Masanori Miyamoto, who used to compose music for many Compile games (Guardic, Aleste, Zanac, etc.), has uploaded something very interesting to YouTube – the original source sketches he composed on a synthesizer, before they were converted to chiptunes!
Hearing the Guardian Legend music in midi is freaking amazing.
Back then most of the synths came from Japan, if not whole product than the chips and other internals.