[XxMiltenXx]

The Roland ED SC-D70 is one of many successors of the popular Roland SC-55.
The songs were all recorded using the SC-D70. I haven't altered the audio at all beside doing a loudness normalization.

So far Duke Nukem 3D and Doom 1 are available.
Other planned music Packs so far are Doom 2, Doom TNT, Heretic, Hexen, Blood, Rise of the Triad, Hocus Pocus & Descent 1.

Downloads:
http://www.mediafire...45x/Music_Packs

Few details about the Roland ED SC-D70:

Spoiler

The Roland ED SC-D70 was released in 2001 and is one of the latest models of the Sound Canvas line. It is a digital audio-oriented desktop module version of the SC-8820. It contains all its maps and also the maps of the SC-88Pro, the SC-88 and the SC-55.

Specs:
Parts: 32
Voice Polyphony: 64
Tones: 1608
Drumsets: 63
Output resolution: 24-bit @44.1 kHz or 48kHz

If you have any questions or requests just let me know.

[MusicallyInspired]

Nice! Are you also implementing metadata loop tags for seamless looping? (for source ports that support it)

[Hendricks266]

MI, you may want to write up a guide about your music pack creation process. In addition to setting up loop points, there is also the need to handle EMIDI events so that ROTT, Duke, and SW MIDIs sound correct, and the compressor post-processing you do.

[MusicallyInspired]

Well, what I do for my recordings is open every MIDI individually in a DAW (I use Cakewalk Bandlab, which is completely free now) and do all my editing and arranging in there. Don't import a MIDI into a new project, though. Open it directly. This way Cakewalk (or whatever DAW you're using) will preserve the tempo bpm and time signature settings which makes editing for looping SO much easier.

• Make sure each channel is outputting to the proper MIDI out device (I have multiple, but you probably only have one so you may not have to worry about this) to reach the SC-D70.

• If you're recording EMIDI files (Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Rise of the Triad, Blood) you must delete the channels that are meant for other music devices because some tracks have duplicate (and sometimes triplicate) channels which the game engine chooses from to play based on which device driver is loaded (General MIDI, FM synth, or GUS). Otherwise they'll all be playing at once overlapping eachother and not sounding the way that they're meant to. Just make sure anything saying "FM" or "GUS" is muted or deleted.

• Record the whole song through once and let the last instruments fade out until there's absolutely no sound at the end. Also ensure that the recording doesn't clip (an average peak level of -13 db is recommended to allow some headroom to work with when you're normalizing/compressing/maximizing later).

• To get your songs to loop seamlessly you must copy a portion of the beginning of each song onto its end (a portion of the digital recording, not the MIDI data. Due to MIDI jitter and other random factors it won't sound seamless when the metadata loop tag kicks in and rewinds back to the beginning, you'll get a random clicking sound. Copying the digital recording you just made is the better route). For my tracks I usually add a few measures from the beginning to tag onto the end. This is where the tempo bpm and time signature data from the original MIDI comes in handy! You can just snap right to the beat (in some obscure cases you may have to zoom way in on the sample level to line things up exactly, but it's still good practice to do it every time just in case).

• Make sure there's enough extra content to allow the original final notes to fade out and then you can start fading out the track (I do this to make listening to the tracks outside of the game bearable and not end abruptly, but the game safely skips this due to the loop tags). It's also at this exact point that you should note the sample count (which you can get at the top counter). This value is what you'll use for the metadata loop LOOPEND which will trigger the game to loop back to the first loop point. Also note the sample count position of the same point of this copied portion at the beginning of the track so that it loops seamlessly. This will be metadata tag LOOPSTART. You'll add these tags in the final outputted OGG and FLAC files.

• IMPORTANT If you're recording an EMIDI you must note that most of these have their own loop points already which are set with EMIDI controllers. I don't remember the controller offhand, but you can see most MIDI controllers in the track view when you open a MIDI anyway. It'll be pretty obvious if it's right on a beat that would make a perfect loop point. For instance, STALKER does not loop back at the beginning of the MIDI but instead shortly after the intro after the fill comes in and the drums start. There are a lot of tracks like this in EMIDI. Watch out for them. Also, if you encounter one with an EMIDI loop point you'll have to copy the MIDI data at the end rather than the digital recording....that can get hairy getting it all to sound right. I believe for STALKER I copied a couple measures of the MIDI data from the EMIDI loop point onto the end and then crossfaded THAT with a portion of the digital recording from the area where the EMIDI loop point is so that the metadata looping was absolutely seamless right to the sample. Whew!

• Then comes the mastering/normalizing. What I do is add a soft (but not too soft) multi-band compression and boost the overall volume just to keep the track from clipping but sounding more lively and beefy. This is more effective than simply normalizing but it does squash the audio a bit. Compression is a bit of an art and you have to use your ears but as long as you're keeping the volume levels across tracks mostly sounding the same after compression and not sounding too "heaving" with a "push/pull" effect, you'll get a decent effect and the music won't sound too quiet (which it often will if you simply use raw recordings). Cakewalk has a built in multi-band compression plugin, but I don't know if the free Bandlab version does or not....

