I was wondering if it would be possible for me to get the midi files you've made for this mod? All of the midi I've found around the net requires editing, because most have two pieces playing at once, and it sounds really screwed up with the tempochange trying to fit both melodies at the same time.
I guess I could edit them myself, but if I could get them from here that would be awesome!
its possible to get them on your own. i think ive taken out every MIDI and BM. look over at
http://www.df-21.net/) for the utilities. there are a huge amount of music MIDIs though and it can be kind of tiring, but it can be done.
what Immolated Yoda said . . .
sorry i cant help you any more lundquist, but if you need help extracting the files or something i (and some of the team) could probably help.
well, I got a lot of midis (41) from a site, I was just hoping, now that you've finished all the music for the mod, that I could snag them from you(the team), so I didn't have to edit the ones I have (yes, I'm lazy):). Oh well, thanks anyway.
I'm the one who actually rendered the MIDI music to the MP3 format. Some of the MIDI files that were used are actually in pieces and I had to piece them all together (which was tedious and took quite a while to do properly). Most of the larger cutscenes were done in this way because of the different speeds of computers (back then) that would go through the graphics at different speeds and the MIDI files would have to compensate for the time difference in different ways. Mostly it would do this by having extra bits of music or looped music while it waited for the next trigger to go onto the next scene. So there is no diffinitive version of the music, but I've tried to keep all the extra bits in so people can hear all of the MIDI music.
I guess I'll address how and what I did the music in/on. Back in 1994 when Dark forces came out, the soundtrack was done on a Roland GS Synth (SC-55 / SCC-1) which was the de facto standard for General MIDI soundtracks back then. I was one of the lucky minority to own an SCC-1 back in the golden age of MIDI computer game soundtracks. X-wing, Tie Fighter, Privateer, Descent (to name a few of the best) had some excellent Roland GS Soundtracks and Darkforces certainly was amoung the better ones in the list.
Later (1995) I got a roland SC-88 which had a newer updated GS soundset. This is the soundset used in the MOD. The SC-88 soundset enhanced the music even more with very little tweaking involved. I did take a few liberties in changing some of the instruments to a varient of that instrument (i.e. I changed the choir patch to mello choir for a fuller, smoother choir sound).
I presented Darth_Linux, our project leader, with an original untouched SC-55 version of the soundtrack, an untouched SC-88 version, and a retouched SC-88 version with a bit of reverb for good measure. After a little debate we decided that the revamped SC-88 version with reverb sounded and fit the mod the best.
Keep in mind that the original soundtrack was sequenced using a roland Soundcanvas(GS) synth and my goal was to present it to the gaming audience as it was meant to be heard as most people had only heard it with horrible FM synthesis or much cheaper wavetable synthesis. I have the unique opportunity to touch them up (only a bit) due to using mp3's and being able to go into the MIDI files themselves and subtling adjesting a few settings here and there to get the most out of these 10-11 year old MIDI sequences. So what you are hearing is a balance of the way it was heard by Clint Bajakian (the guy who wrote/sequenced the MIDI tracks) back then (The way it was meant to be heard :) )with a few modern tweaks and adjustments to get the most out of the sequences. It was a lot of fun going through and disecting how the MIDI files were pieced together to make scenes work.
Anyway (getting back to your question), I don't have a full MIDI version of all the music as I just pieced them all together and recorded them. Plus I'm not done with them all yet as I'm waiting on how some of the cutscenes are going to be done. So if you want em you'll have to paste them all together yourself ;) .
Wow, I didn't mean for this to be so long and detailed. I just finished watching a DVD commentary and I guess was in the mood to do one of my own. Anyway, if you guys have more questions on the music, ask away!
Ben
P.S. The actual synth I used was a Roland SC-880, recorded on a SB Audigy using Soundforge 6.0.
wow, thanks for all the info:) Well, I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me, I'm trying to make my own Dark Forces soundtrack.
You see, I'm trying to make it sound as orchestral as possible, therefore I'm using Gigastudio, but that also means I'll have to edit all the instruments in the midifiles to get it to fit the samples, which is a lot of work in itself. That's why I wanted to check with you and hear about the midis you used.
