Kyrandia music

[Alistair]

Hey folks,

Just was musing about Kyrandia (LOK1 that is), after speaking to Frank Klepacki again about the project the other day. Rerecorded the Roland MT-32 MIDI soundtrack yesterday, and realised that there's actually no MIDI or MP3 on the web that's actually representative of what's in the game!

All the converted XMI files have been converted wrongly, and so play too fast. Weird, huh?

Annoying thing is, some of the 'speedy' tracks sound almost better than the originals..

Anyways, is anyone interested in Kyrandia music here? I seem to remember Zemus being so, but can't remember anyone else (though I'm sure there's more).

I couldn't keep putting this project off (as in, other Sierra scores ahead of it), because it keeps getting requested on my site!

Regards,
- Alistair

[moturimi1]

I'm interested in the Legend of Kyrandia 1 Midi music.
I already recorded some tracks with the CM500. That's why I asked the people on this message board for help some time ago.
Unfortuneately I don't have much time at the moment.

[Laust]

Count me in. Big fan of Klepacki's work (especially the early ones) but never heard/tried LoK for some reason.

[Alistair]

Yes, I saw your comments, Motimuri. Part of what spurred me on!

Count me in. Big fan of Klepacki's work (especially the early ones) but never heard/tried LoK for some reason.

Continued discussion between me and Frank, as well as veritable legions of requests by fans to me via email and on my message board has meant that yes, I've begun this soundtrack as well. Shouldn't take *that* long, I'm not doing that much to it.

To use a sentiment that Ari Stone, Tom and I all share, usually converting and mixing soundtrack CD's are a great way of 'escaping the synthiness', as Ari put it, especially for MT-32 soundtracks.

However with LOK1's score, I find this isn't appropriate. I remember 'orchestrating' LOK tracks a while back with my 8850. The results were good, but didn't beat the MT-32 version. Much preffered the originals. So it'll be the MT-32 classics, with some SC pianos and choir thrown in.

With regards to the quality of the score, it has its' highs and lows. I love several pieces, but some are downright annoying. Additionally, some of the longest musical pieces are for non-relevant bits of the game that you spend 10 seconds passing through! And of course some central bits of the game get no music. Argh.
And the old syndrome of using the same instrument volumes and panning centrally bugs me, as well.
All that said, I feel there's probably at least 40 minutes of good stuff in the game, with possibly 20 minutes of nonsense. Definitely worth a CD, but at times it's not fun to work with.

- Alistair

[DrJ]

I'd LOVE a Kyrandia 1 AND 2 soundtrack..
Specially Kyrandia 2. Always loved the song when whats-her-name was walking around in the swamp exploring outside of her house in the beginning.

[Alistair]

Kyrandia 2, eh? Never actually played it. I assume you mean Zanthia.

Frank said he'd work on something with regards to me and LOK2 sometime after I'd played it, AFAIR.

- Alistair

[moturimi1]

Call it "Kyrandia 2 " or "The Hand of Fate". I also liked the swamp midi track outside of Zanthia's house. The best track in the whole game.

[DrJ]

It had such a catchy tune..
I had recorded it awhile back, but lost it somewhere in a reinstallation.

So.... if you're going to do LOK1, LOK2 would be highly appreciated.
If you need me to see if I can rip the MIDI's or anything, let me know..

[Alistair]

So.... if you're going to do LOK1, LOK2 would be highly appreciated.
If you need me to see if I can rip the MIDI's or anything, let me know..

As I said, DrJ, I've never played LOK2.. yet. But when I do, Frank made it clear that he's got LOK2 music and would like me to look into that also, sometime down the track. I'd think I'll be playing it this year, not that far off. So we'll see. I recorded 20 out of the 34 LOK tracks in WAV format today, though! Major progress, I was chuffed.

- Alistair

[captain Nemo]

Wait a second, aren't that MIDIs normal?
http://www.captain-nemo.nm.ru/music/Kyrandia1.rar
http://www.captain-nemo.nm.ru/music/Kyrandia2.rar

Anyway, as funatic of Kyrandia games I am of course interested in getting their HQ soundtracks, especially in digital format.
Good luck with that project.

[Alistair]

Hey there Nemo,

Can't comment as the RAR files do not work for me. I can't download them, and when I try to apparently a HTML file comes up, which I also can't access. Get back to me.

