How to make PS1 survival horror music
Low-poly horror games have brought back the sound of late-90s survival horror: rooms that hum, pads that never quite resolve, metal scraping somewhere off screen, all through a reverb that sounds like a concrete basement. Most of that sound comes from the limits of the PlayStation, not from expensive gear, so you can make it in any DAW. Here's how to write it, mix it and loop it for a game, step by step.
By Aiden Shihadeh, developer of simpleSPU · Published 15 October 2026
Quick answer
| Core ingredients | A low drone, a dissonant pad, sparse metallic or noisy hits, and one dark reverb |
|---|---|
| Harmony | Minor seconds, tritones and clusters; avoid resolving to a clean major or minor chord |
| The PS1 part | Low-rate, short-looped samples pitched down, a soft top end, and a half-rate Hall or Space reverb |
| Tempo | Often none: drones and events for exploring, a slow pulse of 60 to 90 BPM for chases |
| For a game | Write loops of 1 to 3 minutes and fold the reverb tail back to the start so they loop cleanly |
| With a plugin | simpleSPU's pads, choirs, atmospheres and FX version cover the PS1 part, with a licence to release |
simpleSPU gives you PS1-style pads, choirs, atmospheres and reverb you can use in your game. 14-day free trial. Try it free
What makes it sound like 1998
Survival horror on the PS1 had a few habits that you can hear across the whole genre:
- Music and sound design blur together. Many rooms have no tune at all, just a hum, a distant rhythm or a loop of machinery. Melody is saved for save rooms, menus and big moments.
- The samples are cheap, and that's the point. Short orchestral and choir samples, pitched well below where they were recorded, turn dull and grainy. On a modern system that sounds like a decayed recording, which is exactly the mood.
- Industrial texture. Clanks, scrapes, hiss and low rumbles, often made from the console's noise generator or from heavily pitched-down hits.
- One reverb for everything. The console had a single dark reverb, usually set to a long Hall or Space, so every sound shares the same huge, gloomy room.
- Silence. With only 24 voices and sound effects to play, arrangements were sparse. Gaps let the player's own footsteps become part of the music.
Seven steps to a PS1 horror track
- Start with a drone. Hold one low note, around C1 to C2, on a dark pad, choir or bowed sound. Add a second voice a fifth or a minor second above, very quietly. Slowly automate a low-pass filter so the drone breathes over 20 to 40 seconds.
- Add an unresolved pad. Play a cluster such as C, D flat and G, or a minor chord with a major seventh on top. Change it rarely. If it moves, move one note by a half step.
- Pitch samples down hard. Take a string, choir or bell sample and play it an octave or two below its root. On a low-rate sample this adds a smeared, grainy quality that real low instruments don't have.
- Build an industrial layer. Use filtered noise for wind and hiss, and pitched-down metal hits, pipes or chains for impacts. Place them irregularly, a few per minute, so the player can't predict them.
- Add a pulse for danger. For chase or monster themes, add a slow heartbeat-like kick or a repeated low piano note at 60 to 90 BPM, and a single dissonant stab when the threat appears.
- Make the sound PS1. Keep samples short and low-rate, roll off the top above about 10 kHz, and send everything except the lowest drone to one long, dark reverb. The PS1 reverb guide has the settings.
- Leave space. Mute layers for whole sections. Horror music works on tension, and tension needs moments where almost nothing plays.
Themes for each part of the game
| Situation | What to write |
|---|---|
| Exploring | Drone, slow pad changes, rare industrial hits. No beat, little melody. |
| Save room | A short, gentle melody on a soft keys, bell or music-box sound. Almost always major or modal, and the only calm music in the game. |
| Chase or monster | A pulse, low brass or strings in repeated short notes, and harsh stabs. Faster but still sparse. |
| Boss | The chase theme with more layers: a choir, louder drums and a melody built from the same unresolved intervals. |
| Title screen | The game's main motif on a single instrument, soaked in reverb. |
Making it loop in your game
Game music needs to loop without a click or a jump in the reverb. Write each piece to a set length, usually one to three minutes for exploring and less for chases, and avoid sounds that obviously start or stop at the loop point.
The hard part is the reverb tail. If you just cut the file at the loop point, the long Hall tail stops dead every time the loop restarts. Render the track with a little extra time after the end, then fold that tail back onto the start. Our free seamless loop maker does this in the browser and gives you a WAV ready for Unity, Godot or Unreal.
Doing it with simpleSPU
simpleSPU is a synth and effect plugin modelled on the PS1's sound chip. For horror, the parts that matter most are:
- Pads, choirs and atmospheres for drones and clusters. Hold a low note, then add a second instance for the dissonant voice.
- The Crush knob. Turn it up on drones and hits for a rougher, lower-bit sound, or down for a cleaner save-room melody.
- Hall and Space reverb, built from the chip's own settings and run at half rate, for that dark, enormous room.
- simpleSPU FX for everything else: run your own foley, metal hits or field recordings through the same engine so they sit in the same space as the music.
Every sample in simpleSPU was made by us or comes from openly licensed recordings, so you can ship the music in a commercial game.
Common questions
What instruments did PS1 horror games use?
Mostly sampled strings, choirs, pianos, bells and synth pads, often pitched far down, plus industrial noise and metal sounds. Some games also streamed recorded music from the disc.
What makes horror music unsettling?
Unresolved harmony such as minor seconds and tritones, drones that change slowly, unpredictable sounds, and silence. PS1-era music adds low-rate, grainy samples and a dark reverb.
Can I use this music in a game I sell?
Yes, as long as the sounds you used are licensed for it. simpleSPU's presets are original or openly licensed, so music made with them can ship in commercial games. Avoid samples ripped from PS1 games.
How long should a horror game loop be?
One to three minutes for exploring areas, and 30 seconds to a minute for chases. Longer loops feel less repetitive, but drones and ambience can loop much shorter because they have no obvious phrase.
Do I need simpleSPU to make PS1 horror music?
No. The steps work with any DAW's own samplers, filters and reverb. simpleSPU puts the PS1 sound chip's samples and reverb in one plugin, and has a 14-day free trial.
Is simpleSPU an official PlayStation product?
No. simpleSPU is an original instrument and effect inspired by PlayStation-era music. It isn't affiliated with Sony or PlayStation.