Topic: Descent - The Complete Music Collection 1/29/2022 - Reuploaded Missing File

[Iron_Ian]

If you're interested, I do have all D1 Shareware/D1 Registered/D2 OPL3 music files in MP3 48KHz 320kbps format, that I recorded using the DosBox OPL3 emulation, and they sound pretty nice. 
Those are in fact the official OPL3 add-on files that you can also find on the DXX-Rebirth website, but they are re-encoded to OGG on there.

Oh that would be a welcome addition! If you want to post them here or send them to ithproductions@gmail.com as an attachment I'd much appreciate being able to add those into the soundtrack too!

[Scyphi]

Those are in fact the official OPL3 add-on files that you can also find on the DXX-Rebirth website, but they are re-encoded to OGG on there.

Speaking of which, I've been meaning to look into downloading that. But before I do, though, here's a potentially stupid question: are these OPL3 tracks the same as the ones presented in the link Iron_Ian provided about three posts earlier?

[Pumo]

Nope, they are not the same.
I think in fact, although I'm not completely sure, that the ones from the videos are recorded through a real OPL3 sound chip, and the ones I made (that are the ones at the Rebirth website) were recorded using an (fortunately pretty accurate) emulation of the OPL3 chip in DosBox.

The main advantage of the ones I recorded, is that they are 48khz, so they sound a bit crispier and clearer than the ones from the original chip, but is a matter of taste if you prefer the ones recorded on the real thing for the sake of nostalgia.

[Scyphi]

Gave them a brief listen. It's actually a good thing you told me they were different, otherwise I'm not sure I would've even noticed.

Seriously, though, save for the "crisper" sound you describe (which I actually kind of like) they sound virtually the same, at least from the brief listen I gave them.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand...

[Iron_Ian]

Gave them a brief listen. It's actually a good thing you told me they were different, otherwise I'm not sure I would've even noticed.

Seriously, though, save for the "crisper" sound you describe (which I actually kind of like) they sound virtually the same, at least from the brief listen I gave them.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand...

Yeah I'm gonna do a track by track comparison with the ones uploaded here, the ones on the Rebirth website, and the ones from Youtube. I like to have as much as I can in loseless but I realize for midi that is a complete pipedream unless I go buy myself an OPL3 card and a Roland SC-55 to record myself with the same hardware for uniformity.
Maybe I'm being obsessive compulsive but my release for D3 for example makes me cringe, there's just so many different bitrates present on it lol.

[Kaiaatzl]

Lol.  I liked the 320 kbps mp3s of the D2 Redbook extended tracks.  So much better than Interplay's version, I'm noticing things that I never heard before like the wind sounds in Crush and the guitar in Cold Reality.

[Pumo]

Well, here is the pack with all the OPL3 songs I recorded in 320kbps, 48KHz.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/qg0m11099beah0h/D2-D2-OPL3FM-SongPack.part1.rar

http://www.mediafire.com/download/pqrw13sh0i1j4f5/D2-D2-OPL3FM-SongPack.part2.rar

The only song that wasn't recorded by me is the D2 Shareware briefing theme, but it was injected in the pack hosted at the Rebirth website (although it's 128kbps 44KHz OGG).
I'm including that one here already:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/ai2k9uzu7zj6393/briefing.ogg

[Scyphi]

Just an update, but I was reworking my Descent music collection with all of this like I said I would, and as promised, was keeping an eye out for anything that this playlist might have missed. Well, you should be pleased to hear that I found nothing that Iron_Ian hasn't already included in his collection, EXCEPT for the OPL3 mixes, but as Pumo just provided those, that's not a big problem.

That is unless you want the many remixes I've collected over the years, but I'd doubt it.

I also have a different OPL mix of the D1 escape music that was custom made to include the "self destruct sequence activated (etc.)" audio that I had always thought was clever, but other than that, it doesn't have anything the rest doesn't, so I don't know if you're interested. Still, just throwing that out so to cover all the bases.

[Iron_Ian]

Sweet thanks Pumo! Also I didn't even realize there were any differences in the D2 tracks as well. This is good to know.

And Scyphi I am glad to hear I didn't miss anything. I'm not sure that extra audio on Escape would really fit in to throw that on the midi album, despite being cool lol.

Just an update, I'm getting back to work on this tomorrow! Last few days at work have been beyond stressful so I've been being a lazy sack of shit.

