Yay! Sounds are awesome and have as many functions as images in games. Back in early gaming the sounds were not present, but when they were it still kind of sucked. On my old Spectrum 48k the games had music and sound effects but there were a few major differences.
Bitrate - The quality or resolution of the sounds created.
Channels - The number of simultaneous sounds that can be made in an instance (spectrum=1)
In the 80s and early 90s game sounds evolved from blips and screeches generated from on board sound chips to the universally recognised General-Midi (GM) modular sounds. I'm a bit of a student of music and can tell you MIDI has applications even outside of sound, during stage shows lighting rigs for example use MIDI to transfer digital information about the lighting – colour sweeps and washes and the like. This totally automates the lighting desk process… Which I thought interesting anyway.
General MIDI (GM) revolutionized gaming music and effects. The way it works is that it has a general library of sounds, piano, harp, strings, padding and the like. It also contains many basic modifiers, like volume, panning, vibrato, pitch bend… These are then used as a virtual orchestra and anyone with fundamental music skills (and a bit of patience) can use these to recreate an almost infinite range of audio sounds and music. The great thing about MIDI is not only that it is universally used, but the amount of data needed to store and edit these sounds is miniscule.
A while back I took apart a MIDI track from Zelda: A Link to the past, which was on the SNES, I think it is amazing how complex and subtle the composition is. Although it sounds melodic and almost tranquil there are hundreds of notes and modifiers, unfortunately I can't show it the way I wanted, just take my word for it that game music is deceptively simple. Lots of music in games is made to loop, as the gamer may be playing for an indefinite amount of time. There are also instances of the tracks changing as you enter a different area or an event happens (often by layering/changing tracks and samples along-side original tracks).
One game that I think deserves a big shout out for the music and sounds is Grand Theft Auto. In San Andreas the music is actually played as the radios in the vehicles you steal or the sound systems at the locations you visit. On top of that they use real tracks that suit the era and have humerous commentary. You can also switch the radio stations according to your musical tastes, on top of that there is a progression as you play further, and the announcers even comment on the news – which may involve the plot and the actions you have taken. How brilliant and immersive is that? I've not even mentioned the best bits which are the incidental comments from the NPCs (non-player characters), these are epic, rude, and often hilarious.
Reading the brief for this task I was surprised that "Good Times" was the most sampled song. I have been brought up to believe the "Funky Drummer" is the most used sample (drum loop) – being used in hundreds of dance, hip-hop, soul, drum and bass, and jungle tracks. Personally the biggest gaming music moment for me was Final Fantasy 7 (1997), with epic and original orchestral compositions, which I would say comparable to John Barry of cinematic fame. I actually have the Final Fantasy soundtrack… which I admit is really pretty sad. There is an interesting genre of music called 8bit/chiptune – with bands like Anamanaguchi using actual Gameboys on stage along with traditional instruments… which can be grating on the ears or melodic, is hard to tell - but is an obvious tribute and evolution of game music.
