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Earlier this year, the Digital Culture Beat had the pleasure of attending the \u201c8-bit Music Exhibit<\/a>\u201d for the Digital Studies Institute<\/a>, planned by Toni Bushner and Norah Vulpes \u2014 a digital scholarship research consultant, advisor and lecturer at the Digital Studies Institute and producer within the 8-bit community, respectively. Between their historical and interactive exhibit and the \u201cLittle Sound Dj<\/a>\u201d workshop, we were given the special opportunity to take a look at an incredibly generous, passionate community that thrives through pushing hardware to its limits \u2014 even when things get broken.<\/p>\n Calculators, industrial controllers and computers all transformed their respective industries, and gaming consoles were no exception. The iconic sounds of Nintendo and Sega captivated a generation with 8-bit technology<\/a>, and the Chiptune genre takes that creativity and makes a celebration of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Directly referring to the number of bits used in the processor\u2019s internal logic, describing something as \u201cx-bit\u201d essentially determines the amount of data that can be manipulated at any given time. More bits mean more room for calculation, and though 8-bit computing is nowhere near as capable as today\u2019s 64-bit processors, its versatility and influence in the digital revolution are still celebrated today through Chiptune, generally described as<\/a> music composed and produced on dedicated 8-bit hardware. Though this type of sound might be traditionally associated with the bloopy melodies of Tetris or Super Mario, the Chiptune sound thrives in nearly every genre of music. For example, discographies of Chiptune artists like Anamanaguchi<\/a> and Disasterpeace<\/a> span pop and movie scores; little-scale<\/a> delves into drums and bass while Sabrepulse<\/a> makes electronic dance music. Though this is just a small sample, Chiptune reinforces itself through a diverse set of sounds, as more of a method than a genre, and the exhibit provided the perfect playground.<\/p>\n Walking into the \u201c8-bit Music Exhibit,\u201d we were almost blinded by everything on display. Chiptune albums sat loaded onto Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges, and posters hanging on the walls dug into community lore. On a projected screen, artists spoke candidly about their experiences in the community. And behind all that, along the illuminated walls, sat arcade cabinets housing retro music studios.<\/p>\n