Artist Feature #2: Tim Follin

Tim Follin: The best chiptune composer...with the worst luck.
For proof, consider this: he hates chiptunes, but is most famous for his work on chiptunes.
DOWNLOAD THIS MIX: mega.nz/#!St030b7A!JB32qxOM_P...
----
TRACKLIST:
[intro]
0:00 Title (Solstice, NES)
[1 bits]
0:50 Title (Subterranean Stryker, ZX 48K)
1:11 Title (Vectron, ZX 48K)
1:35 Title (Agent X, ZX 48K)
[8 bits]
3:15 Black Lamp (Black Lamp, ZX 128K)
4:11 Title Screen (L.E.D. Storm, ZX 128K)
5:33 Title Screen (Renegade, Atari ST)
6:32 Title Screen (Solar Invasion, ZX 128K)
[contemporary?]
7:26 Level 1 (Bionic Commando, ZX 128K)
7:45 Level 1 (Bionic Commando, C64)
9:08 Title Screen (Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, C64)
10:16 Title Screen (Gauntlet III, C64)
10:51 Title Screen (LED Storm, C64)
11:41 Stage 3 (Sky Shark, C64)
12:03 Stage 3 (Sky Shark, NES)
[the NES goes hard]
13:09 Parking Garage (Target: Renegade, NES)
13:54 Title Screen (Pictionary, NES)
14:35 BGM1 (Silver Surfer, NES)
15:18 Coronado: Ship Battle (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Taito), NES)
15:47 Microchip (Treasure Master, NES)
[AMIGAAAA]
16:45 Infiltration (Bionic Commando, Amiga)
17:22 Title (LED Storm, Amiga)
18:21 Title (Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Amiga)
18:58 Music 2 (Puzznic, Amiga)
19:44 The Final Quest (Gauntlet III, Amiga)
20:15 Title Demo (Super Off Road, SNES)
[prog-out]
20:54 Gambit (Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge, SNES)
23:02 Akrillic (Plok!, SNES)
[chill-out]
23:36 Quagmire (Equinox, SNES)
26:22 Game Over (Ecco: Defender of the Future, Dreamcast)
[groove-out]
27:03 Mission Briefing (Time Trax, Genesis / unreleased)
29:09 The Alley (Ultraverse Prime, Sega CD)
30:28 Track 4 (Starsky & Hutch, Gamecube)
31:39 Seventies #9 (Ford Racing 2, Xbox. NOTE: this is misattributed! it's actually "Play Dirty" by Bjorn Lynne.)
32:31 Enemy Attack 1 (Future Tactics: The Uprising, Gamecube)
[endings]
34:13 tftrack2 (Ford Racing 3, PS2)
35:49 Egypt 3 (Lemmings, PSP)
37:12 Music Loop 3 (Contradiction: Spot the Liar!, iOS)
----
CITATIONS...
...are too long for this description box. check them out here:
pastebin.com/wsiAV0D5
----
ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE:
ZX Spectrum Agent X:
• ZX Spectrum Longplay [...
Atari ST Renegade:
• RENEGADE (ATARI ST)
Amiga Bionic Commando:
• Bionic Commando Longpl...
amiga ghouls n ghosts:
• Amiga 500 Longplay [10...
amiga puzznic:
• Video
amiga gauntlet iii:
• Gauntlet III - The Fin...
dreamcast ecco:
• Ecco the Dolphin: Defe...
gamecube starsky hutch:
• [60 FPS] Dolphin Emula...
ps2 ford racing 2:
• Ford Racing 2 (PS2 Gam...
xbox future tactics:
• Let's Play Future Tact...
ps2 ford racing 3:
• Ford Racing 3 (PS2 Gam...
psp lemmings:
• Lemmings Playstation P...
pc contradiction:
• Let's Play "Contradict...
-----
SELECTED WORKS:
Tim has far too many soundtracks to list here, but I think a few of them are worth looking in to.
Bionic Commando, C64: • Bionic Commando (C64) ...
LED Storm, C64: • Led Storm (C64) - Titl...
LED Storm, Amiga: • [AMIGA MUSIC] LED Stor...
Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, C64: • Ghouls'n Ghosts (C64) ...
Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Amiga: • Video
Solstice, NES: • Solstice Music (NES) -...
Silver Surfer, NES: • Silver Surfer (NES) Mu...
Treasure Master, NES: • Treasure Master Music ...
Plok!, SNES: • Plok! SNES Title Music
(remember that song that Miyamoto thought was fake? check it out!)
Time Trax, Genesis: • Time Trax - The Comple...
Starsky & Hutch, PS2: • Starsky and Hutch Track 1
Future Tactics, Gamecube/PS2/Xbox: • Future Tactics -The Up...
----
NOTES:
a few typos:
6m44s weilding → wielding
7m38s lengend → legend
27m08s inreleased → unreleased (thanks sergio cornaga!)
31m39s this song is actually "Play Dirty" by Bjorn Lynne. credits were unclear so I mixed that up. sorry about that! thanks to everyone that pointed this out!
----
Tim Follin can be found at:
timfollin?lang=en
baggycat.com/
----
GST♥'s tumblr:
/ gstdaisuki
Please consider supporting this channel on Patreon!
/ gstdaisuki

[@Pan_Z]

If Follin's music had been in better games, he'd be as well known as names like Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu, and David Wise. At least, decades latter, the internet didn't let such talent go without praise.

