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june gloom

Plutonia 2 soundtrack

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Does anyone have it in a high-quality mp3 set? I plan to go through the wad shortly but MIDI sounds like butt on this machine for whatever reason.

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A quick conversion I made with AIMP and the Arachno soundfont (which should be really good):

[Links removed, for updated downloads, see post below]

I prepared it for ZDoom and compatible ports, i.e. all files are in "music" dir, zipped to pk3 and ready to use (file names are the same like in the WAD). Didn't test it, but it should work. Also note that I think Plut2 still uses music from the original game, so it's not a 100% complete replacement.

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Thanks.

Rapidshare is playing hard to get, though. Any chance of putting it on Bayfiles or Mediafire?

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Hello guys,

As I said on Diamhea's video, thank you so much for using Arachno SoundFont to record this soundtrack!

I built it with DOOM music in mind and I'm very glad you're actually enjoying it!

I'll have to checkout AIMP as a MIDI recorder, as it seems to speed up the recording process...

Did you use an external software/hardware synthesizer to record the MIDI files (BASSMIDI Driver/CoolSoft VirtualMIDISynth/Creative soundcard), or does AIMP come with its own integrated MIDI SoundFont synthesizer?

The recordings sound clean without any glitches, that you can often hear with any of the above-mentioned synths when used extensively (not to mention the Sound Blaster cards and their buggy MIDI drivers...)

I'll add the YouTube video among all the user-made arrangements I'm listing on my website (http://www.arachnosoft.com/main/soundfont.php?users), but if you want, I can also add ID3 Tags on the MP3s and add the archive as an "official" download link on my website too (I'd host it on an external file hosting service, however).

Thanks again for your support!

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I actually did not expect so much positive feedback about this, didn't think it was anything special. :)

Technically, I have used the AIMP Audio Converter which comes with the media player. Both the player and the converter utilize the BASSMIDI plugin which can be fed with the soundfont (and you have to do so separately for both player and converter, btw). The conversion is fast, doing 4 files at once, WAV output. Then normalized with Audacity (no compression to avoid quality loss), converted to MP3/OGG with AIMP converter again afterwards. A matter of 30 minutes for all 3 packs. Really easy, everybody can do that, no special hardware required (I did this with an internal Realtek soundchip, not even a Soundblaster card - doesn't make any difference to the average human ear).
The audio result is indeed surprisingly crisp and clean, and the instruments sound pretty much perfect. A great soundfont with music that almost seemed to be composed for it. :)

Anyway, I have improved this by normalizing all tracks. They now all have the same volume for a more consistant listening/ingame experience. Anyone who has already downloaded everything is encouraged to do so again.


Plutonia/Plutonia 2/Plutonia Revisited
Rapidshare (High Quality MP3)
Rapidshare (MP3/OGG)

Plutonia
Bayfiles (High Quality MP3, 166 MB)
Bayfiles (MP3 version, 125 MB)
Bayfiles (OGG version, 75 MB)

Plutonia 2
Bayfiles (High Quality MP3, 166 MB)
Bayfiles (MP3 version, 125 MB)
Bayfiles (OGG version, 76 MB)

Plutonia Revisited
Bayfiles (High Quality MP3, 129 MB)
Bayfiles (MP3 version, 97 MB)
Bayfiles (OGG version, 59 MB)

Explanations:
1) The standard (normal quality) files are ready-to-use with ZDoom and compatible ports (inside a "music" subdir).
2) You can always rename .pk3 ending to .zip or just directly open with programs like 7-Zip, it will open the files without renaming.
New uploads for all Plutonia packs are available here, in OGG (128 kbps) or MP3 (192 kbps) format.
3) "High Quality" uploads have 256 kbps MP3s with ID3v2 tags for optimum audio playback outside of the game. Files are renamed in that pack, too. Those packs are not meant to be used ingame but rather in any audio player of your choice.


But that isn't even it yet!

I have also made an Arachno music pack for Duke Nukem 3D which is hosted on our Duke3D HRP website. It also sounds awesome!

Arachno turns out to be a great soundfont for many classic games, and since Doom and Duke3D are among my favorite, they deserve this special treatment. Thanks for creating this soundfont, and even though I can hardly imagine to make it any better than it already is, I will certainly monitor its development closely! ^^

A special thanks ofc goes to the composers of all these great tracks. You guys did an incredible job there, for ANY of these packs!

