Listening to computer game soundtracks
#1
I searched a bit and found some posts, which though were old, so I don't dare reply to them in fear of hearing "forum necromancy". But I started a site, which I'll link now which I hope you won't get mad about (since it's my first post and all).

What it's about is how to extract music from computer games, the actual CDs, and pirated probably won't work anyway since (back in the days at least) they removed the music since it took too much space.

But my idea (and I'm doing it myself) is you should go to second hand stores and the like and find old computer games, and you'll look at the site how to play the music from them, either if it's CD Audio (just skip the first track then and it's playable on all cd-players) or some weird file format, which needs tools to extract, which I have information about. Or you'll join the site (since I did it as a community) and add information, which would make me really happy, but is probably a fat chance, but I know there's lots of knowledgable people on this site, so, maybe.

Right now I only have information about 3 set of games, the Diablo ones (thereby posting here), Command & Conquer ones, and Unreal engine ones. But my dream is to have information on 1000s of games, and then when you look through your old games or find some game at some place, you can use your smartphone and quickly look up if it's possible to listen to the soundtrack without actually playing the game.

I'll also note that some soundtracks are available on iTunes and spotify, and for the Diablo II soundtrack it's available for free on the arreat summit (that you probably know), but some don't like mp3 (arreat summit's is 128kbps) or don't have a lot of cash to buy it online, and it's often not the whole soundtrack you get for your money, so the only recourse is extracting from the game.

That reminded me actually, there's a webradio which has the songs recorded from the actual games for higher authenticity, it's almost all Commodore 64 games, and is called Kohina, check it out if you're into that, it's something like 70 hours in total. Even if you weren't born back in those days you'll still find some masterpieces in there, and there's songs from this millenia as well, as people still make music on it.

Oh right, I'll also note that even though I've listened to these soundtracks on the like of 100s or 1000s of hours when playing the game I'm not tired of them, and some are just as good as ordinary commercial music. Remember the Blade Runner soundtrack (ok, not a game)? Best thing Vangelis ever made.
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#2
Best thing Vangelis ever made was Chariots of Fire.
"I may be old, but I'm not dead."
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#3
(06-29-2012, 11:36 AM)Tomas Ove Johansson Wrote: Best thing Vangelis ever made.
Back in the 80's I played a cassette of "The Friends of Mr. Cairo" in my car tape player until I wore it out. As far as soundtracks, was also really huge into Giorgio Moroder, and Ennio Morricone at that time.

I think for video game soundtracks -- my favs have been Final Fantasy (most) and Wild Arms. Have you seen VGMusic.com?
”There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.

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#4
I am not much of a fan of Soundtrack pieces. I have always wondered what the appeal was, so I've picked some up, and tried, but I guess I'm just missing out.
nobody ever slaughtered an entire school with a smart phone and a twitter account – they have, however, toppled governments. - Jim Wright
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#5
(06-29-2012, 03:39 PM)LavCat Wrote: Best thing Vangelis ever made was Chariots of Fire.

*cough*BladeRunner*cough*
Sith Warriors - They only class that gets a new room added to their ship after leaving Hoth, they get a Brooncloset

Einstein said Everything is Relative.
Heisenberg said Everything is Uncertain.
Therefore, everything is relatively uncertain.
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#6
(06-29-2012, 03:59 PM)shoju Wrote: I am not much of a fan of Soundtrack pieces. I have always wondered what the appeal was, so I've picked some up, and tried, but I guess I'm just missing out.
Movie soundtracks are a very different thing from game soundtracks. But, in general, they both share either a genre or a composer.
”There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.

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#7
(06-29-2012, 03:39 PM)LavCat Wrote: Best thing Vangelis ever made was Chariots of Fire.

Ask the Mountains and the entire BladeRunner OST were the best things Vangelis ever did. Well, imo.
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#8
(06-30-2012, 02:44 PM)kandrathe Wrote:
(06-29-2012, 03:59 PM)shoju Wrote: I am not much of a fan of Soundtrack pieces. I have always wondered what the appeal was, so I've picked some up, and tried, but I guess I'm just missing out.
Movie soundtracks are a very different thing from game soundtracks. But, in general, they both share either a genre or a composer.

I was speaking mainly of game soundtracks. I just don't find them very compelling without the game visuals to add a frame of reference.
nobody ever slaughtered an entire school with a smart phone and a twitter account – they have, however, toppled governments. - Jim Wright
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#9
(07-01-2012, 09:30 PM)shoju Wrote:
(06-30-2012, 02:44 PM)kandrathe Wrote:
(06-29-2012, 03:59 PM)shoju Wrote: I am not much of a fan of Soundtrack pieces. I have always wondered what the appeal was, so I've picked some up, and tried, but I guess I'm just missing out.
Movie soundtracks are a very different thing from game soundtracks. But, in general, they both share either a genre or a composer.

I was speaking mainly of game soundtracks. I just don't find them very compelling without the game visuals to add a frame of reference.

I don't know, I think some of the game soundtracks are pretty good without the visuals. BioWare got a good composer for the Mass Effect games and there's some really great tracks. Now if you played the game, you can recall some of the music that matches up with the visuals. One of my favorite tracks from the Mass Effect trilogy is called "The Omega 4 Relay," which comes from Mass Effect 2 and is "I Was Lost Without You," from Mass Effect 3 along with "The Fleet Arrives", they're great tracks and when you match it with the sequence, it's incredible what the composer pulled off with the cut scene involved.
Sith Warriors - They only class that gets a new room added to their ship after leaving Hoth, they get a Brooncloset

Einstein said Everything is Relative.
Heisenberg said Everything is Uncertain.
Therefore, everything is relatively uncertain.
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#10
I still have the DII soundtrack CD that came with my copy of DII, IIRC the collectors edition.

I occasionally play it while out in the garage working on stuff.
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
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#11
(07-06-2012, 12:55 AM)Occhidiangela Wrote: I still have the DII soundtrack CD that came with my copy of DII, IIRC the collectors edition.

I occasionally play it while out in the garage working on stuff.

Have you heard about; http://www.houstonsymphony.org/calendar/...px?id=4560

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”There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.

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