King's Quest 4 MT-32 soundtrack

[Kaminari]

I'm not sure talking about a 'complete soundtrack' for this one isn't a wee bit pretentious, but King's Quest 4 still remains the historical game that started it all, and I'd love to have one neat MT-32 mid file that would do William Goldstein justice. If only because I haven't the slightest clue about how to change Channel 5 to Program #12 on my CM-500 in order to make Rosella's Organ Solo play back properly ^^

[Ari]

I've thought about doing that one for a while.
I look into it.

[Alistair]

http://smc.sq7.org/miscfile/kq4mt32.zip

That's a zip file with all the extracted MT-32 files into it, requested by a KQ4 fan project a while back. Someone recorded digital versions for me recently as well..

And even if you did send the MT's pipe organ to the SC (CM) 's Church Organ, it wouldn't play back correctly. Ken Allen classic, that organ solo.

- Alistair

[Ari]

Well, one less thing on the agenda...

[Kaminari]

Thanks Alistair! However the archive seems to lack the sysex file.

And even if you did send the MT's pipe organ to the SC (CM) 's Church Organ, it wouldn't play back correctly.
Ken Allen classic, that organ solo.

Err, that's a CM-500 we're talking about, not a CM-300

[Tom]

King's Quest IV doesn't use anything other than the MT-32's default timbres, so no patch bank is required.  If I recall, this is one of those rare Sierra soundtracks that plays slightly differently on the CM-500.

[Kaminari]

That's what I thought Tom, but the readme indicates that KQ4.syx should be loaded for proper playback -- and indeed, the mids sound rather weird to me without one. I don't know if KQ4 is supposed to sound differently on the CM-500, but as far as I can tell, the intro from Alistair's archive sounds vastly different to your own recording :?

[Edit] Ok, silly me... I tried the game in DOSBox (never heard it with MT-32 before) and it sounded very much like Alistair's rips. Still odd because I'd swear they are a lot of false notes in there, but maybe that's precisely because of the CM-500 vs MT-32. Now why do Tom's recordings sound so much better on the same setup, I can't tell. Perhaps it didn't occur to me that the version from Quest Studios was arranged or something?

[Tom]

No, mine aren't arranged.  This game definitely does NOT use a patch bank.  There shouldn't be a "kq4.syx" file.  If you've downloaded the KQ4 "Finale" MP3 from THE SIERRA LOUNGE, this is how the soundtrack SHOULD sound using the default power-on MT-32.  I've played some of the KQ4 MIDI on the CM-500 and it works fine.  It's while playing the actual game that might present a problem.  I'll have to check out these MIDI files Alistair posted and see what gives with the patch bank.

[Kaminari]

Thanks for the head-up, Tom. I compared the Sierra Lounge recording to the Finale mid on KQ4's page, and they both sound identical -- which comes as a relief :)

Something's not right with Alistair's archive then. Just listen to KQ4_201.MID around 2'40 and feel the fear. It looks like a tune coming right from American McGee's Alice!

[Ari]

This may be a stupid question, but are you sure you playing the themes in the right mode? These tracks also contain the adlib tracks on channel 1 and 11-16, and if you're in the wrong mode on the CM-500, it might play them as well...

[Alistair]

If I made a comment about SYX in the text file (I don't remember, it was a while ago now!) it was in error. As Tom pointed out there should be NO SysEx sent before the MIDI's are played. *However*, by playing some MIDI's you might have pitch bends of certain instruments 'out of whack', so you might need to reset your module between MIDI's.

Additionally, as Ari points out, Adlib channels which are on 1 and 11-16 will be completely wrong and will sound bizarre. But they won't send to your MT-32.. maybe to your General MIDI side of your CM though, which has 16 channels.

Keep me posted.

Regards,
- Alistair

[Kaminari]

Meseems you nailed it right on the head, gentlemen.

Playing the intro mid with kbMP, I can tell from the vumeter that channels 1~5 and 10~13 are in use, hence the cacophony I hear. But the thing is, my Japanese CM-500 is set to Mode B (CM-32 / CM-64), which I believe should work just fine -- but obviously it doesn't, since it's almost certain it plays the AdLib part as well.

