FM keyboard almost sounds like the original!

[davince]

Hm, I'm not sure if I should record and post it here, but at least it's fun to tell you people.

I still have an old, small Yamaha FM keyboard. I recently played around a bit with it, and it seems that most instruments actually sound like an adlib! (Mostly because it's an FM synth, and Adlib is FM synth too.)

Then I went and played with the song templates, recorded a pattern, and I am able to pretty much recreate the biggest part of the Zinglon's Ale song with this!

I was both surprised and thrilled by this, as I never expected my lil' keyboard to play a Tyrian song! ;D

[Tempest]

I think you should post it here. ;D

[davince]

Okay then, I might do it later.

[felineki]

Cool! FM synthesis really does have a distinct, recognizable sound to it that's hard to reproduce any other way. And while it might be technically outdated today, I still like its unique sound.

Along with being a staple of many PC games of the era, FM sound chips were also used in many arcade machines for music during the mid-to-late 80's, and early 90's. The original arcade versions of Gradius II (also known as Vulcan Venture), Gradius III, and Street Fighter II all used FM synths for their music, for example. The Sega Genesis/Megadrive also had an FM chip for music, IIRC.

[metalfro]

felineki said:

Along with being a staple of many PC games of the era, FM sound chips were also used in many arcade machines for music during the mid-to-late 80's, and early 90's. The original arcade versions of Gradius II (also known as Vulcan Venture), Gradius III, and Street Fighter II all used FM synths for their music, for example. The Sega Genesis/Megadrive also had an FM chip for music, IIRC.

Yes, the Sega Genesis did use FM sound. I am of the school that believes FM sound was superior to MIDI. As a result, despite the fact that many purport the SNES had superior graphics capabilities, the Genesis (IMHO) had better sound. Witness the awe-inspiring soundtrack that was Lightening Force (aka Thunder Force 4) for an example.