I'd REALLY appreciate the midis, even though they are in pieces, at least I wouldn't have to split the midifiles that I have (because there are several music tracks playing at once in the same midifile).
Well if you wait for the completed mod, all the music will be in there in mp3 format. The MIDI files I used for the project I know have been posted over the internet before. Someone from our team got them and put them up on our FPT site for the purposes of this mod. There is also a utility the converts all the MIDI files from the proprietry iMuse format back into their original MIDI files straight from the game. Maybe a little web searching might locate that utility (Which would only help if you own the original game :) ).
Ben
Thanks for all your input, I get a lot better responses and more help here than I do on most other forums:)
I Decided to use the tool from df-21.net and rip the music myself, that way I know I won't miss any midi, by taking them from the net.
If anyone is even a little curious how it sounds so far, here's the 1st draft of the 'Dark Forces theme', still needs minor ajustmens (such as volume on different instruments):
http://www.angelfire.com/music4/gffrpg/DfopenL.mp3)
Wow. This stuff is amazing. Really brings the game to life. Anyways, on to what I was going to say... Is any really expensive hardware required to do this type of work? I love how the music sounds, even on the orginal game. I, too, am working on a soundtrack of Dark Forces. I am willing to work on the midi files, but only if it is possible. If you can send me rendered music of Dark Forces, I don't care if I have to chop it up and paste it together, I really want this music. If that is not possible, please instruct me on how I may create my own Dark Forces soundtrack.
Thanks alot,
White Lightsaber
Originally posted by WhiteLightsaber
Wow. This stuff is amazing. Really brings the game to life. Anyways, on to what I was going to say... Is any really expensive hardware required to do this type of work? I love how the music sounds, even on the orginal game. I, too, am working on a soundtrack of Dark Forces. I am willing to work on the midi files, but only if it is possible. If you can send me rendered music of Dark Forces, I don't care if I have to chop it up and paste it together, I really want this music. If that is not possible, please instruct me on how I may create my own Dark Forces soundtrack.
Well, as I stated earlier, the soundset used was that of a Roland SC-88. Any GS synth SC-88 or higher (which is just about anything except an SC-55) will play back the music like it was in the demo. You can come across SC-88's or better on eBay for typically a few hundred dollars. Or you can buy the latest and greatest GS synth from Edirol (EDIcational ROLand?) as Edirol has taken over the GS synth line. These synths are in the $800+ range but have the most modern GS patchsets (as well as all the older ones!) and are very versitile.
After a GS synth you'll need at least a basic sequencer pakage. You could play the MIDI files using Windows Media Player, but for those MIDI files in pieces you'll have to put them together using a sequencer. I actually used an old DOS sequencer to do this (Sequencer Plus Gold by Voyetra) but you can do it using any mainstream sequencer package.
Finally you'll have to get some sort of audio recording/editing program. I used Soundforge 6.0. It is a dream to edit with it plus it has very useful features such as normalize and MP3 encoding. However it is a bit expensive (more than you'd want to spend on a project like this if that was all you were ever going to do). There are sure to be lots of freeware/shareware/demoware products avalible to do this if you look around (
http://www.maz-sound.com) is a good place to start).
Here is the procedure after you have everything ready to go:
Load the sequencer (after properly hooking up the GS Synth to your computer via MIDI cables, serial cables, or USB cables; whichever applies to your synth). Piece together the MIDI files in the sequencer where applicable. If you want the SC-88 patchset, make sure your GS synthesizer is set for GS patchset #2 (several ways to do this, plus different for each synth, check user manual for details). Play the MIDI file to make sure it is how you want it. Plug the output of the synth into your computer's soundcard's line-in or digital-in (depending on synth and soundcard features) and set the levels (make sure you have selected line-in as recording source in the windows mixer!). Launch the sound recording program. Begin recording a new track, switch to you sequencer and hit play and voila! You have rendered the DF MIDI tracks!
