Kasser DAFM Genesis, Sega Megadrive-based FM synth!

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Advanced FM synth based on the YM2612 Megadrive / Genesis FM chip, which sounds more rax and with more "bite" than normal FM!"

You can find additional details and demos in previous posts here.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Kasser Synths DAFM ARCADE (Yamaha YM2151) & DAFM GENESIS (Yamaha YM2612

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

Demos in previous posts here.

ARCADE via this auction

"What is it?
Sound synthesis through Frequency Modulation (FM) allows to obtain unique sounds that defined a whole musical generation during the 80's and 90's. The model ARCADE uses the YM2151 Yamaha chip that was used in almost all the arcade machines in those years.

What makes it special?
The YM2151 has eight channels with four operators per channel. The operators can interact according to eight different algorithms. Attack-Decay-Sustain-Release (ADSR) envelopes, frequencies and low frequency oscillators (LFOs) can be modified to obtain the whole range of FM sounds.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Best Ambient Synth Shootout #114: Kasser DAFM Synth - Song 3

video upload by Christian's Sonic Spaces

Christian's Sonic Spaces Kasser DAFM posts

"This is the third (quite dystopian) song with the DAFM Synth. It's an FM synthesizer based on either the YM2612 Yamaha chip (used in SEGA Genesis / Megadrive home consoles and various SEGA arcade game systems, including the Mega-Play, System 18, and System 32) or the cleaner sounding YM3438 chip (as in my DAFM) without the crossover distortion in the output. Both sound chips have six channels with four operators per channel.

I used for the recording the following FX chain: DAFM - KMA Machines CIRRUS - Pigtronix Echolution 2 Deluxe - GFI System Specular Reverb 2. Depending on the recorded track some FX are deactivated

The signal went through a Presonus StudioLive 16.0.2 into the PC for recording. To create the complete song I recorded consecutively several stereo tracks. The final song was then mastered with a bit EQ and compression on some tracks and some limiting on the master track."

ASTROGENIC HALLUCINAUTING - late night noiz for late night fiends

video upload by thenoiztemple

"ASTROGENIC HALLUCINAUTING - late night noiz for late night fiends - for more noiz: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/as... website: http://manipulate.net This is a series of live noiz and video noiz performances.

This marks #365...a year's worth of somewhat nightly noiz rituals for the adept Psychonaut.
The noiz will continue as always but this is a small goal achieved.

Late Night Noiz For Late Night Fiends has become a ritual of live noiz performances that finds similarities or parallels in Buddhist Sand Mandalas.

Every noiz generator is patched together with an accompanying designed video synthesis that seems to represent what I am hearing. Then...after the session...everything is turned off...most if not all patches are not saved and any analog settings are lost in the ether.

All that remains is the two track and it's accompanying visual abstraction.

Anyhow...the soundscape continues...more noiz!

HDSC

- noiz weapons on this performance -
Monome norns x3 all three running Cheat Codes 2
Elta Solar 50
Synthstrom Deluge
Sequential Pro-3
ISLA Instruments S2400
Meng Qi Squishable, Wing Pinger, Wingie
Zorx Ribbon Controller
Eowave Ribbon 2
Ciat-Lonbarde Sidrax Organ, Plumbutter 2
Elektron MonoMachine
Access Virus B
Jomox MBase11
Gotharman’s Little Deformer 3, Spazedrum
Kasser Synths DAFM Synth 2612, DAFM Synth 2151"

Kasser Synths Arcade YM2151 overview + Strymon NightSky

video by Floyd Steinberg

Kasser Synths also brought us the DAFM based on the YM2612 or YM3438 FM SEGA Genesis soundchip.

"Here's an overview of the Kasser Synths Arcade YM2151, the successor of the "Genesis YM3438" DIY synth with vastly superior sound quality and 8 voices of polyphony AND multitimbrality. This synth is based on the Yamaha 2151 integrated FM soundchip which was used in early 90s arcade cabinets (hence the name).
In this video, I take a brief look at the synth's features, create an evolving pad sound, pair it with a Strymon Nightsky pedal and last but not least create a short demo track making use of the machine's multitimbratility and polyphony.

