You may have seen this channel refer to mixes as "within the limitations of the hardware",
but without much context.
Let's take a look at exactly what sounds the Sega Genesis can make.
To talk about the sound on the Genesis, we need to go back to the early 80s,
when Sega created the SG-1000
...Mark II.
...revised as the Sega Mark 3.
...rebranded for international markets as the Sega Master System.
Later repackaged as a handheld console, the Game Gear.
The important part here is this: The SN76489.
This chip has 3 channels of 50%-width square waves and one dedicated noise channel.
The noise channel comes with the standard two types of noise:
Random...
...and periodic.
The noise channel has four available pitches: A on the fourth octave,
A on the 3rd, A on the 2nd,
and what we'll call "linked".
That last "pitch" actually steals the pitch information from the third square channel
and assigns it to the noise channel.
So, A, A, A, or whatever the square is.
This allows for a broader range of sweeping random noise
Or, using periodic noise, this lets you write using a pulse wave
--if somewhat out of tune at higher notes.
With that in mind, let's fastforward to 1988, and the launch of the Megadrive.
Or, for Americans, the Sega Genesis in 1989.
...Also the portable version, the Sega Nomad.
When Sega built the Genesis, they used the Master System as a starting point
and simply added hardware until it was sufficiently "next-gen".
The relevant addition, musically, is this chip: the YM2612
This brings six channels of 4-operator FM synthesis.
Combined with the SN chip from the Master System, this provided a total of 10 channels of sound
Additionally, the sixth FM channel can be replaced with an 8-bit sample player.
This ability to play back samples was heavily embraced for sound effects and music alike.
3 years after the Genesis was released, Sega released an add-on: the Sega CD.
With this, you could play back beautiful, streamed redbook Compact Disc Digital Audio.
but, not content with two sound chips, Sega decided to add a Ricoh RF5C164.
This added 8 channels of PCM sample-based playback.
Because of the convenience of redbook audio, relatively few games took advantage of these
8 new channels.
The most popular exception is Sonic CD.
The past versions of each stage use the RF5C exclusively.
Also on the topic of scarcely-used hardware...
The 32X.
The 32X launched uncomfortably close to Sega's next-gen console,
causing the 32X to suffer a very short shelf life.
For sound, the 32X adds two additional channels: one left and one right.
But the audio is all software mixed from an on-board SH-2, meaning
you could have multi-channel sound, if you wanted.
The limited lifespan of the 32X meant that almost no games used this chip for music,
much less multichannel music.
The only exceptions being Tempo and Toughman Contest, which only both only use it for drums
and streaming audio.
Take this very nice intro, for example...
In the end, the Genesis and all of its add-ons had 4+6+8+2+CDDA
= at least 22 channels of audio.
That's more than, for example...
the number of letters in Sega's marketing slogan.
Thanks for watching!
Alright, let's do this part.
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Patreon on the right,
Mixes in the middle.
You know what to do.
See ya.