Super Nintendo Sounds VST?

[Sendy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67nkzoJ_2M

Why isn't youtube embedding working anymore?

[vurt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67nkzoJ_2M

Why isn't youtube embedding working anymore?

remove the s after http

[Sendy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67nkzoJ_2M

Why isn't youtube embedding working anymore?

remove the s after http

Thanks.

[Caine123]

how do i import the files? ;/

[arkmabat]

That program was a tracker. Like modplug or renoise. David Wise talks about using "hex" while programming/composing.

[Anti-Logic]

Ymvst and magical8bitplugin are my favorites atm for this.

[Kaboom75]

I wish someone would do a NEO GEO synth emulation
I like the megadrive one but it's only 32bit. http://www.alyjameslab.com/alyjameslabfmdrive.html

[mystran]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_S-SMP

Basically, the chip itself isn't really that interesting (beyond emulating games anyway), most of the "magic" comes from the samples used.

[arkmabat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_S-SMP

Basically, the chip itself isn't really that interesting (beyond emulating games anyway), most of the "magic" comes from the samples used.

Dare I say it was the limitations that possibly brought out the best in the now-old hardware and small samples. The "well, we only have this much memory" actually drove people to make the best they could with what they had. I like the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack more than many things I hear on the radio today.

[mystran]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_S-SMP

Basically, the chip itself isn't really that interesting (beyond emulating games anyway), most of the "magic" comes from the samples used.

Dare I say it was the limitations that possibly brought out the best in the now-old hardware and small samples. The "well, we only have this much memory" actually drove people to make the best they could with what they had. I like the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack more than many things I hear on the radio today.

Possibly, but then again I like some of the better (typically japanese) modern VGM (often made with few if any limitations) more than many things I hear on radio too.

[HaganeSteel]

Synths of the SNES era:

Korg: M1, Wavestation.

Roland: SC-55, SC-88.

Emu: Proteus 1/2/3, samplers.

David Wise used Emu primarily in Donkey Kong, Battletoads & Double Dragon, etc.

Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, and the rest of the guys (and girls) at Square primarily used the Korg M1 with some Roland SC-55/88 sounds thrown in to make up for its weaknesses.

Setsuo Yamamoto and the Capcom composers used the Wavestation a lot.

Koji Kondo used the M1.

During the SNES era, the Wavestation and the M1 were kings.

Edit: Just to add to this. The M1 and Wavestation are easy to get. The Roland TTS-1 comes with Cakewalk MC and is a stripped-down SC-88, but has most of its sounds (it doesn't have some important ones, though, like a very special flute found only in Edirol Orchestral). The Emu stuff is found in Digital Sound Factory's 1,500 Instruments collection (not sure if it's all there, but quite a chunk of it is).

It'll sound different from the SNES.

Edit: Have to correct myself. Final Fantasy V uses the SC-55 and the M1. So Square was: M1, SC-55, SC-88. Lenna's flute is the same flute found in Windows GM.

[arkmabat]

Cool info. Yeah, what's interesting to me is that David Wise was trying to recreate the sound of a Wavestation with (Proteus?) samples inside a video game! And he does a pretty good job.

A few other thoughts/questions:

-The marimba in Roland TTS-1 sounds great and reminds me of SNES/N64 music for sure.

-The Proteus 2 demo here: https://www.digitalsoundfactory.com/emu_products sounds VERY SNES/N64-ish as well.

-The free Proteus VX Vst has always sounded "Sega"-ish to me, the horns and such. If you can get it to run, it's worth having.

-I found some free GM Soundfonts, though I think some have been "improved" and have actually lost the nice "old" sound: http://musescore.org/en/handbook/soundfont

-Is there an official Windows GM soundfont or something? A way to access stock GM sounds?

[HaganeSteel]

Cool info. Yeah, what's interesting to me is that David Wise was trying to recreate the sound of a Wavestation with (Proteus?) samples inside a video game! And he does a pretty good job.

David Wise could've very easily owned a WS, too. It's rare to use only a single synth.

A few other thoughts/questions:

-The marimba in Roland TTS-1 sounds great and reminds me of SNES/N64 music for sure.

YEP. Roland and Emu chromatic percussion sound very similar, too, and both were used a lot. They're sometimes hard to distinguish from each other.

-The Proteus 2 demo here: https://www.digitalsoundfactory.com/emu_products sounds VERY SNES/N64-ish as well.

The Proteus 2 sounds were used in Zelda and countless other N64 titles. Grant Kirkhope also used Emu for Goldeneye 64.

The free Proteus VX Vst has always sounded "Sega"-ish to me, the horns and such. If you can get it to run, it's worth having.

The Composer bank from the Proteus 2000 was used by: Marty O'Donnell for Septerra Core and Halo: Combat Evolved, Noriyuki Iwadare for Grandia II, and a bunch of other games. The Composer bank was used by Emu long before the Proteus 2000 was around. Noriyuki Iwadare swore by the Emulator X software at one point, according to an interview.

-Is there an official Windows GM soundfont or something? A way to access stock GM sounds?

The Windows GM file is a DLS file located in the system32 folder, I think. You can access it using Fruity LSD, which loads DLS files. DLS files are long gone now, though. Finding a reliable VST DLS player besides Fruity LSD would be difficult, if not impossible.

[davidv@plogue]

Finding a reliable VST DLS player besides Fruity LSD would be difficult, if not impossible

sforzando imports DLS files no problem.
http://www.plogue.com/products/sforzando/
And its free, just saying.

[arkmabat]

Wow great info, thanks!

Regarding the Wavestation, David himself on the subject:

"There are no [Wavestation] presets used regarding the DKC soundtrack - as the snes memory would not have accommodated the size of sample data required.

I borrowed the idea of the architecture.

Each wave-sequence uses 2 notes of polyphony so it can cross-fade between waves.
This gives movement to the sound - and also helps re-create the filter sweep emulations - even though the Wavestation doesn't have a resonant filter.

Also - most of the wave sequences have a vocal arh or string pad sound play along with the wave-sequence - to mask any inconsistencies.

Kind regards,


David Wise"