Game Sound Articles
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The Second Sound Chip – The Sega Master System and the YM2413
What is a Master System? If you’re reading this in English and you owned a Sega Master System you probably didn’t own the most complete version of the Sega Master System. This isn’t idle snobbery: the Machine that was released outside Japan was notably different…
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32-bit Audio Fight Club: The Saturn, the PlayStation and the End of the Chiptune Era
The first rule of 32-bit Audio Fight Club is that you don’t talk about 32-bit Audio Fight Club. Actually, that’s not quite true: the first rule of 32-bit Audio Fight Club is that…well…you probably wouldn’t even think to talk about 32-bit Audio Fight Club. Or…
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“IRQ: 7” – The Complicated World of early MS-DOS Sound Options
Modern games consoles, eh? With their bundled hard drives and insatiable hunger for game patches, they’re effectively just user-friendly PCs aren’t they? Yes, even you over there in the corner, Mr Switch. Hang on though! When you think about it, the inverse is also true.…
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The Sega Master System Hidden FM Collection 2: Incomplete soundtracks
Did you know that, unlike its Western Counterpart, the Japanese Sega Master System had its own FM soundchip? oh, you did? Well of course to you would – you’re a smart, witty and generally amazing Sega Master System fan. What you may not…
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Introducing the Sega Master System Hidden FM Collection
Oh I see! Don’t want my yacking, eh? Just go straight to the download then. Click: Here Did you know that, unlike its Western Counterpart, the Japanese Sega Master System had its own FM soundchip? oh, you did? Well of course to you would –…
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Gig Review: Yuzo Koshiro & Motohiro Kawashima (Fabric 30/11/17)
When it was announced that London nightclub Fabric had lost its license back in 2016, It definitely felt like the end of an era. I can’t say i’d exactly been a regular, but i’d had enough fun nights at the club to briefly…
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In Defence of GEMS
On the whole, sound engines aren’t something people tend to discuss. That’s perfectly understandable really: a sound engine is just a bit of code that allows composers to talk to the sound hardware contained in a console. Even in the relatively niche world of…
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Fatnick’s Album of the Week: Sega Sound Unit [H.] – 1st Album
![Fatnick’s Album of the Week: Sega Sound Unit [H.] – 1st Album](https://fatnickindustries.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/SSUH1A_CD_JP_Box_Front.jpg)
Though his soundtrack for Fatnick-favourite Outrun is widely lauded, Sega composer Hiroshi “Hiro” Kawaguchi sadly doesn’t receive the same respect as some of his more famous soundtrack composing peers. This is a bit of a shame: Not only does his extensive back catalogue include the…
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Three Sega Soundtracks you may have missed
Thursday was a truly magnificent day: Completely out of the blue, Sega made a ton of their soundtrack albums available on Spotify. Blimey! The only problem with having access to such a large collection is the question of where to start. As I have a feeling…
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An Unsung giant of 80’s Gaming
This company helped define video games throughout the mid 80’s and early 90’s, but you probably wouldn’t think of them as a videogame company. Don’t believe me? Their tech was used in both the Megadrive and the Japanese Master System, but they aren’t anything to do…
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The Mysterious Legacy of the SNES Soundchip
It’s a pretty obvious statement that, when it comes to streaming and writing about old video games, some vintage consoles definitely are more popular than others. It’s also true that, when it comes to the chip tuning scene, some hardware platforms are inevitably more popular…
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Why isn’t Toejam & Earl at The Top of Every Best Soundtrack Poll?
24 years ago, my brother and I stumbled towards the end of classic intergalactic Megadrive adventure Toejam & Earl. Though we’d previously borrowed it from a friend, this was the first time we were playing through on our own chunky cartridge – and we were…
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Videogame Soundtrack Vinyls
I feel a bit miserly. On paper, you would think that the re-release of videogame soundtracks on socially-acceptable audio formats would be something I could definitely get behind. Particularly if it lead to a general renaissance of the FM soundtrack side of things (I could…