Ben
Darth? kidnap this guy and recruit him (if u havent already)
Originally posted by michael_collins
Darth? kidnap this guy and recruit him (if u havent already)
he did the music for the demo ;-)
Whitelightsaber: What I use is GigaStudio, the good thing with gigastudio is that it doesn't require any expensive hardware, it's ALL software, even an old card like awe64 (or maybe even older) will do, as long as the soundcard uses vxd drivers instead of wdm drivers - which is a big problem with XP, I don't think XP uses vxd drivers at all, I may be wrong. GigaStudio is about $700 but that's without instruments - big orchestral libraries like Garritan Orchestral Strings are about $900 and Advanced Orchestra Set is about $650. So, that quickly becomes A LOT of money, unless you can find it in another way;)
GigaStudio is not a sequencer, so you'll need that as well (I use 'Digital Orchestrator Pro' for editing midifiles), Gigastudio only handles the samples (instruments) that you use - you select which instrument should be used for each midi channel. With Gigastudio you don't need a recording software to record the midi, GigaStudio does that for you - It's a good Idea to have recording software though, if you need to edit it afterwards for some reason.
the only problem is that you'll have to edit a lot of the midis to make them sound good in Gigastudio, almost every instrument and notation has to be edited to fit the sample used, some doesn't require much editing, only minor stuff like transposing.
If you want to use GigaStudio, I recommend having a lot of memory though, I have 512mb and often I find myself running ou of memory, So I have to record few instruments at a time. In the mp3 I posted before, I used 'lite' samples, that's why it doesn't sound as orchestral at will be when I use the full samples.
If you have an sbLive! or somesuch that can use soundfonts you can probably find good soundfonts to use also. some of the free soundfonts on hammersound or the sound site sound pretty amazing too! That's it, I've used up my english, hopes it makes sence:)
Sorry about the time that it took me to reply, but thank you very much for the information. I looked at gigastudio, but decided that it is waaaay out of my price range. I'll try that soundfonts thing though, I don't think gigastudio will like my computer because I use Windows XP and it doesn't have vxd drivers, although I have found an emulator...
hey check this out. It's a bit of the Arc Hammer theme using good samples.
file size (~1mb)
http://users.bigpond.net.au/cg/archammer.mp3)
Originally posted by serasion
hey check this out. It's a bit of the Arc Hammer theme using good samples.
file size (~1mb)
http://users.bigpond.net.au/cg/archammer.mp3)
Darth, this is the music that plays on the demo's menu. Do you plan on replacing that "archammer" theme with the true Dark Forces theme, the one Lundiquist has linked above?
I like both peices, but the DF music has no room in your mod unless you put it in the demo or you do the opening credits. I'd prefer the former.
Originally posted by Katarn07
Darth, this is the music that plays on the demo's menu. Do you plan on replacing that "archammer" theme with the true Dark Forces theme, the one Lundiquist has linked above?
I like both peices, but the DF music has no room in your mod unless you put it in the demo or you do the opening credits. I'd prefer the former.
I'm the guy who did the MIDI rendering. Yes, that is the music that is in the demo menu screens. And Yes, the darkforces theme will be the music playing in the full version menus (unless we decide not to do so for some reason later on, however the music is already finished for that).
Ben
.
Serasion, if you also wanted to help make the music for the mod, I'm afraid you're a little late (like me), Benevolence has already made pretty much all the music - making it sound like Clint Bajakian heard it when he made it, which I can respect.
anyway, hearing that tune again made me remember it was one of my favourites from the game, so I also made it. Took me 2 hours, for that little 1 minute piece... making my st takes a lot longer than I thought.
http://www.angelfire.com/music4/gffrpg/HammerLevelD.mp3)
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!
That is really good! Of course, when it comes to playing DF, midi is classic. I can't wait for the rest. Can you give us a percentage done on your redone version?
Oh, the mod's midi is still 90% done yet? I can hardly wait for that... :D
Keep up the great work.
Things have been very slow, so I'm only at about 10%, however, I think I'll have a lot of free time now to do a lot of it... I hope...
That sound clip sounds simply amazing, Lundquist, I hope you're not losing motivation for this project. It'd be awesome to hear the final soundtrack.
