Genesis Soundchip=Rock Music?

[Gors]

It doesn't have the panning, but the grit makes the background effect sound more poisonous, so to speak, or miasmic. More danger.

This "gritty" instrument is the defining feature of YM synth chips. It's achieved via filtering of the 4 ADSR graphs for each instrument.

Basically, a YM synth instrument is the sum of 4 graphs: imagine a 4-layer photoshop file: the whole image is the instrument and each detail in the individual layers are the ADSR graphs. If you move one of the layer's hue slider, the layer will change color and it wll affect the entire file. This way, you can simulate a harsh start that gets muffled over time.

The SNES cannot reproduce this sound natively, but can sample these sounds separately and piece them together in the composition, heard here:



The instruments in 0:10 and the bass in 0:20 are actually various samples in different states to simulate filtering - and due to that, it takes more space in the cartridge. (however these waves were usually short and looped so it's actually more nuisance to insert than difficult).