chipsynth SFC

Name: chipsynth SFC
Price: 39.95 USD
Author: Plogue

by Plogue · Sampler · SNES sound chip emulation

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chipsynth SFC is Plogue's bit-accurate emulation of the Super Nintendo's sample-based sound module, covering both its digital and analog stages.

It turns your own audio files into SNES instruments, includes a sample library and the SNES echo, for $39.95.

Best for: Keys & Synths, Sound Design. Genres: Lo-Fi, Electronic & EDM, Ambient & Cinematic.

Keywords: sample-based, hardware emulation, film & game audio, lo-fi, beginner-friendly, crunchy, FM, sound design, textures.

What it does

chipsynth SFC is a sampler built on a bit-accurate emulation of the Super Nintendo's sound hardware. Rather than a library of fixed sounds, Plogue calls it "a full recreation of how it plays YOUR samples".

Hardware emulation: the SHVC-SOUND module is recreated in both the digital and analog domains, verified against digital captures of the hardware.
Sample import: converts your own audio files into SNES instruments, so any sound picks up the console's filtered, crunchy playback.
Included library: a sample library of common instruments in the SNES style; users on VI-Control counted 465 WAV files.
Eight-voice layering: stack up to eight voices to build complex textures.
Sample-to-sample FM: one sample can frequency-modulate another, a trick of the original chip.
Echo and filtering: the SNES echo effect with its FIR filter, plus envelopes and modulation controls.
NKS: patches work with Native Instruments' Maschine and Kontrol keyboards.

A trial is available.

Source: Plogue product page

When to use it

chipsynth SFC is the pick when you want your own samples to sound as if they came out of a Super Nintendo, echo included. Compared with a general sampler such as Kontakt 8 or TAL-Sampler, it is far narrower, but the SNES character is built in rather than faked with bitcrushing. Next to RX1200, which models a classic drum sampler, it aims at console game music rather than boom-bap drums. Against Impact Soundworks' Super Audio Cart, which VI-Control users compared it with, it focuses only on the SNES.

Best for: SNES-style game music, mockups of 16-bit soundtracks and lo-fi sampled instruments.
Genres: chiptune, game music, lo-fi and ambient.
Look elsewhere if: you only want a light vintage-sampler colour (Decimort 2 or RX1200 are simpler) or a full general-purpose sampler (Kontakt 8 or TAL-Sampler).
Tip: feed it your own non-game samples; the Synth Anatomy writer saw it as useful beyond chip music for sound designers who want something other than clean samples.

What producers say

Early users were enthusiastic about its accuracy and found it useful beyond chip music.

VI-Control thread (2020) users praised the authentic SNES character and built-in echo; one called it "quite amazing and full of options" after writing a test track.
Synth Anatomy called it "a very special plugin from Plogue", stressing that it plays your own samples as if from a Super NES rather than acting as a rompler.
Questions raised: one VI-Control user asked whether music made with it could be released without legal issues; the thread starter said the sources are all legitimate.

Where to buy

Plogue: $39.95

Tutorials and reviews

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