I must have been around the age of 11 when I first played Maniac Mansion. I don't think I ever replayed it at a later age, yet the atmosphere, the creepy characters, and all those things that won't budge stuck with me forever. And that soundtrack. Playing the game for hours on end, that soundtrack was bound to find a special place in my head to never to leave again. I'm 41 now and I still get chills listening to it.

Recently I picked up the PO-128 Megaman synth and its sounds send me back in time. The power of 8-bit NES music right in my hands. The first song that entered my head? Maniac Mansion's Dave's Theme, or "The Boys Are Still Back" by Dave Hayes.

While it's only a small part of the original song, I think it came out pretty well! The PO-128 was a joy to play that main tune (ok, I did add a few modifications). Oh boy do I love that part. The Volca Bass was a fun addition to add the bass line and that insanely fast arpeggio.  The PO-133 Streetfighter provided the drums, and I threw it all together in Ableton (with a few effects here and there).

If you want to learn more about the Maniac Mansion soundtrack, I urge you to read this article by DarkZero on the VGFamily website. It's what partially inspired me to make this cover and video ;)

And Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, if you ever happen to read this, please take us back to the Mansion...

HaezrDrive

Maniac Mansion - Dave's Theme

Ah, Star Fox. I must've been around the age of 14 when I got my hands this back in the 90s. 3D graphics on a Nintendo console, can you imagine? All thanks to that amazing FX chip that was built into the cartridge. Also, here in Europe it was called Starwing!

What a game.... I wish I could say I liked the rest of the franchise, but except for their appearance in Smash, I never quite got into any other Star Fox game. (Adventures was interesting, but not Star Fox :D)

The music of this game is great, with some special bonus tunes when you find in those special warp levels. Fighting a giant space slot machine? Check! Did anyone ever figure out what happened to Fox's dad though?

Anyway, I decided I'd try and make a little tribute to Corneria. This song and level set the pace for the rest of the game, and you can't help but get excited... space... 3D... OMG! And then your crew starts talking back and forth.. This is the future of gaming!

Again, using the Volca Bass (2 tracks) and Teenage Engineering's PO-128 Megaman, threw it all together in Ableton and here we are. Hope you enjoy it! Do let me know what you think and tell me what to put on my backlog! (I have a list, more to come!).

Star Fox - Corneria Cover (PO-128 & Volca Bass)

Nintendo Game Boy - Tennis . Music Cover on PO-128 Megaman & PO-133 Streetfighter

This week it's a cover of the main theme of No More Heroes, of which honestly I have only played NMH: Travis Strikes Again and NMH3. I watched playthroughs of the other ones, but it's sad that I didn't play them myself back in the day. Suda51 makes amazing games, and this final instalment of NMH proves once again what a great creative mind he is. It's funny, the gameplay is solid (except the overworld but that adds to the charm), it's like nothing else. I still have to finish it, but it's one of those games where I want the house for myself and 0 disturbances. And that never happens ...

This time I used the PO-133 for drums (sampled what I think was an 808 on youtube) and a few other synth sounds (I'm using the Synth One app on iPhone for quick sampling). The PO-128 does the lead once again, although this time I figured out the sequencer and it worked! I still think it sounds better when I live play, and as you'll see in the video, my hands are idling and I don't know what to do with them :D 

The Volca Bass is back! As requested! Guess the lofi was okay, but I need more practice. Or maybe synthwave is more my style!

No More Heroes Theme - Cover on the Teenage Engineering PO-128/PO-133 & Korg Volca Bass

First time using the PO-137 (the newer PO-35 Speak), so yes, we have vocals and the Pocket Operator is helping me stay in tune! No midi was used making this, which is also a first for me. Heavy DAW usage though, made the process hard and a bit less fun.

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Quarantine is a game from 1994, a PC FPS but you're driving cab! This was out way before games like CrazyTaxi, Carmageddon or even GTA (Cloudpunk might be the closest current-gen game although that's not gory nor metal is it :D). ! It's Escape from New York! That pretty much sums it up.

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The music on the CD-ROM version (yes, that was a thing back then) was by multiple Australian bands, and it just stuck with me. This specific song "Lie Down Forever" by Godstar felt best suited for a #synthwave cover, as the guitar “arp” sounds so awesome on the #PO128.

Quarantine / Lie Down Forever - Cover using Pocket Operators, Korg Volca Bass and Korg DSN-12

My Synthwave take on the Monkey Island theme.

Monkey City [a tribute to Monkey Island]

Little improv with the Liven 8bit warps as lead. Think I'll actually finish this and turn it into a proper track!

Miami Noodles

Perfect for this heatwave. This song is on Spotify etc as well!

Miami Cruisin'

Miami Cruisin - HaezrDrive

Good morning sunshine. You are awesome today. Today will be awesome. Let us all bathe in the neon sun.

Ryze & Shine

Synthwave Track(er) 6b696b69

I'm still amazed what a few Volcas can bring to the table

Road Rage

I’m all over the place genre wise. Polyend Tracker is to blame. It tells me where to go and I follow

why so serious

I've always loved the music of Solstice. Must've been 10 or so when I got this game. This track is inspired by the in-game music, which was creepy and nice at the same time. Let me know what you think.

Soulstitch

🎹 synths & 🕹 video games.
👨‍💻 dad | 🎓 computer scientist | 👾 gamedev | 🇧🇪
👇 More on Instagram & Spotify & Youtube
#vgm #synthwave #retrowave

HAEZRDRIVE

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