NES Audio: The Arpeggio Effect

[@CoolDudeClem]

Even if the NES did have enough channels to play bass, chords and melodies simultaneously, with those simple waveforms they would sound pretty boring, but the arpeggio makes it sound way more interesting.

[@vultusalbus4216]

The technique was used on game boy color with the games Prisoners of the Sun and Atlantis: The Lost Empire to mention a few

[@esmooth919]

Tell that to the composers who used the VRC6 and the MMC5 chips.

[@Appleboy78165]

Jeez, Silver Surfer had a cool soundtrack! Why did awful NES games often have great soundtracks?

[@bitchlasagna4720]

europian games in a nut shell glad i am in america

[@RaposaCadela]

Because TIM FOLLIN, BABYYYY!!

[@Henchgirls]

Tell me a good american-developed NES game :P

[@avalond1193]

Appleboy78165 it's an awful game to players with no skill.. bullet hell games are supposed to be tough awesome game

[@robintst]

Awful games with great soundtracks: Wishing the other programmers had been as enthusiastic and driven as the audio guy.

[@Soulwatcher56]

All the soundtracks composed by Mr. Gavin Raeburn are amazing. These distinctive arpeggio sounds are the thing I like the most in the NES music.

[@lucianothewindowsfan]

Fun fact: Several non-European composers used arpeggios as well. An example is the Stage 1 theme from Bomberman II, which was composed by Japanese composer Jun Chikuma.

[@esmooth919]

My favorite arpeggio example by a Japanese composer comes from the NES version of Castlevania 3. The song In question is called Rising. Another awesome example comes from the game start theme from the original Metroid.

[@Loader2K1]

I had always heard this sound in a lot of non-Japanese NES games made by crappy developers like Ocean and THQ (back when they made games in-house), but I never knew what it was called. Thanks for the info. I have NEVER heard this sound from Japanese NES music composers.

[@rushnerd]

You don't get NEARLY enough credit for the chiptune service you have done to the world, IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!

[@DaVince21]

Oh damn, those bass samples on Bee 52!

[@UmbraVivens94]

a lot of songs from Shantae (GBC) use this effect, and it does feel like they intend to use it as a way for simulating chords

[@Sebastian-xy3xk]

ikr

[@Nikku4211]

It's actually a GBC game.

[@coreylineberry8557]

@@Nikku4211 That's what I came here from. I was just wondering if it was Arpeggio.

[@handsomebrick]

@@Nikku4211 The GBC used this effect way too often.

[@UmbraVivens94]

@@MaoRatto shiiiit my b, a 5 year old typo, fixed

[@art11art12]

Tim Follin, is god of music.

[@OMundodosRetroGames]

M.C. Kids is a nostalgic game to me. Very nostalgic.

[@jasonplaysgamesonyt]

Your videos are always so very educational. Thank you for the time and effort.

[@GXSCChater]

This was an awesome series, if you ever come back to it, you can talk about POOYAN and its 120hz square drum sounds in the intro.

[@64_three]

dude examples of overclocked music in nes music would be awesome, honestly i wonder what ever happened to explod2a03

[@Sebastian-xy3xk]

Do a video on the Sega Genesis sound chip(s)

[@Czyszy]

I like this effect a lot.

[@smorrow]

With polyphonic pickups (and a polyphonic output jack...in case it isn't obvious) a pedal could be made to do this on guitar.

[@mvoproject]

ALIEN 3 (alien-style)))).... This type of the 8 bit sounds always remember me the great OSTs by Jereon Tel. Also the Terminator 2, Indiana Jones Last Crusade and Tom & Jerry. I always heard such the sounds in the games developed by Probe/Acclaim. I called it "acclaim-style" in childhood)) My fav all the time 8 bit sounds. And this was the first type of the chip sounds that I creating every time with hardware or VST synths =)

[@colonelkomarov622]

many games from infogrames uses this sound (the smurfs)

[@supmattboy]

It's the Alberto José Gonzalez's signature :)

[@mycabbages3538]

I clicked on this because when I saw the word arpeggios I knew I was gonna hear Neil Baldwin and the Follin bros.

