MEGA FM SYNTH, Double FM of A Sega MegaDrive

The TWISTED ELECTRONS MEGA FM, Funnily enough this was. announced within a week of my sega megadrive synth, so it certainly peaked my curiosity.
more info :- twisted-electr...
THE AUDIO FROM THE MEGA FM IN THIS VIDEO. 20 minutes Worth Available As Samples Here :-
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Always looking for old gear! to mod or conserve in the "museum of everything else" one day
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[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

What do you think to this machine??? have you used one? ISOLATED SYNTH AUDIO FROM THE MEGA FM JAM AT THE END AVAILABLE TO SAMPLE HERE :) www.patreon.com/posts/41555262

[@zotteke1991]

This thing sounds awesome

[@xkillersmurfx]

Amazing I want one!!

[@illustriouschin]

I have one and it sounds amazing though you make yours sound better. 😉

[@austinbytts]

I'm having a lot of fun with mine! It's nice to have a bit of a unique poly around.

[@UltimatePwnageNL]

I have not used one but i know a beautifully made product when i see one and this thing looks like a quality small batch product. I wonder how many they'll make?

[@dxtxzbunchanumbers]

No matter what, the sound of the Genesis chips makes you either feel like a vigilante/ninja beating up similarly clad thugs or a dolphin fighting aliens

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Yeah! I get ya

[@corezone4250]

That’s the power of FM! :P

[@infinitemillennium3821]

Nice reference to Ecco, Shinobi and Streets of Rage.

[@Lordy-Lord]

That or it makes you feel like a blue fast hedgehog fighting a giant walking egg

[@TedBrownMedia]

Astronaut Dolphin Detective within Mr Pickles is based on the Dolphin From Sega Echo the dolphin.

[@mulkytool]

The only synthesizer with blast processing.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

hahahahahaha

[@funkyboss007]

Omg the reference from my childhood

[@JasonMontell2501]

It does what Nintendon't

[@ish233]

Wow, that's a memory

[@johngage7456]

I remember that commercial lol

[@truecuckoo]

MUST PURCHASE NOW!!! 🤤

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Hahahahaha

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

It's proper your vibe!

[@SexyNinjaMonkey]

DO IT!!! And then make one of your marvellous tutorials.

[@SHINdanny]

why not bake some Cuckoo Cookies? MegaD FM can wait...

[@MrChuckDugan]

Voice over: He did

[@mairuzu1]

I picked up a YM2616 in a capsule toy machine in Tokyo. There were random Yamaha FM chips in the machine.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

no way they have machines that give out chips thats mad haha

[@stensarapson2378]

Hahaa!. Imagine trying to pitch that idea to the capsule toy marketing team succesfully :D

[@morgulbrut]

But why?

[@dwellerinblack7816]

100% jealous of Japan rn

[@busted_keys]

Time for an all-vending-machine-parts DIY synth challenge! Like if Junkyard Wars took place inside a Japanese game center

[@lyh1]

Finally we dont need to dive in to the deep menu to play with FM hardware.

[@jet_punch6872]

it’ll always be astounding how good an old console sounds when you slap some knobs on it

[@McTroyd]

FM synthesis behaving like subtractive synthesis?!? Mind-blown! 💥 That's awesome. Looks to be worth every penny.

[@timtitus7861]

Amazing. Some really cool sounds living in that thing. Let the beast out.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

takes a bit of getting used to but yeah!!!

[@AndrewTSq]

love how the sound can change completely while only adjusting a little bit :) seems like a cool synth. A bit pricey for me, but looks solid built so probably worth every penny.

[@shay5025]

Altered Beast!

[@chinossynthesizer705]

@Knobcore do you know the zyrinx sound driver

[@alexlokanin3312]

It has a VST. Definitely checking it out

[@mattzere78]

cant get it to work on mac, anyone having any joy with it on mac?

[@alexlokanin3312]

@@mattzere78 What are you using? If you're using Ableton then I had to check that the program used not just VST3 but also VST2 plugins. I'm on Windows though

[@warpigs330]

@@mattzere78 if you want a vst that emulates these chips check out Genny.

