playstation 2

playstation 2

i want to write a few things about the crystalline, humming, ocean-breeze sounds we heard at its startup. every time the console powered on, these sounds weren't from a recording but were synthesized by the note files in the bios chip being sent to the sound chip. what you heard was a few analog sounds being synthesized and brought together, so each startup was like someone playing the organ for you. according to some the bios chip's memory was insufficient for .wav files, but the truth of it is that the japanese were making the 48-channel stereo and fully hardware-based 3d sound chip inside the device flex its muscles. the sounds didn't come from a single center, they practically swirled around us, and this was a huge revolution for the year 2000, some people had started needing the ps2 sounds in order to fall asleep. the ps2's sound engineer had said that while designing the startup sound he drew inspiration from the big bang theory; the first hum symbolized a vast universe with nothing in it yet, waiting to be discovered, while the blue/green light filtering that appeared on the screen (they changed according to the time of day) and the cubes (as many as the amount of games on your card) were stars and galaxies waiting to be discovered. an artist also made some nice music using the sound pieces in the bios.