POLL:Which arcade companies had the best sound chips?

[_Paul]

You can place up to 2 votes. Note that you are voting for your favourite sound, that doesn't have to mean the best musical compositions. The examples are thrown in to refresh your memories.

[oldskool]

Dammit, didn't realize I could vote for another until it was too late.

Well, it was easy, SEGA!!

If I had the chance to vote again, I'd add SNK as well.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

It might be a bit of a cheat, but Cinematronics hands down.

[Turbo D]

I voted for SEGA as #1. I also voted for Capcom, but they're not as good as SEGA imo.

[_Paul]

I voted for SEGA as #1. I also voted for Capcom, but they're not as good as SEGA imo.

I voted Sega and Konami. While I've gotten used to Capcom sound, I initially found it a bit too twangy to be really considered to stand out.

[Tatsujin]

oh..i'm soooo glad that i could choose two and not just one! of coushe i've choosed the two from the top

[ccovell]

Definitely Namco and Taito.  If people are choosing out of nostalgia or name recognition, it's skewing the poll. ;-)

Both companies had great sound chips with an atmospheric combination of FM and PCM chip audio.

[esteban]

You guys have no sense of fun.

Data East had a great sound, especially for their many spiky compositions that have a very real, very rough-around-edges charm to it.

Some call it "raw" or "harsh" -- I call it delightful.

[guyjin]

oh..i'm soooo glad that i could choose two and not just one! of coushe i've choosed the two from the top

you mean you didn't vote for irem? 

[Tatsujin]

oh..i'm soooo glad that i could choose two and not just one! of coushe i've choosed the two from the top

you mean you didn't vote for irem? 

lol..yes, i didn't.


btw:

Konami (TMNT, Crime Fighters etc)

for konami, i would more go with gradius and salamander and stuff

[_Paul]

I've never really considered Irem sound to be that strong. Even Hero Tonma sounds better on the PC Engine, and their 'Engine sound was iffy as well.

[ccovell]

Yeah, Irem's arcade sound is really, really bad...  only sometimes do the melodies redeem the whole thing.

Data East's stuff is good... the 1st stage of Vapor Trail is awesome rock stuff.

[CrackTiger]

I don't know what range is covered by "back in the day", but my favorite arcade sound is classic Capcom, games like Ghosts 'n Goblins, Side Arms and 1943 which all used the YM2203. If this means I can vote for Capcom in general I'll place my vote.

The sound of those three games running at the same time will always be the sound of an arcade to me. The sound played such a huge part in making me a life long Capcom fan. Of course I also later discover Black Tiger, another YM2203 game, which has been my favorite arcade game ever since.

[Joe Redifer]

Does anyone have a link to arcade Vapor Trail music?  I am too lazy to look myself because I am useless. 

Nevermind, I found it:

Not sure if I like it better than the Genesis version, but it sure is quality!

[Arkhan Asylum]

IREM's arcade music sounds like a blown speaker stuck in a metal garbage can

verrrry tinny

actually it sounds like this

[Digi.k]

namco and konami for me

I don't usually like IREM's music but I love the stuff on Image Fight

[Tatsujin]

for me, capcom also had one of the oddest sounds back in CPS-1 times! didn't sound that bad back then, but lissen to it now, no sanks!
they always were the graphic beast!

[geise]

I voted Sega and Other.  The other is for the Konami GX hardware.  All of Konami's PCB's had great sound around the late 80's through the 90's, but their GX board had amazing sound.  Metamorphic Force is by far my favorite Konami game for sound/music.  For Sega I love the game Quartet.  That music is just amazing. 

Sega and Data East was almost a tie for me.  Data East had some great sounding games.  Boogie Wings comes to mind.

[TR0N]

SNK>Konami>Capcom 

[Tatsujin]

SNK>Konami

[ToiletKid]

Listening to some late 80's and early 90's Namco games blows me away. You hear the soundtrack quality (both the sound and songs themselves) to Ordyne, Legend of Valkyrie, Dragon Sabre? Almost sounds CD quality (in fact, it has more personality). Other companies around the same time seem to have a tinnier sound..like Sega Genesis type.

[OldRover]

I voted SNK and Capcom, but with Capcom, that only applies to when they started using QSound chips.

[rag-time4]

namco and konami for me

I don't usually like IREM's music but I love the stuff on Image Fight

I'm with Digi here... I love the sound quality / instrumentation of the arcade Image Fight.

I loved the vocal effects in 1984's Kung Fu Master, as well as the quality of the music. In general Irem's sound effects and particularly the instruments are very rich and sharp sounding to me.

I also voted for Capcom, mostly because of the voices and sound quality of Street Fighter 1. I really think that the amount of voices was outstanding for 1987 and really made the game stand out. I'm not talking only about the post-fight voice clips, but also the vocal effects heard during basic punches and kicks, which were totally removed from the Street Fighter 2 games.