Chords for Making Music with the PlayStation 2 Startup Sound

The PlayStation 2 startup sound is [Dm] truly amazing.
The [Bb] rich soundscape constructed [Eb] by him.
Oh my god, I don't care.
[Abm] I just really want to remix it.
I actually tried to remix the PS2 startup sound like five different times all the way back in 2018.
It was really just impossible though just because of how complex the sound was.
It was really hard just to get consistent samples.
But yesterday I was actually recommended a YouTube video by the [N] user Troy McQuinn
which explained how the PS2 sound actually works.
From this video I learned that you can actually extract all the individual samples
which are used to create the PS2 startup sound using a PlayStation 2's BIOS.
Which means it should now actually be possible to make something that is listenable.
Hopefully.
So here we have all the different samples which have been extracted from the PlayStation 2 [C] BIOS.
We've got sounds like this.
[Em] It sounds so cool.
[Gbm] [Eb] Got some [Gm] noise.
Some more [N] noise.
Some more ambient sounds.
Those sound really cool.
Some more noise.
Ah, what a surprise.
Some more [Dbm] noise.
Ah, there we go.
We got the classic sample right there. _
[B] Now I think in the PlayStation 2 [C] startup sound this is actually layered as a chord.
So we got chords [G] made into chords which is what actually made it so hard to work with back in 2018.
I love this sound.
I can't remember what it's for.
[Db] Is it the broken disc or something?
I can't remember.
_ _ _ _ I may as well just use these sounds as well.
Oh, I love that one.
_ [F] _ _ _ _
_ And the final one is this sound.
[Dbm] I think we need to start off with this sound over here.
That is pretty much the most classic [E] sound as well as this one.
I think we'll start with this.
I think for this I'm feeling like a 180 BPM.
We'll go for something super speedy.
Grab this boy and throw him into a MIDI track.
[B] I might [Dbm] _ just throw a little bit of glide onto it.
[Abm] _ _ [Ab] _ _ Sounds like Twilight Princess.
Go like that.
_ _ [Bbm] _
_ _ [Gb] _ [Abm] _ That's cool.
Next up, should we [N] go for some percussive elements?
Let's pull in a drum track.
_ This could be a hi-hat.
Go like that. _ _ _ _
Easy.
Get rid of some of those lower frequencies.
Anything thumpy we could use for a kick.
That sounds pretty good.
[Bbm] _ _ _ _ _
Not the best kick drum, but I think it will work.
Pitch it down a bit maybe.
Just need to throw some pitch envelope onto it and that should be it for that.
Wow, what a kick.
_ _ [Dbm] _ [B] _ _
[N] Wait, that could actually work as a snare.
Folk Coda, throw them on. _ _
Maybe we'll throw a layer of this kick drum sounding thing in there too.
Just to give a bit of thump.
Yeah.
_ _ Yeah, that sounds pretty good.
_ _ Nice.
Bring this one over here in for a hi-hat.
Bruh, it's so loud.
Oop. _ _ _ _
That should do for some basic drums.
It's sounding a little rough, but it should be good enough for now.
Let's go ahead and start recording some drums.
And said he's my pusher, I might actually use a [E] PlayStation [Ab] 2 controller.
_ Ew, why are PlayStation 2 sticks so oily?
_ Gross.
You can [Bbm] see hairs on it.
We'll use this one here even though it's actually a fake one.
At least it doesn't have hairy joysticks.
_ _ _ _ [Dbm] _ _ [B] _ _
_ [Db] _ _ [Dbm] That [B] _ _ _
_ [Db] _ _ is so hard.
I think because it's a fake one, you have to press the button down so far for it to actually register.
That should do.
We need some kick drums.
_ _ _ _ [Dbm] _ [Abm] _ _
_ _ [Bbm] _ _ _ [Dbm] _ [B] _ _
_ _ [Bbm] _ _ [G] _ That was very out of time.
Okay, now I've just got the snare drum here, which is pitched up.
Yeah, turn off that reverb.
Yeah, that's recorded [Bbm] in.
