Hi, I'm Kevin (aka kadraman).
The idea for BeatBax came about when I was developing games for retro consoles and looking for an easier way to create in-game music. Although I had made music with modern DAWs before, creating chiptune music for homebrew games is very different. You have to learn in detail how each sound chip works — its capabilities, limitations, and nuances — and then learn the formats that different game libraries use for each chip. It's a whole lot of work, so I thought there must be a better way!
The idea for a rich, text-based grammar for chiptune music came to me while messing with Strudel. It inspired me to think it might be possible to create a live-coding language for homebrew and chiptune music that works across multiple sound chips… and BeatBax was born.
I hope you enjoy it.