First post, by yz88
- Rank
- Newbie
Fellow VGM fans,
I like to share two collections I made of particularly fine FM tunes (MS-DOS, AdLib, Sound Blaster, PC-88/98 and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive)
My personal computer music history started with a Sound Blaster 1.5 (and yes, I paid to have the two Philips CMS "Stereo" chips installed) and I've loved AdLib music ever since. Mainly for nostalgia but also for the clever frequency modulation technology used to make sound.
During my research for these playlists, I found that FM's flexibility may have been a bit of a double edged sword. Because it was difficult to compose directly in FM, most games used generic soundbanks to translate existing MIDI music and the result was not always that remarkable.
Now, thanks to many links shared on this, and other forums around the web I have gathered my personal favourites and notable compositions and made sure to mention the composers so the rest of their work may be searched for if you are so inspired.
Enjoy!
Ysbrand
Collection 1: (Downbeat)
135 minutes of the finest downbeat AdLib, Sound Blaster & Sega Genesis tunes
https://youtu.be/5jMWnfdqRKc
Collection 2: (Upbeat)
I also made a smaller (43 min) compilation of my favourite up-tempo, rocking FM game beats:
https://youtu.be/Ou3XHlVM0HE
(Monkey Island I & II animations courtesy of LucasArts)
Downbeat track list (with composers):
00:00 Cannon Fodder - Narcissus (Jon Hare, Richard Joseph)
04:35 Corridors of Time - AdLib Tracker II (NAB622)
07:32 Crusader of Centy - Burn Daisy (Motokazu Shinoda)
09:39 D/Generation - Title (Sean Gugler)
10:51 Dahna - Continue (T's Music)
11:36 Doofus - Level 1 (Thomas Detert)
14:20 Double Dragon 3 - Title (Martin Nyrup/The Vibrants)
17:37 Bio Menace - The City (Robert Price)
19:55 Dune (AdLib Gold) - Morning (Stéphane Picq, Rémi Herbulot)
24:52 Dune (AdLib Gold) - Sequence (Stéphane Picq, Rémi Herbulot)
28:26 Dune (AdLib Gold) - War Song (Stéphane Picq, Rémi Herbulot)
29:31 Dune (AdLib Gold) - Water (Stéphane Picq, Rémi Herbulot)
30:21 Dune (AdLib Gold) - Worm Intro (Stéphane Picq, Rémi Herbulot)
33:14 Dune (AdLib Gold) - Wormsuit (Stéphane Picq, Rémi Herbulot)
36:46 Easy AdLib 1.0 - Intro (The Brain)
38:46 Ecco the Dolphin - Ice Zone (Spencer Nilsen)
40:10 Ecco the Dolphin - Jurassic Beach (Spencer Nilsen)
41:19 Ecco the Dolphin - The Vents (Spencer Nilsen)
42:01 Final Zone - After the War (Motoi Sakuraba, Masaaki Uno)
46:27 Flashback - Sound Test 11 (Jean Baudlot, Raphaël Gesqua, Fabrice Visserot)
49:22 Genpei War - Finale (Unknown)
52:08 Genpei War - Title Theme (Unknown)
54:47 High Seas Havoc - Sea of Deep Sorrow (Emi Shimizu, Masaaki Iwasaki)
57:17 Hired Guns - Menu (Matt Furniss)
59:14 Hocus Pocus - Menu (Wallace Music & Sound)
1:02:06 Jennifer Capriati Tennis - Ending 2 (Hiroki Kamata)
1:05:20 Ken's Labyrinth - Ken's Song (Ken Silverman)
1:07:02 Laser Squad - Title (Matt Furniss)
1:10:30 Monkey Island 2 - Main Theme and Intro (Michael Land, Peter McConnell, Clint Bajakian )
1:17:22 Monster World IV - Heart of Icegrave (Jin Watanabe)
1:19:33 Psy-O (Kazunori Hasegawa, Shigeru Tomita)
1:20:47 Rusty - Intro (Masahiro Kajihara, Kenichi Arakawa, Ryu Takami)
1:23:23 Shining Force II - Elven Town (Motoi Sakuraba)
1:25:05 SimCity 2000 - Subway Song (Sue Kasper, Brian Conrad, Justin McCormick)
1:27:01 Skyroads - Road 1 (Ott Aaloe, Hasso Bruck)
1:30:34 Star Control 2 - Quasispace (Kevin Palivec)
1:33:27 Supaplex - Main Theme (David Whittaker)
