[RedStripedShoes]

I've got a crazy idea. Let's use this version of the track for Metropolis Act 1, then a more complete version for Act 2, and finally the full final version for Act 3. Each time the player progresses to the next act, the music becomes more elaborate.

Sort of like what Sonic 3&K did.

This post has been edited by RedStripedShoes: 16 February 2009 - 09:16 PM

[McGuirk]

Alright, I've taken a shot at CPZ. The drums work (I haven't changed the notation of the original drum track, just using better samples than DAC=D), and I'm not sure how the organs will set with you all, but here you go anyway:

http://www.xmission.com/~jake_reed/files/music/CPZ-3.ogg

As usual, constructive criticism and all of that.

If you guys don't think the instrument choices fit the original, I have another version that uses synths in place of the organ and...the bass plucking noise...thing (not the actual bass line; if it bothers you, then you'll likely know what I'm talking about).

[RedStripedShoes]

McGuirk, on Feb 16 2009, 08:48 PM, said:

Alright, I've taken a shot at CPZ. The drums work (I haven't changed the notation of the original drum track, just using better samples than DAC=D), and I'm not sure how the organs will set with you all, but here you go anyway:

http://www.xmission.com/~jake_reed/files/music/CPZ-3.ogg

Ehhhhh...

First off, there's a weird skipping towards the beginning of the track. Is that just me?

Second, I'm not thrilled with the selection of instruments. It doesn't seem to fit the mood of the original at all.

[McGuirk]

RedStripedShoes, on Feb 16 2009, 08:55 PM, said:

First off, there's a weird skipping towards the beginning of the track. Is that just me?

That would likely be crossfade on your media player, it gives the track a smooth intro. I'll add some silence to the beginning of the next render to negate that.

RedStripedShoes, on Feb 16 2009, 08:55 PM, said:

Second, I'm not thrilled with the selection of instruments. It doesn't seem to fit the mood of the original at all.

Could you elaborate a bit so that I can improve it? =P


EDIT:

Ok, here's the version with synths instead of organs/bass:
http://www.xmission.com/~jake_reed/files/m...CPZ4-Synths.ogg

Upon reflection, this maintains the original feel better than the other.

This post has been edited by McGuirk: 16 February 2009 - 10:35 PM

[RedStripedShoes]

McGuirk, on Feb 16 2009, 09:00 PM, said:

EDIT:

Ok, here's the version with synths instead of organs/bass:
http://www.xmission.com/~jake_reed/files/m...CPZ4-Synths.ogg

Upon reflection, this maintains the original feel better than the other.

Much better than the last one. Though the instruments still aren't quite right. The brass is still too soft and smooth. It needs to sound more powerful. Maybe more like the saxophone in On The Jazz by Jonny Dynamite. Although that may still be too soft, but it'd be a step in the right direction.

[Canned Karma]

Yeah, for some reason it sounds like your primary instruments are in the background. For a synth mix, the harmony sounded good though. I'm beginning to think we'll need to add an option under the music menu to have the game play through with synth remasters vs. instrumental ones, seeing as we're getting good quality submissions for both styles.

[grafite]

nineko, on Feb 16 2009, 08:22 PM, said:

grafite, on Feb 16 2009, 08:28 AM, said:

just found the site and project...where can I grab the midi files to have a go at these?

You can find some midi files for Sonic 2 all over vgmusic.com, in the Genesis section.
Keep in mind that most of them are fan-made and inaccurate to various extents.

Sweet!

what songs are still needed/not finalized? is it only OGG file type? not flac or wav?

Thanks,
Shane

[Tora]

Tweaker, on Feb 16 2009, 05:52 PM, said:

It's not that the backing chords are wrong as much as it's the fact that the original backing chords haven't been added yet. If you listen to Teck's MIDI of Metropolis Zone, you'll notice a similar trend where the guitar handles one set of chords while a pad covers the backing chords of the original song. It makes for a much fuller song, and I'm confident that the completed version of rath's track will contain it.

My only gripe is that it feels like that the intro leads should be synth and not guitars.

I mean, this does sound sweet as hell, but the guitar just sounds like it's slightly detuned from the original melody line. :/

This post has been edited by Tora: 17 February 2009 - 02:50 AM

[grafite]

Just spent a couple of hours playing with Chemical Plant Zone, not sure whether you guys have got that chosen/done or not yet but anyway.. =]

https://download.you...IcVgzeUtGa1E9PQ

^^download there, its just an mp3, but if ya decide to use it I can give it to ya in OGG

Love to hear wat ya's think..any idea's, comments etc.

enjoy =D

Thanks,
Shane

[nineko]

grafite, on Feb 17 2009, 06:45 AM, said:

is it only OGG file type? not flac or wav?

