Planet Descent
Community => Art Gallery => Topic started by: Chaplain5 on October 19, 2017, 01:15:11 PM
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Hey all, I'm new here!
Actually, I signed up because I wanted to ask this question (I hope that's not frowned upon? :-[)
Years ago, my first taste of Descent came from the Mac Shareware demo. This demo had the three first levels of the full game. It also had a unique soundtrack.
I've researched this extensively and I know how the Macplay soundtrack was different from the PC MIDI soundtrack and whatnot.
The Mac Shareware demo, however, had pre-recorded tracks that were based (I believe) on tracks from the PC MIDI soundtrack. The piece used for level 3, for example, was a mix of the Level 13 Europa Mining Colony track.
I very much liked the soundtrack from the demo, and I've searched the internet for years trying to find it. It seems that a couple of other people remember this as well and have posted about it, here for example (https://descendentstudios.com/community/topic/2046-a-descent-music-question/).
I have the shareware files on CD, actually, so if the music files can be extracted...
Thanks to anyone who puts their mind to this. I'd really like to be able to listen to that level 3 music again.
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rantthisspace.com/D1_share/D1_Shareware_-_Level_1.zip (http://rantthisspace.com/D1_share/D1_Shareware_-_Level_1.zip)
rantthisspace.com/D1_share/D1_Shareware_-_Level_2.zip (http://rantthisspace.com/D1_share/D1_Shareware_-_Level_2.zip)
rantthisspace.com/D1_share/D1_Shareware_-_Level_3.zip (http://rantthisspace.com/D1_share/D1_Shareware_-_Level_3.zip)
rantthisspace.com/D1_share/D1_Shareware_-_Title.zip (http://rantthisspace.com/D1_share/D1_Shareware_-_Title.zip)
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Thanks, man, close but not quite. These sound like they're from the PC Shareware. The Mac ones sound different.
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Midi will sound different depending on your hardware and on the sound-fonts you have installed. I don't know what else is out there perhaps someone will post some other files that are closer to what you want.
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I was under the impression that the soundtracks for Mac were always pre-recorded and it was the PC versions that got interpreted MIDI files, since Mac came later.
Am I wrong? ???
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WillyP...he's talking about the D1 redbook soundtrack. ;)
Which you can find all that and more, here:
Descent MacPlay Soundtrack (https://sectorgame.com/descentfiles/?dir=uploads/Music%20%26%20Sound%20Effects/Descent/Descent%20MacPlay%20Soundtrack)
I believe the specific track you're looking for is listed as number thirteen in the linked list, "A Big Problem." If not, all the other songs found on the Mac version (demo or otherwise) can be found in that list.
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Thanks for the link, but still not quite. I'm familiar with the Macplay soundtrack (having played through and beaten the game on Mac) and I know for a fact that the Shareware music was versions of tracks from the PC game.
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Like I said, I have the files for the Shareware on disc. Could somebody extract them?
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I'm not sure what it is you're looking for then...as far as I have always been aware, the soundtrack for the Mac version, both shareware and full version, is precisely the same... ???
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Did you ever play the Shareware version, incidentally?
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For PC, yes, but for Mac, just the full version (which I still have on disk somewhere, incidentally), but there's a big difference between the Mac and PC versions, as it was my understanding that the Mac version came after the original PC version, and only inherited preexisting soundtracks from other versions of the game already on the market--it would not have any music that is original purely to it that didn't also appear on other versions too.
But since we all seem to be unclear on what you're looking for, here's what you can try:
Incidentally, the thread directly under yours is about a master collection of ALL official Descent music released (http://www.planetdescent.net/index.php/topic,1255.0.html). Odds are the music you're looking for is somewhere in there, just waiting to be found.
This link heads to the same site as before, but now just for the root directory for all D1 music available on that site (https://sectorgame.com/descentfiles/?dir=uploads/Music%20%26%20Sound%20Effects/Descent/), and odds are the music you're looking for is there too.
Might have to do a bit of digging, but it's gotta be in one of the two somewhere.
