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SNES Audio System Overview - SPC700 Series pt. 1

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  • čas přidán 29. 01. 2022
  • Ever wondered how the SNES's audio subsystem, the SPC700, produced all the beautiful music and sounds in all of those SNES classics? It's all explained right here.
    LINKS
    Twitter (updates): / retrogamemechex
    Patreon (support): / rgmechex
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    Discord (discussion): discord.rgmechex.com
    INLINE LINKS
    SPC700 & ARAM - SNES Features Pt. 10 - • SPC700 & ARAM - Super ...

Komentáře • 268

  • @HBMmaster
    @HBMmaster Před 2 lety +130

    welcome back! great educational value in this video as always

    • @johnlucas463
      @johnlucas463 Před 2 lety +13

      Of course we see jan Misali / Mr. Conlang man over here learning about the computer language.

    • @Leadbraw
      @Leadbraw Před 2 lety +5

      I've seen u on two completely different vids in the past week now

    • @demosmemebrewery9916
      @demosmemebrewery9916 Před 2 lety +1

      toki.

    • @masicbemester
      @masicbemester Před 2 lety

      a surprise to be sure but a welcome one

  • @MohammadAlmeqdadi
    @MohammadAlmeqdadi Před 2 lety +317

    These videos should not only be part of a real course regarding low level programming, but these are so well made, that they should really be part of a Nintendo or programming museum. Your work goes beyond excellence and is absolutely monumental. Can't wait for the rest of the series!

    • @gabrote42
      @gabrote42 Před 2 lety +7

      Bump

    • @KyleDavis328
      @KyleDavis328 Před 2 lety +17

      I definitely learned more about low level computing from this channel than I did my actual low level programming course at college.

    • @canebro1
      @canebro1 Před rokem +4

      @@KyleDavis328 Ditto!

  • @TS6815
    @TS6815 Před 2 lety +350

    So glad to see you're back! Hope you are doing okay and that everything's getting better for you -- the works you make for this little community might feel vestigial or like footnotes but they are all such a positive thing and we're glad you're still able to do it. And you're inspiring so many of us to learn more about computers and hardware. You're a great ambassador! Hang in there!

    • @sovdee
      @sovdee Před 2 lety +21

      I second everything Tim said, and wanted to add that your videos have been a major reason in my decision to get a degree in computer engineering. Thank you for being such an inspiration!

  • @Dr_Mel
    @Dr_Mel Před 2 lety +86

    This makes me feel like programming back then was such a resource-constrained job that it forced a lot of organizational creativity, which is something I love to see.

    • @stevenschiro1838
      @stevenschiro1838 Před 2 lety +11

      Exactly, it’s art through adversity. It’s why I still play a lot of the games back then, while newer ones are forgotten quickly

    • @jimmyhirr5773
      @jimmyhirr5773 Před 2 lety +4

      If I remember correctly, Super Mario Kart came from an attempt to create a follow-up to F-Zero.

    • @stevenschiro1838
      @stevenschiro1838 Před 2 lety +10

      @@jimmyhirr5773 I believe they wanted a 2 player fzero, but they realized the SNES couldn't handle it at the speed and size of the levels in F-Zero (something how mode 7 2 player could only be 1/4 of the size), so they came up with the idea of Kart racing instead, since the levels would be smaller and the speed would be slower. Pretty cool that the whole series is just because of that limitation

    • @shinyhappyrem8728
      @shinyhappyrem8728 Před 2 lety +8

      @@stevenschiro1838: F-Zero streams new tilemap data into VRAM during gameplay, just like a regular platformer. You can't do that for 2 players because one may be so slow that he's in a completely different area of the level. You'd have to switch to a top-down view like in F-1 Grand Prix, and halfway across the screen move the "camera" to the second player's section of the tilemap.

    • @misterdeedeedee
      @misterdeedeedee Před 2 lety +6

      as with everything involved in humanity, limitation breeds creativity. if it didn't we literally wouldn't be here both physically and technologically.