Table of contents:

00:00 hello
00:43 hardware overview
02:48 loading and playing some sounds from sd card
03:04 creating an evolving pad sound: choosing an algorithm
03:39 velocity sensitivity on/off
03:51 setting up amplitude envelopes
05:20 lfo setup
06:12 saving the sound to sd card
06:30 adding superawesome reverb with nightsky
10:22 reverb demo (continued)
11:01 multitimbral demo track using an external sequencer
13:08 conclusion

Relevant links:
Kasser Synths Arcade: https://www.tindie.com/products/kasse...
Get 7% off on DistroKid with this link http://distrokid.com/vip/floyd"

Support: https://www.paypal.me/alexselck

DAFM DIY "SEGA Genesis" YM3438 Synth + Nemesis Delay Pedal improvisation

video by Floyd Steinberg

"The DAFM synth is a DIY project by KASSER SYNTHS based on the YM2612 or YM3438 FM soundchip which was also built into the SEGA Genesis game consoles (that was in the early 90s). It has 6 four-operator FM voices that can be used polyphonic and multitimbral.
The NEMESIS delay is a guitar pedal featuring a wide range of delay effects (tape, analog, digital, pitch-shifting, reverse, you name it). It has even more effects on offer when used with Source Audios "Neuro Desktop" app on Windows, Mac or Android.

More info on the DAFM synth:" [posted here]

Get 7% off on DistroKid with this link http://distrokid.com/vip/floyd

Support: https://www.paypal.me/alexselck

Best Ambient Synth Shootout #101: Kasser DAFM Synth - Song 2

Christian's Sonic Spaces

"This is the second song with the DAFM Synth. It's an FM synthesizer based on either the YM2612 yamaha chip (used in SEGA Genesis / Megadrive home consoles and various SEGA arcade game systems, including the Mega-Play, System 18, and System 32) or the cleaner sounding YM3438 chip (as in my DAFM) without the crossover distortion in the output. Both sound chips has six channels with four operators per channel.

I used for the recording the following FX chain:
DAFM - DigiTech Obscura - Pigtronix Echolution 2 Deluxe - GFI System Specular Reverb 2. Depending on the recorded track some FX are deactivated

The signal went through a Presonus StudioLive 16.0.2 into the PC for recording. To create the complete song I recorded consecutively several stereo tracks. The final song was then mastered with a bit EQ and compression on some tracks and some limiting on the master track."

You can find aditional DAFM posts here.

Track: "To The Sea" (piano, guitar, Digitone, Rasperry PI, DAFM Sega Genesis synth)

Floyd Steinberg

"Digitone sequencing a Raspberry PI running Synth V1. Playing the DAFM Sega Genesis synth on the Keysteps. Added piano and guitar afterwards. Recorded, mixed and mastered on an R24.

Sorry, this video is quite a bit out of sync. I accidentally filmed a timelapse and I didn't want to do it all again. :-)"

Best Ambient Synth Shootout #91: MEGA MIDI - Song 1

Published on May 23, 2020 Christian's Sonic Spaces

I believe tis is the first post to feature the MEGA MIDI by Aidan Lawrence.

"This is the first song with the MEGA MIDI by Aidan Lawrence. It's an FM synthesizer based on either the YM2612 yamaha chip (used here and in SEGA Genesis / Megadrive home consoles and various SEGA arcade game systems, including the Mega-Play, System 18, and System 32) or the cleaner sounding YM3438 chip without the crossover distortion in the output. Both sound chips has six channels with four operators per channel.

In contradiction to the Kasser DAFM Synth you can't program the sounds but just load via SD card opm-file game sounds from the SEGA Genesis / Megadrive games (currently more than 9500 opm-files available). The game music composers did a great job to programming the best out of the 4 OP FM synth. So it's a lot of fun to dive through all the game sounds.

I used for the recording the following FX chain:
MEGA MIDI - DigiTech Obscura - Pigtronix Echolution 2 Deluxe - GFI System Specular Reverb 2. Depending on the recorded track some FX are deactivated

The signal went through a Presonus StudioLive 16.0.2 into the PC for recording. To create the complete song I recorded consecutively several stereo tracks. The final song was then mastered with a bit EQ and compression on some tracks and some limiting on the master track."

