I disagree. Sample quality is a major factor. This is my job - I sell samples. My website is
www.nucleus-soundlab.com if you have any interest...
Still, the major problem seems to be the lack of sample RAM on Saturn. From a Saturn FAQ I found:
"5.4 How come the audio is certain Saturn games sounds poor?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Although, the components used in the Saturn's SCSP chipset are of a
high quality, the system has some unfortunate limitations that creep
up every now and then. On certain games, digital PCM samples can
sound muffled and/or scratchy.
All Saturn PCM samples must be loaded into audio RAM while in raw
form, where as the Playstation supports hardware compression. Loading
files in raw form naturally means a larger file size, which in turn
means that overall sample quality will suffer in an effort to cram
everything in. This is particularly bad for games that require a
great number of samples loaded into memory all at once. Virtua
Fighter II is a good example of this. Many fighting games by Capcom
and SNK reveal similar problems. So while the Staurn might have an
audio suite rivaling that of the Playstation, memory limitations
can stymie attempts playback samples at the highest quality.
Streamed yellowbook audio plays directly off the CD. It does not need
to be loaded into RAM, and thus does not have the memory constraint
problems that the PCM samples can face. Macross DYRL, for instance,
streams Apple AIFF files recorded at 22Khz 16 bit stereo as its
soundtrack (and sounds great!).
Good programmers can often produce excellent digital sound from the
Saturn, while games that were programmed for another platform, or
directly ported from the PSX can often sound rather crude.
"Saturn's sound hardware is phenomenal. It's way, way, better than
the PlayStation's sound - you can basically plug in a synthesizer
and play it through MIDI."
--Saturn Developer, Next Generation, December 1995"
512kb (4mbits) of samples is not much... The PS1 has the same sample RAM but it does hardware ADPCM compression to save sometimes 4:1 in memory size. This is great for memory, though ADPCM compression can have bad, noisey artifacts. Still if you have only 512kb of RAM to work with I'd take 4x the ADPCM compressed samples any day!
It seems that, like the Saturn as a whole, while the individual chip is more powerful than the PS1 sound hardware on paper - it doesn't really matter since Sega made poor design choices and hamstrung the Saturn with no hardware compression and small memory.
Mozgus wrote:
That's not quite how it works dude. No amount of budget will make the music higher quality if the system doesn't allow it. It can improve the composition yes, quality no. There are a ton of PS1 games that have great tunes, but those squaresoft titles just sprung to mind. I don't think Square did anything too special like developing their own music engine for the system. Maybe I'm wrong, but the people who rip PSF files might know better. The FF games were some of the first and easiest music they were able to rip and emulate in
PSF.
Panzer 2 does use sequenced music. Again, the composition is amazing, the quality isn't, though it's some of the best quality the saturn put out.