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I assure you that I've thoroughly dug through all those files, and the Mac Shareware music is nowhere to be found.
Question 1: Any word on having someone extract the files from my copy of the Shareware?
Question 2: Is there any old Mac software that would record the speaker audio from my old Mac?
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I assure you that I've thoroughly dug through all those files, and the Mac Shareware music is nowhere to be found.
Question 1: Any word on having someone extract the files from my copy of the Shareware?
Question 2: Is there any old Mac software that would record the speaker audio from my old Mac?
Found an old copy of Audacity for Mac OS 9.
Maybe I flash-drive it over to my old mac, set it up to record speaker audio, run the shareware, run the level....
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Darn, I can't get a working flash-drive that fits in my old mac. It's too old to connect to the internet, either.
So all I have to work with is the core files and my memory.
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The level 3 music, the one I'd most like to have, was a version of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIte3JkkAss (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIte3JkkAss)
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Hmm...are we talking about a live instrument-performed version, or a midi synth version?
I ask, because if it's the live-instrument version, for a mix of D1's Game 13, then if such a thing actually exists, I've never ever heard it. And considering I've taken the time to listen to pretty much all the Descent music in existence and Game 13's a personal favorite, that would surprise me greatly. :o
If it's a midi synth version, then its back to what WillyP said before, and it depends very much on the sort of sound hardware being used. Those D1 midis sounded different on different sound cards. In which case, all we'd need to do is figure out what sort of sound card we're looking to simulate. But the thing is, I didn't think the Mac version used the midi synths at all, just the redbook music (as I said before, I have a full version of the MacPlay D1, and I was never able to switch it from the redbook to the midi synths, which are what I prefer for in-game, despite repeated attempts before I eventually stopped using it). So, you know, consider me confused on this.
Where's Kaiaatzl, anyway? He seems to be our resident on all things Descent music, he'd probably be able to help...
*few minutes later* Okay, I've done some more digging, and found another thread talking about this same subject, which you can read here (https://descendentstudios.com/community/topic/2046-a-descent-music-question/) (conversation stalled out on it back in 2015, though). In summary, near as has been figured out, the Mac shareware version used some sort of synthized version of music, but different from the standard hmp's and q's file formatting D1 uses on PC machines, presumably so it'd run on Mac. Most likely then, it IS a hardware thing, and it'll sound different unless it's the same hardware as the machine in question was using when you first heard it.
Problem is, it seems no one is quite certain on what specs would be needed to recreate it, and it seems for the past twenty years, the Mac shareware's version of the music has gone under everybody's radar and nobody ever thought to record copies of it, because I really can't find more information than that. Without that, I can't guarantee that your music on that disk will even playback in the manner you want without the original system it was designed for to run it on.
So no, it's not going to be as simple as just ripping the files off your disk, unfortunately. I'm not even sure what files we'd need to rip off it anyway, as, again, it seems the Mac version was not using the hmp files the PC version was, nor any obvious replacement file, or so those who have probed into this before me seem to have determined. :-\
If you have access to the right Mac system from the 90s to run the files on though, then that's a start, at least, but I can't help much beyond that, as my knowledge of Macs and what would be needed to rip the music in the proper soundfont is pretty much nonexistent.
Wish we could help more. :(
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Thanks for the help so far. ;)
Yes, I do still have access to my old mac and could run the demo right now if I wanted. I had considered bringing an old version of Audacity over to it via flash-drive and recording the music while the demo played. Unfortunately, I don't yet have a flash drive that will fit into the computer's usb slot.
This may take me some time...
But you know what? I've had it. I've had it with searching for the past decade for this music. I've had it with so few other people knowing what music I'm talking about. For the sake of Descent'ers everywhere, I, Chaplain5, will do my utmost to record this music.
*epic music comes to a stop with record scratch*
Tomorrow. :P
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Yes, sounds like that's going to be the best way to get the music at this point, by sound capturing it with some program capable of doing so while the music plays in-game.
