Exult Digital Music Enhancement Project

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 8:45 pm

Lately I've been messing around with music,
and I've decided to start a project to enhance the music
in Exult. The project will use the OGG files just like the
original digital music pack that is available.
If you go to my page, you can hear one of the songs
I've already worked on.
http://cinderaven.ath.cx/linkdragon/music/ultima7/

Ares · Post by **Ares** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 12:23 am

sounds nice. Question though: How do you do that

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 2:33 am

Well, it's kinda complicated to explain, at least I think it is..
but I'll try to sum it up.
I use a program called FruityLoops, which you can download
the demo of at http://www.flstudio.com.
FruityLoops lets you create music with prerecorded
instruments that can be laid over instrument tracks
like the ones in any MIDI file.
They come in all types, but I mostly use the SF2 kind,
which is short for Soundfont 2.
In FruityLoops you can import MIDI files,
such as the Ultima 7 MIDI files.
So I take the MIDI files, lay new instruments over the tracks,
tweak each instrument, adjust volumes, adjust the stereo,
add a few effects to the instruments, maybe add some reverb,
and then I can just save it as MP3.

And that's basically what I do, in a nutshell.
You can listen to other songs I have done by going to
http://cinderaven.ath.cx/linkdragon/music/

Iceshard- · Post by **Iceshard-** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 3:21 am

They definitly sound better.

I listened to all the other ones on the music page too. I don't know most of them, so I have nothing to compare to, but they sound really good.

Oh, side not... Is there a way you could an extend a song? I have one that I have been trying to extend with Audacity (Freeware mp3/wav editor) but I just can't get it to match up properly, so it sound horrible.

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 8:40 am

Yeah, I think I could extend a song.

Ares · Post by **Ares** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 9:31 am

Oh fruity loops!! ive tried that program before... never really bothers to learn it well though. I didnt know you could just import midis and lay instruments over them.
cool.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 12:51 pm

Fruity loops is okay, but it pales in comparison to what you could do with Pro Tools or Sonar.

- Wizardry Dragon

PS: I have restored many of the older Ultima game's music simlarly. I can post the mp3's if anyone is interested.

Iceshard- · Post by **Iceshard-** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 4:05 pm

More ultima music! YAAY! Please, post them. I will download and listen to them if nobody else does.

Thanks,
Iceshard-

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 4:23 pm

Ever wondered what some of the soundtracks would sound with medieval instruments?

Ultima III: Combat
http://crpgn.org/u3_combat.mp3

Ultima III: Townes (old English spellings - yar!)
http://crpgn.org/u3_townes.mp3

Ultima IV: Combat
http://crpgn.org/u4_combat.mp3

Ultima IV: Fanfare of Lord British
http://crpgn.org/u4_fanfare.mp3

Ultima VII: Stones
http://crpgn.org/u7_stones.mp3

My favourite is probably Townes

- Wizardry Dragon

p.s.: What soundfonts do you use, Link Dragon?

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 6:10 am

Pro Tools or Sonar?
I've heard of them before,
but never really looked into them much.. hmm.
I think I'll check them out.
If they're better than FruityLoops like you said,
it could make the project's music much better
and/or easier to make.
Any other information you might have would be greatly appreciated.

And I like the songs!
I've gone all over the internet looking high and low for soundfonts.
I got a few from http://www.hammersound.net,
though not a whole lot of them were very good in my opinion.
The best on there though would have to be the classical guitar and flute,
which I've used in many of my songs.
I managed to find good strings and brass soundfonts,
and I could track those down again if you would like to have them.
Or I could even put them on my website for download, if they're not too big.

Iceshard- · Post by **Iceshard-** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 10:40 am

Music sounds good, thanks Wizardry Dragon.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 11:07 am

Thanks

I would kill for some good wind instrument .wav's or soundfonts...

- Wizardry Dragon

SB-X · Post by **SB-X** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 6:08 pm

LinkDragon:
I love videogame music/mixes. Do you take requests?

Wizardry Dragon:
These are very good, but the U7-Stones sounds terrible, with that off beat plucking in the background. For some reason I felt U3-Combat should be louder or more intense. I guess you decided to limit yourself in choice of instruments. The others are excellent... don't remember the original U4 fanfare.

My favorite is probably Townes.

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 6:22 pm

Hey, how about an U5 music pack?

