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How do you look back at the N64/PS1 sound?

Something that blew my mind: the MIDI instruments changing based on the situation. Like when Mario got in the water and the song kept going, but became all steel drummy. They had dabbled in it a bit on SNES (adding the congas when you get on Yoshi in SMW) but this felt totally new.
 
Someone please link Chrono Trigger's tribal song that they danced and got drunk around. It'll be the end of this discussion - PSX music was amazing.
 
I look back pretty fondly, all things considered. Some really catchy stuff on all three consoles/PC. N64 has things like Banjo-Kazooie or Ocarina of Time (occasionally even using audio streams, like Earthworm Jim 3D using a pared down version of the music from the PC version - something the others did more liberally, as they had more storage space to do so). PS1 has SquareSoft's work (like Chrono Cross). Saturn has things like NiGHTS or Panzer Dragoon Saga. Even PC has Unreal Tournament or Quake... what's not to like? (This isn't even a comprehensive sampling of game audio from each system of the era, but if I were to do that we'd be here all day.)
 
IdreamofHIME said:
Turok 2's soundtrack was off the hook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iDBneTOWC0
Click to expand...
If my ear don't lie, that's from turok 2 pc version. This is n64 version (still amazing):
Turok 2 (port of adia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF7YZIyPtwc

I'll go with racing games. Ridge racer type 4 and ridge racer 64 has some amazing tracks.
Ridge racer type 4 - Pearl Blue Soul (dat cd power).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUe955ElMXc
Ridge racer 64 - manual override (talent overcomes... hardware).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd-X8IetOPk

In the end, clearly the composer has the final answer.
 
PSX was one of the first consoles to really break loose with sound tracks. Tony Hawk Pro Skater was a revolution:

1. "Police Truck" Dead Kennedys
2. "Here and Now" The Ernies
3. "Vilified" Even Rude
4. "Superman" Goldfinger
5. "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" Primus
6. "Screamer"/"Nothing to Me" Speedealer
7. "Cyco Vision" Suicidal Tendencies
8. "New Girl" The Suicide Machines
9. "Committed" Unsane
10. "Euro-Barge" The Vandals
 
I think with the Sat / PSX / N64 generation, it was the first time music sounded 'real' as opposed to like a video game. I think the fact the developers had essentially free range with audio (more so PSX/Saturn) meant the decent ones put a lot more effort into it giving us some very iconic tunes!
 
Prez said:
Almost none it seems except a few games used it for sound effects.
Click to expand...

I honestly thought that there were a few Saturn ports of ST-V arcade games that used FM synth, like Guardian Force and that Cotton game (2 or Boomerang, or whatever it was called). But I guess I was mistaken.
 
I remember watching my older cousins playing Final Fantasy 7 back then and thinking the music was out of this world, same with some N64 games.

With N64 in particular, that console's music had very distinct sounds that I kinda miss today.

Star Fox 64

Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Mario 64

I know we have sweeping orchestras today, but like older consoles before it, that gen's sound had a certain charm to it.
 
Nimby said:
EDIT: It's probably nostalgia, but I adore those compressed synthesized soundtracks from that era. Beats most modern soundtracks for me.
Click to expand...
Me too, for the most part. My favourite OSTs are from this generation (PSX and Saturn):

- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (greatest OST ever made, and y'all know it, #truthfact etc.)
- Final Fantasy Tactics
- Wild ARMs
- Suikoden, Suikoden II
- Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
- Xenogears
- Panzer Dragoon, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, Panzer Dragoon Saga
- NiGHTS
- Soul Blade
- Astal
- Silent Hill

So many memories... ;_;
 
Zaku said:
Depends on the developer, really.

Square pulled some really great stuff with just midis with Final Fantasy Tactics for PS1, offhand.

The N64's sound was pretty garbage, generally speaking. That was not a system meant to handle voice clips, but god bless 'em, they tried.
Click to expand...

Yup! Agreed.
 
PS1's sound quality was pretty awesome, although FF7 I thought was rather weak in terms of quality (composition on the other hand - those tracks are iconic!), sounding a bit too tinny. But some of the games to use chip music have such incredible music that still stands out today - FF Tactics, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Wild Arms.

