Print

Please login or register.

1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever

Login with username, password and session length

[Simon-v]

• Introduction
  
  Around September 2010 i began working on a track that could replace the utterly unimpressive intro sequence Doom (and by extension DoomRL) had. Little did i know where it would eventually take me.
  
  When the track was released, the reviews were generally positive, prompting me to make another one, this time for the Unholy Cathedral. Now this one was such an overwhelming success, that i had no choice but to keep going, eventually becoming the de-facto composer of the game — which is what earned me my pale green lighter green nick color.
  
  After a while, though, i got tired of posting separate threads for every song (and the community got tired of replying to every one of them). Thus, this Doom the Roguelike: The Album All-In-One Mega Thread was created, merging in all the others.
  
  
  
• The Track List
  
  The track list, including preview and download links, can be found at: http://simonvolpert.com/music/drla/
  
  
  
• Using With DoomRL
  
  Most of the tracks above are already included with the latest version (beta or release) of DoomRL. The low-quality release ships with the MIDI versions. The high-quality version ships with the MP3 versions. To use the OGG versions with either of them, a few tweaks must be made to your DoomRL installation:
  
  
  • Download the tracks in your preferred format using the link(s) above. I recommend using the OGG versions, because the MP3 versions have issues looping properly and the FLAC versions are, well, large.
    
    
  • Put the files in the mp3 subdirectory in your DoomRL directory (or ogg, or wherever you like, provided that you manually specify their correct locations in musichq.lua, see below).
    
    
  • Edit your musichq.lua to point to the files. To make this slightly easier, i am supplying the config entries that need to be replaced here my own config file to be used as example.
    
    Prior to 0.9.9.5 the config entries looked somewhat like this:
    
    Spoiler (click to show/hide)

        start     = "mp3/doom_the_roguelike.ogg",
        .
        .
        .
        spec3     = "mp3/hells_weapons.ogg",
        .
        .
        spec6     = "mp3/of_skull_and_bone.ogg",
        spec7     = "mp3/the_brick_song.ogg",
        spec8     = "mp3/unholy_cathedral.ogg",
        spec9     = "mp3/something_wicked.ogg",
        .
        spec11    = "mp3/too_hot_down_here.ogg",
        .
        .
        boss2     = "mp3/final_showdown.ogg",
    
    
  • If you haven't already, change the entry in config.lua that says:
    dofile "music.lua"into saying:
    dofile "musichq.lua"
    
  • Start DoomRL. If it crashes, re-check the paths to the music files. If it doesn't, enjoy!
  
  
  
• License and Disclaimer
  
  Those tracks are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license for all you care. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
  
  Explicit, tough utterly unnecessary permission was granted to The Kornel (and his minions) to include these tracks with DoomRL.
  
  If you remix those tracks, play them live or record them in a studio, do let me know. The perfectionist in me would like to see his work becoming more awesome than it already is, more than it is in my power. Make it so, and you will win my deepest appreciation and one thousand cookies¹.
  
  
  
• Updates
  
  No further updates are expected.
  
  In the past, this thread was updated from time to time with new and remade tracks. The tracks themselves were updated to make them more kick-ass. In case of such updates, the first post of the topic was modified to reflect the changes and another post was made in the end of it. People used to watch this thread to keep themselves up-to-date on further developments.
  
  Additionally, i have designed a newsletter system to keep anyone who is interested informed. Any news regarding the album were posted to the newsletter and this thread. Nowdays, the newsletter is, perhaps, the only sensible way to learn of any music-related developments that might occur.
  
  To subscribe to the newsletter, please navigate to the music section of my website (http://simonvolpert.com/music/) and click the relevant mailto link.
  
  
  
• The Original Post
  
  The original post that started it all is given here for the sake of completeness.
  
  Spoiler (click to show/hide)

  Several months in the making.
  
  Seven discarded drafts.
  
  Many hours of tweaks and fixes.
  
  Two hold-backs for further refinement.
  
  One Two Three recalls due to perceived production defects.
  
  Slightly under one and a half minute long.
  
  Simon the wannabe composer presents:
  
  My misplaced attempt at Doom the Roguelike Theme The Title Screen Song
  
  (some boring stuff deleted to save on bytes and pixels)
  
  Go ahead and tell me it sucks. Ha!
  