[@therealshinchanisonvacation]

Rock n roll racing,spider-man and xmen te arcade revange

[@oldbrokenhands]

And Bach composed music to use to test out pipe organs. Sometimes the line between technician and musician is micron thin.

[@joeyfatonefrombackstreetboys]

Insert Wintergatan

[@nathanielhanlon6444]

Oh, don't worry! I know the line! Intention

[@jamiehardt3061]

Bach was primarily known in his lifetime as an organ technician.

[@indoor_vaping]

Bach does sound like demo music now that you mention it

[@jamiehardt3061]

@@indoor_vaping That’s more because demo composers are all poaching Bach because it’s public domain and Bach is popular with programmers for his intellectual rigor (see, like, Gödel Escher Bach)

[@SuneSalminen]

"The only drawback was that it sounded like a vacuum cleaner with nails stuck in it"

[@FezTheSpaceBiker]

I should dump nails in my vaccuum cleaner more often

[@x_voxelle_x]

Most accurate description for the thing I've ever heard.

[@redwallchannel]

The worst luck indeed. Someone needs to go find him and give him the recognition he deserves. He quit making music a long time ago, and I bet it's partially because of that bad luck..

[@mattd824]

He did a panel a little bit ago. He said he had some bad experiences with the way he was being managed on teams, but moreso he was just kind of bored of working writing music. He just wanted to change indistries.

[@michelvanderlinden8363]

He's actually on youtube and sometimes comments on his work. If you look for "Tim Follins NES" you should get a few big playlists, chances are he responded there.

[@jg-7780]

I believe he's made music for his two recent games that he headed himself, however it was not chiptune, and I doubt he will make any more chiptune music considering how much he disliked it.

[@buwayanialt]

​@@jg-7780 What are you talking about? He never said he disliked it.

[@saltedmutton7269]

@@buwayanialt did you watch the full video?

[@SkyanUltra]

tim follin deserves so much more man, he was such a fucking good composer who lost to some of the worst games to have his fucking banger ass music be included in.

[@klaymodopostoffice9885]

What a load of rubbish. I'm dead sick of that popular misconception that the Follin boys only composed for bad games. Sheer bloody ignorance. They worked at an award-winning development house (Software Creations) who had many talented individuals on staff, like artists Ste Pickford, Anthony Anderson, the Cosgrove Hall animators, and that genius engineer, Mike Webb, among others. They achieved things that Nintendo told them was impossible and, just like fellow-British studio, RARE, they had their share of lesser titles to pay the bills. Any learned connoisseur of old games would know this.

[@earx23]

@@klaymodopostoffice9885 I've played Renegade and Ghouls and ghosts conversions.. well, ehm.. Not great. LED Storm is said to be a nice game. Silver Surfer isn't generally appreciated. Gauntlet 3 is the least appreciated of the series, etc. I can imagine that there were top coders there. But good code doesn't necessarily make a good game (or demo).. and I'm speaking from experience here. If I'm honest, Follin's contribution is the best part to a lot of these conversions and titles.

[@klaymodopostoffice9885]

@@earx23 I'm also speaking from decades of experience. I have been around and spoken with many old alumni and industry figures over the years. I'm certainly not one of those deluded 'fan boys' as the kids say. I know my vintage games and software houses. Silver Surfer is a perfectly adequate shooter, and those that put it down for its difficulty have obviously not played enough of them from that era. It's not nearly as hard or unfair as some cry. A lot of Software Creations old games have not stood the test of time, but some of them did gain a great deal of respect and even awards in their day (such as The Sentinel and Bubble Bobble conversions, both which garnered industry acclaim at the time). You are also dismissing other impressive titles of theirs, such as Tom and Jerry for the NES, with its amazing level design and smooth tight programming, it was equal in quality (and much higher in some cases) to that of Konami's and Capcom's licensed NES titles. Altered Space for the Game Boy by that programming wizard, Mike Follin, was among the most impressive early GB titles. There are also titles that did not involve the Follin boys at all, such as Tin Star for the SNES, which involved actual former animators from Cosgrove Hall and an amazing soundtrack from Suddi Raval. An excellent and original rail shooter, full of life. There are others I'm forgetting, but the point is, Software Creations were no less talented than Rare (they even shared former staff, such as the Pickford brothers). You only have to compare the worst NES titles from both houses. Rare did a massive amount of dreck to pay for their high-tech workstations to make Donkey Kong Country (nobody talks about that, of course. They just assume LJN and Acclaim made all their stinkers). The difference lies in opportunities and budgets, which Creations did not have the luxury of, yet they still put out their share of impressive titles.