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Immediately posted a link to the Duke3D HRP website on my Facebook and Google+ accounts, with credits for your Duke3D Arachno Music Pack. I'll make my best to write some stuff about your music packs on the Arachno SoundFont website very soon!

Many thanks once again. I knew that I was right to spend so much time building this SoundFont (from 2003 to 2007!), testing it on so many MIDIs afterwards, and writing the huge documentation three years later to get it ready for release.

This SoundFont sounds much better on CoolSoft VirtualMIDISynth or BASSMIDI Driver than on hardware Sound Blaster cards, because of their buggy driver support. So, the soundcard you're using to record from softsynths will not make a difference.

However, if I could make a suggestion to enhance your music packs...

- you should take some time to fill the audio files' "ID3" tags with some basic info (track names, album/collection, composer...) and credits (your name, website...), just to be sure that your files can be identified in case someone would release them randomly on the internet;

- if I were you, I would also release an alternative pack with higher-bitrate files. 128 kbit is okay for most people's audio equipment, but the difference with 192/224 or higher bitrates can be heard with higher-end equipment. Of course, keep the 128 kbit packs for lower bandwidth users ;)

Please keep us informed if you release any other music packs! I'll try to keep track of your work to reference your packs on my website.

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Oh, and it seems that I forgot to reply to your thoughts about Arachno SoundFont;

Although I built it for my own listening pleasure and video game needs (Duke Nukem 3D, DOOM, Heretic...) at first, I sometimes wish I had released it earlier, back when SoundFont was still a very popular format, when huge websites like TheSoundSite or HammerSound were still active. Oh, well.

To answer your question, I'll have to take some time to release an update to Arachno SoundFont someday. Because there are some bugs, indeed:
- Piano 1 loops are somewhat approximative;
- Synth bass 1's Gravis UltraSound part is silent on software synths;
- Pizzicato Strings loops are buggy on X-Fi cards (hopefully not on soft synths)
- and some other minor issues...

I'll have to update it, just to thank all devoted users like you...
- because some users actually gave me some very interesting technical feedback on how to fix some stuff...
- because I have still-very-cool hardware sound modules (Roland Sound Canvas SC-8850, Yamaha MU1000) and soft synths (Emulator X3) which could provide better sounds for some instruments...

If I had to release a new (major) version, I'd probably be to enhance the balance/volume between all the instruments, which is the weakness of my SoundFont.

When you listen to Robert C. Prince's or Lee Jackson's tracks with it, compared to the Roland Sound Canvas SC-88 they've composed them with, many instruments sound too loud or too quiet compared to others, and compared to the overall rendering of the Sound Canvas modules, which is probably the reason why some people still prefer them over anything else.

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As I said in the Plutonia MIDI Pack thread, the bass guitars and pianos in this soundfont are very nice, but I'm really not a fan of the guitars, they don't sound too nice in most cases. Plusfort (MAP06) of NightFright's Plutonia MIDI Pack conversion really showed this. I don't know how much you can improve them, but I'd definitely welcome an improvement if you could do it :)

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Guitars and choirs are always the weak link it seems. Is it the uncanny valley or what? I am always distracted by those two. Also, there is a missing instrument in e1m2. It's easy to find because it is the first one and doesn't play. It is missing in every sound font tried. I use an x-fi but after reading this thread will try a software solution and maybe that will help. Too bad, I thought dedicated hardware was the way to go. What do you guys use for your sound device?

I really like arachno sound font overall. For me it is as good or better than the alternatives I have been exposed to.

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Someone reported that the Arachno soundfont was too loud on some instruments of CBLOOD7 when played through Fluidsynth within SLADE 3. I tried it myself and the volumes were reasonable; but I'm really not convinced by how the strings sound in that song. So if you update the font, I suggest finding better strings. :)

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Eris Falling said:

As I said in the Plutonia MIDI Pack thread, the bass guitars and pianos in this soundfont are very nice, but I'm really not a fan of the guitars, they don't sound too nice in most cases. Plusfort (MAP06) of NightFright's Plutonia MIDI Pack conversion really showed this. I don't know how much you can improve them, but I'd definitely welcome an improvement if you could do it :)

Actually, the electric guitars are the two instruments on which I spent the highest amount of time, so I don't really see how I could improve them right now ;)

I tried tons of samples for these two: real electric guitars with effects, without effects, sampled "famous" synth guitars (like the SC-88 power guitars you can hear on Duke Nukem 3D's "Grabbag" official MP3 from Atomic Edition), amp-driven renditions... nothing was versatile enough to fit as a general-purpose instrument. Either these guitars sounded too "realistic" and were impossible to use with General MIDI files, or either they sounded too bland to give some strength to many tracks.

