Source note: Local copy of a Summer Into AI 2026 submission originally published on Substack. Screenshots, video, and audio found in the post body are mirrored locally when publicly accessible; profile and avatar images are intentionally not copied. Read the canonical post.
Project: Liberty Chiptune — a single-file, in-browser 8-bit chiptune step-sequencer for Theme 1: 8-Bit America. Paint a tune on the grid, hear it sing in square-wave glory, and share it with a link.
The whole leaderboard this week is games and video — so I built the one thing nobody made: the sound. This is a tool, not a toy: a real 16-step sequencer with note rows, a bassline, a noise-drum kit, adjustable tempo and waveform, and patriotic presets (Yankee Doodle, a Battle Hymn riff, a Liberty fanfare).
How it works:
Click cells on the grid to place notes (low → high, left → right in time). Hit Play and the WebAudio synth performs it as chiptune.
Presets drop in starting melodies; Randomize rolls a new riff; tempo + waveform knobs shape the tone; Drums adds an 8-bit kick/snare/hat groove.
Copy share link packs your whole tune into the URL — send it and the other person hears your anthem. (Try it: the link carries the grid, tempo, wave, and drums.)
8-bit note grid, stars-and-stripes palette, CRT scanlines. Touch-enabled.
Theme connection (8-Bit America): it is the 8-bit American songbook — public-domain patriotic melodies rebuilt as chiptune, the genre every NES game on this leaderboard is begging for.
A tip of the tricorn hat: every game in this competition deserves a soundtrack — so consider this the chiptune scoring booth for Eric Megaman 1776 and Timestorm Baseball. Make a victory fanfare, copy the link, drop it in the comments.
▶️ Play it: https://myles-mf.github.io/summer-into-ai-2026/week-1/anthem/
💾 Code: https://github.com/myles-mf/summer-into-ai-2026/blob/main/week-1/anthem/index.html
Two builds, one week. Small shipped work, twice. ★
Original source
Canonical Substack URL: https://merlinforge.substack.com/p/liberty-chiptune-an-8-bit-anthem.