers from Northern Ireland 21st-century composers from Northern Ireland 1980s in Irish music 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music