If and when you succeed at this, please do share the files with the rest of us. You've gotten me curious about these "lost" Mac Shareware songs. ;D
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After much searching, I finally found a flash drive that works with both PC and the old mac and fist in the weirdly-shaped usb port. I got Audacity over to the old mac, and it runs! AW YEAH
I checked out the options for the recording source, and in addition to the built-in mic I have an option for "sound in" and one for "internal modem". Either of those could quite possibly be what I'm looking for. AW YEAH
This is shaping up nicely! AW YEAH 8)
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If I had a male-to-male stereo cable, could I connect it from the speaker port of my mac to the mic-in port on my pc and use audacity on my pc to record the audio coming from my mac? ???
Because I can't find any software for mac os 9 that will record audio output.
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Please share if you succeed. You may one of few people with access to a rare shareware mix (assuming you're not crazy). ;)
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Please share if you succeed. You may one of few people with access to a rare shareware mix (assuming you're not crazy). ;)
Crazy? Who huh me? I'm not crazy. Not because I talk to myself while playing Descent late at night. Crazy? Huh? Not me...
:P
Really, though, I promise I am not making this up. I ran the demo today, and the music is different, just like I remembered it. I'd forgotten just how much I like the menu music. :D
Yeah, so I just ordered a stereo cable. Might take a while to get here. We'll see if that does the trick... Basically the mac's output will be my pc's mic-in input.
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Can't you record it with your phone or something? Yeah I know they have shitty microphones, but that way we at least get somekind of preview so we can locate this music..
Crazy? Who huh me? I'm not crazy. Not because I talk to myself while playing Descent late at night. Crazy? Huh? Not me...
Perfectly normal behavior for intelligent humans.
Btw, did you check out the shareware versions at the bottom of this page?
https://sectorgame.com/descentfiles/?dir=uploads/Music%20%26%20Sound%20Effects/Descent/Descent%20Midi%20Soundtrack%20%28OPL3%29
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Yup. I thoroughly looked through the Descent Files, and they're not there. That must be for the pc shareware. But thanks anyway! :)
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Don't worry guys, I did not forget about this! The stereo cable came today, soon I'll get the two computers linked from the speaker port on the mac to the mic in port on the pc, and we'll see what happens! :)
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I've got it! I can record sound from my mac by plugging it into my mic port.
Here's the caveat: My mac speakers are old and there's a little speaker whine. I'm going to use Audacity to remove the noise through the noise removal feature, but be aware that this is not going to be a pure recording ripped right from the sound card like the rest of the Descent Soundtracks. This is the only way we can have it at all.
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So removing the speaker whine causes a reduction in the music fidelity. It's not much but it's there. And you can still hear the whine if you listen very closely. Basically I have a slider between fidelity and whine removal.
Is that worth it?
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Better idea: I am not a skilled audio engineer. If I send the raw recordings noise and all to someone, could they please master them for me?
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Unless you are recording from a microphone placed in front of the speakers the whine isn't coming from the speakers, it's coming from the sound-card in either machine, or the cabling from Mac sound-card to your PC sound-card.
You should first try eliminating the whine, easiest thing to try is to move the cables around while listening to see if that has any effect at all. If there are cables inside either machine from the sound-card to the port, they could be picking up noise from inside the machine, or it could be poor shielding on the new cable you bought. You might also try re-routing any fan or other cables away from the sound-card or any audio cables inside the machine.
If moving the cables around has no effect, and replacing the sound-card is not an option, perhaps someone with a Mac might be willing to try for a conversion without the whine.
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I'll try moving the cables around. Unfortunately, as much as I want to get this done, I don't think opening up the Mac is an option.
It could indeed be poor shielding. This was a cheap generic stereo cable from ebay. Maybe I could check the store for something more deliberately made. Does shielding really make a difference?
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I was researching recording microphones sometime back with the thought of buying one at some point, and in going over the product reviews for any given microphone, this particular topic of how shielding the microphone's cabling was or was not was constantly coming up, so yes, I'd say it is. ;D
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Aha, I see.
