Pimp my PSG Music Challenge (update!)

When the MSX was first launched it was given the capability to produce sound through the AY-3-8910 (or compatible) soundchip that we all know as the PSG. Nowadays we are used to things like SCC, MSX-MUSIC, MSX-AUDIO, (AD)PCM, and OPL4, but a large collection of MSX software was released supporting only the PSG. It made us wonder: what if... what if all these sound chips had been available right away? How could those three channel PSG tracks that are often engraved into our brains have sounded with those chips? This calls for a challenge!

So here's your assignment: create a remix of an existing MSX song that originally only uses the PSG sound chip. Show us what sound you can squeeze out of your MSX. You can be as creative as you like, so you can stick to proven tools like Moonblaster and TriloTracker or any of their predecessors, but if you'd like to experiment with the cassette relais, FDD disk head noises, MSX printers or even custom hardware/cables we can only encourage that! You can link multiple MSX computers together and use the most exquisite combination of sound chips. The only requirement is that it has to be reproducible on MSX by someone with exactly the same configuration. MIDI is allowed only to control other MSX computers, not for sound modules or synths. And just to make sure: if the original game or demo also supports other sound chips than PSG it's not a valid candidate. Your starting point is a humble PSG-only song.

Once you have finished an entry please submit a ZIP file of your entry containing the source audio files and information on the setup and frequency (50Hz/60Hz) to be used. Also provide an MP3 recording of your entry so that everyone can hear your song regardless of owning all the needed hardware. Last but not least, if your setup is pretty unique or you used some custom hardware/cables for it please provide a video or pictures showing the setup in action. You can send in multiple entries, but please send in a separate ZIP file for each entry.

And the rewards, apart from eternal glory and satisfaction? Well, we have some nice prizes to give away this time. How about a MIDI-PAC 2.0 (still to be released!), a MegaflashROM SCC, a package with all original Impact releases, a loose game disk of Be-Bop Bout or an MSX T-Shirt or girlie? The first prize winner will have first pick in this bucket of prizes.

The deadline has been set to Saturday, April 30th , 23:59 CET so what are you waiting for? Gentlemen, start your MSX-Engines!

Comments (29)

By Grauw

Ascended (10821)

02-02-2016, 23:18

I like this challenge!

But… (and you saw this coming I bet )… why exclude VGM? It’s just a generic replayer format. What matters is that it is music for the MSX, right? If someone wants to use AdLib Tracker II because MBFM sucks, or a tracker which is not generally available yet (TTFM, MS²), or sequence / improvise a song via MIDI to MSXSynth, or combine MoonSound FM and Wave by using MBFM and MBWave separately and then merging them, more power to them… VGM is a useful format in those cases.

If I wanted to do something creative with one of the lesser supported sound chips (e.g. SFG-05), I’d prefer not to create a custom new file format for this challenge alone… Also, recording a MIDI file from my sequencer and then playing it back from one MSX connected to another with SFG-05 is allowed?

So, I would express my wish to lift this particular restriction . Or at least rephrase it to say that “the music must be composed on MSX” rather than “file format X is excluded”.

By meits

Scribe (6572)

02-02-2016, 23:32

The point is that it must be made on an MSX (or in an emulator). If you can play it on an MSX, you don't need to turn it into a VGM to play it on an MSX

By yzi

Champion (444)

02-02-2016, 23:42

"made on an MSX"? So, no good if I compose in Milky Tracker and convert it to my Moonsound LTM module player?

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10135)

02-02-2016, 23:58

And let me point out that my music for MJTT, Dr.Pill, Shift and Jailbreak was all made with Impulse Tracker. If this was a storywriting contest, would it matter whether a story was made with TED or Indesign?

By syn

Prophet (2135)

03-02-2016, 01:07

It wasn't really clear that the music has to be created on MSX. That should be added to the openingspost imo.

By snout

Ascended (15187)

03-02-2016, 10:57

Agreed, agreed, agreed. Restriction lifted. Will update the post. As long as the tune can be reproduced on an MSX, even if it's in an exotic configuration, it's a valid entry.

By meits

Scribe (6572)

03-02-2016, 11:02

Nice...

By Parn

Paladin (854)

03-02-2016, 11:26

Sounds like a fun challenge!

By ren

Paragon (1947)

03-02-2016, 12:28

Good move I think to remove that restriction..
New let's hope for some interesting entries!
(Esp. curious if some peep will perhaps choose/pick a 'less obvious' PSG tune..? )

Btw: AFAIC it's welcomed to supply a VGM anyway (or perhaps a KSS file), so people can play that on their preferred setup/environment instead of an mp3..

ps. perhaps next time it would be nice to sum up the edits you made to the rules / post below the post.. I guess you added the following as well? (Or I read over it the first time..)

Quote:

[...] And just to make sure: if the original game or demo also supports other sound chips than PSG it's not a valid candidate. Your starting point is a humble PSG-only song.