If that's a little difficult to follow with just text I can try to walk you through it further with some reference images. I know it's sometimes difficult to follow a wall of text. Conversely, if you're already aware of all of this and it sounds like I'm being condescending, I apologize. That's not my intention. Assuming you're interested in implementing metadata loop tags, I'd love to host your recordings on my SC-55 music pack website here at Duke4.net if you'd like.

[Mark]

I played dethtoll and it sounded slightly slower than normal tempo and in a lower key. Is it just me?

On grabbag it seems like the drums fade a bit starting at around 11 seconds. But at the start and end of the song they sound fine. But the instrument sounds themselves are great.

[XxMiltenXx]

MusicallyInspired, on 25 September 2018 - 09:21 AM, said:

Nice! Are you also implementing metadata loop tags for seamless looping? (for source ports that support it)

I never used looping, but it is planned to implement it.

Mark, on 25 September 2018 - 12:07 PM, said:

I played dethtoll and it sounded slightly slower than normal tempo and in a lower key. Is it just me?On grabbag it seems like the drums fade a bit starting at around 11 seconds. But at the start and end of the song they sound fine. But the instrument sounds themselves are great.

The MIDIs are all exported from the game itself and haven't been altered, so it's a little odd if Dethtoll should sound different. About Grabbag, I think it just sounds like this on this device. The guitars are fairly powerful so the drums go more into the background.
I will see what it sounds if I use MusicallyInspired tips.

Quote

If you're recording EMIDI files (Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Rise of the Triad, Blood) you must delete the channels that are meant for other music devices because some tracks have duplicate (and sometimes triplicate) channels which the game engine chooses from to play based on which device driver is loaded (General MIDI, FM synth, or GUS). Otherwise they'll all be playing at once overlapping eachother and not sounding the way that they're meant to. Just make sure anything saying "FM" or "GUS" is muted or deleted.

Yeah, I had those tracks removed. I wasn't aware though that Rise of the Triad does that as well.

Quote

Make sure there's enough extra content to allow the original final notes to fade out and then you can start fading out the track (I do this to make listening to the tracks outside of the game bearable and not end abruptly, but the game safely skips this due to the loop tags). It's also at this exact point that you should note the sample count (which you can get at the top counter). This value is what you'll use for the metadata loop LOOPEND which will trigger the game to loop back to the first loop point. Also note the sample count position of the same point of this copied portion at the beginning of the track so that it loops seamlessly. This will be metadata tag LOOPSTART. You'll add these tags in the final outputted OGG and FLAC files.

The stop was rather abrupt I agree, I didn't get the idea to open them in my DAW. I will do that from now on. Might I send you a PM if I get stuck somewhere?

Quote

Then comes the mastering/normalizing. What I do is add a soft (but not too soft) multi-band compression and boost the overall volume just to keep the track from clipping but sounding more lively and beefy. This is more effective than simply normalizing but it does squash the audio a bit. Compression is a bit of an art and you have to use your ears but as long as you're keeping the volume levels across tracks mostly sounding the same after compression and not sounding too "heaving" with a "push/pull" effect, you'll get a decent effect and the music won't sound too quiet (which it often will if you simply use raw recordings). Cakewalk has a built in multi-band compression plugin, but I don't know if the free Bandlab version does or not....

I do have FL Studio 20 at my disposal, I guess I can put that to some use. I was using the trial version of this program (https://auphonic.com/leveler) to do the loudness normalization. It uses LUFS so every song will have the same volume and it'll also put a compressor on it so it doesn't clip.

Thanks so far for all the tips, onto V2 then

EDIT: Nevermind about FL Studio 20. On ALIENZ.MID I noticed it doesn't play the drum part right. So I will get myself acquainted with Cakewalk Bandlab.

[Hendricks266]

Yeah, in my experience modern DAWs like FL Studio and Ableton mangle MIDIs.

[TerminX]

This looks like the beginnings of a great contribution to the community. Thanks, XxMiltenXx!

[MusicallyInspired]

XxMiltenXx, on 25 September 2018 - 01:25 PM, said:

The stop was rather abrupt I agree, I didn't get the idea to open them in my DAW. I will do that from now on. Might I send you a PM if I get stuck somewhere?

Of course! I'd be happy to help.

[XxMiltenXx]

The Hocus Pocus Soundtrack has been released. It's "Version 2", so I raised the volume slightly compared to the previous packs and OGG and FLAC have proper loop points set to them. Since Hocus Pocus itself cannot use it, I recommend checking it out on Hocus Doom!

I wanted to update Doom and Duke Nukem first, but Hocus Pocus doesn't have many tracks, so it was easy to do.

Thanks again to MusicallyInspired for all his tips

[TerminX]

If you want, we can provide you with some web space you can upload your work to so that you don't have to use mediafire.

[XxMiltenXx]

Like MusicallyInspired has? He had the idea to host it on his website here on Duke4.net, since it's also a sound canvas it would still fit somewhat. However, having them on seperated websites might also be an idea, then we can just provide links for the other pack. I'll PM you about it TerminX.