N64's sound quality was a total disappointment. Extremely tinny sound to it, honestly it sounded even worse than the SNES.

But N64 did give us the Buck Bumble Theme Song

Also, no love for Saturn? I thought that had a very capable sound chip - Radiant Silvergun, Astal and the Panzer Dragoon games being standouts.
 
djtiesto said:
Also, no love for Saturn? I thought that had a very capable sound chip - Radiant Silvergun, Astal and the Panzer Dragoon games being standouts.
Click to expand...
Scroll up 4 posts above yours! ;)

I don't even know why the N64 music is lumped in with the PSX's, it's not remotely in the same league, but the Saturn did great.
 
The Boat said:
Damn, really? What a beast of a sound chip, although it's not really surprising that it's good, I always thought Chrono Cross also used recorded stuff.
Click to expand...

And also consider the MASSIVE talent of the composer, Yasunori Mitsuda.

He actually ADDED the sound of fingers sliding down the guitar chords in several of the tracks. And yes, the "screech" sound is also made by the PS1's synthetizer.

Listen to this track (With headphones, if possible). At several points (Second 00:20, for example) you can hear the "screeching" of the guitar chords. Since this was not recorded using real instruments, everything was generated by the sound chip. And lots of Chrono Cross tracks contain this little detail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMIr_IF2d04
 
Some of the big-name N64 games had crazy good sound that (imo) still holds true today.
Super Mario 64 - File Select & Dire Dire Docks
Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Hyrule Field, Zora's Domain, Intro
Goldeneye - The whole thing
F Zero X - This game was made to emulate a distorted electric guitar lead, and it did great.
 
Ishida said:
And also consider the MASSIVE talent of the composer, Yasunori Mitsuda.

He actually ADDED the sound of fingers sliding down the guitar chords in several of the tracks. And yes, the "screech" sound is also made by the PS1's synthetizer.

Listen to this track (With headphones, if possible). At several points (Second 00:20, for example) you can hear the "screeching" of the guitar chords. Since this was not recorded using real instruments, everything was generated by the sound chip. And lots of Chrono Cross tracks contain this little detail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMIr_IF2d04
Click to expand...

Those are recorded samples, I don't think the PS1 was capable of synthesis.

Of course most of the time composers didn't record the samples from actual intstruments themselves but took them from Yamaha, Korg, Roland (sample-based) synths.

I don't know about PS1 but Nintendo used a lot of samples from Yamaha and Emu Proteus. Listen to this, some recognizable sounds there. This Proteus sample was probably used in Goldeneye.
 
It's the generation that marked the decline of console "sound identity". PlayStation soundtracks are typically indistinguishable from those on prior, contemporary and subsequent CD-based systems (unless you have really sharp ears, I suppose). On the flip side, systems like the Sega Genesis had a very distinct sound - when the intro riff to "Metal Squad" came on, you knew you were listening to a Sega Genesis console. It's a sad, yet inevitable, development.
 
Very mixed bag, which made it a step back from the universal charm SNES music had.
(Edit: protomouse's decline of console "sound identity" describes this well.)

MrCunningham said:
No love for the Sega Saturn custom Yamaha sound processor? It was probably one of the best features of that console.
Click to expand...

Easily the winner of that generation. Maybe still the best combined synthesizer/rompler sound chip in any console even today.
 
My favorite soundtracks are from N64 games and now all i want is these songs remastered.

F-Zero X got it's stereo/CD quality version, thank god.
 
I found this topic with people trying to find which synths videogame soundtracks were made with. Pretty interesting to see that Roland was a popular brand for source material.
 
TheAdmiester said:
CTRL+F "Korg M1"

Wasn't disappointed.
Click to expand...

Korg M1 was used a lot for the DKC games apparently. Pretty cool, I had no idea.

Also:

"Goldeneye/Perfect Dark/Banjo Tooie/Banjo Kazooie/Donkey Kong 64
Track: (all)
Sample/Libary: Roland JV 1080"

Might have to get me one of those.
 
Nimby said:
Best generation.

