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Kotaku
This one was sent in by Peter, who was immediately sent his Kotaku Scout Starter Kit and "game music" merit badge. The YCMK Magical 8bit Plug is an apparently mind-blowing plugin for all sorts of programs that lets you rock out, NES power ballad style. Says Create Digital Music:
Totally free, totally cross-platform (Windows VST, Mac AU). Via Adrian Anders and the CDM forums, where we're trying to figure out why it's crashing someone's installation of Ableton Live. Not Universal: Note that this plug-in is not Intel-native (nor any of the other examples listed here, as far as I know), so you'll need to go elsewhere for 8-bit sounds on an Intel Mac, ironically enough. Also, as several readers note over on TUAW, GarageBand has its own Atari Sings patch, though I don't think it clips as realistically as this does for a true NES sound. (Makes sense that it doesn't, since those patches are built with Logic's synths.)
CDM is hosting an extensive tutorial on how to get the best beeps and bloops from this here doohicky, and I wish I could fondle it a little myself, but I'm on one of those newfangled Intel Macs. Give it a shot (it's free) and let me know how it goes. Ten points and an autographed headshot to whoever composes the rousing theme to "Captain Gauger's Flying Monkey Moshpit".
Article and tutorials here [Create Digital Music]
