Descent tracks for old-school FM (OPL) sound fans!

A forum just for you old time Descent and Descent2 players.
Post Reply
User avatar
Pumo
DBB Captain
DBB Captain
Posts: 779
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:48 pm
Location: Mexico
Contact:

Descent tracks for old-school FM (OPL) sound fans!

Post by Pumo »

I've recorded all music tracks from D1 and D2 with original FM chipset sound (Yamaha OPL2/OPL3) in OGG format with high quality (44KHz, Stereo, 32Bit).

If you want to feel a bit nostalgic and want to play (or just listen to) with old-school style soundtrack check out the next OPL3 music packs:

D1 Registered version OPL3 tracks:
http://www.goaruna.com/4pb

D1 Shareware version OPL3 tracks (if you feel really nostalgic and want the original shareware sound!):
http://www.goaruna.com/4pc

D2 OPL3 tracks:
http://www.goaruna.com/4pd

All those were recorded in high-quality from DosBox. Check them out, you'll like them :)
(You can use it also as BG music in XL or Rebirth ;) )

Excellent for fans of FM Synthesis or fans of old SoundBlaster & AdLib cards.
User avatar
d3jake
DBB Admiral
DBB Admiral
Posts: 1075
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:08 am
Location: Minnesota, USA

Post by d3jake »

I'm downloading it now. If these tracks do indeed sound like how I first heard the D2 MIDI you will be my hero...

EDIT: They're not 100% like I remember, but close enough. Thanks a lot for recording the music!
User avatar
Pumo
DBB Captain
DBB Captain
Posts: 779
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:48 pm
Location: Mexico
Contact:

Post by Pumo »

Some tunes may vary a bit as some hardware was actually a bit different than the DosBox emulation, and if you listened (back on the good days) Descent/D2 not on an original Sound Blaster (e.g. on a SB clone) then the sound could be definitely different.

but most of them sound 99% identical compared to a Sound Blaster Pro. :)
As reference i used an old IBM Aptiva Pentium PC with SB Pro card that my sister has and it sounds practically the same as on DosBox.

Anyway, glad to know you liked it! :D
[Pumo software main website] - Pumo Mines current release: v1.1 (12 Levels) -- [Official R.a.M. Land's website] (You can find my music here)
User avatar
skunk
DBB Ace
DBB Ace
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 4:14 pm
Location: California, USA
Contact:

Post by skunk »

Hahaha! WOW Pumo this is AWESOME! Thanks!!!!! MEMORIES!
If I Ruled The World. Imagine That.
User avatar
Foil
DBB Material Defender
DBB Material Defender
Posts: 4900
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 3:31 pm
Location: Denver, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Post by Foil »

These are awesome, Pumo. It's probably been 13-14 years since I've heard these tracks like this. 8)
User avatar
Pumo
DBB Captain
DBB Captain
Posts: 779
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:48 pm
Location: Mexico
Contact:

Post by Pumo »

Thanks for your comments!

That's why i recorded those, to bring back those good old memories.

I'm specially fond to those of D1 Shareware as that's how i first knew Descent. :)
[Pumo software main website] - Pumo Mines current release: v1.1 (12 Levels) -- [Official R.a.M. Land's website] (You can find my music here)
Valin Halcyon
DBB Admiral
DBB Admiral
Posts: 1113
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2000 3:01 am

Post by Valin Halcyon »

Lemme point out these, since they were somewhat buried in Planetdescent.com:

http://www.dfiles.de/download/d1/misc/m ... corded.zip

They're labeled as awe32, but they're really OPL2. Got mislabeled. These are the real deal, not generated from loops or MIDI to MP3 converters. It's actual analog output from a awe64 soundcard using it's OPL2 chip.
User avatar
Pumo
DBB Captain
DBB Captain
Posts: 779
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:48 pm
Location: Mexico
Contact:

Post by Pumo »

Oh, yeah, i also have that pack, and it's very good indeed as it even has that beautiful punching bass sound like the original Sound Blaster used to sound.

It was a shame that there was only a D1 pack and not the D2 and D1 shareware ones, those are one of my favorites, that's why i decided to record tracks from those using the DosBox internal OPL3 chip emulator also to complete the pack.

I also have a good old Sound Blaster Pro (well, not I directly but my Sister) and its sound is unbeatable.

Fortunately, DosBox emulates that same chip almost identical. :D

BTW Valin (a bit off topic), as i know you know about sound and stuff, do you now if there's some good OPL3 software emulator for use as Windows XP midi device?