Using an Intel Compute Stick as an effects pedal (ambient drone w/ Valhalla Shimmer and DAFM DIY)

Published on May 5, 2020 Floyd Steinberg

"Here's an ambient drone created with a guitar, the "DAFM" DIY synth and an Intel Compute stick running on batteries. The stick is running a VST host software with Valhalla Shimmer, TAL Chorus, TAL Filter. I plugged the guitar and synth directly into the line in of the $8 USB audio interface."

Follow-up to this post.

Best Ambient Synth Shootout #79: Kasser DAFM Synth - Song 1

Published on Feb 10, 2020 Christian's Sonic Spaces

"This is the first song with the DAFM Synth [see here for details]. It's an FM synthesizer based on either the YM2612 yamaha chip (used in SEGA Genesis / Megadrive home consoles and various SEGA arcade game systems, including the Mega-Play, System 18, and System 32) or the cleaner sounding YM3438 chip without the crossover distortion in the output. Both sound chips has six channels with four operators per channel.

I used for the recording the following FX chain:
K1r - Alesis Ampliton - Pigtronix Echolution 2 Deluxe - GFI System Specular Reverb 2. Depending on the recorded track some FX are deactivated

The signal went through a Presonus StudioLive 16.0.2 into the PCfor recording. To create the complete song I recorded consecutively several stereo tracks. The final song was then mastered with a bit EQ and compression on some tracks and some limiting on the master track.

Well, I decided to go back to the basics, but at the same time make something useful for the synth community and do a kind of competition (I like competitions;-). What's my best synth for ambient music :-)"

DAFM DIY Synthesizer - SEGA Genesis FM sound on a tiny board

Published on Jul 12, 2019 Floyd Steinberg

"DAFM DIY Synthesizer, by Kasser Art. Table of contents below! This is a 6 voice, 6 part multitimbral FM Synthesizer based on Yamaha's YM2612 / YM3438 sound chip, as found in the SEGA Genesis 90s video game console. In this video, I'm using a soldering iron for the first time in 30 years, trying to assemble this kit.
The intro & background music was recorded with this synthesizer, utilizing it's multitimbrality (no overdubbing needed).

Table of contents:

00:00 sound demo #1
00:38 introduction
02:04 soldering! / music demo #2
02:48 … everything's going as planned …
03:33 more soldering!
04:35 hardware features
05:42 turning it on for the first time...
06:50 user interface walkthrough / creating a sound
12:58 conclusion"

via HACKADAY.IO

"Now the DAFM Synth Genesis YM2612/YM3438 has been redesigned as a DIY friendly kit. This is a nice project that comprises soldering of through-hole components. This kit can be found on Tindie: Assembled version with case and knobs can be found here.

What is it?

Sound synthesis through Frequency Modulation (FM) allows to obtain unique sounds that defined a whole musical generation during the 80's and 90's The model Genesis uses the YM2612 (or YM3438) yamaha chip that was used in the SEGA Genesis / Megadrive home console.

Why did you make it?

This synthesizer is the perfect mix for lovers of retro video games, and makers who want to introduce themselves in the musical experimentation.

What makes it special?

The YM2612 has six channels with four operators per channel. The operators can interact according to eight different algorithms. Attack-Decay-Sustain-Release (ADSR) envelopes, frequencies and low frequency oscillators (LFOs) can be modified to obtain the whole range of FM sounds.

The YM2612 chip has a peculiar form of crossover distortion in the output, which has become known as the "ladder effect" among fans. The YM3438 is a modified CMOS version of the YM2612 with a louder sound output and no "ladder effect". The DAFM Synth can be purchased with the YM2612 or the YM3438 chip. Nostalgic retrogamers would choose the YM2612 chip. The YM3438 would be the first choice for the FM-synthesis lovers.

The synthesizer is operated through 2 rotary encoders and has a complete menu that is shown in 4 blue OLED displays. Thanks to the beautiful tactile keyboard of 12 notes you can try the different patches as they are created. There is also the possibility of changing the octave and thus test the full sound spectrum of the Yamaha chip. Once created, the presets can be saved in the RAM memory or in a SD card as DMP files that can be opened with VGM trackers like Deflemask.

The stereo sound output is 3.5 mm audio jack, has a MIDI input to connect a keyboard, sequencer or any MIDI instrument and can be powered with a micro USB cable (5V)."