Sonic Genesis (GBA) FM Remix 0.18 alpha

Well, I finally overcame my laziness and was able to spice up that dodgy waveset (the one of Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis in case you weren't following).

Was it that dodgy? Yes, it was THAT dodgy. That's why I was really late and didn't feel like doing it.

Okay, before explaining everything in details, here's the ROM:

http://sonicdiscovery.free.fr/download/sgenfmremix.zip

The tools I used to make this hack are: Gens KMod, MVSTracker MD, VOPM (a VST FM synth), Fruity Loops 3 (to use VOPM and render the sounds) and Goldwave (to edit the ROM).

First, the easiest sound to restore was the bell sound used in Star Light Zone. Instead there was an annoying piano sound. But it seems that the sound needs detuning.

Then comes the really annoying harmonica from Marble. I restored the original synth lead that was instead. But watch out as it doesn't sound exactly the same because of the loops being way too short and that waveset.

The soft brass used as the lead instrument in Green Hill was also restored but I don't like the way MVSTracker MD rendered it (yes, it was actually the first sound I replaced and I didn't use Fruity Loops to render it as I should have done it). The loop was also set too short (by the lazy prgorammers) making it sound more awkward.

After that, all other sounds were pretty hard to replace because of:

- replaced sounds being too loud or not enough: the slap bass I restored sound from Green Hill ended up too loud, forcing me to decrease its volume to almost 20%. Please note that this sample is used for all themes in the game, making some tunes sound better and other sound worse.

- inconsistant and different sampling rates (most sounds were at 8KHz while some others were at 11KHz and 22KHz for the drums).

- they used tons of similar samples, used the same samples for several tunes (when the instrument was actually different) and used different samples where they had to use the same one. This leaded me to replace samples randomly, even repeating the same sample for several ones. Surprisingly, it doesn't sound that bad this way.

- there are two snare drum sounds. Lol, really awkward is such a decision since the original only have one. Anyway, I replaced both by the original TR626 snare drums on which I added a bit of gated reverb (that you'll not hear because of the supidness of programmers not allowing the sample play at its full length during the game). I did the same for the bass drum (that also came from a Roland TR626).

Well, to conclude, I'm pretty proud of the result since it sounds overall better than the original GBA game (even of some tunes sound actually worse, but that's not entirely my fault). But keep in mind that my hack is at an early stage and that it IS NOT supposed to transform the dodgy remixed tunes into the original ones, in the most accurate way imaginable. Don't count on that. My goal was to approach as good as I could the original sound from the Genesis/Mega Drive. For this alpha version, I may didn't do the best job at replacing the samples but it should enough for now.

I also advise you to make the most of this hack and appreciate it to its real value since I may not do other versions in the future (because it may not worth it).

 

I'm taking note of what you said. It seems that that slap bass sound doesn't fit, either I let it at its original pitch or transpose it down one octave like I did here (yes, I did that, that's probably why you say its sounds so low -- and at its original pitch, I found that it sounded a bit high). I'm going to replace it by the Labyrinth bass sound and see if it's better.

About other reactions toward this hack, I expected them, so it's fine. It was more like a way to satisfy my curiosity by wanting to know how would the game have sounded with FM samples. And most of you thought it sounded better. So thank you for having trying it and liked it.

BTW, did I post that in the right forum?

 

I didn't redo the music, only edited the samples. :P

And, again, about the "it wasn't worth it blah blah blah" thing, I did know that from the beginning. I only made it for curiosity and to show how the game would have sounded if only those programmers had done their job correctly.

Anyway, new version, might be the last. To download, refer to the first post (link hasn't changed).

Little improvements concern the Green Hill soft brass, the Star Light lead bell (I finally got the detuning effect right but also had to shorten the sample because of awkward looping made by those so-called sound programmers) and the main bass sample that I finally replaced by the softer version from Labyrinth. Note that I had to transpose it one octave down again or otherwise it sounded to high.

Also keep in mind that this bass still sounds too low in the ending megamix, that's normal. Sound pro-crap-mers only realized way too late that their sample was too high by one octave... and decided to shift it down only in that tune. So, I prefer all the tunes sounding correct and one broken than the contrary, IMHO.