Unofficial Fan Site
Tim Follin
Composer of the Impossible
A self-taught British composer who bent C64 SID chips, NES sound hardware, and SNES audio processors to his will - producing music that should not have been possible on the hardware of its era.
Featured
Silver Surfer - NES (1990)
The Silver Surfer NES soundtrack is widely regarded as one of the most technically ambitious scores ever produced for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Tim Follin exploited all available audio channels - using the triangle wave for bass lines, the noise channel for percussion, and the two pulse channels for complex multi-voice melodies - to create prog-rock compositions that defy the hardware's limitations.
The oscilloscope visualisation below shows the channel complexity in real time: three simultaneous melodic lines interweaving in a way that listeners often mistake for sampled audio. This was hand-coded in assembly language and composed entirely in hexadecimal.
Oscilloscope visualisation by community creators on YouTube. See Videos for the full curated collection.
Key Facts
The Follin Signature
Composing in Hex
Tim Follin composed without standard music notation - writing directly in hexadecimal values representing frequency, duration, and channel commands. A technique born from necessity that became his signature.
The SID as Instrument
On the Commodore 64, Follin treated the SID chip not as a sound chip but as an instrument to be played - pushing the 6581's filter, ring modulation, and sync capabilities far beyond conventional use.
NES Impossibilities
Silver Surfer's NES soundtrack uses all available audio channels with a density of voicing that routinely surprises listeners who assume they are hearing more than three simultaneous melodic voices.
Self-Taught Prodigy
No formal music education. Tim learned entirely by ear and experimentation, influenced by progressive rock, classical music, and film scores - and found his compositional language in the constraints of 8-bit hardware.
Explore
The Site
History
From ZX Spectrum debut to C64 mastery, NES impossibilities, SNES peak, and the 2020 indie return.
Music Browser
Full catalogue - 30+ games across six platforms. Filter by platform, play directly in browser.
Flagship Titles
Deep dives into Silver Surfer, Solstice, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Plok!, and Ecco the Dolphin.
Interviews
Super Marcato Bros 2018 exclusive, Legacy Music Hour, and the Gaming Alexandria Geoff Follin interview.
Trivia
The Markiplier moment, composing in hexadecimal, unreleased soundtracks, and Geoff collaboration stories.
Resources
HVSC, DeepSID, VGMPF, Internet Archive, OC ReMix, CSDb, MobyGames, and Discogs.