Always

But the snesmod is a great solution, since it's all samples. No mystery in that.

edit: shit, i posted before seeing the 2nd page (fail). And since i'm a sega boy, whatever. Still, Snes music is getting into me because of the cheesiness. And that post by alex mauer, the lord of the chips, is really good.

Edit: Nevermind. I read the above about DOSBOX, OPENSPC and SNESMOD.

I was wondering about this while taking a shower this morning. Hahah. I may be interested in recording some soundtracks from hardware, and would of course prefer SPC playback over playing a game or hoping there is a soundtest.

ok time for me to chime in - as some of you said... SNES has a distinctive sound even tho it is sample based

1) the ADPCM decoding mutates the samples a bit
2) the DSP processor (delay/filter-EQ)
3) the samples themselves... a lot of SNES music re-uses the same samples - it seems that the SNES dev kit or some SNES tools came w/ a sample library... much like the ST-01 sample disk being the most heard samples in old amiga tunes

so... the best way to get the real SNES sound...

1) use OPENSPC for dos... to rip samples from SPC game music... you can turn the songs into IT files and...
2) use impulse tracker to take the samples and track out a song following the guidelines for...
3) SNESMOD - using snesmod you can convert your specialized IT files into SPC files and...
4) make a ROM and use a flash cart like the SNES power pak on retro-usb.com - im not sure if the SNES power pak has SPC playback built in or if you will have to make your own ROM

there are other ways to FAKE it but this is the way to get REAL snes sound - check out the latest pause comp for my first SNES song (coming soon)

I am also really interested in emulating SNES songs and wondered why nobody seems to like it. My guess is just because it sounds, to some, like an early GM set, a lot like a Roland Sound Canvas (SC-55 or 88), and doesn't have the novelty factor of pure chip. But I would argue the nostalgia factor is definitely there for me.

I have actually tried to do it. I think there is a definite style to SNES music, regardless of the sample set. Capcom, Konami, and Nintendo all made incredible music during this time, some of the best game music ever, imo.

I agree with that. Not a systems war.

I don't want to start console war since I like all consoles, but I really  hate to see a nice forum filled with "oneliner" comments without any more explanation

Well, but I'm not a bad boy, if wedanced explain me his post I will be the first to shut up

Btw, musically speaking, I think it's impossible to compare Genesis with Super Famicom since the synthesis method is totally different
I like the both of them because people can make nice music with both systems!

Not at all, only one troll had brought with him behaviours acceptable somewhere else. The discussion goes on, and this is not a systems war. We are discussing the SNES.

I don't necessarily think so, I just think there was a brief, small misunderstanding.

I think that this thread is just starting to verge on being a console war. This was about the music making aspects. Resume discussing music making like adults.

I love the way the SNES sounds. it's very... analog. And rez, wedanced was not talking about the Genesis being better than the SNES in general, but simply in terms of music production/sound design. Synthesis is always way more enjoyable to work with than sample-based means of making music, in my opinion.

edit: grammar

useless troll

a quality of a game console doesn't depend on his hardware but on his game catalogue and I'm sorry for but in ALL domains the SFC/SNES/SNIN is faaaaaaaar better than his sisters from Sega.

genesis > snes

No offense to akira, ant1 & others, but in defense of my own interest in making real SNES music despite the low sample quality:  because of that and the reverb I guess, the SNES has a really distinctive sound even if it is, relative to some or even most measures, a crappy sound. Unless you take it for granted that if you're using samples you want them to be as high-quality as possible, I honestly don't know why it's puzzling that someone would want to duplicate the SNES sound. It seems to me analogous to using a slightly dated camera to achieve a certain look. It's a different motivation than using an NES sound chip or something, sure, but I think it could suit some music.

Also, thanks everyone for the great links, I'm gonna look into this bizness.

The composing is not in question, rather the poor quality of the sound itself.
The samples sound like absolute cack thanks to what ant1 has explained before!