[@kamikazeSpacePR]

@@mattzere78 The VST is to control the hardware via the DAW using sysex.

[@Sycokay]

Twisted Electrons are GREAT. I have a SID synth from them. May they live long and prosper!

[@Gin-toki]

Aggressive sounds! Nice! Have had a keen eye on this synth for some time now, might end up bying one.

[@noisetv1863]

I've had my eyes on this since it came out! Need to save my pennies for this one.

[@vojtechtax9723]

This thing sounds godly, I really admire your skill in operating "dem knobz"

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

and fader`zzzzzz:O

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

its just clumsy mashing tbh ha

[@AdmanMVR]

Holy moly, that sounds so damn good!

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

:D

[@magicAAA]

Would love the hear an hour session of only killer Mega Drive beats!

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Sounds like a plan!

[@corezone4250]

Hell yeah!! :D

[@synthesistmgroth5836]

Love the talking hand! I've had the Mega FM for a few months now and still getting my head around it. Have accidently achieved some nice sounds though.

[@OfficialRainsynth]

I just wish I could afford this little synth. Looks like fun to play around with.

[@jbmaru]

The PSG chip in the Mega Drive is there for Master System compatibility (when using a cartridge adapter), and for additional channels in Mega Drive mode. The sound effects are still made for the YM2612.

[@johngage7456]

8:18 OMG earporn

[@infesticon]

That is actually pretty impressive. I always like bells and xylophone type sounds on fm. Strings and things it's hard to get away from the over used dx7. But this even though if you know it's megadrive it has lots of uses away from megadrive type sounds. And it seems way easier to tweek than a lot of fm synths.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

yeah. its got some good sounds

[@tysoncarlson6778]

Disasterpeace in a box. Love it. Love these tones.

[@zambe1915]

I like how you make all of these crazy instruments out of anything. I like the stuff you make better.

[@scifu7e91]

Interesting thing that has a lot to change and control. Enjoy the rest of this week, have fun and a nice start into the new week 👋🙂

[@barell4]

It would be super cool to see a comparison of you version of this beast and the compact one, just to hear the differenzeeees

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

good point!

[@vvlvmusic]

04:03 DAMN, that monophonic mode... sounds extremely nice. Looks like a fun synth, especially if you have that special place in your heart for the Mega Drive (Genesis). edit: and the way you can switch through the operators seems a lot of fun as well.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

yeahhhhh nostalgia but also pretty damn useable

[@Spaghettaboutit]

At 4:03 he isn't in monophonic mode - he is in the 12 polyphonic mode - and the 4 operators are being played as 4 audio oscillators - so technically if you could play all 12 triggered notes, then you could hear 48 different notes. You'd just have to tune each operator to a different frequency. FM is crazy and fun.

[@davidvallejo9184]

brother I am studying electronics but I want to dedicate myself to this, you are my inspiration!!

[@DigitalStains]

This looks like the most hands-on FM synth I've ever seen. Want it!

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

It's funky

[@93maximaguy]

Thanks for the sweet morning beats!

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

goood morning!

[@clochard4074]

I like the new host! HANDsome guy!

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

hahahaha i missed the pun first time i read :O

[@ExcessiveSpareTime]

I look forward to hearing this on your next EP.

[@ms.maestroon27]

Coming across your Megadrive video was my catalyst to start looking into this kind of stuff! Recently picked up a KX88 for pretty much nothing with original accessories. Taking the leap into electronic sound equipment! Love the videos, mate!! :)

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Cool 😀

[@julieftherulies]

this video was all over the place and i loved it so much (:

[@HitrisonMusic]

I’ve never wanted anything so bad in my life

[@xXCatsLoverXx]

I might need this, I absolutely love the sounds you got out of this. Although, I think that about almost everything you get your hands on.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

😀

[@DocBolus]

FM synthesis. A strangely alluring but unpredictable kind of dark magic!!!

