Chrono Trigger - People Without Hope - Synth Cover (feat. Microfreak, Yamaha MX49, Renoise Tracker)

Seasonal depression got you down? This song won't lift you up! It's super moody and depressing, too! I really like Chrono Trigger, but I think songs like this one in the game are what really set it apart from the herd of other good-to-great SNES JRPGs. There's so much character and atmosphere in the game that it ends up being more about the locations and experience of playing the game than the actual gameplay.
I always really loved the future 2300 AD area because it's so bleak and dreary, but it was just so well done and realized in a 16 bit game. Also it was pretty unique for a game to have real dystopian/cyberpunk areas and themes in a game in the mid 90s. Especially a mainstream blockbuster game like this one!
I tried to keep my cover faithful to the original but I wanted it to be "synthy" and kind of futuristic, so I didn't use a traditional upright bass for the bassline and I used synth leads instead of the saxophone that was used in the original. I also wanted the "choir ahhs" or whatever you want them to be called to sound kind of creepy and eerie. I hope this all translates to a cover you people like, and thanks for checking it out!!!
Gear stuff
Yamaha MX49 - sitar, some ahhs, bass
Microfreak - synth leads, some EPs, thing at the end
Nils' Kawai K1v VST tracked in Renoise- Ahhs in the middle of the song, EP at the end
Groove bpb VST tracked in Renoise for the drum part
Zoom MS70-CDR for fx on all hardware synths
No midi rips, piano rolls, soundfonts, etc. All hardware synths played by MT, recorded and mixed in Audacity. Software VSTs tracked in Renoise.
Original song credited to Nobuo Uematsu (even though most of the game is Yatsunori Mistuda). Apparently Nobuo Uematsu helped out and did a couple of songs for Chrono Trigger, according to the Internet!

[@StevenCusic]

"This song won't lift you up! " lmao

[@Duhemsounds]

This is well made, I like a lot that track

[@st0e]

Good stuff 👍

[@edt4062]

yea more chrono trigger covers

[@synthjazzwithlopiano]

Even though the game is from much later the theory and instrumentation on this and too a large extent the original feels very late 70s.

[@MTVGMSynthCovers]

Thank you! I agree, something about it is “late 70s” as you say. I’ve heard sometimes if you want to portray the future it’s best to look to the past, so maybe that’s what the idea here was too