The official format that will be used in the final release is 320kbps OGG :\ (yeah, don't ask)
But you can post your WIPs in every format you want.

[Conan Kudo]

nineko, on Feb 17 2009, 03:11 AM, said:

grafite, on Feb 17 2009, 06:45 AM, said:

is it only OGG file type? not flac or wav?

The official format that will be used in the final release is 320kbps OGG :\ (yeah, don't ask)
But you can post your WIPs in every format you want.

320kbps Vorbis Ogg is kinda overkill isn't it?

Really, I only see a use for >192kbps audio if you plan to support more than two channel audio. Otherwise it is worthless. The reason why Ogg Vorbis was chosen was because it is frequently used in games because of its capability to be looped smoothly. Most other formats have a strange cut off hacking effect when being looped in a game. Quite a few video games use Ogg Vorbis as it is, so it is proven to be a good technology for video games. It also helps portability and licensing .

OGG is just a container. Vorbis is the audio codec being used. FLAC is a codec and a container, the codec being compatible with the Ogg container as well. Because FLAC is a lossless codec, it does have rather large files and doesn't sound all that good at really loud volumes when looped unless you apply some sort of post-processing filter to normalize the sound.

And WAV is the single worst format to choose for audio. PCM audio has so many limitations. While it is the single most ubiquitous format, it is also totally uncompressed. As such, of all the single-track formats, WAV produces the largest files. a 3 minute song could be 500MB large. (Yes that is rare, but on my system, I did have such files). Some would argue it is good for high quality editing, and I would disagree. FLAC is a much more flexible format and also uses less space than WAV files. Also, it is easier to deal with surround sound audio in FLAC rather than WAV.

If we wanted to support multistyle music, we should probably use Matroska with Vorbis, which supports multiple tracks in one file. But that is just a suggestion anyway...

[nineko]

King InuYasha, that's not my decision (as you can tell by the :\), so don't blame me for that, I was just answering his question.

[ransomrath]

First of all, every note in my preliminary version of this Metropolis is in line with the original so far (I've made a FEW changes that I think make it a little closer), so I'm not quite sure what it is that people are telling me it's missing, besides incredibly cheesy synths. And yes, the intro notes are a mixture between synth leads and guitar leads. Later, I'm going to double the solo guitar leads with even more synth leads, so it sounds fuller.

[RedStripedShoes]

grafite, on Feb 17 2009, 02:11 AM, said:

Just spent a couple of hours playing with Chemical Plant Zone, not sure whether you guys have got that chosen/done or not yet but anyway.. =]

https://download.you...IcVgzeUtGa1E9PQ

^^download there, its just an mp3, but if ya decide to use it I can give it to ya in OGG

Love to hear wat ya's think..any idea's, comments etc.

enjoy =D

Thanks,
Shane

Sounds pretty neat. Of course, it needs a lot more added to it before it will sound like a proper rendition (like strong synths in the intro, and extra percussion in those percussion-less gaps).

[scubaSteve]

grafite, on Feb 17 2009, 12:45 AM, said:

what songs are still needed/not finalized?

I'm pretty sure we have at least one submission for every song at this point. That really doesn't matter though - you can work on whatever you want

grafite, on Feb 17 2009, 03:11 AM, said:

Just spent a couple of hours playing with Chemical Plant Zone, not sure whether you guys have got that chosen/done or not yet but anyway.. =]

https://download.you...IcVgzeUtGa1E9PQ

It definitely sounds interesting, but I think for most it might be too far from the original (it kinda sounds like an ambient remix at this point). Also, as RedStripedShoes said there's some stuff missing right now that needs to be added... most notably, the bassline is completely absent. Keep at it though, it sounds very unique from every other CPZ so far .

McGuirk, on Feb 16 2009, 10:00 PM, said:

http://www.xmission.com/~jake_reed/files/m...CPZ4-Synths.ogg

I basically agree with what's already been said... most of the instruments seem to be lacking power. I think the main problem is that the brass instruments have too long of an attack phase and have none of the needed punch - if you can't make their attacks any shorter, attaching a compressor or transient shaper plugin to each of those instruments individually should do the trick. Also, several of the instruments seem to get much louder in the second half, and chords at the very end are VERY loud.