Here’s an 8-bit chiptune rendition of the LDS hymn “The Spirit of God,” transcribed straight across from the hymnbook:

Back story: A few years ago I heard about MML, a way to write Nintendo chiptunes. Shaun Inman had put together an MML bundle for TextMate, which came with ppmck, a command-line tool for converting MML to an NSF (Nintendo Sound File).

I was curious what hymns would sound like as chiptunes, so I transcribed the hymn to MML, converted it to NSF, used Audio Overload to export it to WAV, then used Audacity to convert the WAV to MP3.

Because someone will probably bring it up: no, I don’t think it’s sacrilegious to do this. The 8-bit sound is morally neutral. I wouldn’t play this in a sacrament meeting — it wouldn’t be appropriate — but outside of church I see no problem with it.

Links:

• SpiritOfGod.nsf
• SpiritOfGod.mp3
• Polished MML Bundle (Shaun’s updated bundle)
• Ultimate PPMCK MML Reference
• MCK/MML Beginner’s Guide

The MML code (and yes, you have to spell “PROGRAMER” that way):

#TITLE The Spirit of God
#COMPOSER W. W. Phelps
#PROGRAMER Ben Crowder

@v0 = { 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 }

ABCDE t150

A l8 o4 @01 @v0
A f4 b-2 > c4 c4 d2 c4 < b-4 b-2 a4 g4 f4. g8 f4
A e-4 d4 f4 b-4 > d4 c4 < f4 g4 > e-4 d4 c4 < b-4 a4 b-2.
A f4 b-2 > c4 c4 d2 c4 < b-4 b-2 a4 g4 f4. g8 f4
A e-4 d4 f4 b-4 > d4 c4 < f4 g4 > e-4 d4 c4 < b-4 a4 b-2.
A f4 f2 d4 f4 f2 d4 f4 b-4 > d4 c4 < b-4 a4 g4 f8 g8
A a8 f8 b-2 > c4 d4 < g2 a4 b-4 > e-2 d4. c8 c2.
A c4 d4 < b-4 > c4 d4 < g2 > e-4 d4 c4. d8 c4 < b-4 a4 g4 f8 g8
A a8 f8 b-4. > c8 d8 c8 < b-8 a8 g4 > e-4 d4 c4 < b-2 a4 a4 b-2.

B l8 o4 @01 @v0
B d4 d2 f4 f4 f2 e-4 d4 g2 f4 e-4 d4. e-8 d4
B c4 < b-4 > d4 d4 f4 f2 e-4 e-4 f4 g4 f4 f4 f2.
B d4 d2 f4 f4 f2 e-4 d4 g2 f4 e-4 d4. e-8 d4
B c4 < b-4 > d4 d4 f4 f2 e-4 e-4 f4 g4 f4 f4 f2.
B d4 d2 < b-4 > d4 d2 < b-4 > d4 d4 f4 f4 e4 f2 f8 g8
B e-4 d4 f4 f4 f4 e-2 f4 f4 f2 f4. f8 f2.
B f4 f2 f4 f4 e-2 f4 f4 f2 f4 e4 f2 f8 g8
B f4 f2 f4 d4 e-2 f4 e-4 d2 c4 e-4 d2.

C l8 o2 @01 @v0
C b-4 b-2 > f4 f4 b-2 f4 g4 e-2. e-4 < b-2 b-4
C a4 b-2 b-4 b-4 > f4 d4 e-4 c4 d4 e-4 f4 f4 < b-2.
C b-4 b-2 > f4 f4 b-2 f4 g4 e-2. e-4 < b-2 b-4
C a4 b-2 b-4 b-4 > f4 d4 e-4 c4 d4 e-4 f4 f4 < b-2.
C b-4 b-2 b-4 b-4 b-2 b-4 b-4 b-2 > c4 c4 f4 e-4 d4
C c4 < b-4 > d4 c4 < b-4 > e-2 c4 < b-4 a2 b-4. > f8 f2.
C f4 b-4 d4 f4 b-4 e-2 c4 < b-4 > f2 f4 c4 f4 e-4 d4
C c4 < b-2 b-4 b-4 > e-4 c4 d4 e-4 f2 < f4 f4 b-2.