SNES style synth or VST?

[PluckyTheBassist]

Hey all,

First post here so I'll keep it short as possible (already did a topic search in this forum btw). I'm working on a soundtrack for my game and it's in the 16-bit style RPG you'd find on the SNES or Sega Genesis, so I'd like a soundtrack that would be close to fitting that time period (early to mid 90s synth). Essentially I'd like for it to sound like something from that era trying to emulate strings, brass sections, piano, etc...a time-appropriate synth given the style of the game.

I love the sounds they had in Final Fantasy 3 (FF6 in Japan) and Hook on the SNES (to name a couple). I'll put links to a few of the sounds I'm talking about below here:



Perhaps something with a bit cleaner synth sounds would be ideal, but that's the vibe I'm going for...a time-appropriate soundtrack.

Any suggestions on VSTs or older keyboards that could get in the neighborhood of this? Since I'm a bassist and not exactly a synth afficiondo, I'd like a VST that's a little more on the simple side with SOME tweakability available. I see synths with 30 knobs on the VST interface and I have a panic attack lol. I was looking at some of the Roland XP series synths but...price makes me lean towards VSTs.


Thanks!
- PtB

[commodorejohn]

There isn't really too much to emulate with the SNES - the SPC chip is pretty much just an 8-voice sample player with a proprietary codec and a bare-bones reverb/delay effect. It's really the selection of samples that defines the "character" of an SNES soundtrack - and you can extract those from readily-available game soundtrack dumps (in the .SPC format, which is basically an emulator snapshot of the sound processor at the moment it's playing a given song) using SPCTool, from which point you can just use them in any sample-player VST or tracker you please.

[crystalmsc]

You should really checkout Plogue. Chipsynth MD is my favorite 4-op FM synth, simulating the Genesis. The next product release is going to be the SFC. Not sure when, but based on the conversation on the forums and social media teasers, supposed to be soon.