6 of the Best Video Game Synths: Game On!
FM and SID-powered synths from Twisted Electrons, Sonicware, Busy Circuits and more!
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Get the sound of classic Sega and Commodore chips in these hardware and software synthesizers.
Best Video Game Synths
Nostalgia is a powerful force. Who doesn’t like to get transported back to the carefree days of their youth, when all you had to worry about was finding the next save point in the game you were trying to beat? A number of synthesizer manufacturers clearly feel the same way, as there’s a whole clutch of video game synths available now that recreate the sound generation capabilities of some of your favorite consoles and computers of yesteryear.
Today, let’s take a look at six video game synths, both hardware and soft, that borrow inspiration from two of the top video game platforms of the ‘80s and ‘90s: the Sega Mega Drive and Commodore 64.
Sega Mega Drive
Released in 1988, the Sega Mega Drive (known as the Genesis in North America) was a 16-bit console system. Although it didn’t do so well in its home country of Japan, in the rest of the world, it made a big splash. On the music side, it sported a Yamaha YM2612 chip capable of six voices of four-operator FM synthesis.
A number of modern instruments have incorporated the YM2612 chip into their synths for an authentic Mega Drive sound.
Best Video Game Synths: Twisted Electrons MEGAfm
One of the hallmarks of the sound of the YM2612 is its grittiness. This largely comes from an error in the amplitude voltage design of the chip and, when coupled with its onboard DAC, introduces low-volume distortion. MEGAfm, a tabletop synth from Twisted Electrons, makes full use of this unintended feature, calling it “beautiful dirt.”
With two chips inside giving you 12 voices of 4-op, eight-algorithm FM goodness, and two outputs to separate the two chips, there’s lots of fun to be had here. The company has also provided tons of knobs and sliders to help with programming – so much easier than the DX7 of old.
Note that the latest version of the MEGAfm synth, MKII, comes with a pair of YM3438 chips installed. This is essentially the same chip as the YM2612 and handled the sound for the Mega Drive II. If you prefer to use the original chips instead, you can crack open the bottom of the instrument and swap them out.
Twisted Electrons MEGAfm II is available from Thomann* for $542 / £489 / €555.
Best Video Game Synths: Sonicware LIVEN Mega Synthesis
Another tabletop video game synth with Yamaha YM2612 chips inside is Sonicware’s LIVEN Mega Synthesis. Part of the LIVEN series of specialized digital synthesizer grooveboxes, it also has the SN76489 PSG (Programmable Sound Generator) sound module used by the original console, as well as the 8-bit PCM sound part of the YM2612, which was originally controlled by the Z80 chip.
Along with the six-voice, 4-op FM sound generator and PCM samples, you get a six-track sequencer and 10 types of effects, including delays, reverb, a compressor, lowpass filter, and more.
And for added nostalgia power, LIVEN Mega Synthesis even includes presets created by Yuzo Koshiro, who composed the soundtrack to a number of popular Mega Drive games back in the day, including “Streets of Rage” and “Etrian Odyssey.”
Sonicware LIVEN Mega Synthesis is available from Thomann* for $264 / £237 / €269.
Best Video Game Synths: Inphonik RYM2612
Want the sound of the YM2612 but don’t need all the hardware? Look no further than RYM2612, a plugin recreation of the FM engine from Inphonik.
The developer promises that RYM2612 is a sample-accurate emulation of the original chip and, “on top of this, the amp circuitry of the (Mega Drive) console has been reproduced too, in order to obtain the same grain you’d get if you plugged the real hardware into your DAW.” It also features a poly boost to 16 voices and an audio input for applying 8-bit PCM crunch to external signals.
Commodore 64
The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis ignites the flame of nostalgia in a lot of Millennials. For Gen Xers like me, though, you have to go back a little further. If you want to get middle-aged people like me excited, it has to be a Commodore 64.
First released in 1982, the follow-up to the VIC-20 had a lot going for it, including multicolor sprites and 64 kilobytes of RAM (whoa, buckle up!). But for us music nerds, the real juice came from the SID chip. SID (or Sound Interface Device to his mom) offered three channels of analog audio, each with its own filter and ADSR envelope, plus a sound generator capable of sawtooth, triangle, and rectangle pulse width modulation waveforms, plus noise. Oh, that PWM!
The most famous SID-based hardware video game synth is undoubtedly Elektron’s SidStation. The 1999 instrument (and the debut from the company) is long unavailable, although there are a few modern ways to get that classic sound.
Best Video Game Synths: Busy Circuits/ALM MCO mkII
Busy Circuits and ALM’s MCO (now available in a mkII model) is the best way to get the SID sound in your Eurorack rig. Although it doesn’t feature an actual SID chip like the now-discontinued SID Guts modules, it does offer an excellent digital emulation of one, along with a number of other ’90s/’00s digital synth recreations.
Along with the engines, which are playable in up to four-note chords, there’s also FM modulation, sync, and DSP as well as envelopes and LFOs.
Best Video Game Synths: Peacock Media MIDISID
If all you need is access to the basic SID chips, look no further than the MIDISID box from boutique manufacturer Peacock Media. The latest version of the video game synth, dubbed Morpheus, sports two SID chips (actually modern Kung Fu clones) for six-voice polyphony.
The MIDISID also offers three modes of playback, a screen, a duophonic mode, stereo and mono output options, and a USB-C socket. It’s also very affordable, making it a nice option if all you want is some old-school SID action.
Plogue chipsynth C64
Of course, I had to include this. The maniacs at Plogue have created their own plugin emulation of the SID – and not just of one chip, but of 32 different ones! Called chipsynth C64, it’s a ridiculously accurate recreation for your DAW and something of a Holy Grail for video game synth lovers.
chipsynth C64 gives you access to each oscillator, plus filter and ADSR envelopes, as well as control over the 8-bit DAC. It even includes a modulation matrix.
Demo fans, take note. “This is a full, REAL emulator that can actually play original songs natively and accurately,” Plogue says, “with a full-featured SID file player capable of playing even exotic songs with multiple-SID setups, sample playback, and hard filter overdrive.”
Be still, my pulse wave modulating heart.
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