Understand Proper Sample Rates (Important!)

One of the biggest mistake music uploaders make, is uploading game music at the highest sample rate. They believe that the highest same rate gives you the best quality sound.

This isn’t always true. In fact, only compact disc sound can benefit from the sample rate increasing. However, many uploaders rip cart based game music at 44.1KHz and 48KHz. They think this gives them the best quality sound, it doesn’t.

Cart based video game music were made using synthesizer sound chips. These chips had set sample rates. Increasing the sample rate, actually distorts and unbalance the music, not make it better quality. It’s important to understand the proper sample rates of cart based game music.

Here’s a list giving you the proper sample rate settings for optimal sound harmony for cart based games.

Nintendo: 22050KHz (Mono)

Sega Master System: 22050Khz (Mono)

Gameboy: 22050Khz

Game Gear: 22050Khz

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive: 22050Khz

Turbo Grafx-16/PC Engine: 22050Khz

Super Nintendo: 32000KHz

Neo-Geo: 32000KHz

Sharp X68000: 32000Khz

Nintendo 64: 3200Khz

Arcade Games 1970-1984: 22050KHz

Arcade Games 1985-1997: 32000KHz

Note: The arcade games can vary.

I hope this helps uploaders in the future. If there are any consoles I forgot, please add it, with it’s proper sample rate.

The Nintendo 64 didn’t have a fixed sampling rate, if I’m not mistaken. Using Project 64 and I forget which audio plugin, there is an option to record the audio. It sets the sampling rate automatically and it’s different for different ROMs, I assume because the games themselves have different native sampling rates. For example, Zelda has 32kHz, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness is 44, and Quest 64 is 22 (all of which correspond to the rates of the USF sets). Semi-interestingly, I think one or two or all of those games are slightly off from those rounded numbers by a small handful of samples. Of course, making a WAV or MP3 conversion at a higher rate than the original will not be helpful, that’s true.

As for something like Super Nintendo, it may have only had a sampling rate of 32kHz, but I know if I change the rate of an SPC file or in-game on ZSNES to a higher option, there is a noticeable, and in my opinion favorable, result. Less faithful to the original surely, but an improvement just as surely. I keep the sampling rate at the highest I can for Genesis synthesis as well.

I don’t know if you left out GameBoy Advance because it’s the same rate as the original GameBoy (I think), but that’s not on the list.

You are correct, nothingtosay. The Nintendo 64 did not have a fixed sampling rate. This was because storage limitations caused by the cartridge format limited audio size (and thus quality). In other words, a reduction in the size of audio was achieved by reducing the sampling rate for certain games to allow more space for other game data. However, the N64 was capable of a sampling rate of 48 kHz.

I’ve also noticed that the sampling rate is +/- a "handful" of samples off the standard sampling rates (44.1 kHz, 32 kHz, 22.05 kHz, etc.) for all the N64 audio that I’ve looked at. It is rather curious.