The best U5 MIDI files I have found are these:
http://exodus.voyd.net/zips/u5midi.zip

From Ultima Theme.mid I came up with this:
http://art-shrine.verge-rpg.com/Files/U ... 0Theme.ogg

I used Timidity++ with the EAW Patches. Timidity supports soundfonts too.

I would like to hear the conversion of Ultima Theme.mid by both LinkDragon and Wizardry Dragon.

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 7:15 pm

Sure, I can do requests.

Providing a MIDI file would be a big help, if you can.

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 7:17 pm

Oh my, I love that Ultima theme song!
I'd be very glad to do my own conversion of it.
Timidity? Maybe I'll check that out..

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 7:29 pm

The MIDI file is in the zip file I mentioned before.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 7:49 pm

You can get Ultima's III through VIII off Televar Dragon's Mysterious Sosaria.

http://surfing.net/ultima/

Those are the MIDI's I use as a starting point.

The background in Stones really annoys me too. It's one of those cases where I want to keep it where it's in the original score, yet want to remove it because it sounds horrible.

I would rather not limit my instruments, but I don't have much of a sound selection to work with, unfortunately.

I can do some Ultima V tracks.

- Wizardry Dragon

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:12 pm

In my opinion, the Ultima V MIDIs from Exodus project sound better than those from Mysterious Sosaria.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:41 pm

I dunno, I'm partial to Televar's; they sound closer to the original game tracks.

- Wizardry Dragon

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:52 pm

Yea, but if you are going to use a superior synth, the least you could do is rearrange them so they actually make use of the enhanced capabilities.

The MIDI files from Exodus Project are a very good job at rearranging.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:58 pm

Well, to each his own. I prefer the more "authentic" sound to the glammed up one.

- Wizardry Dragon

WWWWolf · Post by **WWWWolf** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 12:34 am

ALSA MIDI support in Exult would rule - hardware soundfont-based MIDI would do the trick =)

But aside of that, I think remixing the music is a great idea. The MT32 soundtrack is pretty bland in my opinion, especially if modern soundcards and even the exult's Cheapass Forked Timidity Synthetiser can do better.

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 6:31 am

I think WWWWolf hit the nail there. What is the point of using all those programs like FruityLoop, Pro Tools or Sonar if you are going to play songs that try to mimic music played by old hardware with limited capabilities? By passing them through those programs, aren't you trying to make them sound "newer"?

I have listened to the U5 music from Apple II, Atari ST and Commodore 128, and I agree that Telavar's songs are close. The polyphony is limited in those old systems, and Telavar "respected" that. The software synthesizers no longer have a poliphony limitation. Why would you stick with that if you want the songs to sound "new"?

Listen to Ultina VII-IX music. From VII to VIII they try to push the polyphony to its limit. In Ultima IX they have digital music, and the songs sound as if a complete orchestra is playing it.

I am in no way saying that you are wrong just for liking telavar's songs better. I am just asking what's the point of using such software synthesizers for "enhancing" songs that try to mimic the music played with a "today damn crappy" hardware with "today extremely limited" polyphony, and that could barely play anything different than triangle, square and saw waves.

Post by **Colourless** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 7:27 am

Ultima IX DID have an orchestra playing them

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:00 am

And IMHO that was the only good point of U9 - the music.

- Wizardry Dragon

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 7:48 pm

I've been working on the Ultima theme and it just doesn't sound
good to me, yet..
So instead I used amigatheme.mid and made something out of that.
I personally love it and it's become one of my favorites.
http://cinderaven.ath.cx/linkdragon/mus ... atheme.mp3

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 8:03 pm

LinkDragon: Which Ultima Theme is it that you can't make sound good enough? Is it the Ultima Theme MIDI from the Exodus Project, or the one at Mysterious Sosaria?

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 10:50 am

The one located at http://exodus.voyd.net/zips/u5midi.zip
I just don't like the way it sounds..
It might be just that I'm not very good with too many tracks all in one song..
My best ones usually have six or less tracks.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 4:03 pm

I am usually the other around. The more the merrier

- Wizardry Dragon

BTW, good remix of the U5 theme!

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 4:35 pm

That MIDI file doesn't have credits, or at least none that Timidity displayed (it usually does when it finds them). I guess the credit goes to Voyager Dragon. All I did was play it with Timidity++ and output to WAV, then encode to OGG.

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Mon May 31, 2004 12:46 am

Sometime over the next 24 hours I'll be
adding a lot more mp3s to my site for Exult.