I ended up using 8 different samples mixed together to get these guitars (as described on the Arachno SoundFont documentation). And, as far as I know, most people usually think that they're a huge improvement on those you can usually find on some other SoundFont banks or synths.

As somebody pointed out on the ZDoom thread linked by Gez, the SC-8850 has several electric guitar amp effects which sound very good and realistic to my ears, but may remain too "synthetic" for most trained guitarists.

Even "professional" virtual electric guitars usually sound "synthesized". Listen to "Legacy of Rust" by Skaven. I remember reading somewhere (his website maybe) that he used a well-known plugin for the electric guitar sound back then (a quite popular one) but I can't remember which one. And, even on this track, the "synthesized" feeling is here... with a paid electric guitar plugin directly designed to simulate an electric guitar!

So, it's even more difficult to achieve guitar amp effects with SoundFont synths, which don't offer any integrated "electric guitar" effect, so you can only rely on the samples themselves ;)

I'm actually very happy with the Arachno SoundFont electric guitars (but how I could say anything else, hehe!). I released a demo of these presets on YouTube several months ago, if you want to compare them with some famous tracks which aren't from video games: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cAtUbuQB0g

rampancy said:

Guitars and choirs are always the weak link it seems. Is it the uncanny valley or what? I am always distracted by those two.

Choirs are very difficult to sample as well, even more if you want both bass (men) and treble voices (women) in the same instrument, like I did for my Choir Aahs ;)

The SC-8850 has pretty decent choir samples. I'll try to benefit from them for the next instrument update.

rampancy said:

Also, there is a missing instrument in e1m2. It's easy to find because it is the first one and doesn't play. It is missing in every sound font tried.

Really? It sounds very strange to me, I never noticed it, even with my own X-Fi (although I have an updated EMU20K2, PCIe version) which renders the MIDI file just like other synths, SoundFont or not.

Is there any YouTube/SoundCloud/whatsoever link I could check with the original music and the instrument you're missing, to compare it with?

rampancy said:

I use an x-fi but after reading this thread will try a software solution and maybe that will help. Too bad, I thought dedicated hardware was the way to go. What do you guys use for your sound device?

It was the case... until powerful software synths like BASSMIDI or VirtualMIDISynth came out in 2010 ;) (hopefully, they were released just before I finished writing the SoundFont's documentation, so I could add information on alternative software synths on it!).

I don't really use my X-Fi anymore these days, just BASSMIDI or VirtualMIDISynth alternatively (BASSMIDI for recordings as its rendering is more stable once all instruments have been cached, and VirtualMIDISynth for listening purposes, mainly because of its faster caching mechanism).

They both sound the same as they're using the same BASS engine, and they don't suffer from all the exasperating playback issues you can have with *all* hardware Sound Blaster SoundFont MIDI synths (either Live!, Audigy or X-Fi), mainly related to limited polyphony.

Although I never thought I'd ever say that back when I was building the SoundFont on my Live! (because software synths available at the time, like sfz or TiMidity++, had incomplete SoundFont support), I'd recommend using these two software synths over any Creative soundcard any day now.

rampancy said:

I really like arachno sound font overall. For me it is as good or better than the alternatives I have been exposed to.

Thanks ;)

Gez said:

Someone reported that the Arachno soundfont was too loud on some instruments of CBLOOD7 when played through Fluidsynth within SLADE 3. I tried it myself and the volumes were reasonable; but I'm really not convinced by how the strings sound in that song. So if you update the font, I suggest finding better strings. :)

This track sounds better on the YouTube link you've provided, for sure ;)

The strings are a mix of acoustic and synthetic presets on this song. It usually sounds good, but it really depends of the "synthetic" threshold applied to the Synth strings on the SoundFont you're using ;)

Anyway, Arachno SoundFont's strings could be improved with some better samples in some areas. My SC-8850 often sounds more natural on most MIDIs using string ensembles.

