chiptune.
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.
Meaning & usage
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.
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.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *kippōną Proto-West Germanic *kippōn Old English *ċippiander. Old English ċipp Middle English chippe English chip English tune English chiptune 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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.