Chiptune
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A piece of computer music in which the sounds are generated and mixed in realtime, common before the advent of mass storage for prerecorded sound.
"Composers of chiptune and demoscene music practice the art of game music in vitro, with no particular commercial endeavor."
- 2 A style of music that samples or emulates the audio capabilities of older sound chips, but ignores certain hardware or software limitations inherent to them; especially (demoscene) a tracker module simulating the sound of early 8-bit computers.
Example
More examples"Composers of chiptune and demoscene music practice the art of game music in vitro, with no particular commercial endeavor."
Etymology
From chip + tune, referring to a computer's sound chip; see chip (“electronic circuit”). Initially in the meaning of modules, as an antonym to 'real' chip music, then generalized/recontextualized.
Related phrases
More for "chiptune"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.