-Remi
I just got an idea, if you find you don't have enough time for the total soundtrack, you could always decrease the remake to the only original music composition in Dark Forces (afterall, most of the music in Dark Forces is directly from the movies and we already have the orchestral version of those). I got the idea from this fanmade mp3 I found:
http://imuse.mixnmojo.com/media/fan/shades.mp3) , which is essentially a medley of three songs in the game (the theme, last level music and end credits), these three songs are some of the few original pieces in Dark Forces (all based the "March for General Mohc" theme).
Anyway, just throwing around ideas. It would still be really great if you have time to create the entire soundtrack.
-Remi
Originally posted by Tzar Sectus
(afterall, most of the music in Dark Forces is directly from the movies and we already have the orchestral version of those)
-Remi
Actually, no. Most to all of the music in DF is original. The only John Williams composed music from the movies that I remember is the SW fanfare, the endcredits (and in the middle, they play the DF theme like ESB does with the Imperial March or TPM does with Duel of the Fates), and some shorts strings added into the level music.
ie, Parts of the demo's level 1 music. When it first starts up, I think that is from the movies.
thanks :D It's motivation like this that makes me work more on it, knowing that other people also want it when I'm done.
as far as I remember (it's been a LONG time since I played it) it's only in the 1st an the last 2 level where there are cues that are directly from the movies. Anyway, I'm gonna make the whole thing, so the soundtrack should get a nice flow to it. I do think, however, that I'll mix some real recordings into the intro and credits.
Originally posted by Tzar Sectus
That sound clip sounds simply amazing, Lundquist, I hope you're not losing motivation for this project. It'd be awesome to hear the final soundtrack.
-Remi
Hi Remi - long time no hear. Care to join us with the coding project now that we've made some head way?
lemme know
Originally posted by Katarn07
Actually, no. Most to all of the music in DF is original. The only John Williams composed music from the movies that I remember is the SW fanfare, the endcredits (and in the middle, they play the DF theme like ESB does with the Imperial March or TPM does with Duel of the Fates), and some shorts strings added into the level music.
ie, Parts of the demo's level 1 music. When it first starts up, I think that is from the movies.
Hmm, I did actually listen to the DF midis the other day, I thought I recognized a great lot. Then again, I've probably listened so much to the original Star Wars music I think I hear it everywhere :p
-Remi
Originally posted by Lundquist
thanks :D It's motivation like this that makes me work more on it, knowing that other people also want it when I'm done.
as far as I remember (it's been a LONG time since I played it) it's only in the 1st an the last 2 level where there are cues that are directly from the movies. Anyway, I'm gonna make the whole thing, so the soundtrack should get a nice flow to it. I do think, however, that I'll mix some real recordings into the intro and credits.
I'm pretty sure more than the first two levels have cues directly from the movies. I got the sense they are pretty much scattered all over the place =| . Anyway, good luck with the project and keep us updated!
-Remi
Originally posted by Darth_Linux
Hi Remi - long time no hear. Care to join us with the coding project now that we've made some head way?
lemme know
Yeah, sure, why not. Just lead me to the way of a source code and I'll start working :p
-Remi
I remember some of the action music in DF being taken directly from the Battle of Yavin score.
That's true, I've heard all the music now, and there is a lot more music directly copied from the movies than I remembered.
btw, I've been having a VERY slow weekend, so the last 2 days I've been doing nothing but this soundtrack, I'm about 80% done, so I may complete it today.
Originally posted by Lundquist
That's true, I've heard all the music now, and there is a lot more music directly copied from the movies than I remembered.
btw, I've been having a VERY slow weekend, so the last 2 days I've been doing nothing but this soundtrack, I'm about 80% done, so I may complete it today.
You're 80% done with the entire soundtrack already?? :eek:
Say, you haven't considering redoing the Tie Fighter sountrack as well, hmm? *secretly hands over a bag full of cash to Lundquist* :p
-Remi
Actually I had thought about it, though it was more of a mix of both Tie Fighter and X-wing. But I think I'll give the comp a little rest for a couple of days, I've been sitting here about 12 hours a day this weekend, my... bottom... is sore.
Anyway, I'm now done with it :) - a lot of the tracks are actually repeated throughout the game (some with VERY small changes) I didn't see any reason to make those. I've made some small changes to some of the pieces because some of the instruments are very synthy (like fx4) so I had to find an instrument that could replace them.
