VOGONS

Common searches


First post, by rfnagel

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I've always LOVED the soundtrack for Mechwarrior 2! 😀 The CD includes a complete soundtrack (Redbook audio) that was composed by Gregory Alper and Jeehun Hwang.

Anyhow, after quite a bit of Googling, I've came up with nothing about this... does anyone know what MIDI module/synthesizer that they used to record the Redbook audio tracks?

It sounds quite "Roland-ish" to me. But, as far as I can tell (at least to my ears) it sounds considerably better than the old SC-55 (which would fit the approximate timeframe of the game's release)... to me it sounds like almost of the quality of an SC-88 PRO. But, the SC-88 Pro hit the store shelves several years after MW2 was released.

Rich ¥Weeds¥ Nagel
http://www.richnagel.net

Reply 1 of 8, by DracoNihil

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I don't quite hear anything Roland going on in MW2's sound track, more or less alot of it sounds almost like professional orchestra.

Though if you look at some of Heavy Gear 1's soundtrack, particularly the FIRST redbook track, has some interesting MIDI going on in there.

The audio equipment obviously must be high end, but I don't know my high end synths all that well. (though I do know they often got sampled into Amiga MOD files... ALOT

“I am the dragon without a name…”
― Κυνικός Δράκων

Reply 2 of 8, by Gemini000

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

The Mech 2 music sounds very much like it was made with professional synth equipment; more than just a MIDI interface and a Roland sound card. :B

--- Kris Asick (Gemini)
--- Pixelmusement Website: www.pixelships.com
--- Ancient DOS Games Webshow: www.pixelships.com/adg

Reply 3 of 8, by rfnagel

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Thanks for the info, guys 😀

I have to slightly disagree though... some of the samples in some of the tracks sound to me like a dead-ringer for some of the samples on an SC-88PRO. Although, like I said, MW2 was before the SC88Pro's time. One of the samples in particular is the string ensemble used in a couple of the tunes.

Now that I think about it though, I'm thinking/leaning a bit more towards the MIDI module being one of the Proteus series.

Rich ¥Weeds¥ Nagel
http://www.richnagel.net

Reply 5 of 8, by rfnagel

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
d1stortion wrote:

Jeehun Hwang is still around as a composer apparently. Guess you could try contacting him 😀

Thanks for the link, and WILL DO! 😀 😀

Rich ¥Weeds¥ Nagel
http://www.richnagel.net

Reply 6 of 8, by SquallStrife

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Why does it have to be from a synth? I haven't listened to it properly in a while, but I thought it sounded like it was performed with real instruments, or at least a mix of real and synth'd.

VogonsDrivers.com | Link | News Thread

Reply 7 of 8, by rfnagel

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
SquallStrife wrote:

Why does it have to be from a synth? I haven't listened to it properly in a while, but I thought it sounded like it was performed with real instruments, or at least a mix of real and synth'd.

To tell the truth, I always thought that it was completely synthed... simply for the fact of production cost. And also, most of the time when real instrumentalists are used they are listed in the credits.

Nevertheless, even back then, there were a few MIDI modules that sounded quite realistic, compared to real instruments (the String Ensemble preset on the Proteus Orchestral module comes to mind).

Rich ¥Weeds¥ Nagel
http://www.richnagel.net

Reply 8 of 8, by truth_deleted

User metadata

This is a plug-in for Audacity to detect the pitch of musical notes:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/w/images/9/98/Pitch-detect.ny

You would know better, but the different hardware devices may produce a different "signature". If a signature exists, it could be detected by analyzing several musical samples per hardware device and exporting the raw data to a spreadsheet program. The raw data could be sorted and compared between the hardware devices to find any obvious differences. If that worked, and there should be some differences among the different devices, then you could predict the origins of music from redbook audio. It's one step better than a guess. 😀