[@pferreira1983]

@@klaymodopostoffice9885 I don't think the games were that bad. While the SNES and PC versions of Batman Forever are problematic the Mega Drive version is almost great. Regardless the soundtrack is terrific to listen to.

[@Kj16V]

16:17 This is the only walk cycle powerful enough for Tim Follin's music.

[@misfire33]

He walks like Vince McMahon!

[@atomsorcerer8356]

*The Original Starwalker:* Finally, a worthy opponent.

[@ghoulbuster1]

The Chad Stride.

[@macdongr]

And that skateboarder jump too.

[@niftyjig]

I remember the Dark Ages walk cycle being appropriate

[@GaliMercury]

Tim Follin has such a magical, optimistic, and adventurous sound.

[@LordMarlle]

Tim Follin is the TASBot of music

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

Such a tease with Solstice. Cutting it off at the beginning like we were going to return later, dropping tons of references to it, while saying almost nothing directly... I was so certain that the ending would be some like: "And now, I leave you with Tim's masterpiece..." I brought Plok to a friend's place a few nights ago, and jaws were hitting the floor at the beach theme.

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

Yeah, Akryllic got the response "What the fuck, this sounds like a Final Fantasy theme."

[@theinsfrijonds]

He should've included the part right after the part from acrylic that he did :S It has all sorts of layers

[@redking36]

@Advent Arcane Wait, don’t tell me he did Ecco the Dolphin! That game is scary!

[@BottomOfTheDumpsterFire]

@@redking36　Not the Genesis one, no.

[@RetroGameQuest]

I played through some crappy games just to hear more of Follin's awesome music. He's a legend.

[@klaymodopostoffice9885]

There are plenty of good and great games he worked on, too. Don't buy into that ignorant misconception that he only worked on rubbish. Solstice and Equinox are two masterpieces on their own respective systems. Tom and Jerry for the NES is also an excellent, polished platformer full of impressive level design.

[@elgatofelix8917]

@@klaymodopostoffice9885 don't forget PLOK !

[@QactisX]

Skyshark is super awesome

[@ignacio-araya]

Soooo, he had to run self modifying code in order to push progressive music through a 1 bit speaker? I'm sorry, but this guy isn't just a musician, he's a mad sound scientist and also an alien 😂

[@jamespilcher5287]

It's bloody amazing how he figured out how to tap out 5 channels of music from the spectrum speaker

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

What an incredible Mix and information/history given about one of the most legendary composers the VGM scene has ever seen. The last 10 years Tim Follin has been a name I'm glad has gotten more attention and pretty much all his work he's done from his impressive ZX tunes to his last with Lemmings, that 20 years of his initial time in the industry and even though he's looked back on it with not the fondest of memories (especially for his chiptunes), he can't deny he truly made stuff that blew people away and did stuff with the soundchips barely anyone else could. Target Renegade & Treasure Master were my first introductions to him and it's been the start of my journey for pretty much everything in VGM, let alone NES music and all I've done with 8BitStereo. Love the flow of every section and transitions are just phenomenal. Hope someday Geoff Follin gets his own Artist Feature or like a Mini Feature, his work is just as fantastic even if it hasn't received as much attention as Tim's, but he certainly helped in making the SNES OST's he composed with Tim as fantastic as they are. But this video was absolutely fantastic and very well made! And to think this is the very first video of yours I saw actually very close to when it released, and sadly back then after seeing this I never fully checked out your channel, which has now become a tranquil hub for me recently from a lot of personal events and overall mood of what the last 2 years have been. I can't thank you enough GST for being such an amazing channel and showing true love, passion, interest, talent, and dedication to the niche parts of VGM, after rechecking this and going through all your mixes, it's been a real treat and look forward to your channels future content and growth! :)

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

I feel the love in this comment. Glad I could share the joy and the knowledge of VGM

[@BladeShadowWing]

Tim Follin is simply a genius. The fact that he could make music far too advanced for the hardware he used, as a teenager too! He's a big inspiration for me. And what a smooth transition at 18:55

[@tduyduc]

I love that transition too!

[@klaymodopostoffice9885]

@Blade Shadow Wing Hopefully you appreciate some of the games Tim composed for just as much, because Software Creations had a lot of talent in its art and engineering departments.

[@DKTronics70]

@@klaymodopostoffice9885 No, they were SHIT. Shit games, with a great soundtrack. And all your comments on this video prove that you were somehow involved in Software Creations, because your fanboy is showing.

