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Use Radio as a plugin within your DAW when you are feeling creative. Radio records the last 30 seconds of any streamed material. Once you hear something you like, select it, save it and drag it into your DAW. Finding new samples to inspire your music has never been done like this before!
The onboard FX section lends Radio the authentic air of real consumer equipment, with 24 processors to make your feed sound like it's coming through a genuine tube radio speaker, car stereo, phone or another device.
Radio stations focus on diversity, which will keep you coming back for new inspirational material.
Read more at www.pluginboutique.com- KVRAF
- 5928 posts since 12 May, 2008
Ahem. This thread should read "Attn: FM and Chip synth addicts who use windows".
Would love to see a mac version!
Would love to see a mac version!
This is a block of text that can be added to posts you make. There is a 255 character limit. Once I have something clever, I will certainly fill it in.
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- KVRAF
- 5233 posts since 20 Jul, 2010
Well you guys get Sinevibes plugins, so I figure we're about even 
Is it me or is there something unique about the Sega Master System squarewave tone? It doesn't really sound like the others. It has a sort of cute but almost "whiney" character which SPSG really captures well. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Is it me or is there something unique about the Sega Master System squarewave tone? It doesn't really sound like the others. It has a sort of cute but almost "whiney" character which SPSG really captures well. Anyone know what I'm talking about?
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!
- KVRAF
- 2195 posts since 31 Aug, 2011
Sendy wrote:Is it me or is there something unique about the Sega Master System squarewave tone? It doesn't really sound like the others. It has a sort of cute but almost "whiney" character which SPSG really captures well. Anyone know what I'm talking about?
Maybe it is a 'derived' waveform, you know, like with the TB-303 which 'derives' its square from the saw?
Just a guess, but this could easily explain such an 'off-standard' character...
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- KVRist
- 124 posts since 8 Jun, 2011, from French Riviera
Nope, there is no vodoo on the generated square wave, which is a 50/50 duty cycle pure square.. BUT,
The pitch resolution is really non standard, as it is derived from a clock based counter there is only 1024 possible frequencies (the range differs according to the master clock speed the chip is clocked with) that means that it will be slightly detuned compared to other elements in a mix
You can also notice (if you take the direct output without filtering) that the chip generates a positive voltage only for the high portion of the square, which result in a DC offset @ 0Db... where standard waveforms usually goes from +1 to -1 the output here is +1 to 0.
you can see how this behavior change the position of the waveform when it is filtered, instead of having a straight line.

On a side note, the Timer modulation trick tthat produce a "SID lead" sound type uses an emulated Z80 Interrupt routine that write to the volume register at audio rate, when you write to the volume level max/min in a loop at nearly the same frequency than the actual playing tone it is like producing another square wave on top of the real one..
The result is that it creates a slow phase shift producing a real variation of the resulting square duty cycle
something that the chip itself cannot do without this trick.
All of the above make it pretty unique indeed.
The pitch resolution is really non standard, as it is derived from a clock based counter there is only 1024 possible frequencies (the range differs according to the master clock speed the chip is clocked with) that means that it will be slightly detuned compared to other elements in a mix

You can also notice (if you take the direct output without filtering) that the chip generates a positive voltage only for the high portion of the square, which result in a DC offset @ 0Db... where standard waveforms usually goes from +1 to -1 the output here is +1 to 0.
you can see how this behavior change the position of the waveform when it is filtered, instead of having a straight line.

On a side note, the Timer modulation trick tthat produce a "SID lead" sound type uses an emulated Z80 Interrupt routine that write to the volume register at audio rate, when you write to the volume level max/min in a loop at nearly the same frequency than the actual playing tone it is like producing another square wave on top of the real one..
The result is that it creates a slow phase shift producing a real variation of the resulting square duty cycle

