240107 - Jamuary2024 - Liven MEGA Synthesis Jam

video upload by ChrisLody

"Full Disclosure: I occasionally take on freelance work at Sonicware on an hourly rate producing synth & sample sound design, beta testing, checking English text, video manuals etc. This video wasn't paid for directly but as a result of my work with Sonicware it is marked as Paid Promotion

7 days into Jamuary 2024 and I've only managed 2, not really what I'd planned! But at least now the reveal of the Liven MEGA Synthesis is out of the way I can upload some jams using it. Plus this isn't an official Sonicware video, so I can mention the fact that it's designed to emulate the experience of making music on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis hardware unlike in my last video, hopefully to the surprise of almost nobody 😄

I didn't create any fresh patches for this jam, it's all just presets and there's plenty to choose from (including my work of course).

From this video you should be able to hear that the general lo-fi vibe of the YM2612 has been replicated nicely. Part of that is due to a design flaw in it's 9 bit DAC which distorted the sound at quite volumes, often called the Ladder Effect. You can turn that on and off per track on the MEGA.

Apart from the delay on the lead sound I'm not using any effects here, the distorted guitar lead sound is created using just FM synthesis. On the original Mega Drive/Genesis adding delay would have had to be done by duplicating notes onto another channel of the chip using up polyphony, but the MEGA has an effects section so this is a regular guitar pedal like delay effect."