Dual question topic: PSG vs. FM-PAC game soundtracks

Ambassador (5670)

28-04-2012, 07:24

Three years ago, I asked a question
http://www.msx.org/forum/msx-talk/software-and-gaming/favori...
and got very interesting and fun replies to it.
A lot of people ventilated that they actually prefer the PSG music versions of games which are known to support FM.

Now, I'd like to rejuvenate this in two ways, by asking you two questions, 'cause I'm interested in your answers. ;)

(1) Are there games supporting FM-PAC of which you actually prefer the PSG renditions?

(2) Of what games do you really think it's a pity that FM-PAC wasn't used? Read as: FM-PAC plus PSG, so with all the drum, noise & envelope goodies!

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Ofcourse I'll have to start by answering the questions myself. :)

(1)

Nope, sorry. Though I think the PSG versions of music from games like Psycho World, Firehawk, Golvellius 2 and Undeadline are very good as well.

(2)

All Falcom games that don't
All HAL Laboratories games that don't
All Telenet/Wolf Team games that don't
Hydlide 3
Super Laydock
Herzog
D'/Didaesh
Yuurei-Kun/Mr. Ghost
A lot of Rob Hubbard, Ben Daglish etc. stuff - would have loved to hear them work their magic on a PSG + FM combo

P.S. - if you feel like it, this is a democratic topic so if you'd want to involve "I'd rather have this-and-that with SCC" into the mix; then do! :D

Por alexworp3

Expert (126)

28-04-2012, 09:52

to answer your questions
(1) the same here

(2) all konami games (or with scc)
laydock
breaker breaker (radarsoft)
all T&E games that dont
all falcom games that dont

Por meits

Scribe (6542)

28-04-2012, 13:08

1. PSG is horrible on its own, so I avoid that thing as much as possible...

2. Falcom / T&E at least... Actually all, just to be rid of the PSG

@alexworp3: I agree with the T&E soft thing... Someone should do something about that

Por PingPong

Enlighted (4136)

28-04-2012, 13:17

Meits wrote:

1. PSG is horrible on its own, so I avoid that thing as much as possible...

PSG is not so bad, however it's needed some master skill to use it in a good way. Of cource FMPAC is better, but obviusly... there are some sound track like usas that use PSG, they are not so bad.

Por Manuel

Ascended (19461)

28-04-2012, 13:35

I don't think you can easily do some things with FM which you can do with PSG... like the stuff in Venom Strikes Back or some other famous PSG tracks (check my YouTube videos for some examples).

Por Akiguchi

Hero (623)

28-04-2012, 13:53

In general those majestic rpg's from Falcom and T&Esoft suffer from the lack of FM, as it does not feel very majestic in them to see the glorious intro accompanied with some bleeps. PSG is fine with some other styled games, but for rpg's it doesn't suit very well. On the other hand: try to imagine those monochrome Spectrum games with FM music and it would be outright silly.

Por wolf_

Ambassador_ (10109)

28-04-2012, 14:27

Visual and audio quality go hand in hand indeed. FM with a primitive MSX1 game would be somewhat odd (somehow, because SCC seems to work for at least advanced MSX1 games), PSG with a full blown MSX2 RPG is odd. A cheap midi file for the latest Playstation/XBox/Nintendo RPG would be odd, anything less than a full blown orchestra recording for full screen cinematics would be odd.

Por commodorejohn

Expert (92)

28-04-2012, 17:18

Any game that doesn't support FM should support it. I have nothing against PSG (when well-handled,) but ohhh do I love the sound of the OPL chips...

Por Manuel

Ascended (19461)

28-04-2012, 17:55

OTOH, MoG, a truly great game, is very well suited with its great PSG music

Por anonymous

incognito ergo sum (116)

28-04-2012, 21:24

1) Nope, once FM-PAC version is present, PSG shifts to the background.
2) There are several, mainly the same games you already commented but Ys 3 I think is an unforgivable error.

Anyway I would like to be more accurate because there are true masterpieces in PSG (Konami, Telenet and Enix games) and pure trash such as Tritorn II using the FM-PAC. So in conclusion, if a game features PSG&FM-PAC versions and are good enough, I play with both.

Por hit9918

Prophet (2932)

29-04-2012, 02:30

I got an idea about SCC.

SCC should do pulse wave without OR bug issues.
It is a square wave with the two arms being different length.
SID got it, NES got it, why is it not used on SCC?
Maybe it is just a matter of lacking tracker feature?
Be able to set pulse width and be able to slide it.