Having a limited set of tools forces me to be more creative. When I only had simple monophonic synthesizers, the results were much better than with the nearly unlimited sounds at my disposal now.
I take your point, however, have you considered simulating a simple analogue synthesiser in something like PD?
This is true. I am not expert in PS, so when I use it I basically only use the basic tools that MS paint provide. Unless I use the auto blend feature which is a fantastic.
I think some of this art would be great backgrounds for indie pixel games.