But it seems that Blood's MIDI files were composed on a particular synth. Some instruments appear in red on vanBasco's Karaoke Player (meaning that the presets chosen are not from the "standard" GM or classic GS set from SC-55/SC-88) and are not recognized by my SC-8850 or MU1000.

I'll have to checkout the rendering of Arachno SoundFont on FluidSynth as well.

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rampancy said:

Also, there is a missing instrument in e1m2. It's easy to find because it is the first one and doesn't play. It is missing in every sound font tried.

That first instrument always plays for me; the soundfonts don't have a missing instrument. Most likely it is a problem with whichever thing you are using to play the soundfonts with.

As for the music packs, they sound great!

As mentioned, some presets like the strings could probably be better, although they still sound very good on MIDIs meant for synthesized-sounding instruments.

And finally, the electric guitars don't sound bad to me; they're about as good as you can get with soundfont electric guitars, while still being suitable for all MIDIs.

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Perhaps I've been listening to too much SGM then :P

Also those first instruments E1M2 are String Ensemble 1 and Synth Strings 2, if that's any use.

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I have updated my post above with a "high quality" release of all three packs, containing 256 kbps MP3s with ID3v2 tags and renamed files.

This should provide maximum listening pleasure for any audiophiles out there. :)

Oh, and I hope I didn't make any mistakes with the names. Can happen with such an amount of files.

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You should go around doing this for tons more old projects, your like the modern day upgrade king in a way :p

Anyway, this all reminds me I still have yet to play Plutonia 2. Probably because of how daunting the original still is to this day, only finished that once and it was like winning a lifetime achievement when I did.

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Personally, I like Plutonia 2 more because maps are looking nicer and gameplay is more forgiving on lower difficulties (which is my skill level).

Anyway, the music composed for all these packs, including the recently released Plutonia MIDI Pack, is very well done. I am hoping for similar quality in TNT 2: Devilution.

I will have 3 weeks of holidays lying ahead. Could imagine doing the whole Doom soundtrack with Arachno possibly. I also have a Roland SC-55, but digitized DOOM music with that synth has already been done.

It could be interesting to run those Plutonia MIDIs through the Roland, too, maybe...

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can't say that I'm a fan of this soundfont for game music, I always prefered SGM. recently I had a little conversation with dew about gameplay recording and soundfonts and on that matter I found an interesting soundfont on youtube which tries to emulate the Roland SC-55. thought this could be interesting here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tmN1a3cDMg

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I'll have to look into that Roland one, it seems interesting.

Also if you download the drumkits for the Giant soundfont, and using BASSMIDI (I presume its doable with other drivers too) use it to replace SGM's drums. The result is my default, and sounds very nice. The power drums are awesome.

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Eris Falling said:

I'll have to look into that Roland one, it seems interesting.

Also if you download the drumkits for the Giant soundfont, and using BASSMIDI (I presume its doable with other drivers too) use it to replace SGM's drums. The result is my default, and sounds very nice. The power drums are awesome.

oh man, that is quite awesome indeed! the SGM drumset isn't that bad for production purposes, but it's really bad when playing it with most soundtracks Doom mods have.

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Hello guys!

I'll soon have some free time to update Arachno SoundFont's webpages with all NightFright's music packs mentioned above (Duke Nukem 3D, Plutonia, Plutonia 2).

NightFright, you told us some weeks ago that you could also release a DOOM music pack with Arachno SoundFont:

NightFright said:

I will have 3 weeks of holidays lying ahead. Could imagine doing the whole Doom soundtrack with Arachno possibly. I also have a Roland SC-55, but digitized DOOM music with that synth has already been done.


Do you actually plan to release it within the next few days? Just to know if I should wait a few days to update my website with this pack as well.

Happy New Year everbody!

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In case I find MUS-to-MIDI conversions without any errors, I will see what I can do. :P


*EDIT Jan 2, 2014*

It is done. Packs are made for Doom, Doom II and Final Doom (TNT Evilution).

OGG version is for ingame usage, in "music" folder, zipped to .pk3. Comes in three separate packs.
MP3 version is for listening purposes, with ID3v2 tags. Rapidshare link features one zipfile that contains the tracks for all games, the mirrors have separate files for each game.

