Kenneth B McAlpine
Biographic Data
| ID | 9242876 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kenneth B McAlpine |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kenneth B |
| FAMILY NAME | McAlpine |
| SIGNATURE | MCALPINE K B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Abertay Dundee |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0219-6732 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 7 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Bits and Pieces
This book explores the development of and the social, cultural, and historical context of chiptune, a form of electronic music that emerged from the first generation of video game consoles and home computers in the 1980s. Through a combination of musical and procedural analysis and practitioner interviews, the book explores the role the technical constraints of early video game hardware played in shaping the sound of 8-bit video game music and th…
The ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum, even for its time, was a very simple machine, yet it was a runaway commercial success, almost single-handedly kickstarting the UK games industry. This chapter examines the launch of the ZX Spectrum and the challenges its hardware design presented to game developers. In fact, the ZX Spectrum was as rudimentary as digital music can get. It offered no hardware sound support, and its single-channel beeper provided a single bit of res…
Nintendo’s NES
The North American video game crash of 1983 made it difficult for Nintendo to break into the American market with its new console, the Nintendo Entertainment System . When it finally did gain a toehold in 1986, it was the Nintendo ‘Seal of Quality’, a graphical rosette that was emblazoned on every official Nintendo release, that encouraged consumers to buy video game cartridges once more. This chapter explores how the difficulties in getting the …
The Game Boy
This chapter examines the cultural phenomenon that was Nintendo’s Game Boy and suggests that its portability and low cost was pivotal in taking chiptune from primarily a desktop activity to something that could be taken onstage and gigged. Crucial to the Game Boy’s success was Tetris, the machine’s ‘killer app’. It was such a hit that its music made the transition from silicon to vinyl, demonstrating that video game music could be popular music i…
The Atari VCS
This chapter explores the Atari VCS, the machine that took video games out of the arcades and into the living room and established Atari as the dominant player in the home video games industry, at least for a time. It examines the context that surrounded the birth of the Atari VCS and how that influenced its hardware design, in turn shaping both the sound and people’s expectations of video game music. The Atari’s sound chip, the Television Interf…
Netlabels and Real-World Festivals
This chapter explores how the infrastructure of the established music industry—the routes to market and, just as significantly, the gatekeepers who control them—emerged spontaneously as part of the chipscene, albeit with a noncommercial ethos, giving rise to an economy built on community esteem and authenticity. The chapter begins by exploring how diskmags and archives provided a way for fans to collect and share the music that they loved. Gather…
From Michael Moore to JFK Reloaded
Traditionally, documentary has been presented as an objective portrayal of fact: the actualité. Recently, a new breed of ‘dramatic’ documentary that uses coercion; persuasion, and emotional manipulation has emerged to critical and commercial success. Contemporaneously, interactive entertainment has evolved to the point at which near-realism can be portrayed in real time. This, taken alongside the immersive interaction in which the industry specia…
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From Michael Moore to JFK Reloaded
Traditionally, documentary has been presented as an objective portrayal of fact: the actualité. Recently, a new breed of ‘dramatic’ documentary that uses coercion; persuasion, and emotional manipulation has emerged to critical and commercial success. Contemporaneously, interactive entertainment has evolved to the point at which near-realism can be portrayed in real time. This, taken alongside the immersive interaction in which the industry specia…
Bits and Pieces
This book explores the development of and the social, cultural, and historical context of chiptune, a form of electronic music that emerged from the first generation of video game consoles and home computers in the 1980s. Through a combination of musical and procedural analysis and practitioner interviews, the book explores the role the technical constraints of early video game hardware played in shaping the sound of 8-bit video game music and th…
The ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum, even for its time, was a very simple machine, yet it was a runaway commercial success, almost single-handedly kickstarting the UK games industry. This chapter examines the launch of the ZX Spectrum and the challenges its hardware design presented to game developers. In fact, the ZX Spectrum was as rudimentary as digital music can get. It offered no hardware sound support, and its single-channel beeper provided a single bit of res…
Nintendo’s NES
The North American video game crash of 1983 made it difficult for Nintendo to break into the American market with its new console, the Nintendo Entertainment System . When it finally did gain a toehold in 1986, it was the Nintendo ‘Seal of Quality’, a graphical rosette that was emblazoned on every official Nintendo release, that encouraged consumers to buy video game cartridges once more. This chapter explores how the difficulties in getting the …
The Game Boy
This chapter examines the cultural phenomenon that was Nintendo’s Game Boy and suggests that its portability and low cost was pivotal in taking chiptune from primarily a desktop activity to something that could be taken onstage and gigged. Crucial to the Game Boy’s success was Tetris, the machine’s ‘killer app’. It was such a hit that its music made the transition from silicon to vinyl, demonstrating that video game music could be popular music i…
The Atari VCS
This chapter explores the Atari VCS, the machine that took video games out of the arcades and into the living room and established Atari as the dominant player in the home video games industry, at least for a time. It examines the context that surrounded the birth of the Atari VCS and how that influenced its hardware design, in turn shaping both the sound and people’s expectations of video game music. The Atari’s sound chip, the Television Interf…
Netlabels and Real-World Festivals
This chapter explores how the infrastructure of the established music industry—the routes to market and, just as significantly, the gatekeepers who control them—emerged spontaneously as part of the chipscene, albeit with a noncommercial ethos, giving rise to an economy built on community esteem and authenticity. The chapter begins by exploring how diskmags and archives provided a way for fans to collect and share the music that they loved. Gather…
Digital Games and Media (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Visual arts (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Advertising (3 works) · Business (3 works) · Multimedia (3 works) · Musical (3 works) · Video game (3 works) · Entertainment (2 works)