Mode C (CM-300) is for GM/GS. Btw, what's the difference between Mode A (CM-300 + CM-32L) and Mode D (CM-500)? I can't tell from the manual, my Japanese is very limited in technical audio glossary...

Anyway, more than ever I'd still like to suggest the idea of a complete soundtrack for KQ4, especially stripped down of anything that could make a CM-500 choke to death :P

Thanks again for your dedication and swift support, they're very much appreciated.

[Ari]

Well, it should be easy to take the midis Alistair recorded and "splice" them together and perhaps loop them a little as well.

I could do that, but the problem is, I'm not familiar enough with the soundtrack to know where each theme is played in the game.

If you can name the themes, and order them according to their time frame in the game, I can do the rest.

...With Alistair's permission, of course...

[Alistair]

Swift support is what I do.

And a heads-up Ari, other than the intro, finale and organ solo, I'm fairly sure all other pieces are 3-4 seconds in length! I'm not sure, my memory is SHOCKING post-operation, but I honestly don't think there's much else.

But feel free, my permission is yours. Not that it means anything, since Sierra owns the stuff. But thanks for asking.

- Alistair

[Ari]

Yeah, I listened to it yesterday.
How come there're 3 different 'finale' versions?

[Tom]

That's why I've never done a KQ4 soundtrack; there's just not much music in the game besides the Intro and End Themes.  (Kaminari, the Intro and End Themes share a lot in common, so  maybe that's what you're thinking are different 'arrangements.)

Alistair, why did you leave all those Ad Lib tracks in the MIDI files, anyway?  Must play havoc with CM-64 users, as well.

[Zemus]

Playing the intro mid with kbMP, I can tell from the vumeter that channels 1~5 and 10~13 are in use, hence the cacophony I hear. But the thing is, my Japanese CM-500 is set to Mode B (CM-32 / CM-64), which I believe should work just fine -- but obviously it doesn't, since it's almost certain it plays the AdLib part as well.

Mode B plays back emulated CM-32P instruments on channels 11-16 and that's what you hear. This is also how a real CM-64 worked, only that the CM-500 uses the SC-55 samples to emulate the CM-32P instruments.

Modes A and D got things set up a bit differently. Mode D has the MT-32 and SC-55 instruments separated. SC-55 on the first ten channels and MT-32 on the rest (11-16). Mode A got both SC-55 and MT-32 instruments on channels 2-10 so you need to use sysex to mute one of them. Mode D was made for instances where you don't have access to a way to send sysex, but want to use both synths without having to change between modes.
I scanned my English manual for the CM-500 a while ago if you're interested: http://s-island.mixnmojo.com/stuff/CM-500.PDF

[Tom]

There's a Roland SysEx file on my Utilities page designed for Mode "A"  CM-500 users, which will turn the SC-55 parts OFF so that only the L/A synth will receive and play MIDI data.  This is the preferred method for playing Sierra MT-32 supported games and music, and Mode "C" (SC-55) is great for playing General MIDI supported games and music.

The most important thing is remembering to turn the CM-500 power off when switching modes or they don't...switch.

[Zemus]

Why not just use mode B? Mode B has always worked fine for me when playing MT-32 MIDIs...

[Alistair]

That's why I've never done a KQ4 soundtrack; there's just not much music in the game besides the Intro and End Themes. (Kaminari, the Intro and End Themes share a lot in common, so maybe that's what you're thinking are different 'arrangements.)

Likewise.. nothing special about KQ4's music. Nice to tack on to a KQ5CD if anyone can ever feel enough emotion to bother with one (never had enough for me to do one I must say), but I can't see Tom or I doing KQ5 for a while. KQ7 maybe.. but KQ4/5 don't grab me. (I like KQ5's score, but it suffers from the rare 'extremely crappy Sierra game' syndrome that ruins good soundtracks- you just don't care that much about the scenarios behind the music.)  

Alistair, why did you leave all those Ad Lib tracks in the MIDI files, anyway? Must play havoc with CM-64 users, as well.

'Cause.. I uploaded this file eons ago for a KQ4 fanproject who wanted the extracted resources. I don't really care about CM users (never designed these files to be played on anything but a MT-32 or LAPC-1).. and you even have a mode designed for MT playback, as Zemus said, use it! Don't understand the complaint myself.

- Alistair