Topic: Descent Mac Shareware Music

[macmus]

Here's a Dropbox link to WAVs, mp3s and a readme for the four music tracks from Mac Shareware Descent I've been able to obtain so far by playing this version of the game in the Sheepshaver emulator on a High Sierra Mac:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ms46ll6j13j4km0/AABx-ocrMCc_TZ-kdgY8Bkdna?dl=0

As I was saying in the previous post, I've also put in an alt version of the level 1 music with the tambourines EQd down during the stretches when they hit hardest. This is because the tams get so loud in the mix they can make my ears ring, and therefore will probably make some other people's ears ring.

I haven't got the music for other two levels because I can't reach them. I found the game itself next to impossible to play in the emulator, with wonky control response. Read my preceding post if you'd like to have a shot at setting up the game in a Mac emulator yourself.

What I'm pining for is the level 3 music, which was always my fave.

- Wade

[-<WillyP>-]

Aren't there cheat codes that allow you to go to levels?

[Chaplain5]

Fantastic! Just fantastic! Thanks a ton for doing this!    Looks like we finally finally have this music tracked down!

Look, there should be a cheat code that allows you to skip levels. Does anyone know which ones I'm talking about? I know I used these cheats for the demo back in the day.

With the ability to skip levels, the only piece that we can't record would be the ending music, I guess. You'd have to beat the third level for that.

Third level music was the soundtrack to my childhood for a few years, man. Favorite Descent piece of all time. 

[Chaplain5]

Oh yeah, and I tried Sheepshaver myself. No go, it didn't work for me for some reason.

[Scyphi]

The D1 shareware cheat codes: Link Some of these might be able to help you get through the levels without warping too.

Oh yeah, that's loads cleaner that anything I could've done (guess it was a good thing I got WAAAAY to busy to try cleaning them up myself and never got around to it  ). We just need to figure out how to get the full set and then we're gold.

[macmus]

Thanks guys. I'll see if the cheats work for me.

-Wade

[macmus]

I took a couple of steps that allowed me to complete the game, and I've now captured all the music.

One step was switching off mouse/joystick and going all keyboard. The controls were still acting weird – it was super hard to turn, with or without autolevelling, so there's some kind of emulation issue there. But the game was no longer impossible to play, just difficult in a tedious way.

Step two was using the cheats to make sure I wouldn't be killed by baddies. I was also super careful to not flub my escape from the mine on level 3, because with these control problems I did NOT want to play that level a second time.

It's interesting to note that the timing between some 4 bar blocks on the level 3 music is a tiny bit slack, and there's a similar but less pronounced slackness at moments during the level 2 music. However, I noticed the same timings in Chaplain's hardware recordings, so that's just how the Mac music was/is.

Over the next few days I'll get the files organised and reorganise everything in the dropbox.

-Wade

[Chaplain5]

Sounds fantastic! Thanks so much! 

Maybe someone could assemble these into a proper album for popular consumption?

[macmus]

OK, it's all done. If you downloaded any of the files before I wrote this post, I've redone/retagged everything, so it's worth re-downloading.

The download now includes all seven tracks from Mac Shareware Descent. You can get it as a WAV, FLAC or mp3 bundle. The download location's the same as before:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ms46ll6j13j4km0/AABx-ocrMCc_TZ-kdgY8Bkdna?dl=0

For artwork, I've included a new scan I made of the front of the MacPlay Descent CD-ROM jewel case cover. I think it's pretty album-y now.

Enjoy!

-Wade

PS - Yes, the timing on the level 3 music is sometimes slippery between blocks of 4 bars. We've confirmed it was really like that on the hardware.

PPS - For audio ghouls, yes, you can hear aliasing sometimes, especially at the start of the level 3 music. My guess is the original tracks have that in them due to the technology used to make this music in 1995, but it's something I can't be sure of, getting this out of an emulator. (Aliases are naughty, inharmonic frequencies that ideally wouldn't be there. If the music system generates frequencies higher than 22,050 Hz, the highest frequency a 44khz sampling audio system can represent, inharmonic copies of them get 'reflected' back into the below-22,050 spectrum. So it's a kind of distortion mirroring the content. Old synthesisers and synth systems often didn't avoid creating aliases, or have any way to deal with them. End audio nerdery.)

[Chaplain5]

All hail macmus! 

Thanks so much man! You've scratched a years-old itch.