Rob Hubbard - Delta C64 in-game tune

[@Andrewmwright]

I can vouch that this music was inspired by both Pink Floyd's "On The Run" and Koyaanisqatsi, Gary Liddon and I were listening to both these albums on heavy rotation during development. Stavros hated the music....

[@kelpkelp5252]

That's a shame Stavros hated the music. I think it really lent an extraordinary atmosphere to the game. Never heard anything like this before in any C64 game and certainly not in a side scrolling shooter. Marvellous work and ingenious.

[@inphanta]

I LOVE this tune. It is so epic, expansive, hypnotic, dreamlike and just plain awesome on every level. Hearing it takes me back to being 12, staying up late drawing and stuff whilst listening to tape recordings of C64 music, this tune being a prominent fixture of those languid summer evenings. Simpler times. :)

[@kelpkelp5252]

Good to hear I wasn't the only one that made tapes of C64 music just to listen to.

[@radsdau]

Almost exactly my experience. This stuff was totally amazing back then. Still is.

[@6581punk]

It was supposed to be a re-creation of this legendary Pink Floyd track. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKDYeYObhJl6otU

[@inphanta]

Along with Koyanisquaatsi. ;)

[@peterstorms3381]

I LOVED that tune back then so much! Much appreciation to see that I was not the only one. Cheers guys.

[@pinchopaxtonsgreatestminds9591]

This was always my favourite C64 music of all time.

[@Nocrotec]

No, the best melodies EVER made at all. I can't get these melodies out of my head since 25 years! I whistle them in the car, I hear them in my head every day! Human Race tune - every day in my head - I don't know why!

[@mingepotato]

It is well known that Koyannisqatsi had a strong influence on this tune but the beginning always sounded like 'on the run' by Pink Floyd to me :)

[@chotaire]

How can I not have ever heard this tune in 32 years? What a masterpiece.

[@Dunted]

Definitely a high-water mark in SID chip history, pure witchcraft.

[@59mph]

I found the game a bit hard, so I just used to pause it and listen to this, lights off, eyes shut. Superb.

[@kimsteinhaug]

One og the best songs ever made for the C64, this one is AWESOME!

[@originsystems4195]

Then one cold winters day in my 30's - at home, I listen to koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass and then my mind is well and truly blown ....

[@Retrospective.]

on a 34 y/o sound chip, that is still unsurpassed. Magic, ladies and gentlemen, sheer magic ..

[@WocklessGamingforAnimeMoms]

Yeah this is definetely an interesting bit of music history.

[@thebiscuittin]

What great childhood memories! Spent countless hours on this game and loved the music. This music piece is one of the main reasons I got into electronic dance years later. Rob is a genius.

[@RedFoxRoaming]

Hubbard, master of the SID! Influenced heavily by Floyd & Glass here, but definitely has a life and character of its own. Helluva journey and a composition. And with just a SID?!?! Pure witchcraft!

[@FinnRenard]

The filtering is so thick. love it. The game is pretty good. I remember some (many?) of the Code Master games being boring and a bit crappy, but having great music by Rob. Knucklebusters is epic too, running about as long as this.

[@originsystems4195]

Knucklebusters was a horrific game - Think it got one of the lowest zzap64 scores after 'Werner'! I would load it, start game, pause - and listen. There was this incredibly intense demo called 'Circlesque' that had all the good tunes of the times and all you did was create patterns with sprites - would play with that for hours on end.

[@chillivodka01]

Spent so many hours listening to this tune when i was a kid trying to beat Delta. The game was rock hard after the middle stages but the music made me try harder to get further as I didn't want it too end. Awesome tune, wish Rob would bring an up to date mp3 of this out for all of us c64 fans to faint too! :)

[@Thalamus-be2sm]

Yes. Me too! :)

[@greeny202ab]

I was 17 when I first played this game and heard this masterpiece by Rob Hubbard. Was slightly gutted to find out it is really a re-arranging of Koyaanisqatsi by Phillip Glass. Still awesome for the C64 though.

[@carlopepi]

Greeny202a sounds more like on the run by the floyd but highly stylised by hubbard the title music was by glass

[@DirkIronside]

+Greeny202a So I wasn't the only one who thought that this sounded like Pruit Igoe from Koyaanisqatsi! Well... these pieces were composed at around the same time period.

[@greeny202ab]

David Woodside Yep. i think Rob actually said in an interview his in game music for delta was a tribute to Glass.

[@daibonehead]

Greeny202a Personally, I think that it still takes a genius to commit adapt Inspiration to the confines of the Sid.

[@zyxlamonde]

Totally agree with you! and also heavily influences by Phillip Glass as you can listen here 04:00 . Rob Hubbard and Martin Galway will remain forever in my head and my soul !!!

