What's your favorite old-school sound chip?

Post by **Flak Beard** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:47 pm

While I'm a huge fan of the SID chip, I think I prefer Genesis chip-tunes the most. A lot of people say it has a harsh sound, but I like the punchy bass to it.

So which old-school sound chip do you prefer?

Hopefully I've listed them correctly. Sorry I didn't list the TG16, as it uses its CPU for sound processing on HuCards. If you can think of any others to add to the list, let me know.

Post by **IcKy99** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 4:21 pm

yes the heavy bass on genesis is just awesome, there are some genesis games were i cant stand the sound though (SONIC SPINBALL)

Post by **marurun** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:34 pm

Well, the Neo Geo has the most advanced sound capabilities of the stuff listed, so I had to vote for that. While the SNES arguably had the best sound chip from the 16-bit home console era, it also suffered from constant reverb, making most music sound like it was emerging from a large metal trash can. And my Genesis 2 is horrible at replicating sound and music. I need to find either a better model 2 or a model 1.

Post by **GagaMan** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 6:18 pm

Of those the Mega Drive and Amiga have my favorite kind of sound. never really liked the samply sound the SNES produced.

Post by **elvis** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 6:42 pm

SNES for me. Play it on a good quality system (my old man had the best stereo/hi-fi system with Dolby NR, which sounded nice and earthy) and it rocks.

I know a lot of the younger generation these days who play the SNES through emulation and tell me the sound sucks. Sadly I haven't come across a modern emulator (including Wii VC) that emulates the SNES's audio properly (thanks mostly to the analogue filters sitting behind the Sony audio chip that gave it some real depth and bass).

Play anything with good rock tunes (Rock and Roll Racing, Unirally/Uniracers, etc) or something like Secret of Mana to really hear the goods. And make sure you play it on real hardwarfe with good quality speakers.

My favourite composition of all time are the SoR 1 and 2 scores on MD/Genesis. However I still think Megadrive/Genesis audio in general (from the technical/chip point of view) is awful. I read an article on HardcoreGaming101 recently that described it as "a recording of a a crushed softdrink can with too much feedback", which I think sums it up nicely. I was recently reminiscing with a friend about consoles of old, and he told me the story of when he first bought a MegaDrive. After a few hours of play, he and his brother took the unit back to the shop claiming the audio chip must have been faulty, as the music and voice effects were all "scratchy".

In the day my SNES and MD were hooked up through the same sound system, and I compared a lot of games for audio. While there are examples of good and bad audio from both, the SNES still rates as my favourite for audio overall. I think it was a shame that so many people played either console on old mono TVs through RF connectors, and never got to hear the true sound either could produce.

Post by **Mozgus** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 6:47 pm

Genesis is my favorite, but by a small margin. All the 1st party stuff and Jesper Kyd's efforts steal the show. It does sound quite similar to C64. SNES and NES are close 2nds. Also, everyone needs to hear Castlevania 3's music on a famicom. It uses additional channels and sounds amazing.

Post by **Flak Beard** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:03 pm

Mozgus wrote:Genesis is my favorite, but by a small margin. All the 1st party stuff and Jesper Kyd's efforts steal the show. It does sound quite similar to C64. SNES and NES are close 2nds. Also, everyone needs to hear Castlevania 3's music on a famicom. It uses additional channels and sounds amazing.

I actually downloaded the NSF files for the Famicom version of CV3, but could never get them to play right in Audio Overload. I've heard some Youtube stuff, but I'd like to get a more direct way to hear it. Guess I could always just fire up the rom itself.

Post by **Mozgus** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:36 pm

Flak Beard wrote:
Mozgus wrote:Genesis is my favorite, but by a small margin. All the 1st party stuff and Jesper Kyd's efforts steal the show. It does sound quite similar to C64. SNES and NES are close 2nds. Also, everyone needs to hear Castlevania 3's music on a famicom. It uses additional channels and sounds amazing.
I actually downloaded the NSF files for the Famicom version of CV3, but could never get them to play right in Audio Overload. I've heard some Youtube stuff, but I'd like to get a more direct way to hear it. Guess I could always just fire up the rom itself.

http://slickproductions.org/notsofatso.php

Post by **The Apprentice** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:42 pm

It was a split decision between the NES and the Genesis, but I gave the Genesis the edge for some of the work I've heard in the Sonic series, Road Rash series, Crue Ball, down to even the budget titles... There are some seriously cool things you can do when you know how to program a Genesis.

Post by **MrPopo** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 8:47 pm

I always loved my SNES, but it's sound chip was at that point where it started sounding like real music. The Opera from FF6 is a damn good representation of that orchestral sound without using actual CD audio. So that disqualifies it in my mind for the purposes of this poll.

The Genesis always had a unique sound to it, but nothing can beat the classic sounds of the NES sound chip. Such a simple device, yet the developers of the time were able to bring us such masterpieces as Metroid and Mega Man 2.