[clb]

Google Drive link
Archive.org link

This is the soundtrack to the Classic MacOS port of Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition, published by MacSoft, and developed by Lion Entertainment in 1997.

A big difference between the PC version and the Mac version is that the music is CD audio...sort of. It's only in 22 kHz mono, instead of 44 kHz stereo. This is because this was the only way to fit the entire 2 1/2+ hour soundtrack onto a single 650 MB CD, which had to be in the drive in order to run the game.

Macs had motherboard audio instead of sound cards, and MIDI support was somewhat primitive via QuickTime, so that's partially why the music is CD-based.

These files are in uncompressed AIFF format, which is basically the Mac equivalent of WAV format, but the links have them in AIFF, WAV, and MP3 format.

Gameplay-wise, the Mac version is pretty much the same as the Atomic Edition, except that there are two audio features that are missing in the Mac version:

*No pitch variation (the Enforcer's roar has the same pitch as the Trooper, the Atomic Health has the same pitch as the teleporters, and most critically, when underwater, the guns and enemies have the same pitch as on land)
*No "reverb" effects (like, at the beginning of Flood Zone)

Also, there's an exclusive cheat to the Mac version. Typing "DN1984" in Hollywood Holocaust will replace the porno movie with the famous 1984 Macintosh Super Bowl commercial, with the commercial's audio.

[Danukem]

That was the first version of Duke 3D that I played and owned. I wish I could remember the model of Mac that I had at the time. I played it on that Mac for about three years off and on, then didn't play again until I got the Eduke32 port on my PC in 2006, at which point I started modding the game.

Until you posted this, I didn't realize that the liztroop and lizman used some of the same samples. I surely must have known this back in 1997 since they would have sounded exactly the same on my Mac, but in modern times I didn't notice. But there it is right in the sound definitions.

I didn't know about the exclusive easter egg, either.

// Predator Trooper
definesound PRED_RECOG    sounds/voc/predrg.voc          0   0   3  0   0
definesound PRED_PAIN     sounds/voc/predpn.voc          200 500 3  0   0
definesound PRED_DYING    sounds/voc/preddy.voc          0   400 3  0   0
                                             
// Lizard Captain                                                                       
definesound CAPT_RECOG    sounds/voc/predrg.voc        -400  0   3   0   0
definesound CAPT_PAIN     sounds/voc/predpn.voc        -200  100 3   0   0
definesound CAPT_DYING    sounds/voc/preddy.voc        -200  100 3   0   0

[Phredreeke]

I would probably call it PCM audio to distinguish it from the traditional CD audio used by SW/Blood/Redneck Rampage. The PS1 version did something similar, except it had an ADPCM style codec (so it could fit more without sacrificing stereo and much sample rate).

BTW any idea what sequencer this was recorded from?

[clb]

Phredreeke, on 25 December 2023 - 09:11 AM, said:

I would probably call it PCM audio to distinguish it from the traditional CD audio used by SW/Blood/Redneck Rampage. The PS1 version did something similar, except it had an ADPCM style codec (so it could fit more without sacrificing stereo and much sample rate).

BTW any idea what sequencer this was recorded from?

According to the samples on wavetable.nl's page, the one that sounds the closest is the Korg 05RW, at least on Stalker. It does sound like they did some tinkering with the MIDI files (for instance, Taking Names is a bit different from Bobby Prince's MIDI).

The company that did the soundtrack is called Town Sounds.

[Aleks]

Danukem, on 25 December 2023 - 02:54 AM, said:

Until you posted this, I didn't realize that the liztroop and lizman used some of the same samples. I surely must have known this back in 1997 since they would have sounded exactly the same on my Mac, but in modern times I didn't notice. But there it is right in the sound definitions.

I didn't know about the exclusive easter egg, either.

// Predator Trooper
definesound PRED_RECOG    sounds/voc/predrg.voc          0   0   3  0   0
definesound PRED_PAIN 	sounds/voc/predpn.voc          200 500 3  0   0
definesound PRED_DYING    sounds/voc/preddy.voc          0   400 3  0   0
                                         	
// Lizard Captain                                                                   	
definesound CAPT_RECOG    sounds/voc/predrg.voc        -400  0   3   0   0
definesound CAPT_PAIN 	sounds/voc/predpn.voc        -200  100 3   0   0
definesound CAPT_DYING    sounds/voc/preddy.voc        -200  100 3   0   0

That was also something that I've noticed in particular in the OP's message - I realised in Mapster that they're using the same sounds a while ago and had a weird feeling they do sound different in the game depending on the monster, but never thought about it long enough/bothered to check if there's actual variation somewhere else or it's just my perception