The weird way my recordings work, is that I spend my weeks evenly over two locations, so I spend half a week on one or two projects, and half a week on a different one or two projects (different digital sound cards at my two locations). So I could be working on as many as 4 CD's in one week! In fact I did, these last 7 days. QFG4, PQ1/2, Kyrandia and GK. Whew!

- Alistair

[DrJ]

Hey there Nemo,

Can't comment as the RAR files do not work for me. I can't download them, and when I try to apparently a HTML file comes up, which I also can't access. Get back to me.
- Alistair

Alistair, I think his website does not allow direct linking. The moment you get that page, just click on the link that they provide. Then you can download it. It even says "Follow this link to save the file".
I could download the files without any problems.

[Alistair]

Weird! This didn't work for me earlier, I'm sure. Maybe I did something stupid, it wouldn't be a first.

At any rate, definitely this is the MIDI soundtrack floating around the 'Web (I've actually got all of these files already), and definitely it (all the MIDI's) are not right! The tempos are wrong. Apparently (according to a knowledgeable source, and Frank Klepacki also) it's a bug in the current XMI -> MID converter. Tempos for whatever reason are 'rounded', and so end up.. wrong!

- Alistair

[Zemus]

I've used two converters when converting from XMI to MID format. The first one was the old DOS converter that I bet they used on the LOK soundtracks. The MID-files have a different total running time than the original XMI-files.
The second converter I used is Awave Studio 9.1 which is a converter/editor for a LOT of sound formats. It seems to convert the files correctly as the resulting MID-files have the same total running time as the original XMI-files.
I did these experiments on the Privateer soundtrack which is all in XMI. When converting with the old DOS converter, the MID-files had different tempos, some faster and some slower. When I used Awave, the tempos were all set to 120. My guess is that XMI doesn't save tempo, just times for each event so when you use a converter it has to put the times into a tempo. I think that's where the DOS converter messed up...

By the way, if anyone here has the original XMI-files for LOK1 and/or 2, I would really like them

[Alistair]

What do you mean by 'the original XMI files'? The XMI fiels in the game folder? I certainly have those..

I don't 'extract' soundtracks for soundtrack CD creation, either, though I do use the extracted resources in rare cases, and also as good templates if my MIDI's are missing controllers, for example.
I always record the MIDI scores.

- Alistair

[Zemus]

If the XMI files are in the game folder (unencrypted) then I can get them myself. I haven't played the games in a while, so I don't remember what's on the CDs

I prefer extracted MIDIs when that is possible. It's faster and you get the MIDIs in the same tempo and so on as they were made. I used both extracted and recorded when doing the Sam & Max soundtrack. The iMuse programmers messed up a bit so not all of the MIDIs were played in their entirety.

[Alistair]

Frank Klepacki made no such errors, the MIDI files are fine in-game.

I prefer extracted MIDIs when that is possible. It's faster and you get the MIDIs in the same tempo and so on as they were made.

As most MIDI soundtrack games require most themes to be looped for the purposes of complete soundtracks or soundtrack CD's, extracted fiels become a pain in the ass. Takes longer to loop a file properly then record it. Additionally, initial controller information isn't in the channels, either. Annoys me as well..

- Alistair

[Tirone]

I would definitely be interested in hearing a good MP3 soundtrack of the game!  I loved the Kyrandia trilogy, and am a huge fan of Frank Klepacki's work.  If I recall his background is as a drummer, and he composes in so many diverse styles and does them all so well!  You would never think the composer of the Kyrandia soundtracks was the same composer as the Command & Conquer / Red Alert series.

[Alistair]

I would definitely be interested in hearing a good MP3 soundtrack of the game!

Well then you're out of luck, I deal only with OGG Vorbis these days.

Seriously though, with simple enhancements going to program, I should be able to have it done this weekend, and release it at least to SMC visitors next week sometime. A lot can happen in that time though. ;P

You would never think the composer of the Kyrandia soundtracks was the same composer as the Command & Conquer / Red Alert series.

You're exactly right! Awesome variation.

- Alistair

[captain Nemo]

Seriously though, with simple enhancements going to program, I should be able to have it done this weekend, and release it at least to SMC visitors next week sometime. A lot can happen in that time though. ;P

Thank you very very much, friend. My best wishes!