[@klaymodopostoffice9885]

@@DKTronics70 My WHAT is showing??? Anyway, I'm sorry, mate. I know I probably look like a deluded ex-employee or something, but that isn't the case. There is definitely a regional and generational conflict going on here. It's a bit like how most Americans dislike the old British isometric games, or think OCEAN was a shit company (despite being celebrated in Europe). Now, I freely admit I was harping on about Creations, but Nintendo themselves respected that studio and rewarded them with very high-profile licenses (like Ken Griffey Jr. for SNES, which is hailed as the best baseball title of the 16-bit era, hands down). I'm old enough to recognise a lot of bias and ignorance going on today with old games and studios (some are calling it ''revised history''). You can't just celebrate one classic company (like RARE) and totally gloss over all the lousy games they made, whilst doing the complete opposite to other contemporaries. Still.... this is the internet, and trying to have an intelligent conversation is like chatting up a brick wall.

[@elPatrixf]

Son of a !!!! 😭😭😭 Tim Follin is an insane composer, I hadn't heard half of these before at all and my god he really made these machines sing!! I had intended to play this in the background while working on things but every time I had to stop and look because I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

[@eclipse2966]

The Devil: "Foolish human, you'll never beat me. You have 1 bit to work with and a single sound channel." Tim Follin: "Just give me the gold fiddle already before you embarrass yourself."

[@rednazfirewolf]

based devil went down to georgia reference

[@bayzul7405]

"I think I'm a band member working alone." -Ecco quote What a legend his feelings. If he returns to music please give this dude great games to jam to

[@Cgeta4]

Oh my freaking god I never realized that Ecco's soundtrack was also made by him! I've always loved the ost of the game, and I've always loved Tim Follin's music, but I never realized that he made it! That explains a lot!

[@alexd2227]

I'm happy a video like this exists on KZbin, and I'm thankful someone like you took the (ungodly amount of) time to put something like this together -- and to do it so well! Tim Follin of all VGM composers deserved this kind of honorable treatment. Thanks to you, others can learn more about the man and his music in depth! Keep up the great work! I hope there are more videos like this from you in the future. You rock.

[@HardToBeAPoopGod]

What I really enjoy about this particular documentary is that it really focusses on the musical aspect as a whole. The interviews don't get in the way of the listening experience, and sometimes it all just stops for the sound alone. I can tell you made this out of sheer passion for the music ♥

[@mono4171]

WAIT. HOLD UP. CONTRADICTION WAS MADE BY THIS GUY?? ...and it flopped... bruh... salt in wounds...

[@TalkSickMass]

I honestly did not know Follin recently made a game after not hearing about him for years. That sucks it did not get that much attention but it is easy to see why.

[@segaking5846]

Tim follin: always has been

[@seavord]

contradiction did not flop friend, its widely loved today by fans of the genre, he is also wanting to make a sequel aswell :)

[@Plasmariel]

It didn't flop mate

[@shagheadguy4805]

but didn't all FMV games? i know this doesn't make it better

[@dropkickmonk3y]

All those arpeggios. He's amazing creating that layer in any game. Giving the melody beautiful space to swim in.

[@owlnonymous]

Nice exposition! Tim Follin is one of my favorite composers and I find his music amazing, especially considering the limitations of the hardware he worked on.

[@mother-fng-bonswa3612]

that counts for every 8 bit game composer

[@GordonBraicks]

Conjo Bo Mama Mia There were definitely composers who only created supportive boring headaches on the 8bit machines. Tim Follin really stood out. Listen to L.E.D. Storm on C64 and you know why.

[@TheDC2088]

Oh my god, the mixing in this video gave me goosebumps more than once. Subbed, this rules.

[@dubbynelson]

1:37 I don’t know why or how, but I love the character that this kind of music has. It’s so unbelievably gritty yet so slick.

[@JimLeonard]

Utterly brilliant coverage of one of the best videogame composers in history. I wish more people knew about Follin, and I also wish he would get back into the industry. Even without chip, his music was beautiful (consider Ecco on Dreamcast).

[@klaymodopostoffice9885]

Tim and Geoff Follin were never into video game culture and certainly don't want to re-enter it now. Tim himself was a dreadful employee according to old work colleagues, due to a complete lack of work reliability or time keeping. He had it very easy at Software Creations, but wouldn't have lasted a week in a major developer environment (especially a Japanese one).