  • @TheChooseAName123
    @TheChooseAName123 Před 2 lety +138

    Your SNES videos helped me greatly when I hacked the HD features into bsnes. It's quite possible I would not have been able to put bsnes-hd together without them. And I still use and enjoy them.
    Now you start focusing on audio in great detail which I look forward to for about half a dozen reasons. And, yes, one of them is discussions about "HD audio" via sample packs (like texture packs).
    Keep up the great work. All the best. Greetings from Germany.

    • @shinyhappyrem8728
      @shinyhappyrem8728 Před 2 lety +9

      ↑ Dieser Kommentar müsste mal gepinnt werden :)

    • @grn1
      @grn1 Před rokem +4

      I knew about resource mods for Dolphin but never thought there'd be similar mods for a SNES emulator (in retrospect it makes sense, I just never considered it). Keep up the good work.

  • @mjdxp5688
    @mjdxp5688 Před 2 lety +53

    The SNES has some of my favorite sound capabilities of any console, SNES music always sounds amazing.

    • @coolbrotherf127
      @coolbrotherf127 Před 2 lety +5

      It sounds amazing in the popular games with quality developers working on them. There were some low quality SNES games that didn't use the sound chip well that sound like knives on a chalkboard instead of actual music.

    • @douro20
      @douro20 Před rokem +2

      I could just imagine what they could have done with it if the sample memory wasn't limited to the SPC700's address space.

  • @steven_________7853
    @steven_________7853 Před 2 lety +15

    Really missed this channel!
    My Masters project was to build a super nintendo on a Zynq FPGA. I got about 70% done with it, but had a working sound processor. The SPC700 was the coolest sound processor I've worked on in a along long time.

  • @Stitastic
    @Stitastic Před 2 lety +25

    “And when the world needed him most, he returned”

  • @Phroggster
    @Phroggster Před 2 lety +18

    He's back! I hope everything is well with you.
    I'm so looking forward to your upcoming audio subsystem deep dive(s). There's so much about these old platforms that you are able to bring to light, and you do it so well.

  • @biggallcaps
    @biggallcaps Před 2 lety +18

    Oh boy more content that I barely understand because it's very in depth and complicated! I'm always excited to watch these so please keep doing them 😁

  • @PuglyWont
    @PuglyWont Před 2 lety +14

    Wow, this is exactly the kind of information I was looking for! Thanks so much for making this series. Your graphics series are great, but I've tried to understand the SPC700 at a lower level on my own. (with only minor success)
    I make chiptune music, and I have math and some CS knowledge so I've wanted to make sense of the SPC700.
    Last year an audio plugin called chipsynth SFC was released that emulates the SPC700 exactly. You can see the registers for playing back an SPC in this. I tried to break apart some of the classic music I like and get into the fine detail of the timing of everything. I ran into an issue trying to understand the envelopes though. The ADSR makes sense, but the custom envelope settings with the Increase Linear, Decrease Linear...etc wasn't exactly clear. I was trying to make sense of the timings, but couldn't quit get it with Nintendo's documentation. I was able to make sense of the bit operations a little bit couldn't convert it to actual lengths of time.
    Your explanations of the timers completely cleared up my understanding of these. I can't wait to get to the rest... time to Patreon it up!

  • @catmacopter8545
    @catmacopter8545 Před 2 lety +6

    I may barely understand it, but it's still a good day when rgme uploads!

  • @segfaultec4064
    @segfaultec4064 Před 2 lety +19

    I love that because of how clear your pronounciation is, youtube's autogenerated subtitles are nearly flawless.
    Great that your back, been looking forward to this!

    • @subg9165
      @subg9165 Před 2 lety +5

      except of course when youtube decides to forget the word "zero"

    • @oxybrightdark8765
      @oxybrightdark8765 Před 2 lety +6

      I love that this has actual subtitles, non auto generated.

  • @commandercross2638
    @commandercross2638 Před 2 lety +2

    Words can't describe how glad I am to see this channel back. I may not fully get everything explained here but it sure is a joy learning about it

  • @Portentous__
    @Portentous__ Před 2 lety +5

    I’ve never owned an SNES, but I find these videos incredibly interesting, and they’re partly the reason I’m so into tech stuff. Not only that, but the way you explain registers have helped me greatly in understanding assembly!

