Music Library: The Best of 2004

If all I had to do was throw zip files of these songs up, I'd have put the complete collection up ages ago, but since I wanted to go through and "annotate" each song, it takes considerably more effort than I anticipated. In 2004 (the year I started messing around in FL Studio), I did over 100 songs. Here's the good half.

Also, the obligatory warning: I did not compose or sequence any of these songs, I merely remastered them in FL Studio. Unfortunately, these are so old it's from a time before I started crediting the MIDI sources. My apologies!

In this 7zip  file:

Hidden_Palace.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004)  And here we go. The very first song. I think this is actually based off of a MIDI I myself edited of the so-called "Hidden Palace" song from Sonic 2. It's hard for me to comment on something like this. It's a bit basic, but I guess the "tone" is nice. 

Gauntlet_Remix.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) A long time ago there was a Gauntlet game, I think maybe Gauntlet Legends, that had this really nice, somber orchestral version of the Gauntlet theme. I went looking for it once. Instead I found this. Eh, not bad. 

Green_Hill_Zone_Remastered.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) The first of many attempts to come. I guess I still like this one, though. 

Marble_Garden_Remix_teck.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) I'm surprised I had marked MP3s this far back with actual names of who made their MIDIs. I was horrible at doing that originally. Anyway, if you can't tell, this is by Teck. I really dig the jazz guitar in this. 

t_castle.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) This was a MIDI I used in a fangame where you fought "Count Mario." I have no idea the song's name, what album it comes from, and I think this is a straight across MIDI render with no added effects or changed samples. All I know is that it's related to Castlevania and was called "t_castle.mid"

Frogs_Theme.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) I tried multiple times to do Frog's theme in various forms over the years. This one's got more of a Irish flair, fitting of the accent Frog has in the SNES version of Chrono Trigger, but there's too many sharp chimes. 

Crankys_Theme.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) Guess who discovered how to mess with the reverb plugin! 

Zelda_LA_Marin.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) Early on I also developed sort of an obsession with trying to remaster Zelda music. I think at this point, I was playing through Link's Awakening for the first time.

Zelda_LA_Catfish_Maw.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) There was a point where I was very impressed with how this turned out, but man, not anymore. 

Zelda_Overworld_Remix.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) This almost doesn't even sound like I made it. I have no idea how I'd even recreate something like this nowadays. It's got such an odd, pseudo-synthetic sound... and then it ends. The fact that it ends before the song finishes out leads me to believe that I probably used a bunch of FruityLoops synth plugins as opposed to soundfonts, which would always take extraordinarily long to render. Often, I'd get sick of waiting. 

Leaf_Forest_Remastered.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) The sound quality of a lot of the instruments in this song also leads me to believe it also uses a lot of FruityLoops synth plugins as opposed to soundfont instruments. I'd often mess with synth plugins early on when I didn't have a lot of soundfonts to play with. Glad I let this one finish rendering, it doesn't sound too bad by my current standards.

Zelda_Orcish_Dungeon.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) I wanted a good high quality version of the Zelda 1 dungeon music. Nobody had really made any. Dig the synth strings in this one. Strings were an early challenge of mine, and boy I was on the throes of struggling with them here. 

Luigis_Mansion.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) Similarly, I wanted a good version of the Luigi's Mansion theme and all the ones that existed back then had sound effects, or were poorly recorded, or generally had something wrong with them. This was the best I could manage with what was available on vgmusic.com.

SMB-OverworldRemix.mp3 (February 3rd, 2004) Pretty sure this was another straight "MIDI rendered as an MP3." No fancy sound fonts, no fancy plugins, just a regular MIDI squished through FruityLoops and spit out the other end. 

srb2intro_11.mp3 (March 7th, 2004) I can't tell if it's actually happening or not, but I think a FruityLoops bug manifests itself in this song. If a drum track is pitch shifted at all, FruityLoops has trouble rendering it and the drums will sometimes cut out mid-song. You might hear that happen in future songs, too. Once again we're visited by the FL Slayer, too, but surprisingly, it doesn't sound too bad here. At least, not at first. (This is the intro to Sonic Robo-Blast 2).

