The audio demo above only uses synth instruments from this pack and drums from the 8-Bit Drum Kit series. No melodies or MIDI patterns are included, and no games were sampled.
8-Bit Synths 4: Spectrum
8-Bit Synths 4: Spectrum is the fourth and final installment of the 8-bit sample instrument synth pack series. "Spectrum" has a wide variety of sounds that run the 8-bit instrument gamut, with many inventive and unconventional 8-bit sounds that use the outer edges of the original sound chip limitations. These 8-bit instruments include leads and stabs with unique transients, exaggerated vibratos and choruses, and expressive volume envelopes and pitch changes.
The following list describes the categories of the different 8-bit instrument types included in this pack, along with the total number of each. All four 8-Bit Synths packs have the same categories but contain different instruments & sounds (for more detailed descriptions of the sound types in this list, click on the "More Instrument Info" drop-down below):
- Lead Single (65): sustained instruments that use a single channel from the sound chip
- Lead Combo (102): sustained instruments using two or more channels combined together, providing chorused, octave and interval sounds
- Stab Single (68): one-shot instruments that use a single channel
- Stab Combo (77): one-shot instruments using two or more channels combined together
- Triangle Bass (13): instruments use the triangle channel only and are most often used as bass instruments
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Fundamental (4): these instruments are the four basic waveforms available in the original sound chip: Square, Pulse Width 1, Pulse Width 2, and Triangle (these instruments are provided in all four 8-Bit Synths packs)
This pack contains:
- 329 8-Bit Synth Instrument Patches for Native Instruments Kontakt, Ableton Live, Maschine, Logic Pro EXS24/Sampler, FL Studio, MPC Expansion Pack, and TAL-Sampler
- 15,968 8-Bit Synth Samples
- 24-bit, 44.1 kHz WAV files
- 5.7 GB
For more synths from this series, check out: 8-Bit Synths: The Basics, 8-Bit Synths 2: Game Pop, and 8-Bit Synths 3: World Melodies
Get the bundle with all four 8-Bit Synth packs here: 8-Bit Synths Bundle
The audio demo above only uses synth instruments from this pack and drums from the 8-Bit Drum Kit series. No melodies or MIDI patterns are included, and no games were sampled.
The instrument types are further broken down into the following categories:
Lead Single, Stab Single & Triangle Bass:
- Transient - synths with a unique attack or note start
- Vibrato - synths with vibrato in the samples themselves
- Repeater - synths with rhythmic repetition
- Jump - sounds that quickly jump upwards or downwards in tone (stabs only)
Lead Combo & Stab Combo:
- Chorus - synths with slight channel offsets to produce a chorus sound
- Octave - synths with channels that are octave intervals played together
- Merge - synths where the waveforms blend together
- Interval - synths with channels separated by intervals such as 4ths or 5ths
- Jump - stabs that quickly jump upwards or downwards in tone (stabs only)
The entire keyboard range of notes is provided for every instrument for playability, however some of the instruments are best played within certain ranges. For example, due to the way that vibrato functioned in the original sound chip, it is often undetectable in the very low ranges and over-the-top in the very high ranges. The highest and lowest notes in the instrument patches were also stretched to cover all MIDI note values, but in reality the sound chip had rigid low and high frequency limits and wouldn't normally be playable in these ranges.
Instrument Patches:
- 65 Lead Single 8-Bit Synth Instrument Patches
- 102 Lead Combo 8-Bit Synth Instrument Patches
- 68 Stab Single 8-Bit Synth Instrument Patches
- 77 Stab Combo 8-Bit Synth Instrument Patches
- 13 Triangle Bass 8-Bit Synth Instrument Patches
- 4 Fundamental 8-Bit Synth Instrument Patches
Sample List:
- 2645 Lead Single Notes
- 2395 Lead Combo Notes
- 4959 Stab Single Notes
- 5568 Stab Combo Notes
- 349 Triangle Bass Notes
- 52 Fundamental Notes
Instrument Formats & Required Software:
- Kontakt Instrument Patches (.nki), Kontakt 4+
- Maschine Expansion Pack (.mxsnd), Maschine 2+
- Ableton Live Pack (.adv), Live 9+
- FL Studio DirectWave Patches (.dwp), FL Studio 12+
- MPC Expansion Pack (.xpn), MPC Software or MPC Beats
- EXS24/Sampler Instrument Patches (.exs), Logic Pro 9+
- TAL Instrument Patches (.talsmpl), TAL Sampler 3+
- Single WAV files (.wav), usable in any DAW or audio software