    • @grn1
      @grn1 Před rokem +1

      Had a Genesis myself then an N64. I did get to play some ports on SNES games that were released on GBA (SMW, ALttP) and have used emulators (mostly virtual console) to play some of the games I missed like EarthBound.

  • @michaelcalvin42
    @michaelcalvin42 Před 2 lety +2

    I've always been fascinated by the SPC-700, ever since I was a child. In fact, several years ago, I built a jukebox to stream BRR files and upload SPC files to an SPC-700 module using an Arduino microcontroller. This video was so well put together that I had to subscribe. Keep up the good work! I look forward to the rest of this series.

  • @stevenschiro1838
    @stevenschiro1838 Před 2 lety +3

    So glad to see you back. Thank you for all that you do

  • @Nukatha
    @Nukatha Před 2 lety +4

    Always good to see (and in this case, hear) more, many thanks.

  • @newoldstock_
    @newoldstock_ Před 2 lety +8

    Excellent! We've all been eagerly awaiting these. Thank you so much for your work.

  • @MaNameizJeff
    @MaNameizJeff Před 2 lety

    thanks so much for this series! I love the sound hardware from these 8 and 16 bit systems and snes was always one of my favorite. Can't wait for the other parts.

  • @medvidekkrupicka1404
    @medvidekkrupicka1404 Před 2 lety

    Glad to see you back and still going strong! I really like your elaborate explanations and detailed knowledge of the topics you learn us. Thanks a lot!

  • @duncathan_salt
    @duncathan_salt Před 2 lety +1

    Fantastic! I've been excited for this series for some time. Your work never ceases to impress and capture my awe and curiosity. :)

  • @zazaaji9833
    @zazaaji9833 Před 2 lety +1

    I am sooooo happy to see you're back.

  • @johneymute
    @johneymute Před 2 lety +5

    The snes will be always my favorite system of all time,heck even music sound professionals should ecknowledge the high quality output the snes can output.

  • @ClassicGameSessions
    @ClassicGameSessions Před 2 lety +4

    Awesome, sitting down for a good watch - looking forward to this!

  • @spiralofants1236
    @spiralofants1236 Před 2 lety

    I already know this is gonna be my favorite series from you!

  • @Choralone422
    @Choralone422 Před 2 lety +2

    Fantastic! I'm so looking forward to the rest of the videos on the SPC700!
    SNES audio is so incredibly memorable and was a huge step up from the NES or anything I had heard before it. I can still remember playing SMW for the first time shortly after the SNES was released, hearing the echo and other audio effects in the music and sound effects. It was mind blowing to a teenager who had been playing console games since the Atari 2600. :)

  • @tf_d
    @tf_d Před 2 lety +3

    NO WAY THANK YOU SO MUCH I'VE BEEN NEEDING THIS!

  • @josemarques131
    @josemarques131 Před 2 lety +1

    Such an impressive and powerful complex videogame console to this day. Your work is mind blowing. Thank You!

  • @ChunkyIsDead
    @ChunkyIsDead Před 2 lety +1

    These videos are so well-made! These would be a massive help to anyone trying to write their own emulator. I wish I had something like this when I went to make my own GameBoy emulator as a hobby project.

  • @dancinninja
    @dancinninja Před 2 lety +4

    I love this! I love these! I learn SO MUCH! Thank you!

  • @WishMakers
    @WishMakers Před 2 lety

    Oh good! I was beginning to wonder whether it was going to happen!! Thank you so much for making these, and welcome back!! Take it easy if you can!

  • @Justin-TPG
    @Justin-TPG Před 2 lety +5

    Another great, well constructed, explained and animated video! You have, ironically, an audio editing glitch at 8:55

  • @Jehezukiel
    @Jehezukiel Před 2 lety

    THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!!

  • @jimmerjammy
    @jimmerjammy Před 2 lety +21

    Finally! You are the epitome of low level programming creators

  • @McCoy-00
    @McCoy-00 Před 2 lety +2

    These videos are probably better than the documentation given to developers back in the 90s by Nintendo. Except you have the gift of hindsight and they had the gift of trying to make something out of all the specs.

