Radiomorrow, station 2 of 6
Castle Keep
Gothic action in a minor key
Castle Keep is the dark, driving station. Tunes run at 138 to 170 beats per minute and are in a minor key about nine times out of ten.
The lead is a narrow pulse wave with a thin, nasal edge. Under it the bass gallops or hammers eighth notes, and a second, even thinner pulse voice spells out the chords as arpeggios or echoes the melody. In minor keys the fifth chord is made major, which gives the cadences their old-castle pull.
Titles here sound like rooms on a map: Moonlit Belfry, Iron Stairway, Forgotten Clocktower.
The button opens the radio on this station with a fresh seed. Tempo, scale, energy and the number of notes can be changed while it plays.
The other stations
- Brick Hopper: bouncy side-scroller runs
- Star Lanes: home-computer space shooter
- Pocket Town: slow handheld lullabies
- Sixteen FM: 16-bit brass, electric piano and slap bass
- Chip Classics: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven on four channels