[@Jiub_SN]

@@klaymodopostoffice9885given the work he did, that makes sense. His music was leagues better then just about any other game at the time of each of his releases. Honestly I'd have been surprised if he was on time with any of his compositions

[@theflev-matic4892]

1985 -1989 Discovering 1990 -1995 Master 1996 - 2006 Underestimating 2007 - 2020+ Humble 1970 - 2020+ British Guy

[@verbatimc3]

tim starts working on agent x and immediately becomes good at any console, what a legend

[@bluebull399]

Tim Follin is the best chip tune musician of all time, that's undisputed as far as I'm concerned. I totally get why he hates chiptunes. In the 80's, we were all frustrated kids with our limited spectrums and c64's. Making music was immensely frustrating on these computers due to the limitations. Most of these sound chips only had 3 sound channels, yet he was able to used arps and arpeggios with such skill that they actually sounded pleasing as opposed to just being workarounds. Tim Follin chip tunes might sound limited today, but they are all little miracles of mastery and musicianship. His later stuff is equally as great.

[@shawnphase]

thanks for taking the time to make this video, it shows that you put a lot of time into it.

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

Oh man, I did not intend for this video to be so long, but then: 40 minutes. I poured a ridiculous amount of time into making the video. Glad to see my efforts are appreciated!

[@shawnphase]

your audio cuts were really precise, from a musicians perspective, it was nice to see that you were able to show a good bit of comparing and contrasting. i think when you have an introspective about an artist such as follin, its icing on the cake when theres some attention to detail like you put into it here. especially when you show their work chronologically and across more than one platform too. the time and effort shows, and i definitely subscribed and will pass this vid on, great job!

[@QUIZFILTER]

Yes thank you very much for your time & effort making this video!!! TIM FOLLIN is a sound design genius!!

[@thevgmlover]

Wow. So at one point, Tim was pretty much a chiptune artist before chiptune artists were a thing? That's pretty cool!

[@Its_JamesMolloy]

This is a brilliant, inspiring chipumentary, Follin is the Beethoven of chip tune…and like that he was gone

[@VGMFan20XX]

Tim Follin is love. Tim Follin is life.

[@Moncayo_02]

shrek aprooves it

[@matheusdiasg.soares6416]

tim follin in love

[@galvanizedcorpse]

I just found this guy due to "treasure master " title music in the NES, insanely good shit

[@codesymphony]

lmao what the heck 2:24 tim follin invented sidechain

[@cynergyarts4876]

lol yea

[@blahuhm6782]

nah they'd be doing sidechain long ago, in the 60s or earlier even before synths were invented

[@JTF544]

side chain on a fucking beeper though reminder. a fucking BEEPER

[@StrayFire]

Dude, Plok! has one of the best soundtracks ever made and you only gave it a couple of seconds in this compilation?! Seriously?! What about the track "Beach" where it sounds like a real e-guitar is playing?

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

Yeah I know! Beach is my favorite song from the soundtrack and was what I was hoping to show, but with the way that the mix flowed, Akryllic meshed better. Also note that I was, at this point, 23 minutes into a video that I intended to be 10 minutes long. :S

[@StrayFire]

GST大好き you cannot show off a Follin in 10 minutes ;)

[@DeathAndTheFly]

Yes... Forasmuch Follin isnt just a name, its a style of life. :)

[@MGMan37]

@Rashad Harris Ever heard Interstate 76 soundtrack? I think thats a game that shows a slower style of funk works fine for driving games

[@McAlby]

This is great. Thanks!

[@SpongeMagic]

Aren't you that guy who composed those Smurfs games? You're a legend.

[@McAlby]

Oh Am I? Thank you! : )

[@fullsdready]

You are a legend from my childhood, at least. Those Smurfs and Astérix soundtracks on NES were amazing.

[@tylermaverickyebra2258]

wait Infogrames Boy

[@DeltaSTEX]

Una leyenda frente a otra!!!

[@kristianTV1974]

The sound quality on this video is quite impressive.

[@MarioPawner]

28:50 That transition from Time Trax to Ultraverse Prime is sooo damn smooth. Incredible work putting this together.

[@RaposaCadela]

But how about Geoff Follin? No one remembers the guy.. Aside from that, totally awesome video! Keep up the good work, GST!

[@D56IS]

Yeah, there is a interview where they make listen songs to Tim and, actually, quite a lot of them were initially composed by one and then the other completed it. Even there are songs that they we're actually made entirely by Geoff but they quite mimic Tim's style, or nothing at all.

[@D56IS]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5XMnaN3hL5-n9E this is the interview if you wanna watch it

[@tyleradam4836]

I heard the intro to C64 Led Storm. My jaw hit the floor. That came out of the C64 SID?!

[@frostech3149]

Caught a really bad case of COVID a week back. I had nothing to do, so I put this video on and fell asleep. And lemme tell you, falling asleep to this music while your brain is literally being cooked by a fever is quite the experience.

[@MrEvodio65]

Another favorite music composer added to my list....Besides Nobuo,Koji Kondo, Yokojama,David Wise,etc

[@adamdesanti6713]

So from what I've gathered here and listening to tracks around KZbin, Tim is exceptional because: 1) Tim got the absolute MOST out of the sound hardware he was given, AND 2) He was an excellent musician and very creative composer. Very few video game composers in history I feel can honestly claim BOTH of these things.

