The sound setup at the 8static chiptunes dance party in West Philly's Studio 34 | Photo: Ben Mason (flickr:su1droot)

Since inception, 8static has been defined by Do-It-Yourself.

The crew of the vintage video game equipment-powered dance party has lugged hand-me-down and borrowed sound and visual equipment to West Philly venue Studio 34 almost monthly since last year.

Now, the group is seeking donations to purchase new speakers, a subwoofer, monitors and a new projector to replace beat-up counterparts and help keep the party rockin’.

The chiptunes enthusiasts kicked-off a $2,000 online donation campaign last week, making the goal in its first 24 hours and surprising the heck out of coordinator and visual chiptunes artist Don Miller, aka No Carrier. Three donors alone – none from Philadelphia – covered the first 75 percent of the goal.

There’s more incentives in the works, Miller says.

“If we can double the amount we planned, I think I’ll plan a free 8static show where we show off our new equipment,” he told Technically Philly in a phone interview. That might be a hard sell, if it wasn’t for the rewards that come with donating to Philly’s premiere chiptunes dance party.

A pledge of $10 earns an MP3 compilation of local chip artists like Cheap Dinosaurs, Animal Style, Alex Mauer, autoscroll and others. Thirty bucks scores both Alex Mauer’s and Animal Style’s full-length releases. If you’re hoping to score a T-shirt with the music, $50 is it.

A generous $500 pledge will land you several pro modification systems (like a modded NES, Game Boy, Sega Game Gear and more). The systems are built by popular local artists and will let you, too, create chiptunes tracks.

The pledge drive ends in 38 days. If you still need to be sold, check out 8static’s first show in 2010 on January 9.