Fred Right    ZX Spectrum Two Channel Tunes    Fred Left

The Briefing

Here we have all the two channel tunes. The first game to attempt this was Fairlight from The Edge in a style I called 'Music Box' because it was used in a music package call Music Box from Melbourne House where you could compose your own tunes using this type of sound. The Music Box routine was used in quite a lot of games.

The next big innovation in 2 channel music came from the software houses of Ocean and Imagine with it's technique called 'Plip Plop' which used a synthy lead voice accompanied by a percusive backing track. Now the Spectrum could rock! Commodore users began to get afraid, especially when the version of Ping Pong for their machine had a really dull tune.

Music Box

These tunes all used the Music Box routine.

BACK TO THE FUTURE
Electric Dreams added some nice bouncy rock and roll covers for this dire game based on the good film. link button
EQUINOX
Mikro-Gen came up with quite a catchy number for this arcade adventure. link button
FAIRLIGHT
The first and best 2 channel tune. This music only played once after the game loaded and stunned many users who weren't expecting it. "How the hell did they do that?" was the question on all the Speccy owners lips. link button
GYROSCOPE
Melbourne House got in on the act with this game which had four pieces of music, the fourth played when you complete the game and combined one and two channel music techniques. link button
MUSIC BOX
This music package opened up the gateway to two channel sound creation for the average Joe in the street. Now it ws no longer the exclusive plaything of the programming elite! 3 tunes here. The first greeted you on loading and is version of Strauss's blue Danube. The second a drummy little boogie woogie number. The third a nice version of the C64 music to Way Of The Exploding Fist. link button
 
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PHANTOMAS
Codemasters got hold of the same code that created the completion music from Gyroscope to make this piece of music. link button
SHAOLINS ROAD
The Edge used the technique again for this lively little ditty for their conversion of the Konami arcade machine. link button
THE PLANETS
Martech added this tune to their bizarre little romp around our solar system. link button
THUNDERBIRDS
Firebird created this stomping version of the Thunderbirds theme tune for their puzzle game. It sounded a lot livelier than the Commodore version. link button
VAMPIRE
Codemasters again with the one to two channel mix. link button
WINTER GAMES
A few short but lively tunes played at different events in this sport simulation from US Gold. link button

Plip Plop

These games from Ocean and Imagine used the Plip Plop routine.

COBRA
Commodore users knew this tune from their version of Arkanoid composed by Martin Galway a legend in SID chip circles. This Ocean version stands up to theirs very well.. link button
PING PONG
Imagine made the first and the best use of this sound routine. One of the greatest Spectrum tunes ever. link button
SHORT CIRCUIT
Quite a good multi-game film tie-in from Ocean with some great music. link button
TERRA CRESTA
Another tune converted from a C64 Martin Galway track for this arcade conversion by Imagine. link button
VINDICATOR
My least favourite of the plip plop tunes but you might like it. From Imagine's multi-part arcade game. link button

Others

Other Software House wrote some 2 channel rountines often which were used in only one game. Here's a sample.

THE GREAT ESCAPE
Ocean made a very good retro-film tie-in and added a fuzzy version of the classic theme song. link button
HEARTLAND
After the Yesod games, Odin twekaed their cutesy graphics to make this unique fantasy explorer game and added a mellow title tune. link button
I.C.U.P.S.
Another one from Odin. This was a two part game, shoot-em-up then arcade adventure which turned out to be a bit easy to complete. link button
MIKIE
The Beatles got a two channel rendition ot their hit 'Hard Days Night' complete with drums for this arcade conversion from Imagine. link button
OUTRUN
U.S.Gold produced a jolly little version of one Sega's greatest arcade tunes. link button
SABOTEUR 2
This tune was a conversion from the Commodore 64's greatest composer, Rob Hubbard, for Durrell softwares excellent stealth ninja game. link button
U.C.M.
The music was the most memorable part of this fairly dire scrolling shoot-em-up from Mastertronic. link button

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