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The C64 didn't have any kind of PCM output, so it basically has to be. Early SID chips had a voltage glitch you could use for 1-bit ("speaker-style") output, and a few games used it for some effects. But you couldn't get music out of it in any real sense.

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Four-bit (the amplitude of the "click" caused by the SID's voltage leak is proportional to the volume, which is four-bit). There are many demos that used it for digitized music, and Rob Hubbard's Skate or Die! intro tune used it as a practical fourth voice. See also the original Covox Voice Master.

There are also other techniques (found after the computer's heyday), up to 8 bits 44.1 KHz:

https://www.livet.se/mahoney/c64-files/Musik_RunStop_Technic...

PS. it might not really be 8 bits, but only 93 or 107 different values (6..7 bits). More details: https://csdb.dk/forums/?roomid=11&topicid=103092&showallpost...

> in any real sense

I would be sure that if Tim Follin decided to just use that, he would have "made full sense" (cpr. "Agent X" and "Chronos", ZX Spectrum).

As fully signed up C64/SID fanboy, Chronos on the Speccy is probably my favourite piece of music in any game.. Absolute 1-bit sheer heaven..

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