Recreating Retro Sound Effects

[Cartwright]

Hello everyone!

I am interested in recreating retro sound effects from the SEGA Mega Drive and SNES. I am aware of the .vgm file format, which allows you to play video game music and to able/disable different sound channels to hear each one individually.

I was wondering if there was a way to hear sound effects from games in a similar way, for example the spring sound in Sonic The Hedgehog and the Donkey Kong Country barrel sound.

[lazygecko]

Do you mean just isolate the sounds from the background music, or split up the sound into individual components if it's multichannel?

If it's the former, a lot of old games including Sonic have the benefit on a sound test in the options.

[Anorax]

For SNES games, you can use the C700 VST to load a game's .spc files into the VST, which then lets you play back the samples from the game. (Actually, I think there was a thread somewhere on these forums about it).

[Cartwright]

Do you mean just isolate the sounds from the background music, or split up the sound into individual components if it's multichannel?

If it's the former, a lot of old games including Sonic have the benefit on a sound test in the options.

I have been looking for the individual component option, as I have been able to find Mega Drive sound effects which have come from sound test options. I have been able to slow the sounds down using Audacity and change tempo but it is hard to breakdown individual tones!

Thanks for the info Anorax! I will certainly look into that for SNES!