[@theblacksheephaven]

That's freaking awesome! Rather pricey but looks fun! You always inspire me to create so I think I'll go play on my MicroBrute for awhile.

[@202Electrics]

wow, i love that snare!

[@rainy2063]

I love this thing (compact and powerful at a same time and has a cool sound)

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

its tinyyyy ent it

[@Br0ccolini]

The mega drives sound chip is awesome! far better than the snes sound chip

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

yeah i can agree to that, loads ofd people talk about the snes saound however i really aint a fan

[@VELVETPERSON]

This just sick! I can't believe this is existing

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

coooooooooooool machine aint it

[@crowlian]

Can't wait to visit your museum and the UK next year!

[@vasil3089]

I could really use a badass FM synth such as this.

[@ManCalledMif]

looks amazing!

[@CommunityGuidelines]

Nice American accent at the beginning, lol. Ah, this synth sounds great. I need to go spend some time with my TX81Z's now.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

lol im a bit out of practice on that accent, felt like pulling it out the bag!!!!

[@almightyEsquilax]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER you've got a good bag!

[@stephenmandelbaum2027]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER No way! That was you? I was sure you got an american friend to record that for you!

[@PercivalThe23]

sounds really nice!

[@ragnarlobrok2717]

Impressive some nice beats and the talking hand helped me understand it a lot better :D

[@milkfork8719]

DUDE this thing is sick. If I wasn't a doorknob with synthesis I would buy the heck out of that

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Haha

[@godofrainbows]

This is AWESOME! The 2612 deserves its own hardware version!!!!

[@chinossynthesizer705]

This is a ym2612 kasser synths made a ym2612 where you can load presents from games

[@RobbekenSynthMusic]

That’s rad! I’m in love with FM!

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Funky monkeys

[@RobbekenSynthMusic]

LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER oh Ok then!

[@DubFreakuencies]

man I love this video, specially the mega drive in the synth and sonic singing....😅

[@turbinegraphics16]

Could be pretty cool to help with making music for a genesis game.

[@totallynotgale]

Got into your music recently, and I've been surprised that you also managed to make an interesting KZbin channel! Keep making good stuff, my guy.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

hey thats awesome :D. glad you enjoy!

[@stevenaustin4591]

Im sorely tempted to buy one of these for xmas!

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

That original breakout box you built would've helped _a lot_ when Jesper Jyd and Yuzo Koshiro were attempting techno on Sega's 16-bit machine. This is lovely work.

[@chinossynthesizer705]

Jesper kyd has zyrinx doesnt matter

[@Bladavia]

I'm blown away by how good this sounds. Gonna buy one right away

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

remember!!! it tkes a bit of getting used to. but like any synth learn it, itll be awesome,

[@stevenyjtsai]

COOL.... I love SEGA5 gen console FM

[@AgentsofRush]

Should have the sonic "ring" effect when you turn it on.

[@Sh1zn3t]

Oh I'm on to you now, Mega Drive!

[@jameshasseriousedoubtsabou560]

You have no idea how much I wanted this. After watching your video, I wanted to build or buy something like it so much. Then about a week later this little thing came out. Now your having a mess with it. I love it

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

weird coincidence!!!! aint it

[@LeonTrimble]

I love their ay3 wot I got. I’d be interested to see you run through their Sid chip one which is similar to that thing.

[@gnarlysoundscapes7210]

The Kilodrone makes a nice background to your videos.

[@daemonelectricity]

4:03 - Totally expecting that Deadmau5 track.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Lol

[@batteryman2852]

The mega synth in woods has alot of Alpha in it, its like you pick up an axe one day and sayd, : i'm going to chop down a tree, make wood panels with my bare hand, and make a fancy case, then i'm going to DIY a mega drive synth by ripping a Mega Drive with my bare hand and solder its pieces to a DYI bord with knobs.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Yeah you can do that with the megadrive check my earlier vids 😀

[@theacematt2]

Definitely have enjoyed my time with it :) -- Could NOT get the polyphony working with the CatSkull Electronics + Sega Genesis/MegaDrive :( , but, less headaches with this overall!