EDIT: Somehow missed sound. But a lot of my favorite soundtracks come from that era. MGS, Spyro, Tomb Raider, and of course SOTN. On N64, definitely Majora's Mask.
Click to expand...
Yep, pretty much this. So many memorable OSTs. Parappa/UmJammer. Tomba 1 & 2. Crash. RE series. Einhander. Mario 64. Mischief Makers. SFEX 1 and 2, and on and on and on. Not just from them, but arcades and even some PC games too.

SNES/Genesis comes mightily close, tho. That ThunderForce IV soundtrack, Shadow Dancer OST, Sonic 2....pure classics.

Today's game music is either too rock or orchestral for my tastes.

Prez said:
I found this topic with people trying to find which synths videogame soundtracks were made with. Pretty interesting to see that Roland was a popular brand for source material.
Click to expand...
Roland's today what Proteus EMU samplers were in the 90s: pretty much everywhere.

Proteus VX is a great vst download for anyone looking to try recreating some of those sounds, btw.
 
The PSX's SPU is an evolution of the SNES's SPC700, which was already incredible, but the PSX is capable of 24 voices (as opposed to 8), with 512K of RAM (as opposed to 64K), and supports higher quality waveforms. It's really a great chip, and was used very impressively by many developers. The N64, on the other hand, didn't actually have a dedicated sound chip, and it showed. All of the audio had to be mixed in software, much like the GBA's PCM channel. After the amazing SNES, the N64 was really a letdown in that area, although people still managed to get some impressive stuff out of it.
 
Lots of Playstation games had great, memorable music.

Not so much with the N64. There were some exceptions (Super Mario 64, the Zelda games, Bomberman Hero randomly) but overall the sound was a letdown on the system.
 
jhmtehgamr20xx said:
Roland's today what Proteus EMU samplers were in the 90s: pretty much everywhere.

Proteus VX is a great vst download for anyone looking to try recreating some of those sounds, btw.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised that Yamaha is barely mentioned. N64 sounds a lot like Yamaha to me but I guess I was wrong.
 
Just because it's low tech doesn't make it bad music. On the flip side, just because something is uncompressed and has a full orchestra doesn't make it good. It's all about the actual music not the technology outputting it.
 
Datschge said:
Easily the winner of that generation. Maybe still the best combined synthesizer/rompler sound chip in any console even today.
Click to expand...

I honestly wish I knew more about how sound hardware works. But from my recollection Saturn midi like tracks always sounded a little better than their PS1 counterparts. I know Lunar 2 on the Saturn did sound better than the PS1 game for example.
 
I think some of the sample-based composers just had trouble getting their music to be as "tight" as they had it on SNES, especially on N64. Compositionally there was good stuff, but production-wise a lot of stuff just wound up sounding like generic General MIDI. The N64 made it worse because of limited fidelity, sample space budget, and the fact they couldn't hide the fakeness behind the thick rich reverb the PS1 had.

Koji Kondo had this problem a lot. His compositions on Zelda and Mario were nice and catchy, but the samples he used just make me cringe every time. Which is a shame to me, because his work on ALttP and Yoshi's Island was pretty tight. The sound quality just doesn't come anywhere near that of, say, Goemon's Great Adventure or Conkers Bad Fur Day.
 
There was a stretch early on in the PSX lifetime where I got Suikoden 1, Wild Arms 1, and Castlevania: SOTN. That is some good goddamn Redbook audio. As great as the YM2612 sound I was used to was, getting CEE DEE technology and the extra depth afforded by that was a real deal that those who weren't around for pre-optical gaming might not recognize the signifigance of.

Ishida said:
Exactly. Chrono Cross' soundtrack was produced by the internal sound chip, and it sounds like a real life orchestra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpGwyd2Ve_0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyBDjMFWGcw
Click to expand...

Yes, indeed! Sakimoto used such wizardry to craft the often cavernous, tribal, and sinister Vagrant Story soundtrack.

Glorious stuff...you know, it's getting rare that kind of code monkeying and tone-play is delved into much any more. Olivier Derivière and Yuzo Koshiro are some of the few I can name that actually do this kind of work any more rather than rely upon flesh-and-blood recordings or prepackaged midi/synth packages.
 
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