It's runningtime is approx 60 minutes, now I just need to find a place to put it :confused:
*wants hours worth of df music, holds lundquist at gunpoint with E-11*
Yeah! Could you name the tracks from what levels they are from, since they are duplicated.
I know the music from level 3 is somewhere else in the game, but not sure...
@Lundquist: Ask The_One... maybe he can put it on the DF Mod website
Originally posted by Lundquist
Actually I had thought about it, though it was more of a mix of both Tie Fighter and X-wing. But I think I'll give the comp a little rest for a couple of days, I've been sitting here about 12 hours a day this weekend, my... bottom... is sore.
Anyway, I'm now done with it :) - a lot of the tracks are actually repeated throughout the game (some with VERY small changes) I didn't see any reason to make those. I've made some small changes to some of the pieces because some of the instruments are very synthy (like fx4) so I had to find an instrument that could replace them.
It's runningtime is approx 60 minutes, now I just need to find a place to put it :confused:
Neat! Wish I could help you about where to upload it, but I'm clueless. Hopefully someone here with a good deal of webspace may help you...
By the way, how large in megabytes did the entire soundtrack get?
-Remi
I encoded it in Lame 192kbps J-Stereo 44.1 khz - I went with CBR as some versions of WMP can't handle VBR very well, and in 48khz, Nero burns the tracks with a metallic reverb sound. The exact running time is 59:05 and the size is 80.3 mb.
It'd be great if they could put it up here, but 80.3 mb is pretty large. I'm open to all suggestions.
I'll host it for you on the website - it could go up with the re-design.
However, you are going to have to e-mail it to one of the team other than me as I don't have broadband and would be unable to upload it. I'm also unwilling to give you access to the website FTP. I hope you understand.
Anyway, if you could get on to maybe Darth or MilesTeg about it, I'm sure they'd be willing to accept it in an e-mail?
Great! Thanks! And I completely understand (an know personally) about access to the ftp. Also, aren't you going to have to pay extra for the webspace? I feel a little uncomfortable about letting someone else pay for something I made.
also, It's a bit too big for me to send as e-mail (my max attachment size is 1mb) So I'll try if I can catch someone on ICQ or AIM - if they are willing and have the time to receive it...
Don't worry about that. JediKnightII.net host us for free and we get virtually unlimited webspace. It's totally mod related so it isn't a problem at all :)
Just get the file to someone on the team and we'll sort it from there, no worries.
59 minutes of great-sounding DF music to listen to...
*drools*
:D
Okay, I'm sending it to MilesTeg, so I thought I'd just give a little info on how I constructed the tracks: The level based music is titled after the first level they appear in, and is mixed with the fight music that is also in that level, The rest of the track titles may not be perfect, But I named them so I could remember where they are from. The transition between the SW main title and the credits roll at the beginning have been changed completely from the one I posted here a while ago (I just couldn't get it quite right), I also added a real recording of some of the credits into the credits roll at the very end, though, again, the mixing didn't go exactly as superb as I had hoped, but I still think it works.
There was also some boss music in the gmidi data that I don't remember being used in the game at all - like when you meet the 1st phase of a dark trooper for the first time, the battle with Boba Fett and the battle with Mohc. I also added them.
If anyone has any Ideas how to improve it I'm open to suggestions.
Anyway, I hope you'll all like it :)
Must have.... muuust haaaaaaave *explodes* :explode:
Ahhh. Finished already?! Woohoo. And The_One suggested it to go on the site before I could! Cool. I can't wait for that and the mod's midi. Still and 90%?
*leaves forum and checks DF mod's site*
*scours everywhere for the soundtrack... looks under the rug as well but can't find it anywhere*
Any clue when it'll be on the site? I'm too impatient =p
-Remi
It's going up with the re-design and all the other new content in about 10 days time. So hold your horses until then ;)
I love making people wait, you feel "authoratitive" :p
Gah! 10 days! Oh well, I didn't go there much... :D
Its all here at the forums IMO. That's where most of the good content is, no?
:eek: 10 days? Ten.... days???? *jumps off a cliff*
-Remi