sadv_lv1_nghz.mp3 (March 9th, 2004) Woof, another lesson on how not to use FL Slayer. It might almost sound acceptable with some kind of filter to keep it from clipping, but it would be more than ten years until I figured out THAT essential piece of knowledge. (From Sonic Advance)

sadv1_cosmic_angel.mp3 (March 9th, 2004) I like this until it gets to the guitar. FL Slayer ruins everything it touches. I should redo this. (From Sonic Advance)

southislandcity.mp3 (May 10th, 2004) Hey... this isn't bad. This is a song from the Sonic OVA anime (or "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie" in North America), which never got a formal soundtrack release. One of those cases where the drums I was using at the time actually ended up working in my favor, because this is pretty close to the way the real song sounded.

cttheme_2.mp3 (May 16th, 2004) Probably one of the most ambitious songs I had attempted up to this point. MIDIs only have a maximum of sixteen instruments, so MIDI sequencers have to change instrument banks mid-track on complex songs, which makes what I do more difficult. This was probably the first song I tackled with mid-track bank switching. I dig that I sampled the game (Chrono Trigger) for the clock ticking at the start.

panicpuppet_genny.mp3 (May 18th, 2004) FL Slayer ends up working out here, not because it sounds like a guitar (it doesn't), but because it sounds like a really grungy synth, which works out pretty well with Panic Puppet Zone from Sonic 3D Blast. 

rustyruinremix.mp3 (May 18th, 2004) Here's a MIDI that "I" did. Really, I was just editing someone else's MIDI, but nobody ever called me on it at the time. I was dumb. For this, I was trying to make the Genesis version of Rusty Ruin from Sonic 3D Blast sound more like the Saturn version. I loved echo effects.

Iamtheeggman.mp3 (May 19th, 2004) Another DragonXVI song. Another chance to ruin something with FL Slayer.

hydrocity_gameshow.mp3 (May 23nd, 2004) A running theme I see is that Hydrocity's music, in the right context, sounds like Game Show music. I always thought the MIDI that made it *actually* game show music was really great, and this turned out decent. (From Sonic 3)

1up_5.mp3 (May 28nd, 2004) It's the Sonic Advance 1-up music. I ended up using this in a fangame. Maybe a SRB2 mod?

sa2_intro_11.mp3 (June 1st, 2004) I think this is what started sort of a competition between Cinossu and I -- he'd do a version of a song, I'd do a version of a song, and we'd compare and give feedback. He was a lot better than me, so usually it was him giving me tips on how to improve. (The intro from Sonic Advance 2)

tfh_theme_5.mp3 (June 3rd, 2004) A theme for my "The Fated Hour" fangame. I remember telling DragonXVI that I wanted something "epic." I wanted Final Fantasy music. He kept giving me Lord of the Rings. I feel bad for being so demanding, because in retrospect the music he did for me was really nice.

gw_sandrock.mp3 (June 17th, 2004) Presenting: a case for FL Slayer. Not sure about that gunshot sound, though. (Sandrock's theme from Gundam Wing: Endless Duel) 

cv1_1e_5.mp3 (June 17th, 2004) Empowered by how good Sandrock came out, let's try more Castlevania! And it's... not the worst thing, I guess. Featuring a nice cameo from Vincent Price's laugh. 

gw_colony_2.mp3 (June 18th, 2004) Let's try more Endless Duel music. Again, the Slayer surprisingly isn't dropping the ball here. As it turns out, crummy MIDI guitar works best in a song designed to have crummy MIDI guitar. (Colony Theme)

to_far_away_times.mp3 (June 21st, 2004) A nice, simple song that's hard to mess up, even when your skills aren't very developed. (To Far Away Times from Chrono Trigger)

destinedencounter_2.mp3 (June 30th, 2004) Some pre-boss music for The Fated Hour. If I haven't mentioned it previously, most of the original compositions for TFH were by DragonXVI (Malcolm Brown). 

tails_piano_4.mp3 (June 30th, 2004) Suddenly and dramatically, Tails has died. This is a piano arrangement of his Sonic Adventure theme, "Believe in Myself." (TFH)

tfh_boss_3.mp3 (June 30th, 2004) Tails is dead? Let's kill something. Once again, the Slayer works well in the context of "grungy synth." (TFH)

chaosangel_5.mp3 (July 21nd, 2004) Chaos Angel Act 1 from Sonic Advance 3. One of the only good levels in this game, but this isn't the "definitive" version of Chaos Angel I'd come to be known for.