something that the chip itself cannot do without this trick.
All of the above make it pretty unique indeed.
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- KVRAF
- 5233 posts since 20 Jul, 2010
Aly James wrote:Nope, there is no vodoo on the generated square wave, which is a 50/50 duty cycle pure square.. BUT,
The pitch resolution is really non standard, as it is derived from a clock based counter there is only 1024 possible frequencies (the range differs according to the master clock speed the chip is clocked with) that means that it will be slightly detuned compared to other elements in a mix
You can also notice (if you take the direct output without filtering) that the chip generates a positive voltage only for the high portion of the square, which result in a DC offset @ 0Db... where standard waveforms usually goes from +1 to -1 the output here is +1 to 0.
you can see how this behavior change the position of the waveform when it is filtered, instead of having a straight line.
On a side note, the Timer modulation trick tthat produce a "SID lead" sound type uses an emulated Z80 Interrupt routine that write to the volume register at audio rate, when you write to the volume level max/min in a loop at nearly the same frequency than the actual playing tone it is like producing another square wave on top of the real one..
The result is that it creates a slow phase shift producing a real variation of the resulting square duty cycle
something that the chip itself cannot do without this trick.
All of the above make it pretty unique indeed.
Thanks for the explanation! I'm going to go with the character coming from the pitch resolution, because SMS chiptunes have such a unique character to them, you've only gotta picture the music to Alex Kidd (which has been seared into my brain) to hear that kind of slightly off sing-song quality it has.
Would I be right in assuming that if I'm using the fake-PWM and fake Sync effects, it would be wise to oversample the synth?
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!
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- KVRist
- 124 posts since 8 Jun, 2011, from French Riviera
Sendy wrote:Would I be right in assuming that if I'm using the fake-PWM and fake Sync effects, it would be wise to oversample the synth?
For SPSG VST, The Tone Generator is band-limited so as the AY emulated Hard Buzzers.
On the other hand the Timer interrupt routine that is written on the volume register for the "SID Voice" effect isn't, so you might benefit from a higher sample rate in this particular case.
For a Higher FM quality in FMDrive you will benefit from working or switching your project to 96Khz before exporting to 48 or 44.1 because the FM process itself will have a broader range, especially for all the generated FM harmonics. The YM2612 chip on the Megadrive was outputting at ~53KHz.
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- KVRist
- 31 posts since 26 Mar, 2014
Talking about tone sound... isn't the FMDRIVE pure sine wave unique? I mean it has some harmonics in it even in clean mode (HD) no modulation, at least in my 1.24 I can hear some high harmonics on lower midi notes.
The Megadrive 1 Mode (YM2612 Ladder) is impressive, if you set a long release (I have double check that in Audacity) the sine wave is slowly turning into a square wave as the sound dies.
The Megadrive 1 Mode (YM2612 Ladder) is impressive, if you set a long release (I have double check that in Audacity) the sine wave is slowly turning into a square wave as the sound dies.
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- KVRist
- 124 posts since 8 Jun, 2011, from French Riviera
Kayster82 wrote:Talking about tone sound... isn't the FMDRIVE pure sine wave unique? I mean it has some harmonics in it even in clean mode (HD) no modulation, at least in my 1.24 I can hear some high harmonics on lower midi notes.
The Megadrive 1 Mode (YM2612 Ladder) is impressive, if you set a long release (I have double check that in Audacity) the sine wave is slowly turning into a square wave as the sound dies.
Indeed, the Sine wave is calculated from the first (rising) quarter...
Explanation:
A ROM inside the YM2612 contain a log-sin waveform table, containing one quarter of a sine wave, 256 samples long, the resulting waveform is then 1024 sample long.
This as been set to default since 1.24 this is why you can hear harmonics even in High Quality Mode.
The Ladder effect which happens on the MD1 Mode is an emulated bug on the discrete YM2612 built in DAC, which had been removed by Yamaha on later MD model 2 which feature an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit , basically a chip with many function inside) with the FM chip built in (based on an YM3438).
This bug, which make the sound so particular, happens because of an analog problem handling the sign bit (Analog value matrix of the DAC is 8x32, 8bit (256 levels), 9th bit is a sign...)
When it crosses zero to go negative, there is some voltage finding its way.. it happens even if a channel is muted on the real hardware.
This analog DC voltage happening only on the negative part, slightly offset, produce a square wave at low volume that is mixed with the actual output.
As it is mixed with the output, logically, it becomes more prominent as the sound approach max attenuation. You also hear a change in tone at the very end because the pulse width of the square wave is reducing...
Look at this graphic, better than words


And this is what you can observe on an operator with very quick decay and no modulation,
so you are almost right,
it ends up being almost a square wave


Hope that helps!
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- KVRist
- 31 posts since 26 Mar, 2014
Some really good YM2612 informations here.
Thanks a lot for your great work, it really is much appreciated!
What you call the "ladder effect" is clearly present in one of your FMDRIVE demo, the Pandora Box track at soundcloud, it sounds wicked
:
https://soundcloud.com/alyjameslab/pand ... mdrive-vst
Thanks a lot for your great work, it really is much appreciated!
What you call the "ladder effect" is clearly present in one of your FMDRIVE demo, the Pandora Box track at soundcloud, it sounds wicked

https://soundcloud.com/alyjameslab/pand ... mdrive-vst
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- KVRist
- 124 posts since 8 Jun, 2011, from French Riviera
A nice FMDrive VST + SPSG VST MIDI to .VGM converter is done
(VGM is a video game music format that can be played on real consoles)
Converter will be available in a week or two at the website.
You will be able to convert your geeky FM + PSG soundchip composition to a VGM file, it supports most of the FMDrive automation so you will be able to log some nasty FM register automations, complex PSG envelopes Arpeggios etc...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hFII8QiYhc

Converter will be available in a week or two at the website.
You will be able to convert your geeky FM + PSG soundchip composition to a VGM file, it supports most of the FMDrive automation so you will be able to log some nasty FM register automations, complex PSG envelopes Arpeggios etc...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hFII8QiYhc
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- KVRAF
- 6941 posts since 3 Jul, 2012, from Canada
Will you ever make a Mac version?
- KVRian
- 648 posts since 29 Nov, 2002, from Bury St. Edmunds, England
A Mac version would be superb… 

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- KVRAF
- 11023 posts since 8 Oct, 2014
Can't believe this is the first I'm hearing of this. Listened to the demo. Awesome. But 3 days to deliver a plugin? I guess for 10 Euro it's no big deal but really? Plus I'm not thrilled about 32 bit plugs. They tend to run flaky on my 64 bit machine. Some are great but some don't run at all, even with JBridge.
I'm sure eventually I'll break down and grab this but for now I'm kind of on the fence.
I'm sure eventually I'll break down and grab this but for now I'm kind of on the fence.