WarCraft 1&2 Goodness

[Evilhog]

I've recorded one of the Human themes from Warcraft 1 combining two different variants: emulated Roland SC-55 via the "Roland SC-55 v3.7.sf2" soundfont found on the net, and Nuked OPL3, which is a library emulating the Yamaha YMF262 (a.k.a. OPL3) sound chip, found in sound Blaster 16. I converted the tracks in Foobar2000 and combined them with Audacity. The end result is a mix between vanilla Sound Blaster FM synthesis and the sequenced midi played with an approximation of SC-55, which (the real thing, that is), apparently, was used by the original WC1 composer Greg Alper to record the music tracks for the CD version of WC1.

Please, enjoy and let me know what you think.

P.S. I'm going to use this topic to hoard all kinds of stuff related to classic WC1 and 2. Feel free to post anything regarding the aforementioned games. WC Adventures content is also welcome.

 

[deepstrasz]

Nice, sounds cleaner albeit more synth than what I had from years ago.
If you plan to keep this thread mostly for music, it should be moved in the Sound & Music (ask a mod).

 

[Evilhog]

Nice, sounds cleaner albeit more synth than what I had from years ago.
If you plan to keep this thread mostly for music, it should be moved in the Sound & Music (ask a mod).

Thanks, I took inspiration from this combined recording of Dune OST which used AdLib + MT-32 + AdLib Gold (real hardware!)
The outcome retains the metallic synthy-ness of Adlib, while keeping the clean samples of the MT-32 more pronounced.

Stéphane Picq is a genius. Each version of the soundtrack utilizes 100% of what each respective piece of hardware could offer.

Yes, I'm going to keep this thread mostly for audiophile stuff, but I'm also planning to share some fan art and concepts as well.

 

[deepstrasz]

Stéphane Picq was a genius. Each version of the soundtrack utilizes 100% of what each respective piece of hardware could offer.

Nifty, ha-ha but with the orchestral version around, I would choose that any day

 

[Evilhog]

Nifty, ha-ha but with the orchestral version around, I would choose that any day

Hmm, is it real orchestra, though?
When I listened to Spice Opera for the first time, I thought that it sounded quite similar to the Amiga version of the game's soundtrack.

 

[Evilhog]

Nuked OPL3 + OmegaGMGS2.sf2 soundfont.

I'm happy with how this one turned out. This particular midi file I used for the conversion is from the General MIDI/MT-32 version, which has a larger number of instruments than the one used for Adlib/Sound Blaster variants.

 

[deepstrasz]

Do you by any chance have files of the first game soundtrack that can be edited? I mean, in a way I could edit each instrument to make them sound better, less 16bit.

 

[Evilhog]

Do you by any chance have files of the first game soundtrack that can be edited? I mean, in a way I could edit each instrument to make them sound better, less 16bit.

Hey, sorry for the late reply. You can download the midis here: Game music base - database of Games, Games music and soundtracks

I also have the music files which I extracted from the game myself (grab the attached .zip). Turns out, each tune has three versions tailored for three different kinds of sound hardware (Adlib, Sound Blaster, and, presumably, MT-32/Roland SC-55).

 

[Evilhog]

Updated recording of the WC1 soundtrack by Xeen Music using real Sound Blaster 16.

Full playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLavKabWyl5jMD5Wjw-4_NPn1F_ksr4mc3

Greg Alper reports that the soundtrack was initially composed on a Roland Sound Canvas SC-55. This was subsequently adapated and perfected for Sound Blaster 16 by Glenn Stafford. This FM version has been recorded while playing the game using an authentic "Sound Blaster 16 - CT2230 Rev. 049432" equipped with a real OPL3.

 

[Evilhog]

 

[deepstrasz]

Is that MineCraft? LoL-ha.