[@marty20000]

love how the magazine calls it bionic commands, even though it clearly says commando in the screenshot

[@GeneraleKenobi88]

Plok and Equinox were already awesome games on their own, but Follin's music made them legendary. Thank you Tim =)

[@Borna909]

When Follin entered the game scene (for me it was the Commodore Amiga) we finally knew: games got on the pro level. I didnt know he did such great work on the Speccy before. Thanks for this video. Can hardly pick a favourite, but without any order: Ghouls ´n´ Ghosts, L.E.D. Storm, Bionic Commando. And all of the other stuff this genius wrote.

[@jacobzimny2791]

What a great dedication to a GOAT of a composer.

[@balorprice]

This completely blew me away! I've long been a fan of Tim Follin but this is next level. The mix from 15:41 all the way up to LED Storm at 17:30 is phenomenal, jazz prog chiptune. Just amazing.

[@wardrich]

This was such an awesome feature! It's kind of interesting that Tim preferred the more instrumental stuff over the chip stuff. His chip work really stood out, but the more he went into modern consoles, the more his music just kinda sounded like everything else. I didn't even realize he'd composed stuff outside of the old chip music.

[@KBC7050]

Wow, very good stuff! I recommend leaving the screen messages on for a bit longer, I found myself pausing the video a lot, though I can imagine that might be hard in some cases as the song needs to be mixed properly as well.

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

That's definitely an issue that I fret over a lot. I know there were a few spots where I cut the text a little shorter than I wanted, just because the next song was starting. I even had to remove a few blocks of text. :( Fun fact: the title theme for Solstice (used as the intro in this video) was inspired by a YES concert where they opened with "Starship Trooper". The first two chords are even the same!

[@Scripture-Man]

I'm a very slow reader and had to do a lot of pausing. Still, it's a wonderful tribute to Tim Follin. I love how everything is in the style of the corresponding computer :)

[@VANTAGLOW]

I’m obsessed with his Ecco ost

[@Aspartamebraintumor]

impressive transitions

[@BRUXXUS]

A streamer I watch played a few games which contain some of Tim Follin's music and I was just sitting there completely blown away. A friend in chat linked me to this video and... wow... seriously incredible work. Like nothing I've heard from game music from the era of tracker and chiptunes. I can't believe it took me this long to discover his work!

[@DeconTheed92]

These ultra-informative artist features are a fantastic idea, and I wholeheartedly look forward to hearing more in the future!

[@Voshchronos]

Man. What an amazing mini-documentary on Tim. Thanks for this incredible showcase of his talents.

[@fyhaskamdig]

I really enjoyed this video. Thank you for making it.

[@smellthel]

10:14 That transition was awesome!

[@SoapTF2]

This is absolutely fantastic. Video Game Music has always been a guilty pleasure of mine and this video beautifully describes the career of one of (if not) the greatest composers to ever do it. These days you can hire a live orchestra or a great producer (or both) to score your game, but to me there is something magical in one person stretching a old, simple sound chip as far as it can possibly go. Follin was a master at this. I certainly hope you can do other exposes on other legends of video game music, such as Jeroen Tel, Jochen Hippel and David Wise to name a few. You've earned a subscription today, friend.

[@SoapTF2]

As for my favorite track by Follin, I'd have to say the title theme from Ghouls n Ghosts, close second going to the title theme from Time Trax (not shown in the video). Both themes show omniscient knowledge of the sound chips and sound like nothing else on their respective systems. (ghouls n ghosts came with experience with the c64's sid chip, and Follin helped make the sound driver which made Time Trax's stellar OST possible)

[@SoapTF2]

Treasure Master gets an honorable mention, because... Simply... Who the heck wrote their music in damn 17/8 on nes?! Or 17/8 on any type of music for that matter? Also worth noting the Amiga Bionic Commando is also on a funky time signature

[@team56th]

Huge fan of Mr. Follin here, and this is one mighty fine documentary/medley mix! Thanks for all your amazing work!

[@adroharv9213]

I think I understand where he's coming from regards to not liking his own music. It's a bloody marvel technically and there are some tunes and aspects of others that are also melodically rich and marvellous but it's technical accomplishment does I feel overshadow the composition side a lot of the time. I've always been super impressed by his work but more for his mastery of arpeggio etc than themes or lines that conclude. No denying some very epic stuff though at least in how impressive it comes off and how gorgeously atmospheric he could get but I can understand why he might have thoughts the way he does on it. His later more considered moody approach is I think something he's likely more pleased with but I think by this point he probably feels he's done with the artform as it can rather take it out of you some 20 years at it Didn't stop me being hugely influenced by his early work however and it was a very impactful time having these very talented tunesmiths around for a bar to aim towards. Great times and I hope he's in an at least reasonable place right now

[@Plasmariel]

Nah Follin's tracks were greatly composed. It's just that he feels like his tunes aren't fully his because of his musical inspirations at the time.

