Recently came across the concept of pseudochord, the idea of notes being played so rapidly they form a triad or similar despite not being technically played simultaneously, which I think helps articulate part of what I consider boobly. The very rapid arpeggio to achieve a chord is what causes boobly in some instances I think.
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oh yeah thats definitley the booble
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pseudochord is often what arpeggi are used for in early vgmusic so that checks out!
a lot of the videogame bloops to me sound specifically like a square wave arpeggio with a delay effect, or i guess just a second square wave playing the same melody on a delay. i feel like i link this article on the music in Link’s Awakening (a fairly blooby soundtrack) every couple years, but it’s a fantastic analysis that helped me recognize what goes on a bit:
i am going to derail the thread a little here to talk about a different flavour of booble: an effect i tried and failed to achieve with square waves (aka pulse waves) and pseudo chords once, and that’s duty cycling (i’m pretty sure). it was used a bit in C64 traxx etc (i think). the note played by the oscillator stays constant, but the ‘duty cycle’ (or like, the percentage of time it’s sending a 1 instead of a 0) changes and so does the tone. i first heard it in the seiklus soundtrack (cheers clysm) and it’s demonstrated prominently in this song, used in that game:
like, if you compare & contrast the square waveforms in this visualizer you might see what i’m talking about
anyone who actually knows this stuff please correct me on everything!
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this is so cool its one of my favorite sounds in c64 and gameboy games so knowing at least something about how it works is great. i love edutainment
For your consideration, timestamped to track B7, “Ripples” @ 50:34
Other standouts imo, but less explicitly boobly in nature are A2 “Morning Lagoon”, A4 “Mola Mola”, B6 “Blue Vision” and B3 “Poem [Big Wave]”:
ハイウェイを夢中で飛ばして 気づいたらここに来ていた
あの沖にぽつんと霞んで見えるのは きっとあなたのヨットなのね
サンゴ礁が恋しくなって？ それとも、太陽そのものみたいなあなたの笑顔に会いたくなって？
多分、あれは青春のビッグウェーブ 背伸びしすぎて溺れそうだった私
あんなに暑い潮風だったから 長い髪は亜麻色に変わってしまった
それもばっさり切ったりしたけど かっこよくサヨナラなんてできないものね
激しい日差しに焼きつけられた二人の思い 消えることのない印画紙はこの砂浜
不思議すぎる何もかも どうしてそんなにあなたの笑顔はまだ眩しくて 海の青さはこんなに優しい
この海に誓って言える 大切なことは二人でいること さよならなんて二度と言わない
User @redneckedcrake7059 notes in the comments, alongside English translations of a couple of the recited poem tracks:
Tomoko Tsuyama said on Twitter recently that this album was made in 1990 for one of the business branches of Yamaha (boats and engines). These tracks could have been played over the speakers, in various stores? It doesn’t look like a commercial release.
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The YouTube algorithm fed me this one too, really excellent stuff. Bubble era Japanese ambient music for retail was a fertile ground.
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