  
  

¹ The cookies might not in fact be real.

[Gargulec]

Actually it sucks... not! Really neat thing you have made here, Simon.

[Kornel Kisielewicz]

The first part is a little painful on the ears (maybe I should have not played it on loud volume :P), the second is great -- kind of reminds me of good C64 chiptunes. As for inclusion in DoomRL, the graphical version will surely include Sonic Clang's arrangements of Classic Doom music (got his permission), but who knows :>

[Simon-v]

I'm always ready to step down and pass the torch to someone more skilled and/or talented than me.
Wait, that's actually kind of sad...

[ParaSait]

I'm always ready to step up and torch someone more skilled and/or talented than me.

There, fixed. :P

[Cyber Killer]

Vorbis version?

[thelaptop]

Vorbis version?

I think the FLAC version would be more useful.

[Game Hunter]

I really like it. I would consider speeding up the drums in general, though: DooM was usually pretty hard-hitting when it came to its music. Naturally the very beginning/end can have a lead-in to what would be the denser percussion, but the music (not tempo, mind you, that's fine where it is) just feels slow early on, is the impression I get. It may be better off with a slightly softer introduction after the first four bars, too: I can see where Kornel is coming from, when the lead guitar jumps out at you. Personally, I would just use a crescendo in those first four, so the sudden jump in volume isn't as sudden.

Also, if you want this to work best in-game, make sure it can loop without any break in the song. DoomRL handles seamless music very well.

[Simon-v]

Game Hunter:

I've taken most of your comments into consideration and applied a few fixes to address some of the more problematic issues that, i have to admit, didn't really occur to me until i was told about them.

Please note that this specific tune is intended for the title screen, and as such does not strictly need a strong and pronounced percussion. A potential special level theme, on the other hand, would. In addition, the title music in DoomRL does not currently loop, though it could change with time. Nevertheless, i removed the pause in the wave file and played with the envelope a bit to make the transition a little smoother, but it won't work for the midi.


Proponents of alternative audio formats:

The mp3 version was produced by running the midi file through Timidity++ with a wave file as the output and Fluid as the soundfont, then compressing the wave. By this i am implying that anyone with a similar (or better!) setup could produce the track in any desired format and that, in my opinion, the sound quality of the source file is not high enough to warrant worrying about quality loss during conversion.

Despite the above, i made the requested files. Make of it what you may.

[thelaptop]

w00t w00t!  You da man, Simon-v!

* thelaptop waits for the wrath of the god hand to descend on him

[Cyber Killer]

@Simon-v I'm not that much worried about compression quality - it's more about using the proper format, not the icky yucky mp3 ;-)

note: timidity can output direct;y do vorbis and flac.

note2: I downloaded the vorbis ver, and after that I downloaded the midi file to check it it plays any differently on my soundcard (SB Live) and it is different ;-) The drums are more "visible", and it's 20 seconds longer (wtf?!) . Check it out ? http://www.sendspace.com/file/m5ytop

[thelaptop]

@Simon-v I'm not that much worried about compression quality - it's more about using the proper format, not the icky yucky mp3 ;-)

note: timidity can output direct;y do vorbis and flac.

note2: I downloaded the vorbis ver, and after that I downloaded the midi file to check it it plays any differently on my soundcard (SB Live) and it is different ;-) The drums are more "visible", and it's 20 seconds longer (wtf?!) . Check it out ? http://www.sendspace.com/file/m5ytop

And that's why I suggested FLAC -- because we hear what Simon-v heard, bit for bit, without worrying if any artifacts came in or if the MIDI patches used were different.

[Simon-v]

Version 1.3 is out. In it, i used my newfound reverb and chorus controls to add more depth to the track and also fixed the balance and panning which failed to please me previously.

[Simon-v]

Several A few months in the making.

Seven Three discarded drafts.

Many hours of tweaks and fixes.

Two hold-backs for further refinement.

Slightly under one and a half three minutes long.

One copy-paste. (This one.)

Simon the wannabe composer presents:

My misplaced attempt at the Unholy Cathedral Theme Song



(More details are to be found in the first post.)

Go ahead and tell me it sucks. Ha!

[Xander Morhaime]

Is good, man.

Is good.