bubsy_title.mp3 (July 23rd, 2004) I think I ended up finding a good saxaphone instrument which became a long-running staple in a lot of my music going forward. Works well in the Bubsy title screen music, which was composed by a jazz musician.

cybertrack_3.mp3 (August 4th, 2004) Some lovely fart-synth for Cyber Track from Sonic Advance 3. Jokes aside, this isn't so bad. But then doing realistic instruments is the real challenge. Something purely synth-based is easier.

icecap_jtremix.mp3 (August 16th, 2004) I have no idea what "jtremix" even means. Who was JT? Was this a request? I mean, I guess it's not a bad version of Sonic 3's Icecap, I just don't know why I did it. Doesn't strike me as my style. 

eggbase_6.mp3 (August 19th, 2004) Maybe a harpsichord instead of a harp at the intro? Maybe a higher quality version of the haunting whistle? Eh. (TFH)

mk_battle_2.mp3 (August 23th, 2004) This was specifically because a friend was remaking a Mario Kart 64 map in SRB2 and couldn't find a good, clean, high-quality version of the battle mode music from that game. I don't think he ended up using my MP3 here because it didn't sound authentic enough.

fbattery_2.mp3 (September 11th, 2004) This isn't a bad version of Flying Battery from Sonic & Knuckles, but it's using early MIDI rips from the PC version of Sonic & Knuckles Collection, so the tempo messes up in a couple places because there's beats/notes missing.

mrealm_b7m.mp3 (September 14th, 2004) A song for "The Mystic Realm," a large-scale SRB2 add-on by one of the official mappers for the game. I think this may have been for the titular Realm itself. By DragonXVI.

mrealm_b1m.mp3 (September 14th, 2004) More Mystic Realm music from DragonXVI. This is for an early map, I think. These Mystic Realm MP3s turned out alright. 

crateria_topside_4.mp3 (September 21st, 2004) Between this and the Chrono Trigger, I was slowly getting my feet wet trying to do more than just directly convert each MIDI. Not the best thunder sound effect, though. (Super Metroid)

fzero_mv_bianca.mp3 (October 18th, 2004) I never really liked F-Zero Maximum Velocity on the GBA, but I guess this song from the "Bianca" track isn't the worst? I dunno. It's more FL Slayer again.

newjunk_12.mp3 (October 20th, 2004) This rendition of New Junk City from Earthworm Jim... well, it follows the trend of being sort of okay until the FL Slayer comes in, but the Slayer doesn't really ruin this song either, I guess. I mean, it could be worse. The limp drums are what really sinks this.

smw2_credits_5.mp3 (November 11th, 2004) Like "To Far Away Times" from Chrono Trigger, this rendition of the Yoshi's Island credits is hard to mess up. But, then, I guess Nintendo's whole MO would have been simple songs that sounded good on the SNES hardware. The flute here could be better, though.

dkc_water_orch_12.mp3 (November 15th, 2004) An iconic piece of video game music, the underwater theme from Donkey Kong Country. This was an "orchestral" arrangement, but it was from an early time before I really started grasping how to do orchestral stuff.

longestcode_4.mp3 (December 3rd, 2004) "The Longest Code" was a joke I put in one of my games. Games have button codes, right? Well, what if the button code was one long Stepmania sequence of like, a hundred buttons and you had to time it to a song? The song is by DragonXVI.

marble_4.mp3 (December 5th, 2004) A really chill, almost lounge-music-esque version of Marble Zone from Sonic 1.

hydrocity_nes.mp3 (December 6th, 2004), zoneboss_nes.mp3 (December 6th, 2004) I forget the context of doing this, but I don't like doing these "chiptune version of a famous song" things because they seem a bit too easy when you're using somebody else's MIDI. I tried to be true to the NES here, so there's only the melody, bass and drums. 

srb2ween_title.mp3 (December 25th, 2004), srb2ween_gfz.mp3 (December 25th, 2004) Amazing junky versions of SRB2 music that appeared in the old Halloween demo from like, 2001. Merry Christmas...?

finalbowser_orch_2.mp3 (December 26th, 2004) An orchestral arrangement for the final boss music in Super Mario 64. I think I was starting to get orchestral stuff, but I clearly need better soundfont instruments.