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10135)

03-02-2016, 12:50

One of my few nags is that the PSG-era of MSX-games was also kind of the old era. In other words: when music got bigger due to having more memory (and perhaps also due to having more artistic talent), we were already bathing in SCC- and FM-chips. So, to find a suitable PSG-only song that's worthy of remaking with SCC/FM/OPL4/etc. is a challenge on its own. Not that there's nothing to choose from, but e.g. all the PSG-versions of Xak 1/2/G are ruled out (there may be one or two PSG-only songs in those games though), all the Psycho World tunes are ruled out, all the Aleste stuff is ruled out (and probably a lot from Compile anyway, never heard those without FM once I got my FM-PAC).

But alas.. what can ya do..

By Grauw

Ascended (10821)

03-02-2016, 13:04

Nice!

@wolf_ Auf Wiedersehen Monty? Double Dragon II? Sa-Zi-Ri? Ys? Romancia? Penguin Adventure? There’s quite a few good PSG-only choices around. :)

By anonymous

incognito ergo sum (116)

03-02-2016, 13:58

Here are 25 PSG-only songs to choose from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5oGFzApBOc

By meits

Scribe (6572)

03-02-2016, 14:05

MSX1 titles sometimes have great compositions which are quite long as well... As Grauw mentions Aufwiedersehen Monty is one of the examples as well as the Ys trilogy... Quality compositions... But there's way more. it's just not always the thing you know about since the title is mostly obsolete since MSX2 came out...

I think I know what I'm going to do... be it on an even more unorthodox way

By Lazzeri

Champion (280)

03-02-2016, 14:18

Venom Strikes Back! Titanic! Inspecteur Z! Starquake! Rambo! Thexder!

There are many lovely PSG around!

By ren

Paragon (1947)

03-02-2016, 14:37

Shameless plug John...

Well, if inspiration needed, there's also this topic: Favorite PSG (only!) game soundtracks top 10 (by aforementioned John ;)) (Though some people mentioning games/soundtracks that have FM as well..)

By meits

Scribe (6572)

03-02-2016, 14:30

a lot of telenet is psg only as well

By tfh

Prophet (3429)

03-02-2016, 15:54

Or the intro tune of StarQuake... Although is a bit short....

By evulopah

Paladin (669)

03-02-2016, 16:40

I also liked all the tunes used in this '100 MSX games in 10 minutes':

More tunez

By Lazzeri

Champion (280)

03-02-2016, 17:29

Oh, BTW...

I do have a nice 30 seconds sample from "Titanic" that is perfect to use as a ringtone. If anyone's interested just let me know.

By MäSäXi

Paragon (1884)

06-02-2016, 09:04

Couple of psg topic links...

https://www.msx.org/forum/msx-talk/software-and-gaming/tunes...

https://www.msx.org/forum/msx-talk/general-discussion/non-ja...

When making arrangements, please remember that not every game originally ran on 60Hz, at least if you want to keep some feeling of the original song. On youtube, some 50Hz MSX games are run on 60Hz machines and music plays uncomfortably fast.

By MäSäXi

Paragon (1884)

06-02-2016, 09:31

Few psg tunes more...

Wec Le Mans
Mad Mix Game 2
Samantha Fox Strip Poker
Ice, did you remember it also plays music during loading? It plays music after loading screen has loaded and loading continues when music stops.
Ghostbusters II, I think it had good title music, maybe it didn´t play immediately but you had to watch digitized slideshow first.
Rambo III, if it wasn´t mentioned yet
Playhouse Strip Poker
Amaurote

By yzi

Champion (444)

06-02-2016, 22:40

How about PSG tunes from Atari ST, ZX Spectrum or Amstrad CPC? They're really the same thing, you can play them on an MSX with a YM player. There are great PSG tunes particularly on the Atari ST, and I'd like to try re-making one of them on the MoonSound.

PSG/AY/YM was the bog-standard sound chip in the 80s. There's nothing MSX-specific about it. Just like the Z80 CPU or the 9918 video chip.

By snout

Ascended (15187)

07-02-2016, 18:57

The chip itself is not specific to MSX, but the MSX software catalog is. I think that leaves a more than wide enough selection of music to pick from.

A bring-music-from-other-platforms-to-MSX challenge might be a nice one for the future though -- and you could always choose to release your remake out of competition.

By poke-1,170

Paragon (1783)

10-02-2016, 13:23

dibs on thexder

By meits

Scribe (6572)

14-02-2016, 22:09

letting my "finished" first entry settle a bit in my brain...

By Parn

Paladin (854)

18-02-2016, 10:09

A small question: if I submit an entry, am I allowed to release it (or some version of it) elsewhere (say, Soundcloud) before the challenge's deadline? I'm asking because I just finished an entry and I'd like to make an enhanced mix version with stereo panning (which can't be done on a real MSX).

By meits

Scribe (6572)

18-02-2016, 13:00

Of course... And please give us a link in the upload description field to it so the listeners can check your enhanced version as well...

By yzi

Champion (444)

30-04-2016, 14:06

I tried to submit an entry, but the upload page does not give any kind of confirmation. I clicked the Submit button, it did something for a couple of seconds, and then just redirected to the front page. Did my ZIP file get through?

In any case, here is my entry.
http://www.kameli.net/~yzi/aekrus_moonsound.zip

By [WYZ]

Champion (451)

30-04-2016, 15:11

I also submit my entry and there was not confirmation of receipt. Just to evidence my intent of chllenge enrollment:Star Force

Pimp my PSG Music Challenge (update!)

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