[@adroharv9213]

@@Plasmariel I've listened to some of his more recent work in the form of more incidental and film like approach and It's rather good and I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to write this way during his C64 days. I think he's more advanced than his earlier work would suggest and that was always very good. Looking back to something like the Plok for example,, I imagine he's less impressed by it in composition terms these days but damn was it impressive at the time. I think he understood that there was a limit to how musical structures in the form of arpeggio can sound if it's mostly the basis to how you work. There's such a lot I love from what he's done from that time but it's mostly the melody based parts that endure for me personally because that's where the heart of music lies

[@klaymodopostoffice9885]

@@adroharv9213 That's a very rare observation, and something almost nobody seems to consider - the melody itself in Follin's old work, rather than the fancy technical bells and whistles that defy a machine's limitations. Tim and Geoff are not fans of video game culture, doing it only as a job in their youth. Geoff himself became a school music teacher years ago, preferring real instruments to anything associated with video games or the like. He doesn't even like to discuss it. Tim on the other hand, was a dreadful employee according to old work colleagues, owing to his complete lack of work reliability or time keeping (Geoff was often referred to as 'the good one' due to his reliability). Tim had it very easy at Software Creations, but he would never have lasted a week in a major developer environment (especially a Japanese one). He wasn't cut out for the grindstone.

[@adroharv9213]

@@klaymodopostoffice9885 Oh interesting. It was all quite experimental to everyone doing it and being so young for a lot of them it must have impacted how they took to their work. It took me a long time really understand anything about myself and I would have failed miserably doing what they did. But yeah still very much a topic of discussion because no matter how it was, they did mean a lot to so many. Cheers

[@bastardtubeuser]

You can imagine how amazing it was hearing sound come out the arse end of your 48k machine when it was done by T.Follin. Today it would be like if someone got the LED from your laptop to project a 3d image.

[@Hellscrap3r]

I played so many games that he made music for and I had NO IDEA. If I ever made a video game, I'd have loved to get this guy to make music for it. Genius.

[@BigBangBlitz]

I love everything about this video.

[@ShadesGameSource]

"Who's interested" in learning more about Tim Follin? I am! I've never heard of him until today, when I sat through all 39 mins of this video. This guy's insanely talented!

[@inuyashaspet]

Thank you so much for not talking over the beautiful music.

[@alaggan]

The computer and videogame industry would welcome Tim's music (and Geoffs) back with open arms. I maintain if some of his Amiga and SNES music was commercially released on CD it would sell. It's right up there with some of the best prog rock around!

[@TalkSickMass]

The sad part is they probably would not. Geoff became a school teacher and Tim did some filmmaking but also developed his own games.

[@DetrimentalDerivation]

Concerning prog, I can't help but feel he was heavily influenced by the band _Kansas_

[@roland_the_cursor]

And Styx, Rush, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

[@D56IS]

Jethro Tul, Yes, 70's prog basically

[@Plasmariel]

@@D56IS don't forget Genesis

[@Grease-Goblin]

@@Plasmariel Don't you tell me what not to forget. I'll forget whatever I damn well please. ...I just don't currently feel like forgetting Genesis...

[@Plasmariel]

@@Grease-Goblin If you see it like that, sure.

[@zenithquasar9623]

Ghouls and Ghosts blows my mind away! So different and unreal for C64!

[@drifter402]

Title LED Storm. Holy hell that's amazing. Just learned I've actually played a game with his music. Ford Racing 2.

[@daltongrowley5280]

Plok remains amazing to this day of a game whose score transcendds its game.

[@technoguyx]

Woah, I had no idea he wrote music for Ford Racing 3. My little brother used to play that game all day and we both loved the tunes.

[@yomommasfupa]

I come back frequently to this video. The amount of effort you put into making this is apparent. So thank you.

[@codytsmith5678]

Ecco the Dolphin soundtrack brought me here. Tim Follin your the G.O.A.T🐐🐐🐐

[@spaceace9103]

20:54 that transition is godly

[@muscovyducks]

mad dj skills indeed

[@SuperBrictson]

I feel like Tim Follin was the main influence of David Wise, both like to emulate the lead guitar in a virtuous fashion!!!

[@enriquedossantos3283]

To do great work within limitations is the definition of genius

[@TheShockVox]

His Gambit track remains one of my favorite game songs ever.