  • @nintendoloverin9567
    @nintendoloverin9567 Před 2 lety +2

    Glad to see another video! You're amazing!

  • @cureabees9440
    @cureabees9440 Před rokem

    I love your voice!! 🥺🥺And this video is just so well made, I love how clearly you explain everything. I don't really know much about programming but you sound very smart talking about it xD This is useful to me because I'm interested in the SPC700 for music production purposes... thank you

  • @brightsideofmaths
    @brightsideofmaths Před 2 lety

    Thanks for sharing your knowledge here :)

  • @kasugaryuichi9767
    @kasugaryuichi9767 Před 2 lety +1

    I missed these so much!

  • @johnadams6249
    @johnadams6249 Před měsícem

    big fan of your new video thumbnails!❤️

  • @StinkingKevin
    @StinkingKevin Před 2 lety

    So happy that you're back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • @Sheevlord
    @Sheevlord Před 2 lety +2

    When the world needed him most he returned.

  • @ryansteele2111
    @ryansteele2111 Před rokem

    I truly love these videos.

  • @alejandroalzatesanchez

    please continue the series u are almost the ONLY who explains this

  • @ChadDoebelin
    @ChadDoebelin Před 2 lety +1

    glad you're back!

  • @MrBillgonzo
    @MrBillgonzo Před 2 lety

    Yeaaaaaaaah! I've been waiting for this series! 🙌

  • @CrushedAsian255
    @CrushedAsian255 Před 2 lety

    can't wait for the rest of the series!!!

  • @johnlucas463
    @johnlucas463 Před 2 lety +2

    Eyyyyyyy Your back!
    Congrats on waking from your long slumber

  • @RiverRiceRansom
    @RiverRiceRansom Před 2 lety

    Yes!!! You’re back!

  • @pp9043pp
    @pp9043pp Před rokem

    This are one of the more awesome videos that I've seen from audio. I would love to see the same but for the NES

  • @xyz2112zyx
    @xyz2112zyx Před 2 lety

    Your videos are pure gold!!

  • @bitsaucetv
    @bitsaucetv Před 2 lety

    Welcome back my man!

  • @VivienBihl
    @VivienBihl Před 2 lety

    Thank you so much for your amazing work.

  • @MrRahovart
    @MrRahovart Před 2 lety +1

    Welcome back!!

  • @pannekook2000
    @pannekook2000 Před 2 lety

    Welcome back! Love these videos as an amateur rom hacker

  • @whamer100
    @whamer100 Před 2 lety

    yay new series! i missed this

  • @timpunny
    @timpunny Před 2 lety +1

    WOOOOOO! YEAAAAAH BABY! That's what I've been waiting for! That's what it's all about! Wooooo!

  • @crtxl
    @crtxl Před 2 lety +5

    This series will be awesome. Should cover parts of the SNES which are seldom talked.
    I hope he often has to 'f f f f' 😃

  • @desoft8b
    @desoft8b Před 2 lety

    Thanks for the subtitles.

  • @smellyfishstiks
    @smellyfishstiks Před 2 lety

    OOOH I'm so looking forward to this

  • @user-te2gb1hy9y
    @user-te2gb1hy9y Před 2 lety +4

    Though I don't know much about it, the SNES sound system is actually my favorite (comparing it to stuff like MID, MOD, XM, or IT). I'm glad you've been able to get to it. Your other videos have helped me gain a better grasp on how my favorite consoles work, in conjunction with dev manuals, and observation on my own. I'm hoping I can do a series similar to yours with the AGB, my favorite handheld. Sadly, its audio system is not as elegant as the SNES. It's just 4B buffer of 8b playback. My dad and I are actually dissecting a dead GAME BOY micro (the charging port is thrashed). Thankfully, it's ONLY AGB stuff. Every other AGB has not AGB stuff. Your videos have also helped me with the rendering in a game I'm making (I might also make an engine for FDS, SFC, CGB and AGB). Anyway. I love computers. I love your work. I'd love to do what you do, but for the AGB.

    • @rashidisw
      @rashidisw Před 2 lety +1

      Older SNES emulator do have feature where you can save the music as 8-channels .MOD file.