Any recommendations as to brands that aren't base-level Chinese junk?
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Incidentally guys, it's clear that if this is the case then I'm going to have to put down some more money for a really high quality stereo cable. While I'm very motivated to get this done and show this music to you guys, pocket cash is rather scarce for me right now, and the stereo cable doesn't have a lot of utility for me otherwise so it's not a terribly robust investment. It may be a while before I get this done.
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Before you spend the money... Is the whine present in the speakers of the old Mac when you are not recording?
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Not that I can hear. What does that mean?
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Not much actually. But if you had said yes, it would have meant it's not caused by the cable between the old Mac and newer machine.
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So I'm still going to get a shielded cable.
Any recommendations for brand/specific product?
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I have no advice for you as to brand or specific product... sorry.
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Nor do I, I just recommend you do your research, read product reviews, etc, before buying.
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Nor do I, I just recommend you do your research, read product reviews, etc, before buying.
Right-o, thanks. I'm going to take my time and buy the best cable I can reasonably get.
So don't hold your breath. But I will not forget about this, it will get done and I will revisit this topic, even if it's not for a few months.
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Hey all!
So it is, as predicted, taking me a long time to get around to buying a proper stereo cable and recording that music (fingers crossed that that actually works out!)
So for the moment, here's the rough recording that I got from the menu to test my original (and decidedly cheap/crummy) stereo cable (https://www.dropbox.com/s/oz3a8hm27uks54s/descent%20mac%20shareware%20menu%20rough%20cut.mp3?dl=0). It would be a fine recording except for that whine, which we are assuming comes from the cable being unshielded. This will give you guys a taste of what I'm talking about and prove my claim that the music is different. ;) The recording is also, unfortunately, incomplete as I believe I cut it off a few seconds before reaching the end of the loop.
So yeah, please let me know what you think!
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Yeah, definitely different from most other versions I've heard...this version really brings out the drums and percussion.
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Yeah, I like it a lot!
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And you thought I had actually forgotten about this... MUAHAHAHAHAHA! :D
I'm pleased to say that I got my hands on a shielded, gold-plated RadioShack brand stereo cable. Fingers crossed that this one works!
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Rats, it didn't work. There's still a whine in the background. It must be the old equipment struggling.
If you guys want me to go through and record everything despite the whine, I will, but I don't really have the desire to do it myself as long as there's that defect.
The only other things I can think of:
1. Getting a dedicated noise filter device
2. If I upload the shareware files to you guys, could someone extract the music?
In any event, I did take the time to record the music from level 3. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/17ozrzkqpph4hc2/Descent%20Mac%20Shareware%20Level%203%20recording.wav?dl=0) This is one of my favorite Descent pieces of all time, and the reason why I was so intrigued by the shareware music. Enjoy!
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Using a few tricks I know of with Audacity, I was able to take your file and mostly remove that whine to the best of my abilities given my limited knowledge on sound engineering. I also increased the volume and went ahead and converted the file into an mp3.
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Holy WOW, that's fantastic! :o :D
Granted there's a fair bit of quality lost for some of the sounds, so it sounds kind of like it's playing on 240p on youtube, but DUDE! 8)
Any chance you'd have the time and energy to do that for all the tracks if I get them to you? We could at least have tracks of this quality on the forums.
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If you recorded at a higher volume level that would help the sound quality tremendously. Listening with cheap computer speakers, I thought Scy's mp3 sounded great. If there's any way to turn up the volume on the Mac, that might help.
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If you recorded at a higher volume level that would help the sound quality tremendously. Listening with cheap computer speakers, I thought Scy's mp3 sounded great. If there's any way to turn up the volume on the Mac, that might help.
Is that so? Thanks for the tip!
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WillyP's right, a higher music volume would help, otherwise the whine becomes such a considerable part of the recording, it becomes difficult to isolate just the music without losing some notable quality in the process. Right now, your recording has the two roughly the same in volume. If you can record it where the music records louder than the volume of the whine, that'll help with cleaning it out later and minimizing quality loss.
