Adam Corn Jun 29, 2022
I was just listening to the Nights Into Dreams soundtrack which got me re-thinking about soundtracks on the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation that were generated by the system sound chip as opposed to being streamed or redbook pre-recorded audio. What are everyone's favorites among this category? Feel free to include favorite chip-generated soundtracks from later generations (PS2 etc) as well.
The ones that stand out for me on Saturn are Nights (only the stage themes count as the boss themes were redbook), Panzer Dragoon Zwei, and Panzer Dragoon Saga / RPG (I love Panzer Dragoon 1 as well but it's redbook).
For Playstation the obvious examples are Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX (the latter two did use a bit of streaming music but were still mostly chip-based I believe). I really liked the Soul Blade / Edge soundtrack as well and assume the arcade OST in it was chip-based.
For a deeper dive into those console's sound chips here are a few interesting articles I came across:
- 32-bit Audio Fight Club: The Saturn, the PlayStation and the End of the Chiptune Era (by Fatnick)
- Impressive YMF292/YMF292-F/SCSP Music (SAT, ARC) (by Mini Revver)
- Audio Formats Used in Saturn Games (by Mini Revver)
- Saturn Custom Sound Processor (by Sega Retro)