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BEN DAGLISH (1966-2018) Ben Daglish was one of the best Commodore 64 composers, an outstanding multi-instrumentalist and a great showman in the retro scene. It was my privilege to call Ben a friend after being a fan of his music for many years.When Ben's family moved to Sheffield, it opened up a world of music to him. He learnt several instruments, including flute, piano and guitar. He played with the schools orchestra, as chief percussionist and later as conductor. Ben won a national essay contest, and the prize was a BBC Micro for the school. This brought him into contact...

We were informed that Anthony passed away as a result of an traffic incident in August 2016. This is very sad news indeed, and a great loss. We thought we'd pay tribute by asking Retro Gamer's Andrew Fisher for a fitting obituary. ANTHONY LEES OBITUARY - by Andrew FisherMusic was always an important part of Anthony's life. He learned how to play the clarinet when he was young and later played the alto sax and bassoon, and he would work with a choir for many years - conducting existing works and writing new music for them to perform. It was...

We did a Q&A about the book with Dr. Kenny McAlpine, our main musicologist and first named author on the "Rob Hubbard - The Official Reference" book. Hope you enjoy it! 1. You’re the UK’s foremost academic expert on chipmusic: how did that come about? Is it still difficult getting other musical academics to recognise that’s even a thing?  Ha! That’s unduly flattering, I think, but thank you.  If it’s true, then it’s almost certainly by dint of the fact that there aren’t all that many other academics who are working in that space, so I've ended up being a leading...

Early Days The Story of 8-Bit Symphony starts with... nothing. Specifically, nothing on the TV in the 1970s. I lived through a period in the 1970s when sometimes the only thing on TV was a static graphic (called a "Testcard") and some light music. You can imagine a questing young mind listening to and processing that music. Filing it away. It was a great variety of music, from classical tracks done properly, to classical tracks done in a different style, to pop, and... to early synth music made purely on synthesizers of the time. It made quite an impression to hear...