Any one who grew up playing video games before the turn of century has a sentimental attachment to the soundtrack that accompanied each video game. For Millennials, the music from the original Pokemon games for Gameboy Color hold a special place in the hearts of all "wanna-be" Pokemon masters. For those a little older, the soundtracks from arcade games like Snafu and Tetris bring back memories of endless hours of gaming. Also, who doesn't love the theme to Super Mario? What all of these (now ancient) video game soundtracks have in common is the sound of 8-bit.

8-bit is a style of music whose sound is derived from reducing the bit rate (or overall sound quality) down to 8 bits. Most of today's music is recorded in 24 bit, but back in the 70's, 80's, and 90's, the sound chips in video game consoles were a far cry from the quality we are used to hearing in modern gaming consoles. However, there is a certain magic in the limitations of 8-bit music that takes us to that sweet place of low-fidelity nostalgia.

Our newest pack titled "8-Bit" is a deep-dive into this low-fidelity, nostalgic, and soulful sound. "8-Bit" features 10 Melodic Loops, downsampled to 8-bit for that gritty, sweetly distorted grunge. There are stems for each Melodic Loop, so you can chop and arrange each sample exactly how you want. This sample collection also packs 10 drum loops, along with 10 kicks, 10 snares, and 10 hi-hats with 5 bonus auxiliary sounds.

These drums truly have the "Nintendo" sound you didn't know your drum kit collection was missing. "8-Bit" is considerably synth-heavy, with 52 one-shots of analog synth hits. The Melodic Loops also boast some huge, walloping synth-basses that will surely add some thunder to your next production. If you're looking to go retro, look no further. "8-Bit" is available at the Soul Surplus store today.

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