Difference between revisions of "David Wise"
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| The way it worked, I would use HEX numbers (16 numbers, 0-F) writing in one number for the pitch of the note and one for the length. For example “81,08”– where 81 would be a low c on the keyboard, followed by a length of 8 units. We had certain codes and routines which enabled us to do pitch bends, etc. From memory I think there were two variable pulse waves, a triangle wave and a noise channel for creating the sound tracks/FX. There was also a way to play back very crude samples, but we never had the luxury of that much memory. | | The way it worked, I would use HEX numbers (16 numbers, 0-F) writing in one number for the pitch of the note and one for the length. For example “81,08”– where 81 would be a low c on the keyboard, followed by a length of 8 units. We had certain codes and routines which enabled us to do pitch bends, etc. From memory I think there were two variable pulse waves, a triangle wave and a noise channel for creating the sound tracks/FX. There was also a way to play back very crude samples, but we never had the luxury of that much memory. | ||
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| + | According to Wise, Chris Stamper programmed the first version of the sound driver, and was later programmed by [[Mark Betteridge]]. | ||
Wise wrote in hex code until after the SNES era. His instruments for his SNES music and the Battletoads arcade were sampled from the [[Korg Wavestation]] and [[Roland U-110]] sound modules. | Wise wrote in hex code until after the SNES era. His instruments for his SNES music and the Battletoads arcade were sampled from the [[Korg Wavestation]] and [[Roland U-110]] sound modules. | ||
Revision as of 16:14, 29 January 2013
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David Wise was the first sound composer at Rare. He was lucky to be hired; Wise worked in a music shop and Rare's founders Tim and Chris Stamper asked Wise to demonstrate a Yamaha CX5 keyboard to them. While he was playing it for them, he was playing his own compositions. Tim and Chris were amazed by his music so instead of buying the computer, they asked Wise to start doing audio for their video games and Dave accepted. His first work of video game music was Slalom on the NES in 1987. Wise felt confined to writing game music on the NES because not only did he have to go from writing MIDI files on music computers to programming the music in hex code, but he also had only four channels to work with on the NES' soundchip. The fifth channel which used digitized audio, Wise couldn't use because the company didn't have the luxury of cartridge space. During Rare's NES development, they usually handled arcade conversions, so David Wise had to take the challenges of learning the original arcade's music by ear and replicate a good 8-bit conversion which he was always successful in doing. David composed the music for over 40 NES titles, which is probably more than any other NES composer. He worked on all of Rare's NES soundtracks until the SNES era when Rare got other composers and sound designers. Most of the music he composes consists of hard rock or jazz. David said he likes to be called David but doesn't mind being called Dave. In 2009, because of Rare being bought by Microsoft and the company going through some major changes, Wise left Rare and no longer works on video game music.
Some of David's most popular works include the Donkey Kong Country, Battletoads, and Wizards and Warriors series.
Wise continues to compose music to this day and likes to use CuBase and Pro Tools for his music.
Music Composition
ARC
For the Battletoads arcade game, David wrote the music in hex code and sampled his instruments from a Roland U-110 and Korg Wavestation, but composed the songs on an Roland MT-32.
NES
From David Wise's OCRemix interview:
David also had this to say about how exactly he composed on the NES:
According to Wise, Chris Stamper programmed the first version of the sound driver, and was later programmed by Mark Betteridge.
Wise wrote in hex code until after the SNES era. His instruments for his SNES music and the Battletoads arcade were sampled from the Korg Wavestation and Roland U-110 sound modules.
Gameography
Picture Gallery
Unknown source.
Rare staff team (white shirt).
David ca. 1980's; David's Facebook.
Photo of David at Rare, Ltd.