[@zazzmagar]

These r good examples.

[@Loader2K1]

That game was probably one of the few NES games that was not made by the Japanese AND had a popular license to it and was still good.

[@johneygd]

I really love the first tune in this video, it reminds me of real music from the 1980's.

[@mmeditatio]

it is real music from the 80s

[@DireAngelic]

Castlevania III - Rising. 30 seconds in, my favorite example of Arpeggio Effect.

[@billygreggory7899]

DireAngelic Only the American Version

[@johnrickard8512]

It seems the NES was always willing to copy the C64's notes...literally 😂

[@mariostar13]

And here I was, thinking... "the C64 only has 3 voices! How is this possible?"

[@explod2A03]

I'm not familiar with all of the Indiana Jones NES games off the top of my head, but Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (Taito version) is scored by Tim Follin from England, and has the arpeggio effect heavily used. :)

[@DannyCD]

You forgot the Codemasters games!! Especially The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy which had a "fantastic" soundtrack with the arpeggio effect

[@bencolemanart]

Oh yes, absolute classics. Good call!

[@quadpad_music]

Yeah, they really liked this effect. I actually just browsed "Bee 52 ost" and this video popped out.

[@michalorabano7333]

Totally agree, Quatro Adventure and Arcade are my favorite NES ost. (btw. Bee 52 is by Codemaster) (I realized that in my country there was different cartridges with Codemaster games: The gold five: Big Nose Freaks Out, Micro Machines, Fantastic Adventure of Dizzy, Ultimate Stuntman, Big Nose the Caveman and The gold four: Boomerang Kid, Super Robihood, go Dizzy go and Soccer)

[@MawcDrums]

Sky Shark is another good example for this effect

[@MawcDrums]

***** Ahh very cool, didn't realize the same composer was already featured in this video

[@AgsmaJustAgsma]

It was Tim Follin's first NES game, actually.

[@kebman]

That last tune, _Overlord_ by Jeroen Tel, has a base which is reminiscent of the base drop sound in Flux Pavillion's _I Can't Stop._ (The sound, not the tune.)

[@PsychadelicoDuck]

These are all one track? Hard to believe. Pretty cool. Subbed.

[@MrRetrogamingBard]

I've learned something new, thanks to you. Very educational in an entertaining presentation. Please keep up the great work.

[@Loader2K1]

Before I knew what this composing style was called, I simply referred to the arpeggio sound as "that coil-like sound" in a lot non-Japanese video games on the NES and older computer games. While not a bad sound, I always preferred the video game music from Japanese composers on the NES to the the arpeggio sounds from non-Japanese composers. One arpeggio soundtrack I liked on the NES was of Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge, which was published by Acclaim and developed by System 3.

[@ChrisLeeW00]

I can't wait to try out these techniques on DSN-12 when it gets released in the US!

[@Peachtotheinfinity]

You, sir, have been subscribed. Very useful stuff you have on your account. Things for me to consider when I try to make some authentic 8-bit music.

[@vultusalbus4216]

I wonder if the arpeggio effect was discovered when phone ringtones became monophonic simple waveforms and replaced bells. I mean these arpeggios sound like modern house or office telephones

[@therealhardrock]

David Wise from Rare also used the Arpeggio Effect.

[@therealhardrock]

+unused channel Arctic Caverns from Battletoads.

[@mother-fng-bonswa3612]

almost every game has a fraction of this effect

[@esmooth919]

@@mother-fng-bonswa3612 including Mega Man. (See Bubble Man)

[@FCEngine]

Robocop 3 NES was arpeggio overload

[@tuqui1502]

ayo tecnology uses this type of sound technique

[@Hatchyack]

One of my fave videos on vgm. Do you think this was more common with European composers because harmony/chords are more of a western thing and not really found in other music traditions?