These packs also complete the Plutonia packs (at least the Plutonia Rev. one) which use some tracks from the original game.

DOOM Arachno Soundtrack (Rapidshare):
DOOM Arachno Ingame (PK3/OGG, 128 kbps, 56/80/34 MB) (doomfinal_ogg.pk3 updated Jan 7, 2014)
DOOM Arachno Listening (ZIP/MP3, 256 kbps, 296 MB) (TNT03 track updated Jan 7, 2014)

DOOM Arachno Soundtrack (Mega File Upload mirrors):
DOOM Arachno Ingame (PK3/OGG, 128 kbps, 56 MB)
DOOM II Arachno Ingame (PK3/OGG, 128 kbps, 80 MB)
Final DOOM Arachno Ingame (PK3/OGG, 128 kbps, 34 MB) (D_STALKS.ogg updated Jan 7, 2014)

DOOM Arachno Listening (ZIP/MP3, 256 kbps, 100 MB)
DOOM II Arachno Listening (ZIP/MP3, 256 kbps, 141 MB)
Final DOOM Arachno Listening (ZIP/MP3, 256 kbps, 54 MB) (TNT03 track updated Jan 7, 2014)

Note for ingame soundtrack users:
Final DOOM soundtrack also needs DOOM II music. Load doom2_ogg.pk3 first, then doomfinal_ogg.pk3.


-----------------------------------------------

For completion purposes, here are the links for the previous Plutonia soundtracks once again:

Plutonia/Plutonia 2/Plutonia Revisited
Rapidshare (High Quality MP3)
Rapidshare (MP3/OGG)

Plutonia
Bayfiles (High Quality MP3, 166 MB)
Bayfiles (MP3 version, 125 MB)
Bayfiles (OGG version, 75 MB)

Plutonia 2
Bayfiles (High Quality MP3, 166 MB)
Bayfiles (MP3 version, 125 MB)
Bayfiles (OGG version, 76 MB)

Plutonia Revisited
Bayfiles (High Quality MP3, 129 MB)
Bayfiles (MP3 version, 97 MB)
Bayfiles (OGG version, 59 MB)

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Well, what else can I say... except that you rock! :D

So, I've added all your stuff on the Arachno SoundFont website:

http://www.arachnosoft.com/main/home.php (news article on front page)

http://www.arachnosoft.com/main/soundfont.php?music-packs (the new "Music Packs" section with all your music packs and links to this forum thread/the Duke3D HRP website to get the download links)

http://www.arachnosoft.com/main/arrangements.php?id=diamhea-doom2-plutonia2&category=users&type=youtube (direct link to Diamhea's video featuring your Plutonia 2 music pack)

I first started by adding the Plutonia and Duke Nukem 3D packs... then I refreshed this forum thread just to read that you added the DOOM packs in the meantime... so I updated the whole pages afterwards :)

I don't know if I made a clear enough description of all the music packs. I hope that most people will understand what to do with these files and where to download them!

I'll try to mirror your files on an additional provider (such as SendSpace) or add yours as "direct" download links on my website to offer them the visibility they deserve - just like you did with the Duke Nukem 3D Arachno Music Pack by hosting it on the HRP website.

Thanks for all your efforts!
Looking forward for new stuff from you!

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Well, it's great if someone is actually using these. Even though it saves a lot of disk space of course if you just use the soundfont directly for native MIDI playback. ^^

I would have liked to host the DOOM music on the Duke4.net FTP as well, but Yatta and the other admins will kill me if I put stuff there that has nothing to do with Duke, especially when the files are that large. I can still try to ask for permission - even if it's only for the OGG packs maybe.

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Arachnosoft, you should get rid of the superfluous linebreaks in your sig. It doesn't look very good like that: ;)

__________________
Download Arachno SoundFont, a 150
MB GM/GS sound bank, to enhance the
sound and realism of all your MIDI
files, including the DOOM
soundtracks:
http://www.arachnosoft.com
And, if you don't have any hardware
SoundFont synthesizer to play with,
download BASSMIDI Driver
(http://www.mudlord.info/bassmididr
v), CoolSoft VirtualMIDISynth
(http://coolsoft.altervista.org/vir
tualmidisynth) or SynthFont
(http://www.synthfont.com)

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