New PC App Turns Your Nintendo Console Into an 8-Bit Synthesizer – EDM.com

An innovative app developer recently managed to unlock hidden value in the Nintendo Entertainment System, a console that was abandoned decades ago.

For those who have managed to keep their consoles or purchase a re-released version, Avicr has a new app that allows gamers to turn their classic systems into a working synthesizer. Titled SynthNes, the application effectively allows users to control the five dedicated audio channels of the NES system with a MIDI instrument of your choice.

The reason it works on the old-school Nintendo specifically is because the NES was part of a time in video game history where consoles were sold that contained dedicated sound chips. In the 1980s, CPU and storage technology was in its most primitive form, and the way music was produced in video games at the time was to efficiently encode a set of digital instructions (think sheet music computerized) for the sound chip to play.

Given the close association between soundchip-driven music and 8-bit video game graphics prevalent at the time, this sheds light on the origins of the origin of popular music descriptors, including the niche electronic genre, chip tune.

Besides needing an NES to get started, turning your vintage system into an electronic musical instrument will simply require an Everdrive N8 Pro cartridge and a PC to run the SynthNes application.

For more information go to Avicr and name your own price to secure download link for SynthNes.