  • @nyanpasu64
    @nyanpasu64 Před 2 lety +7

    Fun fact: pitch modulation doesn't occur instead of the modulator being played normally, but in parallel. But people generally mute the modulator's mixing level because it usually sounds bad played together. Though this doesn't turn off pitch modulation, because it ignores the modulator's mixing level and only uses ADSR/GAIN.

  • @Gereon_
    @Gereon_ Před 2 lety

    amazing video as always :)

  • @jaysistar2711
    @jaysistar2711 Před 2 lety

    Yes! More videos on how the SNES works!

  • @Jotarothecomb
    @Jotarothecomb Před 2 lety +1

    FINALLY !!!!!!!!
    The master comes back!

  • @geovani60624
    @geovani60624 Před 2 lety +1

    if I had a channel like this one when I had more patience I would definitely make my own snes game

  • @nickwallette6201
    @nickwallette6201 Před 2 lety

    Oooh, SPC time! I am HERE for this!

  • @AltaVistaReserv
    @AltaVistaReserv Před 2 lety

    Not that i understand much, but man is this interesting and calming video, thank you!

  • @TheCrewExpendable
    @TheCrewExpendable Před 2 lety +4

    “Part 1 in a series…”
    Woohoo!

  • @Peffse
    @Peffse Před 2 lety +1

    I misread the thumbnail as over-explained and was like "YES!"

  • @liamthoralexanderspencer4684

    Fun fact: in some revisions of the SNES the sound system is on a separate board that pops on to the motherboard like a internal cartridge!

  • @spaceguybob
    @spaceguybob Před 2 lety

    I always love these

  • @guillermoleon0216
    @guillermoleon0216 Před 2 lety

    Our king has returned

  • @smartyhall
    @smartyhall Před 2 lety

    Amazing video as always! Ironically, there seems to be a slight audio glitch just before the discussion of the DAC.

  • @CrisperPoet
    @CrisperPoet Před 2 lety +1

    I'm not gonna pretend that I always understand what you're explaining in a video, but I will unreservedly say that I've enjoyed every one nonetheless.

  • @narayanbandodker5482
    @narayanbandodker5482 Před 2 lety +5

    8:53 editing error?

  • @MidnightMechanic
    @MidnightMechanic Před 2 lety +25

    This chip outperformed the Amigas. This thing was a beast. Remember, DKC's soundtrack was performed on this chipset!

    • @TroyBlackford
      @TroyBlackford Před 2 lety +5

      How David Wise replicated those lengthy, evolving Korg Wavestation, sounds with 64KB is still beyond me. And I've had it explained to me before hahaha. Truly genius, and a sign of the remarkability of this sound setup.

    • @Slamy4096
      @Slamy4096 Před 2 lety +8

      Concerning the number of audio channels, yes. But the Amiga has still the advantage of having all its chip ram available for sound samples. For complex instruments, 64 kB is sometimes not enough.

    • @somethingoriginal1707
      @somethingoriginal1707 Před 2 lety +4

      @@Slamy4096 not to mention that some trackers could increase the number of channels from 4 to 8 at the cost of of some CPU cycles and reduced quality.

    • @XanthinZarda
      @XanthinZarda Před 2 lety

      And Plok. Without an addon chip.

    • @bennyturbo
      @bennyturbo Před 2 lety

      Lol no it didn't, by a lot. Have you listened to some of h0ffman's tracks for example?

  • @alexmush672
    @alexmush672 Před 2 lety

    THE RETURN OF THE KING!

  • @Leadbraw
    @Leadbraw Před 2 lety

    Another banger!

  • @soviut303
    @soviut303 Před 2 lety +3

    8:53 there's a fun audio glitch after "16 bits".

  • @whatevermakesyouhappy5932
    @whatevermakesyouhappy5932 Před měsícem

    Very interesting stuff.

  • @ratzomimic8987
    @ratzomimic8987 Před 2 lety +1

    I thought this was a video about SCP due to misreading the title. I was not disappointed though.

  • @Slamy4096
    @Slamy4096 Před 2 lety +7

    You should mention as well, that the SNES had a huge disadvantage of loading times for soundtrack data. Some games stay on a black screen to shovel sound data to the SPC whenever the song is changed.

