Can anyone recommend a VST PCM synth?

Ever since I got into the Super Nintendo, I have loved the way PCM synthesis sounded. Very warm and... SNES-ey. :P

Anyway, it seems that PCM synths are about the most unpopular type of synthesis there is, and I'm having a somewhat hard time finding a good one. Can anyone recommend one?

Technically I suppose Cakewalk's own Dimension Pro is a PCM or Wavetable synth in that it can apply its own synthesis to an existing PCM sample.

Is there a particular historic PCM/Wavetable synth you were fond of?  Maybe you'll get closer by finding an emulation or soundset of a particular keyboard that used the technology.

I know there is a Proteus add-on pack that you can use with Dimension Pro that would be worth checking out for sure.

Arturia do some good vintage synth emulations too also you could try the Korg page they used to do an emulation of their own M1

someone did mention Plogue on a c64 forum that I go on..

hhmm there are loads

try unknown 64
quad sid (not free)
synth1
YM vst ...http://www.preromanbritain.com/ymvst/

there are loads... even using mod tracker / modplug vst.. you can get the basic sounds. which is what the snes was using..

http://forums.tigsource.c...printpage;topic=5811.0

is a thread you might like.

SID chip forever   except when fat neck producer sampling fools who steal the bulk of anothers tune and pretends it's their work

Have you tried something like Triforce and toad?

Hi KiddCabbage,

I think this is going to be tough, unless someone who really liked that sound system decided that it was worth extending into a synth --- and that just seems unlikely given that to be true to the original, one would implement all the envelopes, filters, etc.

However, one group of folks does exactly that kind of thing, namely emulation.  See, for example:

http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/snes/

This might be the best hope for getting something really close to that sound.  But these are typically full emulations, not partial to audio, etc.  How to adapt an emulator to what you want is completely up in the air (but having source code available would be a great start for a programmer!).

Good luck!

Regards,
Dave Clark
 

Hi KiddCabbage,

There is an emulation of the SNES sound chip in there, yes, but the sample data comes from the game cartridges, so
just the emulator's code would be like getting a sampler with no samples to play.

Previously you mentioned only the synthesis --- or at least this is what I understood.  Now you're saying that you want all of the sound data of all the cartridges also?  Or are they all the same?  If they are all different, then I don't see any way of getting them than to obtain all of them unless they are all collected somewhere, which seems (legally) unlikely if they are customized per cartridge. 

It also seems to me that they would have copyright protection if they are not just basic waveforms,  giving you other problems.  Out of curiosity: Have you checked to see if the SNES audio system is patented?   For personal use, this would not be of any concern, but commercial usage could potentially be a problem, depending on exactly what it is that you do.

Regards,
Dave Clark
 

Hi KiddCabbage,

So, under that type of thinking, I'm thinking that the chip itself didn't have much to do with the tone of the SNES games themselves. I can try to assume, then, that the tone comes from the way the samples were compressed and encoded in the games...

I would *not* assume that.  From the coder's perspective, the hardware audio system is indeed just something to emulate in software, operation by operation, but you should not interpret this as that said hardware is not important to the sound.  If you liked all of the sounds from many or all of the games, then there probably is something about the hardware, the way it's used, or the way the samples interact with it that you need to replicate somehow.

I also do not think that the method you described would result in a similar sound --- not by a long shot.  It's not impossible, but there is so much else going on that it is very unlikely that this mere encoding is the key.  I would guess that it's more likely that 8 voices with variable playback rates, filtering (including recursion or feedback?  not clear what is meant), and non-linear envelopes would have a lot more to do with the sound that you liked.

Your best shot, IMO, is still to get ahold of the actual hardware, an emulation of it, or something that operates very similar to it, then get ahold of some of the samples or something like them and try the whole thing out.  You may find that you can use other samples.  As far as just trying out synths ("something that operates very similar to it" as I said), the description of the hardware you posted leaves too much up in the air about possible acceptable architectures --- in my mind, anyway --- and says little about how it was used.   A lot more detail about the actual implementation is needed.

Regards,
Dave Clark
 

I'm sure they found a solution since this was almost 5 years ago...

i was wondering if someone could help me, i have a few sampled "synths" that are aparently pcm synths, the yamaha sy22, sy85/tg500, korg m1, and also a hardware tg33, i have read that the tg33 combines fm with pcm samples creating its own hybrid sound, but im not sure if the others do this, also what are the other synth/keyboards out there with the same functionality as the sy22, 85 and m1? and if there are sampled librarys of these? im basically interested in the sound of mixing pcm with something else in a kind of hybrid way, cus it doesnt seem very popular and mainstream and then to me it sounds different and new, i also own uvi's digital synsations (which has the m1) but is has 3 others that i dont really like, but im aware they all have similar functionallity, oh btw if your having a similar problem to the guy who started this post id recommend getting a very old gaming computer like the amiga 500, commodor 64, and buy a music making program for it (floppy disk) you can get all these on ebay, and they all sound very similar: 8 bit pcm samples sequenced, iv never tried it myself but have seen videos on youtube, i think that will get the sound your after, there is actually one for the snes i think, i just it on youtube