“In music, you’re basically having a conversation…” Sometimes that conversation is best expressed in 8 bits.

There is a full backstory to this video, but let’s just relish the hilarity of that Hans Zimmer ad we can’t escape on YouTube (it’s not just me, right?) with… chip music.

Because that really says it all, and Mike Sheehan, whoever you are – well played. I mean, literally. Some serious audio surgery here.

Hans Zimmer’s ad for Masterclass already felt like self parody; this just goes next level.

And yes, the background for this is that Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, Executive Producer J.J Abrams, and Composer Ramin Djawadi judged an online scoring contest sponsored by Spitfire Audio. Out of 11,000 entries, the show chose one that made a … strong choice to go with some classic video game score aesthetics. Judge for yourself.

I won’t step into that controversy, because well 8-bit Hans really stands on its own for me.

And speaking of genres, 8-bit Hans Zimmer covers is practically its own genre.