[IDHLEB]

Can't wait for ROTT soundtrack in FLAC

[XxMiltenXx]

It's been a while but now I have news...

1. No more Mediafire! Thanks to the web space TerminX gave me I can now host my music packs on a proper website. Thanks again! Also thanks to MusicallyInspired again for his help.
2. Every song has a different reverb type and level applied to it as some songs benefit from more reverb while others don't.
2.1. Doom, Duke Nukem 3D and Hocus Pocus have been updated accordingly.
3. Doom 2 and Rise of the Triad have been added!

The website doesn't look like much yet, but it's working at least.

If you have any issues with the music packs or the website let me know, so I can resolve them...
...otherwise enjoy

[XxMiltenXx]

Heretic has been added, you can grab it here: Heretic Music Packs

• Heretic does not contain any loop tags as the original music wasn't intended to loop, so just like the MIDIs it will fade out nicely and then start from the beginning.
  
• Some music have duplicate notes which would be audible on the SC-D70, while the SC-55 ignores them. Since the duplicate notes don't sound nice IMO, I removed them.
  
• Other changes I made were some volume fixes to some tracks, as the music wasn't made with reverberation in mind it would sometimes cause some weird "after-effects". I have fixed that.
  
• I have made some crescendo's more smooth as most of Heretic volume changes are very coarse. I only changed it where this coarseness was necessary (e.g. MUS_E2M3)

Duke: Nuclear Winter, one of the Duke Nukem 3D Addons has been added... as it is christmas I think this was a needed addition at this time! You can grab it here: Duke: Nuclear Winter Music Packs
Have a nice Christmas everyone!

I hope you enjoy

[XxMiltenXx]

Well, it's been a while ...

Anyhow, here' some new stuff!

Some older news:

• Hexen has been added.
  
• All music packs have been updated. The noise floor has been reduced, which also makes the FLAC files about 2 to 8 percent better compressable.
  
• Doom 2 Track 'Waiting for Romero to play' has been updated, as there was a crackling noise in the previous version right at the beginning.
  
• Duke Nukem 3D Track 'Plasma' has a slightly lower volume, as higher volume caused crackling at some points during playback.

Website:

• Added Compatible Source Ports below the download links.

Recently added:

• Final Doom - TNT: Evilution has been added.
  
• Final Doom - The Plutonia Experiment has been added.
  
• The unofficial Plutonia MIDI Pack has been added.
  
• Fixed a song title typo in the Doom music packs.

I am also working on Descent, but it's only about half-way done. It was a bit trickier than I had anticipated.

Anyway, enjoy!

[XxMiltenXx]

Well... my usual introduction... it's been a while!

A new update which contains new additions and some fixes.

Additions:

Descent
X-COM: UFO Defense (UFO: Enemy Unknown)
X-COM: Terror from the Deep

Fixes for Duke Nukem 3D:

Fixed crackling on the beginning of 'Invader' & 'Intents'
Fixed loop times for 'Gutwrencher', 'Invader' and 'The Call of Death'
Fixed 'Alfred H. (My Family Plot)' - I used a wrong MIDI track. I thought GS stands for Roland GS, but there it was meant for GUS (Gravis Ultrasound)

Changes:

Added more reverb to 'Grabbag' of Duke Nukem 3D as I wasn't satisfied with the first version
In the first music pack for Heretic I removed all double notes, as the Roland SC-55 ignores them. However, the MIDIs are optimized for OPL/Adlib, and there the double notes are audible, so I re-recorded it with the double notes this time, to be more faithful.
All music packs have been updated to only have lower case file and folder names

Website-changes:

slight visual tuning
"Progress & Changelog" prage has been added
"How to use" page as been added

PS:
Descent took so long, because it has a similar system like Duke Nukem 3D. This means that there are multiple tracks for different devices. However, due to the conversion from HMP to MIDI this information is lost. I only noticed it, because there were some songs had percussion tracks on channel 10 and 12 (10 is common, 12 isn't), so I took a look into the DOS-Version of Descent and noticed that only some of the MIDI-tracks are played. With taking a look into the HMP files with a HEX-Editor I was able to identify which tracks to keep and which to remove. Even the source port DX1-Rebirth doesn't seem to be aware of this. It'll simply play all music tracks, without discarding the wrong ones, like the DOS-Version does. So on some songs there will be noticable differences.

Anyway, enjoy!

[Ninety-Six]

I don't know how I missed this the first several times around, but I'm gonna have to give these a spin sooner rather than later. I enjoy the SC-55 (and the stellar music packs provided by MI), but I will admit I do think that in some cases, the 55 doesn't do certain songs justice. So I am looking forward to this; I'll put them in my next Duke playthrough.

Either way, keep going. More variety in music recordings is nothing but a good thing.

[Ninety-Six]

I do like these. The particular strength of this pack seems to lie in songs with a focus on percussion, as those sound particularly great here. It also does amazing justice to my favorite song, Gotham.

Now all we need is an SC-88 pack and I'll be able to build my ultimate soundtrack.

I wonder. Is there any chance we could hear how the full version of Grabbag or It's Green would sound through the SC-D70? I'm quite curious.