Game music from 'way back when'

EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
edited April 2006 in Internet & Media
I was recently playing about with Midi files (can't remember why) and looking up some soundfonts and at the same time setting up Dosbox to play some classic old games. Well, when I went to play them I can't say I was too impressed. The graphics are a little better on some of the games than when I played them on the Amiga, but the one downside is that the music really sucks the big one, I mean seriously. Music, I feel, is a big part of a game and when it's well, crap, then the game feels alot less... like a game.

Anyways, for your listening pleasure, I set up a little 'not-so-accurate' AB test for you from two historical classics, Chaos Engine and Flashback, to see what you think of the difference in 'styles' (can't call it anything else due to them being so different).

First is Chaos Engine. The track consists of some of the intro music, followed by the menu, character selection and then a minute of so of a little bit of the first level.
Amiga - http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~ns737/Chaos Engine - Amiga.mp3
PC - http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~ns737/Chaos Engine - PC.mp3

Second is Flashback, consisting of the Delphine Software logo, then the intro, the menu music (which I particually like), the level introduction and then a few seconds of the background wildlife ingame.
Amiga - http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~ns737/Flashback - Amiga.mp3
PC - http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~ns737/Flashback - PC.mp3

So... was MIDI a curse on the PC? I'd say it was. I think the only reason it was used over the Mod format (which Amiga and still several games still use today, one that sticks in my mind was Unreal Tournament and Deus Ex) was because it was easier to make tracks with (despite them sounding crap).

Just for the record, the above was recorded with the 32MB SoundFont "Unison" so it also wasn't the 2/4MB crap waveset that you normally have in your PC.

Oh, and attached are two Midi files to show that they aren't 'always' this bad.

EDIT: Or not due to upload restrictions *sigh*
EDIT: Zipped them, but they will sound awful without a decent soundfont loaded.

Comments

  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Good question Enverex, i think the Midi format was just an easy way out for them. Now days with all the codec's and compression they can get much better quality music in games without taking to much space on the Game CD’s or DVD’s.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    On the flipside, there have been opposites, although I'm only discovering them on the remakes of the games, 16 years or so after they were made, heh. Here is a perfect example. Someone has recently remade the game 'Wing of Fury" and the title music to boot, which I have to admit they have done a very nice number on.

    Original Amiga Title
    New 'Remastered' Version.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    MIDI didn't have to sound bad. If you had a decent wavetable then it could actually sound quite good. Problem was the Microsoft bundled-with-Windows software synth totally suck(s/ed). I've put away all my old MIDI stuff but if you were careful and methodical you could put together some stuff barely distinguishable from live music.

    -drasnor :fold:
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