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Coool

[@johngage7456]

That's because catskull disabled polyphony in an earlier firmware update they no longer ship with polyphony

[@snipplerifsky9037]

Accidental bangers... LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER in a nutshell...

[@craiggilchrist4223]

They all sound like they could be Streets Of Rage Level Music.

[@superhussein]

best demo of this thing i have seen!

[@smadjaone]

hi from France, Sèvres near Paris ....I discovered you a short time ago , whaoooo nice dude ...

[@zylowolf7919]

Well now I must find one.

[@BoxLab24]

Check out their website i bought one last month when they restocked and it's coming in tomorrow! He said it took a bit because he was waiting on a few more components

[@Mibbzz]

My birds are going nuts listening to this video lmao love your stuff!

[@jordanlewis3790]

this sounds like its made for synthwave and outrun type shit

[@dirkmaes3786]

That figures since I believe the OG Outrun Arcade machine literally runs on an older version of the same hardware.

[@corezone4250]

Sadly I don’t see a lot of artists with this particular sound. Hey if anyone knows some, tell me!

[@dirkmaes3786]

@@corezone4250 you might want to check out COVOX

[@corezone4250]

Dirk Maes aight, any in particular?

[@corezone4250]

Dirk Maes but yeah nice sounds, thx for the recommendation! :p

[@rishpanjeet7479]

The Mega sounds great but WHERE are those great kick and snare sounds coming from!?

[@qwertyentertainment3349]

Really looking forward to a song made with this

[@venelinpetrov6811]

This is the most creative and productive guy on internet

[@mechamania]

I’d love to see one of these with a POKEY (Atari 8-bit, 5200, and 7800) and SID (Commodore 64) sound chips-or two with two apiece-not only to have the first (POKEY, 1979) and second (SID, 1982) separate sound chips ever integrated into mass production computers, but also basically first and second generations of the chips - given they were designed by the same engineers. Together, they’d make sounds from more raw, heavy ones, like the MD (from the Atari POKEY) and more nuanced, “muted” (like colors, not sound) noises, more relative to the SNES, in an 8- to 16-bit comparison. If there could be only one, I’d choose the POKEY over all others, because it was the furthest ahead of its time, compared to every other - although the MIDI controlling/GUI of the Atari 8-bit s’ successor, the Atari ST, comes in a close second, being the foundation on which the first DAW (Cubase) was made. Admittedly, the Mega Drive sounds better than I’d have thought, but your version is far better - as you said, “the one (you’d) perform on.” That’s just an awesome piece of hardware/art, which reminds me of the “electronic drum set” made by DEVO, by attaching piano pickups that signaled tape-recorded loops of machine guns, factory noises, and other great stuff, for the early ‘70s... Cheers!

[@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

Okay, why did I not know this MegaFM existed!!

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

well you do now

[@Elratauru]

A shame it's 500 dollars though... if you wanted something similar for much cheaper you could get any DX or even a RefaceDX, which is still FM and sounds amazingly similar. Even though it wouldn't be the same chip, but still.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

indeed. this definitely is more solid, i think its priced right for what it is personally. especially when you look at eurorack counterparts with less hardware components costing a similar amount. this item has a lot of faders etc, which are pricey, the reface which i have too! i dont rate it as much as this one, doesnt have hardware i can imagine its a lot cheaper to manufacture. something has to give. and for this one i guess alex at twisted electrons decided to go full hog and make it tactile but thatr comes at a price! plus the brushed aluminium enclosure instead of plastic etc.

[@Elratauru]

​@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER ​ @LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER Yeah I know that feeling, Eurorack components are waaaay too expensive for my pocket hahaha. I guess when you consider the aluminum enclosure and the two chips it's alright. I'd love to get a single less expensive 1-chip version maybe!

