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[xexex]

of these three consoles:

Japanese Master System/ Mark III with FM Synth unit
TurboGrafx|PCEngine *without* CD-ROM
MegaDrive|Genesis,

which produced the best chip generated music/audio?

from what I've heard of Sega's 8-bit console games, the Japanese versions, with the FM Synth chip, it sounds almost as good as Genesis, and certainly better than TurboGrafx|PCE audio.


MD|Genesis audio is probably the best, but that isnt really impressive since one would expect it to be, given that it is the newest of the three systems, and the only true 16-bit machine, and has probably the most amount of processing power to devote to audio
(Z-80 plus PSG (TI 76489 chip) - FM chip (Yamaha YM 2612)

what say you?

(lets *not* bring CD-ROM music, NeoGeo or SNES audio into this)

btw, one other thing I noticed is, using the SMS emulator DEGA, if you are playing without FM synth audio, if you use the 'Enhance PSG' option, SMS music sounds *wonderful*

 

[manngc]

The sound in the NES was the one thing that was superiour to the american SMS. Everything else was technically superiour on the SMS.

Mann

 

[john tv]

Genesis audio was garbage. PC Engine sounded much better IMO...

 

[Funky Papa]

Garbage? It wasn't as good as the SF, for sure, but it was nice enough. Kind of like a first gen Sound Blaster.

Contra had such an awesome set of tunes =)

 

[MarkMacD]

Genesis audio was garbage. PC Engine sounded much better IMO...

What? You are high. I love PC Engine music, but it was/is shit compared to the Genny's capabilities.

 

[john tv]

Ah sorry, I didn't read the part that said *without* CD-ROM.

I still think Genesis audio was garbage, though.

 

[Funky Papa]

ok guys, let's get him.

 

[BenT]

Here, I'll hold his head. Get a crowbar.

 

[Buffy4ever]

I have lot all respect for you John TV. The Genesis audio was a lot better then the PC Engine.(TurboGrafx 16) Genesis audio had better bass and the voice samples are the same on both systems. The music on street fighter 2 CE on the Genesis was better than the PC Engine one. As for the voices on both version of street fighter 2 they both sounded scratchy and had the white noise.

 

[Dyne]

Well, you have to admit, the PC Engine produced some catchy tunes. Ordyne, Bonk, Legendary Axe.. Sometimes I still hum that music.

 

[vitaflo]

SMS FM!!! It so rocks. I wish the US version had it. I love the sound of that thing.

 

[Shinobi]

One only needs to hear the music in Streets of Rage 1 & 2 to know that Genny sound was anything but garbage.

Having said that, Commodore 64 SID > everything.

 

[xexex]

John you are really biased toward P.C. Engine | TurboGrafx audio


you should listen to the music of older, Japanese programmed MD|Genesis games.

Phantasy Star II and Sword of Vermillion, Thunder Force II, III

listen to 'Last City' from Vermillion. beautiful tune.
http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/sega/genesis/vermilio.mid

and the opening
http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/sega/genesis/Verm_Opening_synth.mid

alot of the later 1990s Genesis games coded by American developers had AWFUL music & audio.

that said, there is no denying that MD|Genesis audio capabilities (10 channels, some FM) were technically superior to that of PCE|TG16 (6 channels, no FM)

 

[wobedraggled]

Genesis sounded "tinny"

TG16 audio was not as complex but was cleaner/sharper

 

[dark10x]

Garbage? It wasn't as good as the SF, for sure, but it was nice enough. Kind of like a first gen Sound Blaster.

Contra had such an awesome set of tunes =)

It was much better than any PC FM synth cards (mainly the percussion, which rocked on the Genesis).

 

[djtiesto]

Genesis soundchip had a really tinny sound but I think it worked *REALLY* well for electronic music and metal, even better than the SNES in those areas.

Some Genesis games had fantastic soundtracks, the Sonic ones were always excellent (there's no denying the greatness of the ice stage music in Sonic 3), the Phantasy Star games, the Shinobi games, and of course Streets of Rage. Even though the SNES for all intents, killed it, I have a lot of memories of Genesis music from back in the day.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Genesis sound kicks all sorts of ass. PCE/TG-16 sound was good, but really just sounded like a souped-up NES to me...not that NES sound was all that bad (I personally really dug it), but the games on HuCards really never sounded all that great to me...except for Devil Crash and Bonk 1&2.

Sadly, I've never really gotten a chance to hear the SMS FM sound, outside of emulators, anyway. Was good sound...technically better than NES sound, I suppose. However, there really weren't too many games that sounded all that great on the SMS to me.

Anyone judging Genny sound from emulators and weak midi stuff on the 'net aren't getting the sound that the Genny really produced. No one's really gotten a good emulation of that chip, from what I've heard. Damn, I really loved that headphone jack on my Genny. G&G's Gen soundtrack was so nice that way.