Of course, there's probably going to be some quality loss no matter what the way I'm doing it, but as I said, I'm not an expert at this--I just know enough to get by. I'm sure a professional could probably clean it up much better than I...but at least what I'm able to do still seems to be of satisfaction to y'all. :)
As for cleaning up more recordings, I probably could, though likely not all at once, especially at present time (probably going to be pretty busy the next couple of weeks). So it wouldn't be immediate...but something I could still do with enough time.
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So it's okay if I get all the recordings together, pack them into a zip file, and send them your way?
Awesome!
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Hey guys, here's the folder with the raw recordings! (https://www.dropbox.com/s/m4pagwy49pprs01/Descent%20mac%20shareware%20raw%20music.zip?dl=0)
I did the best I could. Those old speakers really aren't up to the task. Scyphi, do you have the time and energy to clean them up?
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Given present life circumstances, it could take a couple days to a couple weeks, but yeah I should be able to get through them. :)
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Was listening through your recordings just now...is that really all there is of the briefing music? The file you recorded comes in at a length of 1:18, which is notably shorter than the original version of that same song in Descent, typically coming in at about 2:55. Considering all the other songs seem to be at the same lengths as their original counterparts, I just want to make sure that really is all there is to the briefing music.
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Was listening through your recordings just now...is that really all there is of the briefing music? The file you recorded comes in at a length of 1:18, which is notably shorter than the original version of that same song in Descent, typically coming in at about 2:55. Considering all the other songs seem to be at the same lengths as their original counterparts, I just want to make sure that really is all there is to the briefing music.
That is, as far as I could tell, all there is. The briefing apparently looped after that point. I didn't listen to it too far beyond the point when it started playing identically to what I had heard at the beginning.
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Hmm, that's interesting that this version was shortened then...wonder why...
Anyway, working out how to best clean up these while limiting quality loss, but unfortunately, I think the best quality I'll be able to give in the end is the same as the level 3 clip I cleaned up earlier, in which there will still be noteworthy quality loss. Which, to be sure, is still better than the nothing we have before, but obviously, if there's any way around that, that's worth pursuing.
Especially as I'm worried level 2's track will probably suffer the most, because I noticed most of it's bass line blends in considerably with the whine, and I fear removing it is only going to take most of that bass line with it.
In reviewing our discussion on the matter from the beginning, though, I remembered you had managed to get Audacity on that Mac--albeit an older version--and that got me thinking...that means you could still be able to record the sound internally, capturing the sound as the computer "hears" it. Basically, no microphones or anything like that, just setting up the system so the program captures the audio as the computer plays it back, exactly as it plays it back...thus bypassing that whine problem altogether. The only catch is that you'd have to have Audacity open and recording already before booting up whatever it is you want to capture audio from.
Doing this is, of course, complicated some by the fact you're doing this on a older Mac with an older version of Audacity, and the fact that Macs don't typically come with the ability to sound capture internally like this built-in like most PCs do. BUT...there ways around this.
At this link (https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recording_Computer_Playback_on_Mac) is a list of options of Mac work-arounds compatible with Audacity (including, I'm hoping, your older version of it) and tutorials on how to set them up and use them for this purpose. If you can use any one of these options working to use to capture the music instead, then that will give you the best quality of audio possible without any background noise that we're going to get. :D
I, of course, will still attempt to clean up the recordings you've already made and see what we can get, but while you're waiting on me, that gives you something to look into in the meantime. ;)
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Yeah, unfortunately all of these workarounds are for Mac OS X. I had already considered the option, but the older version of Audacity doesn't have the ability to record directly from the computer's output.
It's a good idea but I'm pretty sure I can't do it.
If someone could run Mac OS 9 in a virtual machine on a PC, then install the shareware, then record the PC sound output... I already tried it and unfortunately I can't really get a virtual machine set up (too complicated, frankly)
I did also suggest before - I've got the core files of the shareware on disc somewhere, or I could at least flash-drive them over from the old Mac. Could someone extract the music from the files?
