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Messages - NetHead

Pages: [1] 2
1
Support / Re: [FF9 PC] Re-mastered music
« on: 2016-01-04 01:44:00 »
@Fisch,

Oh, brilliant! It's been a while since I've kept up with PSF developments. Figured that the nature of PSF meant that any utility would be game-specific and specialized. That's a nice surprise.

2
Support / Re: [FF9 PC] Re-mastered music
« on: 2016-01-01 02:22:21 »
Yes. Also consider we won't have MIDIs for reference, which means we may have to rely on good ol' ear training. And many of the tracks sound quite fine already. Time will tell... Keeping my hopes up for a solid port!

3
Support / [FF9 PC] Re-mastered music
« on: 2015-12-31 17:38:24 »
Hello fellow modders and maestros,

With the announcement of FF9 PC and Smartphone, I'm thinking we should start a project to update FF9's tracks. I'm down to do some of 'em. I'm hoping the more programmatically-talented among us will eventually find a way to replace the port's audio files.

(I'm also assuming that Square-Enix is using the original tracks.)

4
Releases / Re: A few small music contributions
« on: 2012-08-26 05:04:08 »
Done. Check the Loopable OGGs folder (clear your browser cache if it doesn't appear).

Did a light amount of dynamics destruction to get it closer in loudness to the rest, and shortened the amount of silence before the FF theme to get the track length to 6:51.53. These changes apply only to the .ogg.

5
I played my most recent playthrough on my Android phone and was even able to use the same memory card files on the PC as well (through a PC PSX emulator).

It's excellent because I was able to play through the game 15 minutes at a time whenever I had some free time here and there during the day. FPse is currently $4.24. I can spend more than that during a trip to McDonalds. So for me, it was worth it.

That being said, it needs a really powerful and up-to-date phone to be able to run PSX games at realtime. And even then, the frame-limiting isn't perfect. You'll notice accuracy issues with quickly-repeating notes on the music, for example--they're just not as smooth as on the real PSX. On a playability scale from 1-10, it's an 8. Very playable with only a few minor issues.

(I've noticed the timing issues on ePSXe as well when using GPU plugins other than software renderers, so I can't really fault FPse)

6
Releases / Re: A few small music contributions
« on: 2011-12-30 15:39:24 »
Got another one for you all. This time it's none other than the almighty "Staff Roll" music. Four months in the making, I hope you all enjoy. I did take a bit more liberty with this to fatten up the orchestration a bit and hide the deficiencies in my sample libraries and synthing skills.


Still have to do a bit of trimming for something that can be used in-game. I think the OST version is 6:51--mine is at 6:56 currently.

7
Hi SymphoniC,

I've run into the same kind of thoughts on my latest project as well. I think FF7's "percussive metal" sound (similar to an anvil being struck) contributes to the steampunk feeling of the game, as well as the various synths you mentioned.

I see a parallel between the techniques Uematsu used in FF7 and those used in 80s musicals like Les Miserables or some of Andrew Lloyd Webber's shows. A lot of times when a new technique or new tool is introduced to the "pop" music world, everybody will overuse that technique at first as they experiment with it. Later, everyone settles down and that technique finds its niche in the recording world.

Go back to the 80s when synths were in style. Les Mis experimented with the blend of early synths and an orchestra, and the original orchestration was quite synth heavy. Now fast forward to the mid 90s, when the PSX sound chip offers enough polyphony and enough sound memory to start mimicking a full orchestral ensemble. Now it's Uematsu's turn to play with the same synth/orchestral scoring.

For Les Mis' 10th anniversary concert, the music was reorchestrated and synths were more conservatively used (not so much as synths, but as simulations of real instruments like harpsichords or mallet instruments). If there's a melodic line that you find odd in your arrangements, maybe ask yourself if the original composers and sound techs included those lines simply because of the novelty of the PSX sound chip, and maybe if so how you can use that material in a way that blends with the rest of the ensemble a bit better.

If it helps, here are some audio examples:
Les Mis - Opening: 1985; 1995
Les Mis - Waltz of Treachery: 1985; 1995

Anyways, love your stuff. Keep on rockin' in Midgar!

8
Releases / Re: A few small music contributions
« on: 2011-08-14 19:55:45 »
I've now finished a version of The Nightmare's Beginning. MP3s and loopable OGGs are available at the usual place, and you can check out the YouTube video as well (one of my real-life friends requested I make one, haha).

9
I've uploaded the loopable OGGs of these two songs for use with FF7Music. Again, I don't have a copy of FF7PC to test with, so let me know if there are any problems. They seem to work okay with Winamp + vgmstreaming.

I don't think that I can dedicate myself to do the whole soundtrack, mainly because of the workload involved. A lot of the other remasters will use the original MIDIs as a foundation (because it saves a load of time). However, these two renditions were recreated from scratch, using the originals for reference only. I played all the parts myself via a MIDI keyboard, paying extreme attention to musicality, and I took some liberties in tweaking things to better fit conventions for a real-life orchestra.

