For anyone interested in the Sonic 2 Demo Tracks at their Final Version tempo checkout my post earlier in this thread Here. I have only done the main zone music (EHZ - DEZ). Problem is I am kinda burned out on it for now but enjoy them peoples. When I decide the task is done I will post a link to a full pack.. Dunno how long I am gonna stay interested in doing this. But thanks for your attention and please resume your normal conversation flow...
Augh, the original link doesn't work and the mirror is far too slow. Tried downloading from the mirror, but it stopped halfway there and gave me a corrupted .rar. Couldn't anyone else re-upload it please? :C
Well, crap, it got taken down. Reuploading it right now. New download link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4PQVQUYO
I just got a chance to listen to the demos on my phone and I must say I'm thrilled with them. It's cool to hear the extra samples and things that didn't make their way to the Genesis. Emerald Hill 2P sounds tropical, and Mystic Cave 2P's rhythm is totally different. Hidden Palace's music has an ending, further cementing my theory that it was never composed as a normal zone BGM. And the Theme of Sonic the Hedgehog is interesting - it has a bit from DCT's Theme of Wonderland which they play at the beginning of their big Wonderland concerts (and which I always thought sounded Sonicky). I wonder which came first? The first Wonderland was in 1991...
Alright the problem wasn't the mirror, the problem is that my internet apparently likes to Have Fun. Downloading it again and it says it'll take 3 hours to download the whole thing. What.
Here is a theory: Since the boss music is not the Simon Wai beta one, but the Super Sonic one is, it is possible that there were extra info on tape, such as the music with some channels removed to make it easier to track them. So even if Nakamura didn't have midi data to send, he probably sent more than just the music Sega sold us.
For those of you mentioning MIDI—this was not made using MIDI. In the interview Nakamura states that he used a Roland MC-4, a hardware sequencer released before the creation of the MIDI standard. MIDI data could not be sent for the sequences because they didn't exist. Pretty straightforward. It doesn't seem, however, that Nakamura stated what actual synthesizers he used together with the MC-4 in order to produce the sounds. It's a damn shame; I was really hoping I could snag the original samples for the drums used in Sonic 1 without any post-processing applied to them, but I guess we're out of luck again on that one. Maybe one day we could do something ridiculous like... I dunno, ask him or something. What a silly idea!
Also, for those of you mentioning or suggesting transcribing the music by sound, that's not true either. As linked to from that article, the MTR-100 was a digital tape recorder that recorded sequence data, not like, say, a 4-track Tascam recorder that records onto an analog cassette.
Wow, never heard of that but I can see data storage take a basic form like this. So perhaps the demo could be applied directly into the computer and all that needed to be changed was instrumentation that the genesis could handle? But listening to some of the later games I feel like they had more to work with than initially thought. I've always felt that the system was able to handle complex sounds....take the final fight music in 3D Blast for example.
The articles suggest that there were ways to convert the track demo into MIDI format; it's possible that, being a video game company, SEGA might have had the technology a live band member like Nakamura wouldn't have needed. Has anyone asked any of the people on the Sega side what they used to convert the sequence data? Do we know this?
You know, I am kind of curious about this too. Though I am sure there must be SOME kind of MIDI somewhere... But thats just my opinion, one I need to see if I can confirm. ugh
I'm on track two of the demo songs and I'm infinitely more tempted into purchasing this now. I thought it was going to be a half-assed soundtrack but I'm so glad I was wrong. My only concern is how much my wallet hurts already this month... but I want it so bad.
I exchanged a few emails with one of the sound programmers a while back. I'll try to dig up to see if there is any relevant information.
I took the liberty to create a mirror of Disc 2 only, using Ashram's files. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17315175/Disc 2.rar
I wish Amazon would stock the soundtrack. I have a ton of Amazon credit. This sounds like something I'd want to own without a doubt
When I asked the sound programmer "How was the music programmed in the game? How long did the process take for each song?" Here is the answer he gave me (my Japanese buddy tried to give me his best translation, so it may not be perfect -- also I don't know if I'm remembering it correctly): First, I received the demo on a DAT from Masato Nakamura. I listened to the music and wrote down the transcription. Then, I inputted it into the computer, and finally created the Genesis version. Afterwards, small corrections and changes were made. It took anywhere from a few days to a week per song. Of course, music was not the only part of my work. I also did sound effects, had meetings with Masato Nakamura, game checks, and other meetings. The whole project took about 1 year. Here is his original reply if someone can provide a better translation: ????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ??????????????? ??????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????? ??????????????? ?????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????
AHAHAHA [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0T5HxM0F-4[/video] MEOW MIX ZONE WAS DAY 0 The Special Stage Demo is fantastic too, it just sounds like a descent into madness.