I would like to hear my MIDIs like i used to on my old AMD K6-2 computer (it had an OPL3 chip).
[Pumo software main website] - Pumo Mines current release: v1.1 (12 Levels) -- [Official R.a.M. Land's website] (You can find my music here)
User avatar
d3jake
DBB Admiral
DBB Admiral
Posts: 1075
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:08 am
Location: Minnesota, USA

Re:

Post by d3jake »

Valin Halcyon wrote:Lemme point out these, since they were somewhat buried in Planetdescent.com:

http://www.dfiles.de/download/d1/misc/m ... corded.zip

They're labeled as awe32, but they're really OPL2. Got mislabeled. These are the real deal, not generated from loops or MIDI to MP3 converters. It's actual analog output from a awe64 soundcard using it's OPL2 chip.
Any chance you did the same with D2's MIDIs? I hate to go off topic, but I have to ask...
User avatar
Stroodles
DBB Ace
DBB Ace
Posts: 406
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 11:36 am
Location: Right Behind You

Post by Stroodles »

Descent 1 Music > Most everything else.

Thanks, Pumo.
Amg! It's on every post and it WON'T GO AWAY!!
Valin Halcyon
DBB Admiral
DBB Admiral
Posts: 1113
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2000 3:01 am

Post by Valin Halcyon »

No, I never did get the chance to do the other tracks. Also, it was pointed out to me that those D1 tracks in that pack I posted are rather left-biased for some reason. Perhaps the cable I used wasn't as good as it should have been.

Anyway, DOSBox has a nice SB Pro OPL3 emulation mode where it uses 2x OPL2 chips to achieve stereo, and SB Pro was the \"SB compatibility\" the vast majority of generic sound cards used at the time. If you want to get the most common/authentic sound from Descent 1/2 from DOSBox, use that audio mode.

Also note...DOSBox supports emulating the Gravis Ultrasound, yet you'll still need the Ultrasound software to make it work. I've got that emulation running and it's pretty spectacular.
User avatar
skunk
DBB Ace
DBB Ace
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 4:14 pm
Location: California, USA
Contact:

Re: Descent tracks for old-school FM (OPL) sound fans!

Post by skunk »

Does anyone have the AWE32 tracks that Valin created? I can only find the OPL2 versions and I want to hear it as AWE32 as I've played through the game hearing it from 3 different perspectives growing up :P
User avatar
Alter-Fox
The Feline Menace
Posts: 3164
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 12:49 pm
Location: the realms of theory
Contact:

Re: Descent tracks for old-school FM (OPL) sound fans!

Post by Alter-Fox »

As far as I know Valin never got around to releasing the AWE32 tracks. It seems everyone is looking for them but no one has found them.
Deftflux on the Interplay forum has recorded them on AWE32 himself, though, and he's willing to send them to people who ask for them. Easiest way to contact him is via PM there (and provide your email address of course!). A couple of his tracks are mildly distorted, and game16 is somewhat out of tune, but apart from that they're really top-notch recordings.

Worth noting though, that contrary to popular belief Descent's music was actually written on a Roland SC-55, and meant to be played back on that soundcard -- Descent isn't the only game that has this "AWE32 myth" either -- though I don't know personally of any other games that do, I think Pumo does (we had a discussion about it once). If you listen to SC-55 recordings they actually sound a lot better than AWE32.
You can get SC-55 recordings of D1 and D2 on the DXX-Rebirth website.
Ship's cat, MPSV Iberia: beware of cat.
...
Beware my original music, at http://soundcloud.com/snowfoxden.
User avatar
Jeff250
DBB Master
DBB Master
Posts: 6530
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 1999 2:01 am
Location: ❄️❄️❄️

Re: Descent tracks for old-school FM (OPL) sound fans!

Post by Jeff250 »

A way to digitally get something sounding fairly close to the awe32 is to use the 1mgm.sf2 soundfont with a program like timidity to play the midi files to a wave file. I did this a while ago, and they seem original-sounding enough. I also use this as timidity's default soundfont, so all midi in dosbox sounds like an awe32.
User avatar
Alter-Fox
The Feline Menace
Posts: 3164
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 12:49 pm
Location: the realms of theory
Contact:

Re: Descent tracks for old-school FM (OPL) sound fans!

Post by Alter-Fox »

Only thing is you don't get the FX that were programmed into the midi -- from the actual awe32 recordings I've heard it seems Descent's midis had a lot of reverb, especially on, e.g., kick drums -- also a couple of the songs (game15 and game17) used some kind of "special" drum kit that only appears on in-game recordings -- and you don't get either of those using an sf2. So if you want the "authentic" Descent awe32 music it's best to get some oggs of the music that were actually recorded on one of those soundcards and set them as the soundtrack using DXX-Rebirth or D2X-XL.

If you don't want the completely authenticness of AWE32ness (some people are not obsessive audiophiles :P), then an sf2 is definitely close enough for what you want. However, there is a very noticable difference between using an sf2 emulator and recordings that were actually made on an awe32.

Oh, BTW, (before I forget!) I was looking through my music folder this morning and I still have those actual Awe32 recordings. As soon as I have some time I'll zip them up and post them here (I have the D2 midis as well but the person who recorded them did some liberal editing and so they're not even close to the same as the originals. They're also at 92 kbps -- CRAP QUALITY).

And now, I need to get this sound board set up. Hopefully the band shows up in time for a sound check this time.
Ship's cat, MPSV Iberia: beware of cat.
...
Beware my original music, at http://soundcloud.com/snowfoxden.
Post Reply