[@marksims68]

MAGNIFICENT piece of music. Hubbard's second best. (Knucklebusters being number one)

[@daibonehead]

Personally, I think this is in with a shot of being the best work by one of the best Sid musicians out there. Alchemy.

[@miltonsilva6371]

I was 17 at the time, true epic tune .. this days gamers dont care about their artiists, don know their names. Itś so easy.

[@scottbreon9448]

It's mostly because these days game developers get licensed bands to do their music instead of getting in-house musicians to do it. The game music of yesteryear was much more relate-able to me than having a fucking Nickelback song in a game

[@siwess]

Game ok, but this musc, after years still good. Masterpiece.

[@marksims68]

@Nocrotec funnily enough so do I!! I was whistling the Lightforce theme today in the office..........

[@chillivodka01]

The "thumbs up button" hasn't been working for me for the last two months so i thought I'd just reply! I have found the remix you said and listened to a bit of it (as it's paid for). Sounds awesome and love it. So bought the entire CD. Well done my friend, i'm in awesome happiness :)

[@darkstatehk]

This and Sanxion were amazing! Anything Rob is amazing! Interesting fact: this song was based on music from Koyaanisqatsi. Check it out.

[@01movo]

@Greeny202a thanks i never knew this, made my day, 45 y.o.a c64 lover xx

[@NuntiusLegis]

Rather atmospheric sound effects than music, but why not, this can work as a game soundtrack.

[@smeier69]

This one stands out as one of the(if not the) best tunes ever created on the sid chip, heavily influenced by On the Run [from the Dark Side of the Moon] by Pink Floyd. Love it, eleven minutes pure magic.

[@mingepotato]

Pink Floyd and VCS3 go 64! Rob Hubbard pulls off the impossible!

[@maxhemenway]

7:23 Best

[@sverrekvernmo]

Must do for lovers of this soundtrack: check out Phillip Glass' "Akhnaten", not just the aforementioned "Koyaanisqatsi".

[@Uomodargilla]

Thanks Philip Glass

[@alsatiancousin2905]

All Fasoulas games were hard, but perfectly coded - smooth as shit and very long for C64 environment. The games these days with practically unlimited capacity as far as memory goes are also ridiculously easy. And everybody knows why.

[@scottbreon9448]

I agree, especially most modern AMERICAN programmed games

[@ActionDef]

For 21 years I've been wondering if it is inspired by Pink Floyd's "On the Run" or if it is a coincidence. It doesn't sound exactly the same but gets kinda close. Does anybody know?

[@carstenberggreen7509]

if you download HVSC you can read all about all his tunes. www.hvsc.de/ using the SIDplayer if correctly setup to use the details inside the archive.

[@ActionDef]

I have HVSC, didn't even know that. Thank you!

[@carstenberggreen7509]

***** No problem, I didn't know until last year either ;-) it's about sharing what we know to keep the scene/history alive

[@DirkIronside]

+Christian Siege It actually was inspired by On the Run and some tunes from Koyaanisqatsi.

[@SRDhain]

the game was a bit shitty to be honest, and if it wasnt for the music, i wouldnt have bothered loading it up as much. Rob is one of the reasons i got into writing music in the first place..an absolute legend.

[@fuzzface100]

Blatant rip off of Pink Floyd and Philip Glass but I still give massive props to Hubbard for translating it so effectively to the SID chip.

[@BeMeCam]

fuzzface100 The in-game Delta tune has some structural similarity to Pink Floyd's On The Run but melodically it's closer to Philip Glass. It was a creative combination of the best of the both worlds. I wouldn't call it a rip-off, rather an improved hybrid. Same thing about Rob's tune for Zoids, which is melodically similar to "Ancestors" by Synergy (Larry Fast), but rhythmically and melodically much more interesting! As if Rob took the tune and improved upon it.

[@scottbreon9448]

A LOT of early video game music developers used samples though. Jean Michel Jarre's stuff was sampled quite a bit in fact. The music from the C64 version of Yie Ar Kung Fu (the first game) was pretty much HEAVILY influence by Magnetic Fields.

[@SRDhain]

@elvirtnt your entitled to your opinion, as i am to mine. delta was one of the worst games that came out of the thalamus stable IN MY OPINION, and really needed some kind of continue option or something. the weapons system was flawed, and the collision detection was ropey. it was ridiculously difficult. stavros fasoulas' best game was QUEDEX, which was the last game he made, i believe, before leaving the scene.

[@diegomarquezespinosa5859]

Aphex Twin

[@MephProduction]

yikes, this has to be one of the worse soundtracks.. while the game was great and had a brilliant menu tune, this is just 11 minute is droning repetitive noise.. i can't stand it. A real low point in Rob's career

[@zeewolf6499]

😂 well you cant please everyone