There aren't enough arguments on this site, so I thought I'd try and start a few...

The rules (there have to be rules, and as I am the topic starter I have the authority to make them as outlandish as I want) are as follows;

1. You can choose any musician from any platform (C64, Amiga, PC etc)
2. You must say why you've chosen that particular musician.

Mine, for example, would be Martin Galway on the C64 because he did incredible things with such a limited palette, wrote countless great melodies, and inspired me to become a musician.

So who's the best?

Oh now come on... there aren't enough options lol
There are so many to choose from these days so I'll split mine up.

• C64 - Rob Hubbard followed by Martin Galway.
  Martin Galways Wizball music and Rambo loading tracks were amazing.. and still are!
  Rob Hubbards Masters Of Magic is simply jaw dropping. Sanxion just roxxers!
  
• Amiga - Nation XII (Gods)
  When I first heard this I knew that it was a winner. The track was well ahead of it's time and still stands above many of todays tracks.
  
• Playstation - Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy V)
  Simply some of the best and most enchanting music to be produced for a game in my opinion.

Sadly that's about it for me. Most games today are just a mish mash of indie music which doesn't really inspire me although some of the RPGs do have original music but I haven't played an RPG since Breath of Fire 3 on the PSX! That's going back a few years innit!

Blue

Totally predictably, for me on C64 it has to be Rob Hubbard for both his music and just as importantly the sounds he created. Most C64 music suffered from over-use of that whiny, nasal lead sound, even Rob's stuff, but his had a depth and chunkiness that was unique.

Martin Galway's Wizball soundtrack was good too - sometimes I'd just leave the game in 'attract mode', like an early version of a today's screensavers.

No in-game music has really made much of an impact on me since then. These days I tend to turn off in-game music and switch to other stuff I've ripped to my Xbox hard drive.

I just remembered the Bomb The Bass soundtrack from Xenon II. That was great.

Nice choices!

Mine was a difficult decision between Rob Hubbard and Martin Galway; Hubbard's track for the game 'Thrust' is amazing, and some of the sounds he coaxed out of the Sid chip still sound great, but for me Martin Galway's melodies have the edge.

Check out this site;

http://www.tdubel.com/emulaattorit/sidmt.html

It's in German (I think) but there's a couple of tiny downloads of some of the best of Galway and Hubbard which can be played through Deliplayer (deliplayer.com), including Galway's brilliant Ocean Loader track, and Rob Hubbard music for Thrust. Invest a bit of time to see where it all started!

On the Amiga it's Bjorn Lynne (aka Dr Awesome of Crusaders), followed by Bruno (wrote some amazing jazzfunk tracks), 4-mat and Jester.

I agree with you about modern games; some of them do have great soundtracks (eg Outcast, the GTAs) but for 'proper' computer music the last bastion is probably the shareware/independant scene.


Steve

If you are looking for any SID tunes then I'm your man
I've got over 2000 of them.
Just give me a tinkle and I'll see what I can do

For now though... grab the zip file. It's Martin Galways "Wizball".
As Steve mentioned use Deliplayer or one I use: SidPlay2W.

Blue

For amiga music I got hooked on a guy called Celsius. He had a jungle/breakbeat vibe that worked with me at the time.

I bumped into him again in a prodigy forum a couple of years ago. He's fronting a group called Shaper and has had his music used in TV and a new xbox 360 game.

Oh, and this is SidPlayW2

Blue

Oooh - may need to take you up on that offer, Blue... There're an amazing blues track that Galway did that I've been trying to find for ages; no idea which game it's from, but it's about 15 minutes long and ends with this incredibly soulful single track solo.

Could it be this one?

Blue

P.S. This is an awesome track.
Hmmm... then again, you might be on about Game Over...

No - but it is an awesome track! The one I'm after is mainly just one sound on a very slow chordal melody...

Hmmm

Well i reckon any tune used in a raff cecco game needs a mention
Especially cybernoid 1&2 oh and not forgetting exolon


Martin galway's tune for "game over" on the c64

Gods on the amiga


am sure i'll think of more

I'm wondering whether it might be the Miami Vice loading track.

Is it this one?

Blue

Nope! Though it's another nice track...

Good call Darkside - the Cybernoid music was great!

I always enjoyed the music on c64's R-TypeIII. Anyone know who's responsible for that?

R-TypeIII on the C64? Was this an independant release after it's demise? I didn't even know there was a R-Type 2 lol. Chris Hulsbeck was responsible for the music and sound on the C64 R-Type I.
Check out the zip... they are all in there.

Just thinking ahead... was it perhaps Turrican 3?

Blue