#vgmtrivia

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VGM Trivia: Sawtooth Wave in The Immortal (NES)

The Immortal is the only game in the entire Famicom/ NES library to use a looped sample to generate a sustaining, melodic waveform. I say this with some degree of confidence because, even though I can’t say that I’ve probed every track of music from every single Famicom and NES game, it’s been years since I’ve made this observation and no other examples have been found by the community! Pretty cool stuff! Leave it to Rob Hubbard to do something cool and unique with the audio.

This is something I’ve posted about before, though I believe I erroneously referred to the sample as being only 1 byte in size. In retrospect, how would that be possible?! It’s because the .dmc ripping tool I used at the time didn’t locate the proper sample, so instead I was looking at the wrong thing and didn’t realize it. Nonetheless, it still is a very small looped waveform.

I’ve started a series of videos on twitter and youtube with the hashtag #VGMTrivia. The idea is to share bite-sized nuggets of random-but-cool information on classic video game music. Hope you enjoy!

https://twitter.com/hashtag/VGMTrivia?src=hash

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxr5Dhyugea-DP0gcWJXXJLa6bwnFxvZ4

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VGM Trivia: The Built-in Echo and Reverb Effects in SNES Audio

The SNES was capable of adding echo effects to its sound channels.

Example #1: Mega Man X Music

In this first example, I demonstrate what the SNES’ built-in echo & reverb effects contribute to the overall sound, by toggling the effect every four measures. On some speakers, particularly mobile devices, it may be hard to hear the difference. But on decent speakers and headphones, the difference is very clear.

Example #2: Chrono Trigger Title Screen

This second sample is much more obvious, regardless of the kind of speakers you’re listening through!

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VGMTrivia: Pitch Modulation in SNES Music

The SNES has a lesser-known audio feature called pitch modulation. Similar to 2-operator FM synthesis, the values from one sound channel can alter the output of another. This is useful for distorting the sound, which adds some versatility to the audio beyond the “bare bones” sample playback. 

It was most commonly reserved for SFX, but this video demonstrates a couple of examples found in the music to Secret of Mana and Waterworld. If you know of other examples of pitch modulation found in SNES Music, please let me know!

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Battletoads is known for using 7-bit PCM, which was a less common method for sample playback than the more typical 1-bit DPCM found in NES games.

Raw PCM is more demanding of resources than DPCM, usually freezing gameplay since the NES can't handle performing other actions simultaneously. This is why PCM a drum beat shows up in the "pause" music of Battletoads, since it's a convenient time for it.

But for the introduction of Battletoads, they decided to try cram in a PCM bass drum and snare wherever they could. Using rainwarrior's lua script to display when PCM is active (the display in the top left), it's easy to see and hear when the PCM has to drop out because of the visuals that are too complex to run simultaneously.

During simpler visual moments, the PCM returns, but even then you can see micro pauses that stutter the scrolling text as the drum samples play.