A Synthesizer Made with a Sega Mega Drive

If there is something we must acknowledge about most retro computers and consoles, it is that their sound chips were really good. Over the years, with more documentation available, their fans have managed to create all kinds of projects and hacks that extract impressive sounds from that old silicon. The most recent case takes us back to the Look Mum No Computer channel, where we find a synthesizer that uses the original Sega Mega Drive.

The story says that the Sega Mega Drive (or Genesis for those who knew it by that name) uses a Yamaha YM2612 chip, an FM synthesizer with six channels and four operators per channel. I imagine some old soundtracks are already running through your head. Streets of Rage, Altered Beast, the Sonic series... if they were pure gold coming out of the mono speaker of our television back then, today they are invaluable.

So why not access that chip somehow? I mean reusing the console and taking advantage of its audio resources for something different. Well... the truth is we can already do it. The genMDM interface, which includes the custom cartridge and the external module, costs 80 dollars (!), but if you already have some experience in the MIDI world and you are attracted to retro hardware, I think it is worth making that investment. Otherwise, you have to go 'full DIY' and end up with something like what Look Mum No Computer did:

Does it sound familiar? That is because it is the same guy who enslaved an army of Furbys to force them to sing. The presentation video does not have too many technical details (you should visit his second channel for that), but he combined the Sega Mega Drive with the aforementioned genMDM, a bit of his own hardware... and a lot of improvisation, because he is not entirely sure what each potentiometer does. In addition, he only got the channels to work independently, so it is a work in progress. Anyway... it sounds fabulous.

Now that you have seen that Mega Drive in action, do you want to learn more about synthesizers from a theoretical point of view? Do not worry! You can start with the Learning Synths portal from Ableton, and absorb basic concepts interactively in a matter of minutes.