SNES soundtrack on SEGA Genesis sound chip

[pierrot]

While some of those covers are interesting, it's worth noting it's not truly the Genesis sound chip he's working with; only midi.

Yeah that's why i put that comment from youtube. That guy said almost the same thing.

Oh, I completely missed that part of your original post.

...Never mind everything that was here. The important parts: Genesis sound chip-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YM2612

- 6 simultaneous FM channels (voices)
- optional 8-bit software controlled PCM on channel 6
- singe low frequency oscillator; can act on all channels

Genesis is also equipped with
- 3-channel PSG sound
- 1 noise channel

In any case, I don't know if those SNES covers would actually work with the Genesis' sound configuration. It certainly sounds like he has more FM channels dedicated to percussion than I've ever really heard in a Genesis game before (3). I don't know if that's because of limitations or choice, though. I believe Joe of Game Sack fame is fairly intimately familiar with the Genesis' sound, and may be able to give a more definitive answer on that.

I will say that in the Mute City cover, if you look at his monitor, he seems to have 10 or 11 channels in the mix.

[Xeogred]

As a bit of an aside, I've read people stating that the Capcom employee(s) who reworked the MM 1-3 soundtracks for the Mega Drive was "lazy," compared to youtubers like The Legend of Renegade, which is flat out ignorant.

lol, I just think the game is bad in every regard and I know I'm not alone on that one. I generally like Megaman remixes in any form, but just everything about The Wily Wars and the music isn't very good to me. There's not a single track I prefer over the NES originals.

Capcom has some of the most badass OST's on the NES-SNES and it's just like... this is Megaman on the Genesis? I dunno. They should have let Technosoft do the remixes.

[marurun]

The Genesis sound chip only has six available simultaneous FM channels, and a sine-wave LFO. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YM2612) It's probably best represented by Smooth McGroove's cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6uVnR9B2vY. You can think of each "square" as a "channel." (He's harmonizing the same lines in the top right and top left squares.) Percussion channels are represented by Smooth with a hat. One of those percussion squares is handled by the LFO in the original Genesis rendition (sounds like a snare being hit with a brush) which leaves the six available channels, one of which is being used for regular percussion. I'm not sure if the YM2612 is limited to one percussion channel, but it may be.

That's just some basics of the chip's mechanics, but the point I was trying to make is that a lot of the people covering things with Genesis sounds, are just sampling the instruments that were made for specific game's soundtracks, mapping them to a keyboard, or programming them without necessarily taking into consideration that the SNES has 8 available channels/voices compared to the Genesis' 6 + LFO, or other limitations that aren't necessarily apparent when one isn't working with the actual hardware.

You seem to be leaving off the fact that the Genesis also has 4 PSG channels available as well, a legacy of the Master System. They aren't very spectacular PSG channels, not like the PCE or anything, but they're great for simple harmony lines, basic sound effects (so they don't cut into the FM channels), and even a little percussion here and there. So really, the Genesis has more than enough sound channels available to adapt SNES tunes.

[pierrot]

Oops, I had actually forgotten about the PSG channels. Aren't there only three PSG channels on the Genesis, though?


Still:

As a bit of an aside, I've read people stating that the Capcom employee(s) who reworked the MM 1-3 soundtracks for the Mega Drive was "lazy," compared to youtubers like The Legend of Renegade, which is flat out ignorant.

lol, I just think the game is bad in every regard and I know I'm not alone on that one. I generally like Megaman remixes in any form, but just everything about The Wily Wars and the music isn't very good to me. There's not a single track I prefer over the NES originals.

Capcom has some of the most badass OST's on the NES-SNES and it's just like... this is Megaman on the Genesis? I dunno. They should have let Technosoft do the remixes.

To clarify, there's no "Thunder Force," or "Ristar" setting on a stock FM synthesizer. If you've ever tried to replicate the sound of a popular band you might have an idea of the potential futility in the attempt, barring any kind of instruction. Between taking the time to work out a set of instruments that a composer feels fits the character of a soundtrack, with FM synth vs sampling a bunch of (admittedly fantastic) instruments from a bunch of different games—that were probably slaved over as much as the instrumentation for Wily Wars was—I would be more ready to characterize the latter as "lazy."

Although that's not really to detract from what a lot of people are doing in remixes these days, as they are quite interesting. Frankly, I think the Wily Wars soundtrack is substantially better than the NES soundtracks, though; certainly in terms of fidelity. I also don't really care for Legend of Renegade's remixes, either. They're interesting in their own right, as a mash up of individually remixed tracks (in some cases, I don't care for them at all, though) but placed in a game as an entire soundtrack, I think they would be horrible, to be quite honest.

I feel like I've made my feelings about Wily Wars known enough around here, I'll come off it. I really don't see anything to complain about with the game, at least. (Unless one were playing the PAL version on an NTSC console.)

[marurun]

Oops, I had actually forgotten about the PSG channels. Aren't there only three PSG channels on the Genesis, though?

Well, 3 tone and 1 noise, according to the specs I've read, but they're still PSG in terms of how they are generated.

[pierrot]

Oops, I had actually forgotten about the PSG channels. Aren't there only three PSG channels on the Genesis, though?

Well, 3 tone and 1 noise, according to the specs I've read, but they're still PSG in terms of how they are generated.

Crap— Edited my earlier post for accuracy. Thanks for keeping me honest.

[Xeogred]

I feel like I've made my feelings about Wily Wars known enough around here, I'll come off it. I really don't see anything to complain about with the game, at least. (Unless one were playing the PAL version on an NTSC console.)

You're looking way too into this and I'm not trying to be technical or offensive really, lol. Maybe the comparison is bad, as I'm not really a fan of a lot of "covers" of videogame stuff, or things like OCRemix, (SSH has ruined everything for me), though I enjoy these emulated remixes trying to replicate other hardware or whatever.

At the very least please don't think I'm bashing the FM capabilities here at all because it's anything but that. I think we just had a thread about that vs SNES, and it's just entirely subjective to the game. No way Thunder Force IV or Shinobi III would have sounded that awesome on the SNES, and same for say Actraiser or whatever on the flop side. They're different.

There are definitely cases of some multiplatform SNES/Genesis games where I favor the Genesis sound more or vice versa.

But I just can't say Wily Wars is my bag of tea. The physics are definitely different compared to the NES games, and that's what throws me off the most.

I got every achievement in MM9-10, and growing up as a kid Megaman was pretty much more iconic to me than Mario. So there's probably a lot of nostalgia and bias here, sacred ground for me.

But now I'm just off topic and have no idea where this is going. But yeah, you can firmly approve of Wily Wars and on I'll be on the other side of the fence. lol. Lazy or whatever other words I used were probably inappropriate, but at the same time I wasn't trying to be insanely serious, I'll tone it down.

[pierrot]

Sorry, I didn't mean to project onto you, Xeogred. I don't think you used the term "lazy." That was just something I've read used in association with the Wily Wars soundtrack from others. You are certainly not alone in disliking it.

It does have some slight input delay in jumping, but I preferred that with the MD 6-button controller (/d-pad) to the NES controller. I, personally think the Wily Wars versions of MM 1-3 feel like the more polished, accessible versions, but I won't try to convert you.

However, I might post my recordings of the soundtrack, from real hardware, here.

[Xeogred]

I'll give them a listen.

Genesis/FM music can sound the worst when it's ripped or uploaded horribly.