"Late 90s-early 2000's was an interesting time for electronic music. The rise of the GROOVEBOX! And leave it to Roland to make a sequenced groove based multi effects processor, that is also a bass synth, drum machine, and vocoder."
"Sonicware Liven Mega Synthesis is inspired by and emulates the classic sound of the Sega Mega Drive from gaming's yesteryear. many people will have a fondness for the crunchy PCM , FM and reduced bandwidth of those cartridge games. @SONICWARE have been n a roll with their specialized groovboxes and this one takes that sound world and fully inhabits it.
With input from legendary game soundtrack composer Yuzo Koshiro, the Renowned Composer known for the "Ys", "The Streets of Rage" and "Etrian Odyssey", who has Contributed Sound Banks and Patterns.
Who better to look at this than @magicalsynthadventure3216 who's deep into retro digital synthesis?
Thanks to @Kim_Justice for the game footage
The Mega Synthesis is battery powered or PSU,has 320 FM game sounds, sorted into 20 categories, and 64 diverse drum kits for the PCM track.
- 128 patterns - Up to 128 steps per pattern
- Step length can be set from 1/1 to 1/32
- Real-time recording
Sound Engines:
4-operator & 8-algorithm FM sound module with precise sound editing in Edit Mode
Including extra features like fine-tuning operator ratios, which was impossible at the time.
8-bit PCM sound part of YM2612
Recreate the sound of PCM playback controlled by the Z80 microprocessor used at the time.
Sampling capabilities (8-bit - 12kHz: upto 8 secounds / 24kHz: 4 seconds / 48kHz: 2 seconds, 96 stored samples)
PSG (Programmable Sound Generator) sound module
Synthesize basic waveforms and white noise to recreate iconic retro-game-sounds.
"Moog Mother-32 'Techno Jam' is a collection of 64 patterns suitable for different genres like Techno, Minimal, House, Progressive, Acid, Deep, Rave, Dub, Tribal, Hardcore, Industrial, Dark, Electro, etc. The soundset contains a wide range of sequences: dense, with all steps active, or sparse, having many empty steps and giving space for other instruments. Some patterns are made in Natural Minor, they will work nicely for Deep or Melodic Techno, while some use other modes, like Phrygian and are associated with Acid 303-lines.
Each seq is thoroughly set with parameters such as Gate Length, Ratchet, Glide, and Accent. The length of the sequences varies from 9 to 32 steps, including "odd" lengths (e.g., 14, 18, and so on) for polyrhythmic/polymetric grooves.
By default, the sequences are in the C3 Minor scale. This range is best suited for bass lines. However, you may transpose them to octaves higher to create melodic lines. You can also adjust the root note in semitones using the onboard keyboard to fit any scale. Additionally, transposition during playback can be used to create progressions, as demonstrated in some examples in my video demo.
Moog Mother-32 doesn't have the import/export feature. The only way to share a melodic line is old good Patterns Sheets - a picture, where all parameters are put to the picture, and then, a pattern is recreated manually by following the settings on the sheets. Thus, the soundset is presented in the form of a PDF file. You can see an example of a pattern in the video or on the product page, the picture is attached.
There are audio examples of all seqs inside the folder with the soundset. The timbre in the examples is kept simple to avoid disturbing the perception with excessive modulations. After you've programmed a pattern, you can then set the patch to any complexity level.
The soundset doesn't include Mother-32 patches/timbres/front-panel settings. Patterns only. You may find Mother-32 patches on my website as separate products.
You can use the patterns as ready-to-go material for your tracks or jams. Alternatively, you can go further by taking them as a starting point. Decorate the sequences with the features offered by Mother-32: play with pattern length (end point), direction, rotation (shifts the starting point back and forward), swing amount and division, tempo division if you use an external clock, momentary actions like hold, accent, ratchet, and others, reset, and, of course, you can change patterns by muting/adding steps or changing notes. Thus, a single sequence can produce many "siblings" in real time.