For example, in "Buried in the Snow," the original string parts are labeled as simply STR1, STR2, and STR3 and set to the generic String Ensemble MIDI patch. These were tweaked to better fit a real-life string texture: 1st Violin, 2nd Violin, Viola, Cello, and Bass. I also paid attention to such things as note durations when the string players would likely change bow directions, giving the wind players time to breathe, and note decay lengths for the celeste (bells).

That being said, any requests for a next attempt?

10
Cool, thanks for the compliments and for taking the time to bring me up-to-speed on things. I've created looping versions of the above two songs that work in Winamp with the vgmstreaming plugin.

Unfortunately, I can't install FF7Music because I don't have FF7 PC, so I have one more question before I upload these: Should I give the files an .ogg or .logg extension? In Winamp, only .loggs are handled by vgmstreaming and loop properly. Will the file extension throw off FF7Music?

11
Releases / A few small music contributions
« on: 2011-08-06 07:00:59 »
Hello from a super-long-time lurker with something to finally give back.

I recently upgraded my audio workstation to a 64-bit platform and decided I needed some real-ish projects to test stability and find its quirks. I started out with "Interrupted by Fireworks," and people seemed to like it, so I decided to do a few more.

(If someone else would like to make use of this mockups, I would be more than happy to help you adapt this for your project, e.g. create stems/help with looping/give you the project files.)

Click here for the downloads.
Available songs:

Please note that I probably will not do the entire soundtrack due to the amount of material and the fact that I'm making these mockups all from scratch.

12
Scripting and Reverse Engineering / NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
« on: 2003-06-05 01:52:48 »
Quote

PLEASE NOTE: Our PSF/PSF2 archive has been disabled by our host because it consumes too much bandwidth. We are currently researching methods whereby we can continue to offer these files. We apologize for the inconvenience.


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Eh, so would somebody be willing to *nudge* hook me up with the FFX PSF collection? I can get an FTP server up in a matter of minutes.

13
Archive / FMV Troubles FF8
« on: 2003-05-30 18:59:15 »
Nope, in low res or high res I still hear stuttering. Can't be CPU load either. The game is running off the hard drive using Nero's ImageDrive, so that's not the cause, either.

The weird thing is that it stutters only in the game. RAD's Bink Player plays the files perfectly.

14
Archive / FMV Troubles FF8
« on: 2003-05-30 14:23:17 »
Forgive me for posting this...

I went ahead and installed FF8PC on this new XP DX9 box, and strangely enough, it has the stuttering problems... Doesn't happen in the Bink Video Player or on the other computer running 98 and DX8.1.

Tried replacing the bink dll file in the game directory with the one from Battlefield 1942, but it (not surprisingly) didn't work.

15
Archive / Haha... Seriously, let's get organized
« on: 2003-03-21 18:03:09 »
Heh, it was a project that would attempt to create a DLS file for the Microsoft GS Synth (or DLS synth, if we could get some programmers ;)). However, we just need to get our lazy asses going :).

16
Archive / FMV Troubles FF8
« on: 2003-02-01 20:42:57 »
Yeah, 1 key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Square Soft, Inc > FINAL FANTASY VIII > [Version#Here] > DataDrive

17
Archive / FMV Troubles FF8
« on: 2003-02-01 04:34:26 »
Quote from: Tiesto
...You need to install the game again from the virtual cd, meaning transfer all disks to the hard drive and do it that way. If you dont you will encounter the problem of the game trying to find the cd. HF


Couldn't you just regedit the datadrive value?

18
Yeah, if I'm not mistaken that uses reverb by default (and makes it sound like the band's playing in a garage). Turn off reverb or go get DirectMusic Producer (free) and uses something like Concert Hall. I truly don't think it sounds as bad as described.

19
I'm guessing you all mean that the volume level of the instruments is too low? Strange, it was causing distortion on my MS GS synth (which goes away when I switch to MS DLS)... Luckily that can be easily fixed.

BTW, you aren't using the default reverb, are you? That completely kills the DLS and makes it sound really bad.

20
Has anyone done anything with the DLS I posted? I'm probably going to continue exporting the rest of the GM2/GS/MT instruments (the other half)...

BTW, if someone can find a Rhythm or Ethnic Kit (Roland), that'd be great. I've already found an Asian Kit, and it's included in the DLS, but I can't seem to find the Rhythm and Ethnic Kits.

21
Archive / PSound on NGEmu. Unlocking your instruments.
« on: 2003-01-07 20:57:40 »
Actually, I found the sounds pretty useless because you don't really know which sound file is for which instrument, and you're missing other data like attack, release, etc... Well, except for the "Song of Memories" vocals, which can be found somewhere in the 3000-ish range (been a few months since I did it).

Wait, you got FF7 sounds? How?

22
Uploading now... Will edit this post when it's done. (Yikes, even larger... 95MB... and that's without the GM2/GS/MT instruments :()

Edit: All done! http://www.digital-chaos.net/downloads/pcdls/pcdls.zip

23
Hmm... Shall I upload my Level 2 DLS?

24
I believe the purpose is to allow any MIDI application to use the DLS synth, making MIDI playback in general (not for any specific application) better sounding. Don't care about chorus, nobody uses it :).

25
General Discussion / To all the artists here
« on: 2003-01-05 14:33:05 »
Get a load of this:


Part of my Custom 403 Error Page.

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