Sparkle! Slash! PowerUP! This deceptively simple, stupidly fun free/donationware browser tool/download generates sound effects in the style of 80s and 90s Japanese animation, all thanks to a clever signal chain. And you can export WAV files, so you could use it to build instruments/drum racks, too.
Here’s what it sounds like:
castpixel has a bunch of delicious treats over on itch.io, but this one is completely special. She explains what makes this tick:
Why is it retro-sounding? It’s because of the effect chain, which was popular in japan in the 80s and 90s:
The tool generates a simple tone, then you control its pitch bend (rise) → lowpass filter → schroeder reverb → tremolo pulse to soften the “tail” and create a shimmer.
Written in Construct 3, with some javascript.The tool is a modern take on the classic generator sfxr (2007), which also has direct modern clones jsfxr and bfxr. You’ll find more discussion on the itch.io site from the dev, but thanks to reader 202 for pointing out I neglected the callout to the prior art!
The downloadable version is only available for Windows, but the browser edition can run on any OS. Apart from producing a ton of delightful (and usable) sounds, I’m sure it’ll also tickle some folks’ brains on both the web development and sound design sides.
But do go play castpixel’s games and toys, too. You deserve it.
Wait — so, I’ve got my browser open, generating sounds. How will I process them? Oh, yeah!
Some more background:
Construct 3 is an excellent game dev environment for browsers
Oh, and — I love Schroeder Reverbs, even if they do produce a bunch of resonance. Someone has built one for Max for Live:
https://fendoap.gumroad.com/l/schorev
And Python?!
And LabView?? What, was everybody in the same class or did I miss a trend?
Sorry, we lost the anime-ness of this. Here.