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Old game music that doesn't sound like it could be done on old game hardware

D

Dimmle

Member
Aeana said:
Yes, it uses a special chip that adds 8 channels of wavetable synthesis, which is quite significant, particularly in the right hands. Sadly, it was not used to its full potential in commercial games due to other constraints, but there are some pretty awesome examples of its usage by hobbyist musicians.
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Thanks for the technical explanation! I knew it sounded more sophisticated! And thanks for the hobbyist examples, they're great. That second example sounds like it came straight from an unreleased Castlevania; is it yours?
 
D

Deleted member 57681

Unconfirmed Member
Wyndstryker said:
Jump up to snes. Tales of Phantasia threw me off for ages having a vocal track in the intro song sequence.

Tales of Phantasia intro
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Ha, I searched for this. Heard it for the first time on GBA and it blew my mind, much like the Kyrie Eleison at the beginning of Castlevania CoM.
Though I guess these don't really fit in here...
 
P

Phediuk

Member
Chronos for the ZX Spectrum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-D24A_N4d4

That was achieved with a 1-bit beeper.




Edit:

lazygecko said:
Was never quite a fan of the "this sounds/looks like it couldn't be done on the hardware" since most of the time that's just going to end up being whatever someone thinks is well crafted, rather than overcoming inherent technical limitations.

The one thing I am absolutely stumped by is getting multichannel music out of 1-bit beepers (ie the kind of thing that makes an obnoxious beep when you boot your PC)

Chronos
Click to expand...

god damnit, beat me to it.
 
A

AtomicShroom

Member
Man I hate Tim Follin's music. It sounds good. Like, the sonority of it is very nice. It has that special aura to it. But that's it. The actual songs, their composition, the songs as a whole once you get past the nice-soundingness, they never go anywhere. They don't have any structure... it's like just a mish mash of random riffs just ducttaped to one another without any build up, rhyme or reason. There's no choruses, no melody, nothing catchy, nothing memorable, and certainly nothing that can be hummed. I'll never understand why people like it...
 
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pulsemyne

Member
AtomicShroom said:
Man I hate Tim Follin's music. It sounds good. Like, the sonority of it is very nice. It has that special aura to it. But that's it. The actual songs, their composition, the songs as a whole once you get past the nice-soundingness, they never go anywhere. They don't have any structure... it's like just a mish mash of random riffs just ducttaped to one another without any build up, rhyme or reason. There's no choruses, no melody, nothing catchy, nothing memorable, and certainly nothing that can be hummed. I'll never understand why people like it...
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It's pretty much prog rock. Also, musically speaking, it's brilliantly put together.
 
L

lazygecko

Member
AtomicShroom said:
Man I hate Tim Follin's music. It sounds good. Like, the sonority of it is very nice. It has that special aura to it. But that's it. The actual songs, their composition, the songs as a whole once you get past the nice-soundingness, they never go anywhere. They don't have any structure... it's like just a mish mash of random riffs just ducttaped to one another without any build up, rhyme or reason. There's no choruses, no melody, nothing catchy, nothing memorable, and certainly nothing that can be hummed. I'll never understand why people like it...
Click to expand...

"No melody, nothing memorable and nothing hummable" is certainly up for debate. But I reckon the other points are precisely why it's so loved compared to typical game music that is just based on the traditional radio pop structure. Follin's music is heavily inspired by progressive rock which makes a point of shedding itself from those rigid structures and rely more on evolving motifs, less predictable harmonic progressions and time signatures, etc. The reason Spider-Man & X-Men is probably my favorite SNES soundtrack is because it's so different from everything else and at times sounds like a drawn out, very organic band jam session.

I think, generally, his style most closely resembles that of Clive Nolan who is a keyboard player and songwriter involved with several neo-prog acts since the 1980's. Whenever I hear something written by Nolan I definitely get the same vibes as I get from a lot of Follin tracks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LXN0HUaH-M
 
A

AtomicShroom

Member
pulsemyne said:
It's pretty much prog rock. Also, musically speaking, it's brilliantly put together.
Click to expand...

I also hate prog rock. So there, I guess. I like my verses and choruses, thankyouverymuch. If I can't hum your song back to someone, especially without going "You know, the song that goes like blwblwiwiwwiwilblbiwiwlwiblwiwiwiwiwowowoiwiwiwiaiaiaw non-stop for 3 minutes", then you've failed at music. But that's my opinion, I guess.
 
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lazygecko

Member
AtomicShroom said:
I also hate prog rock. So there, I guess. I like my verses and choruses, thankyouverymuch. If I can't hum your song back to someone, especially without going "You know, the song that goes like blwblwiwiwwiwilblbiwiwlwiblwiwiwiwiwowowoiwiwiwiaiaiaw non-stop for 3 minutes", then you've failed at music. But that's my opinion, I guess.
Click to expand...

That's a painfully narrow way of defining music.
 
Palom

Palom

Member
The music from Actraiser blew me away in 1991. After growing up on NES chip tunes and synthesized Genesis music, hearing a realistic-sounding classical score was amazing.

The Hyperstone Heist soundtrack always impressed me. It does a good job at mimicking the arcade samples, and doesn't have that typical Genesis synth sound.

And M.U.S.H.A. has one of my favorite 16-bit metal soundtracks.
 
C

capitalCORN

Member
No one example can justify it, but the entirety of Star Control 2's soundscape. A total digital revelation in a sea of fm synthesizers.
 
O

OnPoint

Member
lazygecko said:
That's a painfully narrow way of defining music.
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Some people prefer their music to be easy to digest, some people like something more complicated to process. I don't agree with the "then you've failed at music" part, but that's the beautiful thing about music -- there's something for everyone.
 
P

Phediuk

Member
AtomicShroom said:
Man I hate Tim Follin's music. It sounds good. Like, the sonority of it is very nice. It has that special aura to it. But that's it. The actual songs, their composition, the songs as a whole once you get past the nice-soundingness, they never go anywhere. They don't have any structure... it's like just a mish mash of random riffs just ducttaped to one another without any build up, rhyme or reason. There's no choruses, no melody, nothing catchy, nothing memorable, and certainly nothing that can be hummed. I'll never understand why people like it...
Click to expand...

Well, this is up there with the worst posts I've ever seen on Neogaf.
 
L

lukeskymac

Member
AtomicShroom said:
I also hate prog rock. So there, I guess. I like my verses and choruses, thankyouverymuch. If I can't hum your song back to someone, especially without going "You know, the song that goes like blwblwiwiwwiwilblbiwiwlwiblwiwiwiwiwowowoiwiwiwiaiaiaw non-stop for 3 minutes", then you've failed at music. But that's my opinion, I guess.
Click to expand...

Heresy. Bow to the messiah of prog and repent your sinful ways!

event-poster-3009111.jpg
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L

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