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I know of a past attempt to try, but said person was unable to locate the files--they were not stored in the same manner as they would for other versions of Descent, and thus weren't quite sure where they are or what file types they would be in, and if it'd even be possible to extract them and read them properly...but that was the attempt of one person. It might be possible for another to try and have more success, but I leave that to whomever wants to try. As for me, that is a field I wouldn't know enough to be of much help with.
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I know of a past attempt to try, but said person was unable to locate the files--they were not stored in the same manner as they would for other versions of Descent, and thus weren't quite sure where they are or what file types they would be in, and if it'd even be possible to extract them and read them properly...but that was the attempt of one person. It might be possible for another to try and have more success, but I leave that to whomever wants to try. As for me, that is a field I wouldn't know enough to be of much help with.
Okay... when I get more time I'll put the files up here. :)
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Like Chaplain5, I played Mac shareware Descent in its day, and was trying to find that particular version of the music again on and off for years (decades?). So when I googled up this topic I'm posting in, I saw some progress, was inspired to try to make some of my own, and I have.
I was reminded of this quest the other day when I bought Descent 1 and 2 on GOG during a sale. They both came with mp3 soundtracks. One of the Descent 1 sets had the composition I recognised, but it still didn't sound right; the 'this was taken from the PC version and PCs have different soundcards' issue.
Macs came with the audio hardware already, and shared it, and the MIDI soundset only changed once in a big way (that I remember) during the OS 7-9 era for the typical user. There's no guarantee the Mac Shareware Descent used the hardware's (or even the OS's) MIDI sounds. I reckon it just packed its own.
Anyway, the upshot is - Chaplain5's buzzy recordings are indeed the versions of the music I was looking for. They're the same audio I had on my PowerMac 750/100 back in the day.
To help, I got off my butt and got Mac Shareware Descent running on my High Sierra Mac in the emulator Sheepshaver. Sheepshaver is an emulator of Macs with 'classic' OSes like 9 and earlier.
The game runs, and the music is perfect. I mean, without even checking what vintage OS I'm emulating, or exactly what model of a Mac it's emulating, it's already the same audio that Chaplain5 got out of his hardware, again testifying to the consistency of Mac setups.
BUT!... the controls aren't parsing well through the emulator. In other words, the game is basically impossible to play, with super wobbly and sometimes totally resistant controls. My only way to get the post-level 1 music would be by completing level 1, and I tell ya, I can't do that.
What I have done is got pristine recordings of the Title, Credits, Briefing and level 1 musics. In my next post I'm going to share WAVs (and maybe mp3s) of them.
With the level 1 theme, I notice that the tambourines are murder to the ears whenever they're doubled up if you're listening to the track at a decent level. In the game context, the lower music volume (roughly half the bandwidth) and other sound FX would have lessened or hidden the effect. But just in case they aggravate anyone else, I'll be including a version of the track where I EQ'd around the hats.
So maybe someone else can get the Mac Shareware Descent going on their current Mac with Sheepshaver, and maybe they won't have the controls problem on their computer. Or maybe they can play around that problem anyway because they're really good at Descent :) ... What I'm saying is, I've shown you can get at least at this music in current Macs, so if someone else can do that, they can capture this audio with a program like Audio Hijack.
Downloads to follow this post pretty soon.
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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 (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
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Aren't there cheat codes that allow you to go to levels?
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Fantastic! Just fantastic! Thanks a ton for doing this! :D 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. ;D
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Oh yeah, and I tried Sheepshaver myself. No go, it didn't work for me for some reason.
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The D1 shareware cheat codes: Link (http://www.descent2.com/cheats/d1share/) 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. :D
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Thanks guys. I'll see if the cheats work for me.
-Wade
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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
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Sounds fantastic! Thanks so much! ;D
Maybe someone could assemble these into a proper album for popular consumption?
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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 (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.)
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All hail macmus! ;D
Thanks so much man! You've scratched a years-old itch.