Classic Music Overhaul

[Uthgaard]

I'm currently working on a full restoration of classic music.

The client used for P99 is missing some instruments from its soundfont, because back when sound cards were still a thing, they came with their own instrument banks built in.

Since we don't use sound cards today, this causes the music to come across choppy, and sound like it's missing some things. It's a relatively simple client-side fix however, and here's a video of some before and after comparisons so you can hear the difference for yourselves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I__3xM0aSyA

As the next part of the overhaul, I'm working on adjusting the sound emitters so that the music actually plays when and where it should, instead of cutting in and out unpredictably.

Once complete, I intend to release the changes as a a standalone modification at a bare minimum, depending on whether or not there's enough interest to make these part of the core classic changes.

[Skarne]

Believe it or not the music, to me, is one of the defining experiences of classic EQ. Thanks for doin this

[Jimjam]

Agreed - the music really did so much to inform the ambience of different areas.

[Jafir]

That would be awesome. I tried installing Omnimidi with midimapper and using a soundfont file, but my midis went from playing strangely to not playing at all now.

[Ananka]

You're doing important work here.

[Zuranthium]

The p99 Rivervale music has never sounded like either of these for me. It's always overlapped with itself or something, like the file is corrupted. Very disappointing.

About Erud's Crossing - the Kerran drums and pipe instruments deserve their own section, but the main part of the melody is better right now. It's so soothing. That plus a short wind pipe note added in every 30 seconds or so would be my ideal.

[Uthgaard]

Originally Posted by Zuranthium [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The p99 Rivervale music has never sounded like either of these for me. It's always overlapped with itself or something, like the file is corrupted. Very disappointing.

About Erud's Crossing - the Kerran drums and pipe instruments deserve their own section, but the main part of the melody is better right now. It's so soothing. That plus a short wind pipe note added in every 30 seconds or so would be my ideal.

I'm not actually changing anything about the music files or composing music here. Just supplying the missing information the client needed to interpret the midis. Basically the rivervale music was playing without tuba or trombone because the default soundfont expected a sound card to supply those.

For the combat music, more than half the instruments were missing, for the same reason, etc. (including drums, bassoon, harp, timpani, acoustic bass, flute, others)

Of course at the time there was more than one brand of sound card on the market, so there will be slight differences in how things sounded on different clients, but the most readily available soundfont ripped from a soundcard is the soundblaster AWE32.

And everything sounds better than the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth which comes default with windows now.

[mcoy]

Definitely interested! I actually play with the music disabled most of the time because it's just wrong.

-Mcoy

[Lilcea]

Originally Posted by Uthgaard [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm currently working on a full restoration of classic music.

The client used for P99 is missing some instruments from its soundfont, because back when sound cards were still a thing, they came with their own instrument banks built in.

Since we don't use sound cards today, this causes the music to come across choppy, and sound like it's missing some things. It's a relatively simple client-side fix however, and here's a video of some before and after comparisons so you can hear the difference for yourselves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I__3xM0aSyA

As the next part of the overhaul, I'm working on adjusting the sound emitters so that the music actually plays when and where it should, instead of cutting in and out unpredictably.

Once complete, I intend to release the changes as a a standalone modification at a bare minimum, depending on whether or not there's enough interest to make these part of the core classic changes.

I did somthing similar years ago but due to lack of interest I only did a few zones. The first zone I did was Ocean of Tears. I think I was the first person on twitch to steam the boat ride from Freeport to Butcher with working boat music.

I tried to revive what I was doing back in July 2020 but due to lack of interest moved onto other things.

You can find the post Here feel free to use the soundfont it's complete with the missing instruments.

Good luck with this, converting then editing the emt files can get laborious [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Encroaching Death]

HUGE improvement!

Especially on that second song.

It's like the original tracks are leaving out parts of the percussion or something.

I will definitely turn on music once this is done.