    • @Midee
      @Midee Před 2 lety

      Yep, though I assume most of this was from loading the actual samples. (and maybe sound effects too?)

    • @Waccoon
      @Waccoon Před 2 lety +1

      @@Midee Yeah, the dirty secret is that data was often compressed, so even cartridge-based consoles didn't have "instant" load times. Loading data into a port-mapped chip can often be pretty slow.

    • @nickwallette6201
      @nickwallette6201 Před 2 lety

      It doesn’t take very long to load 32K.

    • @shinyhappyrem8728
      @shinyhappyrem8728 Před 2 lety

      Secret of Mana is especially annoying in that regard... thankfully there's a MSU1 patch.

    • @lucianothewindowsfan
      @lucianothewindowsfan Před 2 lety

      Most N-SPC variants store few music at ARAM, which could be switched via input ports. Surprisingly, few N-SPC games (such as most of those using Nova's variant of the N-SPC) store *every song in ARAM(!).*

  • @Iceykitsune
    @Iceykitsune Před 2 lety

    It Lives!

  • @MsThekiller02
    @MsThekiller02 Před 2 lety +1

    babe wake up RGME dropped a new video

  • @justtestingmycurrentskills747

    He Returned

  • @lagia5
    @lagia5 Před 2 lety

    YES, thank you for making this serires, i have been working on a SPC player, using the actual SPC from a dead SNES

  • @yaseentwati7737
    @yaseentwati7737 Před 2 lety +2

    Never clicked on a notification this fast
    Welcome back

  • @angeldude101
    @angeldude101 Před 2 lety +2

    I really hope the cartridge audio pins will be covered since from what I understand they basically allow bypassing most of the subsystem to stream in audio samples directly, allowing for things like the MSU-1.

  • @dak7429
    @dak7429 Před 2 lety +1

    You need to collab with Summoning Salt, the result would be phenomenal

  • @csgoyuri6413
    @csgoyuri6413 Před 2 lety +1

    LET'S GOOOOOO I WAS BINGING YOUR VIDEOS AND I'M REALLY GLAD YOU RELEASED A NEW ONE

  • @CH32mix
    @CH32mix Před 2 lety

    Excelent video! i want to mention that the main theme of Chrono Trigger is one example of a song that doesn't fit in just one SPC file.

    • @Dhalin
      @Dhalin Před 2 lety +1

      Also, Dancing Mad (FF6) has to be split up as well, because it's actually 5 tracks that the game seamlessly weaves together in response to your gameplay.

  • @gabrielv.4358
    @gabrielv.4358 Před rokem

    Nice!

  • @trizgo_
    @trizgo_ Před 2 lety +1

    8:50 thought my ears were playing tricks on me

  • @randomnerd4600
    @randomnerd4600 Před 2 lety +1

    glad to see another snes related series, what are you going to cover next? maybe nes or gb?

    • @shinyhappyrem8728
      @shinyhappyrem8728 Před 2 lety

      For the GB there's "The Ultimate GB Talk" by Michael Steil.

    • @randomnerd4600
      @randomnerd4600 Před 2 lety

      @@shinyhappyrem8728 yeah but i prefer this type of video, its easy to digest and split into parts

  • @Color-Theory
    @Color-Theory Před 2 lety

    yessssssss thank you

  • @Bugrim
    @Bugrim Před 2 lety +2

    Уникальный контент, спасибо!

  • @Programancer
    @Programancer Před 2 lety +5

    Great video! It'd be interesting to see a list of tracks that can't be saved as .spc. The only one that I can think of off the top of my head is the intro theme from Tales of Phantasia, which has full lyrics and has (had?) issues being played in emulators.

    • @DFX2KX
      @DFX2KX Před 2 lety

      I think some of the DKC games had songs like this, as well as potentially Super Star Wars from all the samples?

    • @shinyhappyrem8728
      @shinyhappyrem8728 Před 2 lety

      Earthworm Jim 2

  • @pejnismiggle
    @pejnismiggle Před 2 lety +1

    8:54 Sounds like Heavy in TF2 eating a Sandvich.