[@BellXllebMusic]

Huh? You can get a shirty DX11 or DX100 for 500 in Europe but a DX7 is 800-1200 and it and 7II are the only good ones

[@reggiep75]

1:54 - Had this been around in the 80's more people would've most definitely said 'Yep, I'm gonna have a good mess about with this!'. Instead, they got a long plastic buttons, a 16 x 2 display and thought 'Sod this!' then only the psychopaths decided to engage with FM synthesis. I messed about with FM in the 90's as I had an FM synth program on the Amiga and managed to get an understanding of 4 operator FM, which was convenient as a mate had a DX21 (4 operators) and we messed about and got some lush violent and nasty basses we filtered. This is defo a nice piece of kit.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Ha yeah. I could imagine all of them controls wouldn't have been as cheap mind

[@reggiep75]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER - Yep, the 90's was the turning point for music when digital synths were no lower the gods and people wanted hand on controls and good old 70's synth chaos.

[@jhonviel7381]

i like how you cant help but make uptempo beats.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Alas!

[@corezone4250]

Oh my god, like one chip didn’t sound good enough... now this is just too amazing for my ears! >c>

[@SteveFrenchWoodNStuff]

Are the drum beats coming from the same machine or an external source? The part starting at about 3:01 sounds especially awesome.

[@Neffers_UK]

This thing sounds like it's properly pissed off. And it sounds all the better for it.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

:O itll bit ya

[@nythyhel]

Sounds awesome. I have their Therapsid Mkii with 2 SID chips. Also awesome.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Is it good?

[@nythyhel]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER it's great. Knobs for nearly every feature. Same LFO linking operation as the Mega FM.

[@namelesske]

I love the metallic sound of the SEGA Megadrive. AVGN vibes :D

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

yep proper metallic isnt it

[@namelesske]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER Industrial Zibras?

[@aki_gong6271]

It looks rather interesting but your megadrive version was a bit more impressive sounding, wasn't it? Did you use the FX chip as well? Nice drums by the way....were they done by the megafm too? Keep up the brilliant work ;)

[@honooryu5374]

6:00 I love his right hand

[@defjeff2907]

Love the Monster Jam style voice over at the beginning. Do you have Monster Jam in the UK?

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Never heard of it 😂😂

[@eddyray666]

That introduction hahaha

[@RealNonsonic]

Dam, I need to order one.

[@grindFish]

I think i want this alot. If i can midi cc all the parameters then i know i want this alot. Would pair nicely with my sc-88 and two gameboys :D

[@honooryu5374]

*epic triple a movie music* *deep commentary voice* In a world where everything is falling apart, one man has began his journey to make strange sounds with strange contraptions. Starring Sam Battle as LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER in "The SEGA Saga" Coming to into theatre probably never, because we're all gonna die till the end of this year.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

lol is that what the intro needed to say?

[@honooryu5374]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER man you don't need to do nothing, I'm currently shocked that you responded. All you need to do is have fun making, music and videos.

[@ryanmalin]

Lol you are funny man. Love the hand puppet

[@No.0.o.0]

I love my Humble Audio quadboi but I want to play a poly Sega.

[@fyeknight5705]

I would buy this.

[@piqton]

proper Justice vibes

[@SaEvSampleEverything]

OMG so cool!

[@not_fresh6736]

7:15 FULL VERSION! WHEN?

[@pleothid]

*certainly piqued your curiosity

[@GO-tq6hs]

Wow I wish I could afford one of these. Time to start saving.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

They is cool. More useable than the megadrive and mega midi interface

[@GO-tq6hs]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER ive been using the FMDrive vst for a while for my FM fix. Good features but no knobs to get fiddly with.

[@christopheverwimp3349]

Hi Sam, Thanks for opening the megafm. Do you think removing both YM2612 chips and replacing them by YM3438 is easy and possible? According to hackaday.io the YM2612 and YM3438 are interchangable for their DAFM Synth, the only difference is the output level and this simply seams to be a pair of 2.2k resistors on the output for the YM2612 (as explained on their DIY project in step 8). Could that be a quick and simple hack, both chips sounds different! Best regards C.