If this sounds like a step backwards in some ways, it wasn’t. Where earlier PSGs had 4 channels that could produce a handful of different waveforms, the Megadrive’s YM2612 had a whopping six channels that could produce four separate instances of one solitary wave form: a sine wave. Was Sega’s approach a good idea? Well, from the perspective of building on the capabilities of earlier machines, FM synthesis definitely wasn’t a bad choice. You see, Just as the rest of the Megadrive hardware was based quite firmly on the capabilities of Sega’s System-16 arcade boards (a smart move considering the potential for ports!) when it came to sound Sega also relied on the same technique they’d used in all of their arcade machines from the mid eighties onwards: FM Synthesis.
Though NEC’s PC Engine was the first out of the blocks in terms of release, when it came to the design Sega’s Megadrive was arguably the oldest of the trio. As the eighties progressed into their final years, video game sound hardware was clearly on the move. Indeed, not only had Sega experimented with a different sound chip for the Japanese version of the Master System, but at the same time Konami were creating NES cartridges that contained their own sound architecture and Nintendo themselves were dabbling with a different sound solution for their Famicom Computer Disk System. Though these stark limitations lead to some pretty amazing pieces of music being created by a number of innovative musicians, they were limitations nonetheless – and it was obvious that the next generation of consoles would require sound hardware with a bit more oomph. Generally, these PSGs featured 3-4 sound channels (Think of these as the number of instruments in the band) and these channels could produce any one of a small number of simple sound wave forms (think of these as types of instrument that are being played.) This was also often accompanied by the further limitation of dedicating one entire channel to white noise production (that’s static to you and me – Great for cymbals and explosions.) Though its worth remembering that capabilities were slightly different from machine to machine (there’s a very good reason that the C64’s SID sound chip is so popular,) they all utilised relatively simple Programmable Sound generators (PSGs.) Sound on the 8-bit consoles, then, was a relatively simple affair. We’re getting ahead of ourselves though – we should have a quick look at both the previous generation and the environment the SNES was born into before we look at the console itself. Interestingly, the three main 16-bit consoles were all very different in their approaches to sound generation and, as the latest of the trio, the SNES was in the best position to learn from the mistakes made by the opposition. So why don’t we hear more about it today then? An important reason might very well be the architecture of the chip itself, so we should probably start by having a look there. From the comparatively perfect (though now hilariously tinny) rendition of famous compositions like the Star Wars theme, down to the fawning coverage of the (faux) surround-sound capabilities utilised by the likes of King Arthur’s World, sound on the SNES was always pretty important. If we look back to it’s 90’s prime, the SNES’ audio capabilities were most definitely a big deal.
You’re definitely not going to find the small mountain of compositions that have been produced for hardware in the Game Boy and C64. True, they might briefly be raised in a playground-style “What console is better?” thread over at Neogaf, but that’s generally it. Weirdly, however, the SNES’ audio capabilities don’t seem to be that widely discussed or exploited. SNES mouse! Surround sound! This is the future.