Achile · Post by **Achile** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:15 am

Me too the soundfont I use to play with exult sound really good

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 5:38 am

Alright, I finally got the ones I was working on finished up and uploaded!

Enjoy!

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 5:39 am

The URL is http://cinderaven.ath.cx/linkdragon/music/ultima7/
in case anyone has forgotten!

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 7:26 am

I just updated 23bg, Britain's Theme.
I didn't like the way it sounded before.
There were some conflicting notes in the beginning
and I slightly modified the MIDI track of both the
flute and the trumpet for a much nicer sound than before.

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 7:33 am

Okay, now I've updated 03bg, the Main Theme.
I didn't like the way the trumpets sounded before,
and now, overall, the song sounds much better.

Skutarth · Post by **Skutarth** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 5:23 pm

LinkDragon. I envy your work, as it is better than any commercial game music I've ever heard. I use Reason 2.0 myself, and it's really good if you know how to use it. I, however, will never be able to meet the quality of your work. I have listened to every piece. Every piece is perfect, with the exception of 27bg. The only constructive criticism I can give to that piece is the flute is too loud and the other instrument in the melody (which I never understood what it was supposed to be in the original or any other) has too much attack to it, and should also be smoothed out. Other than that, every one is perfect. All they need is volume changing. Some I can barely hear, some make me cry.

Good luck with finishing!

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 10:03 pm

Well all the constructive criticism is welcome!

Thank you so much for your compliments, too!
It's great to know that people actually like what I'm doing.
The volume thing has to do with clipping..
I'll try to find some other way to reduce clipping in the songs.
And I'll take a look at 27bg right now.
Thanks again.

Skutarth · Post by **Skutarth** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 4:29 pm

I checked through all the music again. I see you've changed 27bg! Everything is perfect now. I mean everything. I especially love 37bg because of the extremely realistic lute. I love it.

CheshireKatt · Post by **CheshireKatt** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:57 am

These are *really* well done. They (with one exception that's probably more personal taste than anything else) really capture the feel of the original songs, but are much more clear and balanced.

The only ones that didn't really feel quite right to me was 03bg and 35bg -- they don't have the same oppressive feeling that the original ones do, but I'm afraid I don't know how to describe my thoughts in a way that would be meaningful. 03bg needs more power to the deeper tones in the buildup in the beginning, and 35bg feels very weak in the middle, at the cymbal crashes (the drum hits accompanying them are almost silent, maybe that's my problem) -- but in both cases, that's probably more a personal preference for the deep heavy sounds in the original ones than any deficiency in the remake.

Anyway, I just thought I'd say something now that I finally got around to listening to them. Superb work.

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 7:41 am

I'll get to work on those two. I know exactly what you're talking about,
and I'll fix it and upload them once I've got them sounding like they should.

Skutarth · Post by **Skutarth** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:26 am

You are awesome.

Consequence Dragon · Post by **Consequence Dragon** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 12:47 pm

Let me add my appreciation to everyone else's!

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 3:00 pm

Can't wait for the Oggs

LinkDragon · Post by **LinkDragon** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 4:30 pm

Oh, everyone wants some Oggs?
I'll get some new songs up and fix the
two in question from before, and also
put up an OGG pack for Exult sometime
before next Friday.

Consequence Dragon · Post by **Consequence Dragon** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 11:00 pm

I also, most humbly, request that you perform your magic on the rest of the Ultima 6 MIDIs .... I will gladly provide them!

Relthor · Post by **Relthor** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:13 am

Excellent work on these mp3s, Linkdragon. Can't wait for the oggs!

Skutarth · Post by **Skutarth** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 4:46 am

You know what Jackson 5 says:
OGG, easy as MP3!

486DX2/66 Dragon · Post by **486DX2/66 Dragon** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 12:44 pm

Hello!
I was browsing through the forum today after a long long time and I read this page and thought ... "wow! That's a cool idea".
So I am starting to rearrange a few pieces of Ultima7, hoping it won't be an utter failure

Today's first draft is from "Dead Bodies" in Ultima 7- Black Gate.
It is a very early version, but I'd love some feedback. I aim at trying to keep the feeling of the original songs, while making something new.
You can find it here:
http://www.tem.uoc.gr/~iakapolo/ultima/ ... s_v0.1.mp3
(it's ~750KB of data).

Enjoy!