[@Rubberman202]

Tim Follin feels like a modern day Greek tragedy... It feels like he had the potential to be one of the greats. I could totally see him being just as celebrated as, say, Grant Kirkhope or David Wise, among many MANY other excellent video game composers. Now barely anyone remembers him or knows who he is. :(

[@supmattboy]

"Barely anyone" If you think Tim Follin is unknown, what about others talented chiptune composers such as Allister Brimble or Alberto Gonzalez ? I see their names a lot less often than the Follin one.

[@Rubberman202]

@@supmattboy That's a fair point.

[@TalkSickMass]

Tim and Geoff were never video game guys themselves when they were at Software Creations. They slowly loathed the experience when they worked on various licensed projects.

[@Rubberman202]

@@TalkSickMass I can definitely sympathize with the terrible working experience they went through.

[@geminielectro]

I love the Led Storm theme.

[@SRDhain]

It's a fantastic video. Tim, Rob et al, were so inspirational to many of us C64 owners who later bought synths &, set up our own studios, etc, to make music. 🌅

[@hacktrixapii]

Dave Wise and Tim Follin *need* to collaboratively compose something.

[@colehetzel5003]

this

[@DenkyManner]

Check the comments to Time Trax genesis. Tim Follin left a comment. He says he preferred doing chip tunes to the tech that came after it and that's one reason he retired and for a long time no one was doing chip tunes. So maybe he did like it after all.

[@GSTChannelVEVO]

yeah, listening to his thoughts more recently, I get the impression that he was just frustrated with the gap between the sounds in his head and the sounds he was able to pull out of the machine, which is pretty relatable as an artist. his enjoyment seemed to come from the technical challenge of it all

[@JTF544]

Highlights aka LISTEN TO IT PLEASE 1:34- Agent X 4:11- LED Storm (ZX Spectrum) 10:50 C64 17:25 Amiga 7:45 Bionic Commando C64 16:55 Amiga 9:04 Ghouls and Ghosts C64 18:22 Amiga 13:52 MOTHER FUCKIN PICTIONARY 14:35 Silver Surfer 15:48 Treasure Master 19:05 Puzznic 19:55 The only Gauntlet III that matters Amiga 20:15 Super Off Road 20:55 Spider-Man and the X-Men 23:00 Plok 23:30 Equinox 26:25 ECCO the Dolphin 27:05 Time Trax 29:10 Ultraverse Prime 30:30 Starsky & Hutch 37:25 Contradiction

[@peterpoterstein6686]

i discoverd tim follin about 1 hour ago... absolutley brilliant music mind! thank you gst for this fantastic presentation!

[@banonKING]

I think my cousins and I played NES Pictionary purely for the music. Okkay, Tim might be one of the greatest composers of all time. Definitely top 20 in music... and definitely top 5 in video games.

[@Moonfreeze]

That GhoulsnGhosts intro. Unbelievable. Excellent video! Learned a whole lot.

[@earx23]

If there only was half as good music in Castlevania...

[@wayge]

the Silver Surfer theme is so fun to play on guitar hero

[@TristanJCumpole]

To me, Tim's most spectacular piece was the intro music to Agent X-II on the Spectrum. That was something in and of itself. Amazing. All that complexity....PLUS A GAME IN 48K.

[@frostech3149]

These are so good it feels straight up illegal. Like, serious keygen and cracktro vibes here.

[@Novous]

14:00 "We've got this crappy game." And Tim's like "Hold my cocaine, I'm going IN."

[@duftpank4817]

other than the Plok boss theme this is the first time i've ever heard his music and im absolutely losing it

[@AfroRyan]

This is some great editing; the transitions from one song to another are basically seemless and it's never distracting. Great work!

[@mattsephton]

Just a superb video and the mixing of the music really added to the story. Well done!

[@eosborne6495]

“Just try to imagine what a Bionic Commando sounds like” “Probably like a funky Cuban montuno lmao.”

[@ViRiXDreamcore]

I really like how Time Trax and the the previous two tracks have very similar chord progressions. That is well done mixing!

[@latumbadeloshorrores7777]

God lowered and composed The video:

[@ItsTommiii]

This series is wonderful and demonstrates Tim Follin's music very well. Such talent!

[@aimeetaco441]

Like so many, a brilliant prog musician, lost in the noise of life. Thanks for showcasing his work! ☺️

[@nickbeilschmidt411]

From a first glance, Tim Follin looked like Egoraptor haha

[@JeroenTel]

I've got so much respect for my friend Tim, I can't describe it in words, but I will try: "R E S P E C T ! ! !" (Maybe the exclamation marks will do the job) Or maybe bolding it, would do the job: "RESPECT*

[@jezgomez]

And I've got so much respect for you Jeroen! I still listen to Cybernoid II to this day and Maniacs of Noise were legendary. Thank you for sharing your talent with the world dude.

[@yofyo]

When one musical demigod compliments another!

[@JeroenTel]

@@yofyo Haha... Demo-god? =P