Meet Zane Little

I started making music when I was 16 and fell in love with it right away. I've been making pretty much no less than a song a month (usually much more) since I started back then! I love to make it, and I love to share it just as much! When I was growing as a musician, I was always looking for opportunities to share my stuff around and get feedback/opinions, and ultimately get a couple sales on Bandcamp. I always found that to be quite difficult, since it turns out people don't tend to listen to unfamiliar music by small, inexperienced artists unless there's something in it for them. Admittedly, I certainly wouldn't love having to listen to my old music for the first time all the time, let alone pay for it. I had still had lots to learn, even if I didn't think so at the time.

After a few years, the most common feedback I had received was that my music sounded like video games. I didn't really think of my music as video game music at the time, rather, it was just what I had enjoyed making and listening to. Eventually, however, I had started making freelance music for game developers and content creators. This really helped me gain proficiency with my software and technique over time.

My favorite instruments lately have been soundfonts, since they are typically so full of retro character. I've been loving my general midi soundfonts, which I believe are typically gathered from the default instrument presets on old digital keyboards. They sound so cheesy, and that's why I like 'em. I of course use tons from a huge variety of Nintendo systems and games, specifically for the SNES, N64, DS and 3DS. Those are just the sounds I like most. They're cheerful and fun!

My music is pretty much a reflection of whatever I am inspired by at a given time. I decide what to make based on what I think would be most fun, and what I find interesting! A Bag of Chips [Vol. 1] came about when I had started making freelance video game music, and found I had a blast working with chiptune instruments. - Zane Little

A Bag of Chips - Released 2022
Because of my freelance work, I had developed a pipeline that made it super quick and easy to get my ideas into the software. With my setup, I was able to make the album in about a month or so. A Bag of Chips [Vol. 2] or Another Bag of Chips came about more or less in the same way. I had developed a pipeline for making video game music in a 16-bit style as I started to expand my freelance offerings, and felt super inspired by all the soundfonts available online. That one took between 1-2 months, I think. - Zane Little

Another Bag of Chips - Released 2023
Another Bag of Chips intricately meshes bit-crushed leads and punchy pixelated percussions to create an auditory homage to the golden era of gaming. It's more than just an album: it's a high score in chiptune composition that will add a dash of nostalgia and an authentic retro vibe to your projects or playlists. - Zane Little

♥ - Released 2023
This is a super personal, super sappy EP I made for my girlfriend for our anniversary. All the music is royalty-free and great for upbeat and positive electro-pop vibes! - Zane Little

New Peach Radio - Released 2023
New Peach Radio was an album I created in the style of a PS2 game I loved growing up called Road Trip Adventure. The music is nostalgic for me, and I thought it'd be a lot of fun to try to emulate the sound of the in-game radio. - Zane Little

Digital Cocktail - Released 2024
Digital Cocktail is a collection of music I made for my supporters on Ko-Fi. I made one song each month, and just made whatever I felt like! There's a giant variety of styles and sounds in that album because of that. It seems every other day there's something new I want to try out, so that album encapsulates that ADHD real well. - Zane Little

A Bag of Chips [Vol.3] - Released 2025
A Bag of Chips [Vol.3] came about after I had stopped freelancing, and was beginning to focus more on animation for my YouTube channel. I had a strong itch to make music again, and I scratched it with that album! It's mainly themed around 32-bit MIDI instruments, but does deviate a good bit because I can never stay on one track if I don't have to. A lot of the music in that album was created as background music for my YouTube videos, which I wanted to make available to everyone to use as they please! - Zane Little

All That - Released 2024
FMA Comment by TheAcidMuskitears - Feb 27, 2025
Listen to “All That” -- I started melting listening to it. Like actually slowly melding from a human into an amalgamation of human and chair. Slaps SO HARD.

I've always loved the idea of surrounding myself with tons of cool and expensive instruments, mixers, and doohickeys… But I know if I were to ever have that setup, I'd never really use any of it to make music. For me, I just use my computer, my mouse, and a little midi keyboard which I use almost exclusively to quickly hear instrument sounds. I can't play any instruments. Just never had the patience to learn. I wish I could play the piano, though! To make my music, I use FL Studio. I love it for so many reasons!! For me, it works really well because it has a super intuitive and efficient piano roll system. I click everything in with the mouse, and FL Studio makes that a breeze.

On the software synth side of things, I pretty much love everything Spectrasonics has made. I really like Omnisphere, since it has a massive bank of presets that I like to tweak. The scale of the Omnisphere library is immense, so there are all sorts of inspiration to be found just by scrolling through those. Keyscape doesn't have as large of a library, but has some of the best piano sounds out there, along with a myriad of electric and bell tone pianos that I like to use. Trillian is more of the same, but with bass sounds. Other than those, there's a variety of chiptune synths I like, such as chipsounds and NES VST. I use Serum when I want to make my own sounds from scratch. Addictive Drums and Soundfont drumkits are my choices when it comes to percussion. Tons of fun stuff! What I end up using all depends on what inspires me the most on the given day.- Zane Little

Backup Plan - Released 2023
FMA Comment by Raymond McDonald - Jan 20, 2024
Amazing music, not “just for free music” but in general. It's mind-blowing that such a talented music maker is also so generous as to license their music like this. I plan to use Zane's music in every little game I throw together.

I had kept with my personal music on the side while freelancing, but after generating no sales and few listeners over the years, I realized that I had the wrong approach. At the end of the day, I make music because I love to do it. Considering how things were going, I figured there was no reason to lock my music behind copyright or a price. I wanted to make it as accessible as possible, because the one thing I love just as much as making music is seeing people enjoy it! So I went totally copyright-free with my album A Bag of Chips, and it was around then when I started to see some real growth. Today, I am just excited and giddy to hear that people enjoy listening to my music, and that it inspires creators to make things to put the music in! - Zane Little