[@colonelkomarov622]

Europeans composer were mostly rock fans (prog rock for follin) so imitating guitars was main in their mind. Japaneses composers were mostly classical/jazz musicians (in 8 bits era)

[@supermariobro93]

I remember hearing one tune from Konami’s “Madara” on the Famicom quite rarely used the arpeggio effect (interestingly, since the game uses the VRC6 expansion chip).

[@PantherDB7]

Ocean games use it a lot, batman and jurassic park also this kind person has uploaded turok 2 which uses them a lot.

[@MegaBubble]

are you ever around anymore? :3 how ya doin B-)

[@vultusalbus4216]

Like it. If protogens had sounds, they would probably be 8-bit melodies, UwU

[@kimontui]

Power Blade, good game, good music.

[@dissident93]

yup. i saw your comment, so I was kinda looking out for it in Japanese games, and it seems Devilish used it. It's still almost an exclusive European thing though.

[@DerpDerp3001]

“In early computer music using very fast arpeggios was useful for simulating the sound of a cord in a monophonic channel.” Or you could do what Tim Follin did.

[@quadpad_music]

What are you referring to exactly with "doing what Tim Follin did"? As far as I know, his arpeggio effect did just that: simulating chords on a monophonic channel.

[@Nikku4211]

@@quadpad_music He also worked on music for ZX Spectrum games that used its beeper. He used tricks to render multiple channels in software and play then on the one channel, one bit ZX beeper.

[@FarnhamTheDrunk1]

another good example of this would be the first screen on dragons lair

[@clubhappybest]

The other major euro connection to arpeggios is baroque music!

[@Loader2K1]

Sunsoft's NES games did indeed have a distinct sound to them.

[@dissident93]

Hitoshi Sakimoto uses something similar on his Game Boy Devilish soundtrack.

[@djbloodshot]

Championship bowling uses a lot of arpeggio

[@Loader2K1]

It does.

[@Loader2K1]

I looked up Devilish on KZbin and saw a gameplay video of it, and I honestly thought I was hearing video game music from a non-Japanese VG music composer. I also thought the game was an interesting take on pinball games.

[@Loader2K1]

Agreed. Another NES game that had some decent arpeggio tracks to it was Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge. The game itself is...not so good, but the soundtrack is alright.

[@dissident93]

ah yes, thought it was a game boy game for a minute.

[@fourstar7]

what, no Final Fantasy NES arpeggio?

[@ERIMATAIMY]

I think Wolverine for the nes has the arepggio effect sound

[@esmooth919]

The Follin Bros, Mane

[@BX5BT]

educational channel

[@PsychadelicoDuck]

Let me rephrase that. These songs are only a single channel each?

[@quadpad_music]

PsychadelicoDuck No. They use four channels for the most part (as far as I know).

[@CoolDudeClem]

Europe's NES game developers had such better composers than (most of) the Japanese stuff witch just sounded bland and weak in comparison, no disrespect to the Japanese developers, but the music for games made in Europe had more punch and jumped out at you! I mean, compare ... let's say Super Mario ... a great game but with pretty typical NES music, compare that to ... let's say Silver Surfer ... which was a terrible game but had a great Sound Track.

[@woomy8971]

Mario's music was/is amazing, but not in the same way many other songs are. It was written specifically to not be extremely apparent and noticeable, while still sounding nice and 'funky' and driving the beat. It wasn't too flashy so that people could focus on the game but wasn't bland or 'typical' at all. They also help set the tone/mood, as the overworld music is fairly upbeat in contrast to the darker 'underground/dungeon' music. In summary, Super Mario music wasn't written just to solely to sound nice, but to aid the gameplay in a way.

[@steamboatsound5935]

@@woomy8971 Yeah...Mario's music is honestly still soooo masterful, compared to stuff even today. The limitations...and it's still famous. There's a reason for that - I think Koji Kondo's a genius in the true sense of the word.