EDIT: Huh Dosbox emulation isn't too bad. Sounds like its completely accurate other than the timbres are off like most programs that emulate OPL3 sound. I'm comparing them to the FLAC hardware versions, and I'm realizing that that FLAC release seems to have some odd track times. Like it wasn't cut off before it started to loop again, and I feel like there might be some slowdown in there somewhere too. Hmm...

[Pumo]

...and I feel like there might be some slowdown in there somewhere too. Hmm...

That's a pretty normal behaviour on the original chip, as it didn't had that much power to handle high polyphony, and it slowed down when there was too many notes playing (specially on non-OPL optimized songs, like the case of the songs from D1 Levels 4, 5 ,6, 7, 9, 12, etc).

It also happens more or less in the DosBox emulation, but not as much as the original chip.
Also note that I recorded the songs using a trick: playing them from the original Descent Setup  program's sound test, not from the game itself, where other stuff (like processing the game renderer, AI, etc) won't interfere with the OPL playing process.

That's how the game originally worked back on the days with the original hardware (i.e. on an old 486, 8MB RAM, Sound Blaster PC).

[Iron_Ian]

That's a pretty normal behaviour on the original chip...

Haha I had no idea. That's pretty amusing that it was to busy for the chip to even handle at the time. I sent Teppic another message on Youtube since he was actually wondering about the slowdown too. Thanks for filling me in!

Alright time to get busy on the D1/2 OPL tracks and dig into this mess of tracks I have for Freespace! Progress update later tonight or tommorow!

EDIT: Double checking rq, you said that .ogg file for the briefing was from the D2 Shareware? Was there a difference between that and the retail release? Sounds pretty much exactly like the midi for the most part to me.

EDIT 2: Gonna forego the FLAC hardware-recorded release of the OPL3 tracks and use the ones you sent Pumo. After some good listening the only major differences I can hear are just a notch sharper/harsher instruments at some parts. It sounds great at normal volume. One up for DOSBOX emulation! Thanks again dude. Also when you first mentioned them being in 48 khz I was like "O.O that's crazy talk" until I read original OPL3 was played back at something goofy like 49,716.

EDIT 3: Going to add a comment line in for the tracks crediting you "Recorded by Pumo of Planet Descent" sound good to you?

EDIT 4: And probably the last note for tonight, I am updating the format of the D1 midi soundtracks, and the Descent 3 soundtrack. The tracks for each level will now be labeled like so:

06 Level 1 - Lunar Outpost
07 Level 2 - Lunar Scilab
etc...

Lemme know what you guys think of that. I guess it doesn't really matter but I feel like it makes it easier to find the track you are looking for when the level number is present. At the same time I generally hate long over labeled titles: 01. ALLISTER BRIMBLE - DESCENT TRACK 20XD6^3 (LEVEL 1059329) (SHAREWARE) (BONUS TRACK) (CINEMATIC VERSION) (2005).MP3.

[Alieo]

The way I have my personal collection numbered is to have the track number correspond to the level number. I have my D1 and D2 songs in the same folder. It's like this for me:
01: Game01
{1, 2, skip a few...}
22: Game22
23: Game23 (THIS is D2 Game01)
{1, 2, skip a few...}
26: Game26 (D2 Game04)
27: D1 Title
28: D1 Briefing
29: D1 Endgame
30: D1 Credits
31: D2 Title
32: D2 Briefing
33: D2 Credits
34: Exiting the Mine!

yup-yup!

[Pumo]

EDIT: Double checking rq, you said that .ogg file for the briefing was from the D2 Shareware? Was there a difference between that and the retail release? Sounds pretty much exactly like the midi for the most part to me.

...

EDIT 3: Going to add a comment line in for the tracks crediting you "Recorded by Pumo of Planet Descent" sound good to you?

The Briefing song is indeed the same, but although it is included inside the main .HOG file, it wasn't used in-game on the retail version, as it was replaced with a nice humming sound in the background during the briefing sequences.

And yeah, 'Pumo of Planet Descent' sounds right. 

[Matthew]

Still just 1 seeder, sad. I don't generally use torrents but maybe I'll set up a torrent server to support this so it doesn't die.

[Iron_Ian]

Still just 1 seeder, sad. I don't generally use torrents but maybe I'll set up a torrent server to support this so it doesn't die.

Hopefully when I post the next update and resurrect all the threads on other forums too it'll get an influx of seeders again. Either way I aim to keep the mediafire, and potentially other DL links up later.