1:36:25 The Legend of Sword and Fairy - Paladin 6 (Lin Kunxin)
1:37:14 The Legend of Sword and Fairy - Paladin 7 (Lin Kunxin)
1:38:00 The Pirates of Dark Water - Track 2 (Rick Fox)
1:41:21 The Secret of Monkey Island - Main Theme (Michael Land, Patrick Mundy)
1:44:08 The Whale's Voyage - Lapis (Hannes Seifert)
1:46:29 The Whale's Voyage - Painful Emptiness (Hannes Seifert)
1:50:22 Thor's Hammer (Unknown)
1:52:47 Trolls - Title (Unknown)
1:56:00 Tyrian - The Final Edge (Alexander Brandon, Andres Molnar)
1:57:18 Ultima VI: The False Prophet - Can't Remove the Pain (Kenneth W. Arnold, Herman Miller, Todd Mitchell Porter, David R. Watson)
2:01:12 Valis III - Deja (Jun Hasebe, Hisao Inoue, Shingo Murakami)
2:02:07 Vinyl Goddess from Mars - Intro (Marc Gravelle)
2:04:41 Wolfenstein 3D - Wondering about my loved ones (Bobby Prince)
2:07:12 Wonder Boy in Monster World - Under the Ocean (Shinichi Sakamoto)
2:09:04 Xatax - Main Theme (Pixel Painters Corporation)
2:10:47 Xenon: Mugen no Shitai - Main Theme (Ryu Umemoto)
2:15:34 Ys III - Sentimental Twilight (Mieko Ishikawa, Masaaki Kawai)
Upbeat Track list (with composers):
00:00 Batman - Stage 4 (Naoki Kodaka)
01:45 Battletoads And Double Dragon - Inside the Ship (David Wise)
04:58 Battletoads And Double Dragon - Stage 7: Armageddon II The Rematch (David Wise)
06:04 Crystal2 - Reality AdLib Tracker (Chris Korte / Xography)
08:24 Cyborg Justice - Boss (András Magyari)
10:24 Demon Blue - Theme (Adam Gilmore)
13:00 KGB - Burokrat (Stéphane Picq, Rémi Herbulot)
17:37 MegaRace - NewSan (Stéphane Picq, Rémi Herbulot)
20:36 Rusty (PC-9801) - Dead End - (Masahiro Kajihara, Kenichi Arakawa, Ryu Takami)
26:28 Rusty (PC-9801) - Queen in The Dark Night (Masahiro Kajihara, Kenichi Arakawa, Ryu Takami)
26:22 Stone Age - Menu (Thomas Detert, Mario Knezovic)
29:48 Streets of Rage 2 - The Baseball Arena (Yuzo Koshiro)
32:15 Tyrian - Asteroid Dance Part 1 (Alexander Brandon, Andres Molnar)
36:07 Tyrian - Asteroid Dance Part 2 (Alexander Brandon, Andres Molnar)
39:40 Vectorman - Ocean (Jon Holland)
41:42 XCOM - Won The Game (John Broomhall)
Finally, below are a few full MS-DOS/AdLib/Soundblaster soundtracks that, according to some, are extra note-worthy and can be enjoyed in their entirety:
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (Michael Land, Peter McConnell, Clint Bajakian)
MS-DOS using YM3812 (OPL2) + iMuse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26EjF9HdwtQ
The Secret of Monkey Island (Barney Jones, Michael Land, Patrick Mundy, Andy Newell)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeBJIl_naY8
Dune (Stéphane Picq, Rémi Herbulot)
AdLib Gold using YMF262 (OPL3) + HERAD AdLib music format
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjHon6yg-r8
Dune II (Stéphane Picq, Rémi Herbulot)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WKBjmJCBHw
Rusty (Masahiro Kajihara, Kenichi Arakawa, Ryu Takami)
NEC PC-9801 using YM2608 (OPNA)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw-aLgCMhEw
Tyrian 2000 (Alexander Brandon, Andres Molnar)
MS-DOS using YM3812/YMF262 (OPL2/3) + LDS (LOUDNESS Sound System)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAIgYbqFkro
Doom 1 (Bobby Prince)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_yIgqw-qR4
Doom 2 (Bobby Prince)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO7bGgMMSZI
Amberstar (Jochen Hippel)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYIgk3RFOV0