[@quadpad_music]

@@woomy8971 I personally like to put it this way: There are two types of quality in computer music: The technical quality, and the coompositional quality. "Technical" refers, in this case, to sound design, and how do you use it to exploit the hardware. It´s part of what makes the fun of creating computer music in the first place, what makes it different from composing something for a "real" instrument. "Compositional", in the other hand, is as self-explanatory as it can be. It´s just how well composed the music is. If Mario´s music had been thought to be played on a piano, no one would be complaining about how "dull" it sounds sound design-wise, because there just wouldn´t be any sound design in the first place. Japanese composers just thought their music under the same rules that they used to make non-computer music. They only thought of compositional quality, leaving the technical aspects totally behind. Their music, in the end, was compositionally good, while at the same time sound design-wise mediocre. PD:Sorry for bad english :P

[@woomy8971]

@@quadpad_music your english is great! thank you for writing this comment :)

[@dissident93]

sakimoto is a genius! haha

[@Loader2K1]

I think you meant Game Gear, by the way.

[@Loader2K1]

Really? Interesting.

[@rushnerd]

MC KIDS

[@RyumaXtheXKing]

Should've used examples from the Game Boy aswell.

[@Automatik234]

Sure. But this video is mainly about the NES.

[@Michirin9801]

Now that's an effect that I don't really like very much =w= I prefer a cleaner sound in my chiptunes so... Yeah...

[@benaldo138]

Ruko Michiharu The arp effect is literally a hallmark of chiptunes so...

[@Michirin9801]

benaldo138 Not if you have 6 channels or more ;3 Like in, you know, 16 bit systems! And you know, the best-sounding NES games don't use this effect! It was only heavily used in the commodore 64 because that thing only had 3 sound channels which isn't enough...

[@benaldo138]

I said a hallmark, not universally used! It's just a very chippy stylistic choice is all. Sorry when i talk about chiptunes i tend to just refer to ones using waveform gens and such rather than being sample heavy like the SNES. Cause IMO once you get into sample town too heavily it stops being chip and starts just being awesome music. :D

[@Michirin9801]

benaldo138 Chip music is just as awesome as real music, in my opinion even more so, just listen to the Turbografx 16 with its amazing 6 channels of programmable waveforms! And the Sega Genesis with its 4 operator FM synth music! I love them ^^ SNES uses samples but due to bit-rate reduction it sounds just fake enough for me to call it chiptune, and I love it too ^^ Sunsoft made some of the best sounding NES games and they used sampled bass on the DPCM channel, that's amazing!

[@SianaGearz]

Ruko Michiharu Sure, quick arp is poor man's polyphony, and i often think that it should be used a little less. But sometimes, it's absolutely perfect. If we're staying with the NES, how about Solstice intro by Tim Follin?

[@starshkr46]

I hate this effect because of how overused it is, but at least I'm glad to now how it's made.

[@porcorosso81]

I honestly don't like the Arpeggio effect so much on the Nintendo 8-bit consoles. On the Commodore 64, it is utilized properly, usually combined with other effects, which makes it sound fuller (like variable pulse width modulation). I wonder which is the first soundtrack using this effect. The oldest usage of this effect I know of are the arcade game "Mr. Do Run Run" (1984) and the C64 game "Kong Strikes Back" (1984).

[@SoulGuitarMetal]

It wasn't just an effect. It was a workaround to play chords because you had a limited number of channels (5 for the NES) and each channel (or "instrument") could only play a single note at once. The best you could do to play a harmony in a single instrument was to arpeggiate the notes very fast.

[@vuurniacsquarewave5091]

Try some of the music by Alberto J. González, he usually paired it with pulse-width change effects, as much as the NES allows...

[@quadpad_music]

@@vuurniacsquarewave5091 - Yep, him and Jeroen Tel always did it that way, and it turned out really well for them!

[@johneygd]

I absolutely don't like this type of sound,also tome & jerry, kiwi,x men etc,,, used this type of sound.

[@cmr2079]

I despise the arpeggio effect.

[@citruslad933]

ok