You Can Make Music Using Your Old PlayStation 1 - Here's How

Whenever you want to gain a skill, you have to start small. You can't become an award-winning composer overnight, but how do you learn? Usually, a degree from an accredited college is your best bet, but if you don't have much money, you can get some practice with an original PlayStation and a music-generation "game."

"MTV Music Generator" (released as "Music 2000" in Europe) was a music program released for PlayStation and Windows in 1999. The "game" lets you make your own tracks using numerous instruments, sound channels, and effects. "MTV Music Generator" isn't the most robust music generation software out there, and you are limited by loading times and the number of riffs you can put in one song, but we cannot deny the game's importance.

Even though "MTV Music Generator" was primarily available on the original PlayStation, it has served as the first step for many notable composers and artists. Some names you might recognize include Skepta, JME, Dizzee Rascal, Hudson Mohawke, Bob Vylan, and Kode9 — they all cite "MTV Music Generator" as a major influence in their careers. The same is true for music producers such as Curtiss King. In fact, one could argue that "MTV Music Generator" helped kickstart grime, a particular music genre typified by fast, almost aggressive electronic dance music beats. Not many video games hold that sort of legacy.

If you want to start a career in producing grime (a weird sentence if ever there was one), "MTV Music Generator" will set you back a few hundred dollars. Most of that investment will come from purchasing a PlayStation (that could run anywhere from $50 to $300 based on condition) and an "MTV Music Generator" disc. The latter will be a more difficult search, but only if you want that specific format.

"MTV Music Generator" was released on both the PlayStation and PC, and the Windows version is generally considered abandonware (its developers and/or publishers no longer sell or support it). If hunting down a copy of MTV Music Generator and a working PlayStation is too difficult, you have plenty of other alternatives. For instance, if you own or buy a Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 (the original version is still worth a purchase) and subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online, you can play "Mario Paint." This creativity suite includes a music generator function. Sure, it's not as robust as "MTV Music Generator," but it can remake songs like "Thriller" with the SNES sound chip just fine. Plus, modern equivalents such as Korg Gadget are available on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Meta Quest VR headsets.