_ _ _ _ [Dbm] _
[B] _ _ _ [Db] _ _ _ [Dbm] _ _
[Abm] _ _ _ [Db] _ _ _ _
Yes, that sounds cool.
I'm actually feeling [B] this though.
I'm liking this style.
Actually sounds like something [C] that would be in a PS2 game, which is kind of cool.
Okay, what other sounds do we have?
I feel like we need to go for this one here.
What happens if we pitch this around?
[Dbm] _ _ _
That's kind of ugly.
_ [B] _ _ [Em] When you pitch this one around, you actually lose all of the [G] recognizability from it.
_ [Bbm] What if we just try drag the sample in?
_ _ [Fm] Maybe we can just take this end part.
Got the [Bbm] delay on.
_ Yeah, sounds good.
Flatten them down.
Boom.
Flip it and we should have a nice little riser effect. _
_ _ _ _ [Ab] That works. _
[Bbm] _ _ [B] _ Should maybe use some of these other menu sounds. _
_ _ [Db] _ Go away.
[Dbm] _ [Abm] _ _
_ _ [Db] _ _ _ [E] _ [B] _
That kind of works.
[Db] I feel like the cording is off, but it sounds all right.
_ _ _ _ [Abm] _
Two _ _ notes.
We've been needing something bassy.
I don't know what this sound is, but I think I need to use it.
It's one of the only ones that actually has just a very simple tone.
_ Moss code type beat.
[Bbm] _
_ _ [Dbm] _ [Abm] _ _ _ _ [Bbm]
Oh, wait, that's just a straight up sine wave.
Let's use this for a bass just because there's nothing else that I can really use.
I think we just need to throw a little bit of saturation on so I can actually hear it.
Oh, thumpy.
_ _ _ _ [E] _ [B] _ _ _
_ [Db] _ _ _ [E] _ [B] _ _ _
_ [Bbm] _ _ That's a [Fm] beast.
Take this one down to the E.
_ _ [Dbm] _ [Abm] _ Yeah, that sounds better.
I feel like we need to try work this sound in again.
Let's bring in a MIDI track.
[Bb] _ _ [Fm]
Wait, get rid of that.
_ _ [Dbm] _ [Abm] _ _ _
[Ab] _ Oh, wait, that's interesting.
[Dbm] _ [B] _
I like it.
That sounds really cool.
Notes of the song are just all over the place.
Really having to play it by ear.
You know what?
I feel like we just need to add in some rises [N] and stuff using all these noise sounds.
And that should be it for the song.
There we go.
We've got a loop and throw on the old filters.
Delay, reverb, ping pong. _
Too [Fm] easy.
And with that being done, I think I've actually got pretty much everything I need to go ahead
and finish off this song.
So as usual, I've gone ahead and added on all the finishing touches off camera, arranged it,
made it sound good, all of that.
Anyway, here's my finished beat made using the PlayStation 2 startup sound, plus a couple
of other extra system sounds.
Enjoy.
_ _ [Dbm] _ [Abm] _ _
_ _ [Fm] _ _ _ [E] _ [Abm] _ _
_ _ [Fm] _ _ _ [Dbm] _ [Abm] _ _
_ _ [Fm] _ _ _ [E] _ [Abm] _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [E] _ [Abm] _ _
_ _ [Fm] _ _ _ [Abm] _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ [Bb] _ [Abm] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Fm] _ _ [Abm] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] So _ [Abm] _ _ _
_ _ [Fm] _ _ _ [Dbm] _ [Abm] _ _
_ [Fm] _ _ _ _ [Dbm] _ [Abm] _ _
_ [Fm] _ _ _ there we go.
There was music [Am] made using the PlayStation 2 startup sound.
I am so happy.
I actually managed to finish this video after like three years.
And once again, I just want to shout out Troy McQuinn for actually making the video explaining
how all the PS2 system sounds work.
I definitely wouldn't have been able to make this video here if I was not recommended his
video over on YouTube.
So if you want to go check that out, I'll leave a link to it down in the description.
It is actually pretty interesting to see everything being broken down.
Anyway, I think I'm going to wrap it up for this video here.
Thanks for watching, everybody.
Bye.
Ow.
_ My camera. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
[Am] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _