Sonic 1 + 2 Soundtrack Compilation announced

You do have some points. Like someone said earlier, these are the songs under the original intentions of Nakamura. One thing we can hear from all of these is the changes done in the Wai prototype and then compare them to the changes also done in the final.

Biggest one especially is with Metropolis. You can hear that the beat in the demo is the same as the Wai prototype, but was changed in the final. However, the record scratch and the clap were as they were in the final, changed in the beta, then reverted back.

Casino Night as well, where the programmers might have taken some liberties with the original tune (the demo is a dead ringer for the final) found that the song sucked ass from those changes and restored it back to sounding true to the original intention.

Oil Ocean is another one where it was ultimately sped up somewhat. However, I still side with djohe in saying that the slowdown was intentional for programmers, not so much by design. This may be why some songs were still slowed down in the Wai proto.

Either way, it's a neat new perspective to analyze musical compositions for Sonic 2 at least.

 

Apparently in only five hours, I'm almost to a thousand downloads on the album. o.o

 

lol that's quite crazy, but expected at the same time

 

Then again, I also found out people had posted it on Galbadia Hotel, and have probably been sharing it through Youtube and such.

 

Wow, thanks for the rips! This is so cool! I love how some tracks are somewhat different from their final counterparts. The differences in tracks like Greenhill, Metropolis, and the entire new portions in 'theme of sonic' really stand out to me. Some of the tracks sound nearly the same but with better instruments, like Labyrinth zone.
I played through S1SAGE2010 with these songs earlier, and it was definitely a good experience.

Although these are really cool, I was a bit underwhelmed by other tracks, which sounded too similar to their final versions, but it's to be expected really. =P

 

I would like to thank Ashram again. I'm listening now, It's awesome.

I have only listened to some of the Sonic 1 stuff so far. I'm up to Starlight Zone

 

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SO1FFD1K

Has anything like this been done yet? I used Pacemaker for Winamp to increase the tempo of all these songs by 13%. I've found doing this with Pacemaker doesn't really distort the music as much as some of the other tempo-altering methods I've messed around with.

13% isn't some sort of perfect number, I just played it by ear and thought +13% sounded more or less "right".

Since I was already "ruining" the music, I encoded them all at 192kbps instead of 240 or 320 or whatever the original rips were at. And if you weren't mad enough, I also did not re-tag any of these, either!

 

This might be my own fault, but when I read "Masa's Demo" on the track listings I assumed they would be instrumental versions, considering Nakamura is originally a bass player. I assumed that Sonic Team converted this real recordings into chiptune music. No one to blame but myself I guess.
Anyway, great to alternative versions of this beloved tunes. My package should be arriving in a few minutes...

 

Maybe it's early morning for me, but what are the differences on the Sonic 1 MegaDrive bits? I've only listened to Green Hill and Marble so far, but haven't noticed anything.

Edit; some things sounds a bit different, could just be the high quality and me listening on different speakers. Can't really put my finger on it. Sure a bit at the end of Spring Yard lasted a little bit longer though.

 

Aside from quality, I don't think the MD versions are any different.

 

The cuts seem slightly extended; the intro to GHZ cuts out the bass at first, then repeats. Dunno if this was to aid sequencing.



I wouldn't be too surprised at Nakamura noting MJ as an influence. I forget who always pointed it out, but MCZ2P (betas' HPZ music) is built like a number of MJ tunes - there's a mashup with Shake Your Booty Down to the Ground SOMEWHERE. S2 in general has a lot of funk influences in it, more so than Sonic 1 in any case; I would be more surprised if he HADN'T.

Also, the special stage music sounds different from the cut in the commercial, given that in that I thought I recalled the lead being a brass instrument as well. Crazy -- if I'm not misremembering.

 

Interesting to see what Nakamura intended on the songs originally sounding like; they're not that different in the end! Chills down my spine upon hearing Green Hill, too, so that's a good sign.

Also, Super Sonic's theme - notice how the opening riff has the exact same riff in the Simon Wai beta - I'm not going to disagree that the slowdown was for the developers to catch the notes, but I think it was entirely intentional.

 

First impression was: "come on Nakamura, faithful please!". And sure it was. I was so afraid that Nakamura's work and the actual music in the game wouldn't match. Putting midi aside, the music is masterpieces all way through! The whoe Sonic 1 soundtrack was, apart from the GHZ intro, and some Labyrinth Zone too much information chords, faithful, awesome.

Is it possible to make a better Emerald Hill Zone than the one in the game? I thought not... Not until I heard the demo version. I love the upbeat feeling of the pop string going on the the background! The ingame one is too sad (EDIT: the feeling you get). The demo version shows the feeling Sonic is BACK! (talking about the return of Sonic for Sonic 2)

The YM2612 will always have superior bass and bells compared to the demos.

But the feeling Nakamura-san put into each music, and thinking about concept for the levels, it sure is an amazing talent he got! I love every moment of it!


Also, I think that every music in Sonic 2 were sped up because Sonic kept running away from it! (EDIT: Meaning it was slow originally, not to make dev hear notes)
The Genesis arrangers must have gotten the notes to the music. I can't see how mortals can take out anything from these demos alone.

The Special Stage's bass has a special touch to it, and the bells actually change during the last part!
Super Sonic has that beta overpowering sound in the beginning.
Wing Fortress's accords were too many. Did he got lazy in the end? I think he got a late call for this one. It's difficult to listen to because the extra information goes over what I experienced from the game.
The Unused song music was really amazing. I think it would have turned out great in game (better than the current ingame one) if they had actually completed Hidden Palace. The ending was YAY! I got Super Sonic!
Take a listen to Oil Ocean's ending part at 0:52, and that awesome bass pitch bend! It should have been like that in the game!

Masato Nakamura has proven to be an expert at Sonic game music (okay, that sounded like he didn't invent it)! *goes to listen to EHZ again*

 

Aquatic Ocean's got this Native American/Western vibe to it. I like it. :P

This is pretty damn cool that we got to listen to the demos. Its not too often that this kind of thing happens in this industry... Now we need S3&K demos and my life would be complete! :P

Also, Theme of Sonic the Hedgehog... I wish that was kept because holy hell is it badass.

 

Damn I'm diggin Metropolis, now that really sounds like's the Dr.'s Base.

I hope Time Eater Part 2 sounds like that Theme of Sonic The Hedgehog :P

 

Cool dude but if you don't mind I am going to go though them all and do it as close as possible to the final versions. (Target goal is to complete one loop without it going out of sync if overlayed with the final track. We shall see!)

I am in the process of doing so right now.. It may take me a few days but I will release my results here. I am starting with Sonic 2's music because it seems that is the most noticeable with slower tempos then the final versions. I will look at Sonic 1's afterward.

Again I will post a link when I get done with Sonic 2.

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Notes:

#1 I am only doing zone music not the act complete or 1up.

#2 These are tempo corrected versions to match the final versions as close as humanly possible!!!

#3 These are at original bitrate which is 320kbps

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Metropolis: (Forum will only allow 2 media embeds so there are download links below)

http://personal.mattatobin.com/shar...lis ~Masa's Demo Version~ Tobin Corrected.mp3

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Download (List updated as I do them):

Emerald Hill

Chemical Plant

Aquatic Ruin

Casino Night

Hill Top

Mystic Cave

Oil Ocean

Metropolis

Death Egg

 

This is fun!

Very rough around the edges (and someone could do a LOT better than me with things like this) but it's just for fun.

 

Cool stuff! I should've known somebody was going to be nice and meticulous about it.

 

Yeah I am doing them RIGHT now.. check up above for what I have done so far... And if you go to #retro RIGHT NOW you can request the next one...

I will of course repack 'em when I am done... BTW MCZ 1 player is ear rape...

Done with EHZ too .. Check above for links..

PLEASE NOTE: These are tempo corrected versions to match the final versions as close as humanly possible!!!

 

These are so cool, specially that Hidden Palace song with an ending.

For some reason, it reminded me of Sonic 3's ending, when the Sky Sanctuary music starts playing. This could have made a nice background music for an extra cutscene when you finished with all the emeralds.


Thanks for uploading them!