Back to Saturn X Arranged — August 2023: Phobophobe added!

[esselfortium]

I've been working on some new arrangements of songs I composed for the Back to Saturn X soundtrack. I've completely rebuilt the original songs using new instruments for a more lush and realistic sound, so these aren't just simple soundfont renders. My goal is to put out an EP or album with a bunch of these, but they take a lot of time and work to do, so I'll be posting them individually as they're completed.

 

Phobophobe, from Torn and myself's BTSX E1M2, Postal Blowfish.

So many guitars...

Original MIDI version of Phobophobe (at Bandcamp)

 

Ether, from Tarnsman and myself's BTSX E2M20, Speedtraps For The Bee Kingdom.

Progressive metal to go on an epic adventure with.

Original MIDI version of Ether (at BandCamp)

 

 

Lurking, from RottKing's BTSX E2M22, Bite.

A dark, evil, and oppressive strings arrangement for being chased through dreary caverns by archviles.

Original MIDI version of Lurking (at BandCamp)

 

 

Mystproj, from Xaser's BTSX E2 hub maps.

Ethereal chimes and flutes to accompany you on your next visit to the empty ruins of an alien land.

Original MIDI version of Mystproj (at BandCamp)

 

 

Direct download links (because SoundCloud streaming quality isn't the greatest):
Phobophobe (320kbps MP3) | Ether (320kbps MP3) | Lurking (320kbps MP3) | Mystproj (320kbps MP3)

 

Twitter links:

Ether | Lurking | Mystproj

 

I hope to have more BTSX arrangements to share in the future. For now, please leave a reply if you enjoy these! Likes are appreciated but are a bit meaningless, I'd rather actually hear what you think :)

Update 07/23/19: Added Ether!

Update 08/20/23: Added Phobophobe!

Edited August 20, 2023 by esselfortium

[Catpho]

Oh dear, i know nothing about commenting on Music D:

Here's a valiant effort, i guess. The "Lurking" arrangement is on point! Sounds straight out of Hollow Knight: Mysterious, seemingly beckoning to be explored, but every step further is filled with dread. On "Mystproj"... dunno, currently am partial to the midi version.

I tried. Honestly, i'm just here to leave my appreciation. Your music is awesome Essel! I've been listening to tracks like "Bitmap", "Ether", "Mystproj" and "Womp" nonstop, though pretty much all of your BTSX tracks are gold. Even your non-Doom tracks are cool. Up there as one of my fav composers, so glad to see more!

[DMPhobos]

This are some rather beautiful arrangements, both of them sound fantastic, but my fav has to be Mystproj, instruments are on point and it's hard to go back to the midi original after listening to this arrangement, really moody and relaxing.

Im really looking forward to hear more BTSX arrangements, i'm curious about how some e1 tracks such as 'Bitmap' or 'Entering' would sound if you're planning on getting them arranged. Either way, nice work

[Zakken]

Mystproj is one of my favourite BTSX E2 tracks, and my mind is completely blown by this arrangement. Superb!

 

Seeing this makes me wish there would be arrangements of the entire BTSX soundtrack made like this. Might be a little too ambitious though. :P

Edited July 6, 2019 by Zakken

[SyntherAugustus]

These sound great! 

[esselfortium]

Thanks everyone :)

 

Ether, Womp, and Entering are definitely on the shortlist of songs I intend to put out new arrangements of. Ether has been a real challenge but it's an important song to me and I'm committed to getting it right.

[Nine Inch Heels]

I think both tracks are awesome, but if I had to pick one of the two it would probably be "mystproj", it is kind of serene, almost bittersweet at times, has a nice "tempo", and the flute is an instant "sell" for me. Love the almost minimalistic use of percussion in it, makes it feel very pronounced without being overwhelming at any point (shows the kind of restraint I most likely couldn't muster for the life of me). I really don't know what else to say, I've listened to it like 10-12 times by now, enjoyed it each time, it's just that damn good.

 

Really dig the choice of instruments in "Lurking", the strings in it are beautiful all the way, and my only small nitpick is that my ears wish the drums had bit more "sustain" to them to feel more "weighty", if that makes sense (but maybe it's my lack of restraint speaking here). What starts to unfold there at 2:57 put a smile on my face, though, that is a real highlight in the track for me personally. In spite of the slightly haunting vibes that come through every so often, these few seconds towards the end don't feel out of place for me, even though there is a sense of "warmth" to them (in my mind anyway). The way this moment proceeds to "curve" into a slightly darker mood almost seamlessly is icing on the cake, and the few piano notes bring the entire thing full circle to conclude the track... Absoutely stunning finish.

Edited July 7, 2019 by Nine Inch Heels

[esselfortium]

Thanks @Nine Inch Heels!

 

22 hours ago, Zakken said:

Mystproj is one of my favourite BTSX E2 tracks, and my mind is completely blown by this arrangement. Superb!

 

Seeing this makes me wish there would be arrangements of the entire BTSX soundtrack made like this. Might be a little too ambitious though. :P

 

I would love to be able to do the entire soundtrack, but considering how much work it's taken for just a few songs, it's just too much of a Project. A complete BTSX Arranged soundtrack would be basically impossible without something like a "take a year or two off of work to redo all 50 or however many BTSX songs there are (not even counting the additional songs from episode 3)" crowdfunding campaign, which isn't something I'd count on for a free game mod (:

[Fonze]

Lurking sounds really cool; I love the interesting instrument choice and the dark sound to the piece. Note/chord choice was grand and created a beautifully melancholic feel pushed on by the pressing drums. Sounds really fitting for what you intend it for.

 

Mystproj: Wow what a beautiful and mysterious piece. Great instrument choice again; they really help to bring out the atmosphere of the piece. Chord progression was interesting, going places and setting up the vast-seeming melody to really shine through; I could get lost in this song. Mystproj had a faint reminiscence to like a panzer dragoon type of track, which is a huge ++ for me.

 

Nicely done essel!

[Hisymak]

Hi, I'd also like to contribute with my, sort of, arrangement of the "Mystproj" song.

Althrough I like your new arrangements of both the songs, I don't have much to say or comment, as I'm personally rather OPL Synth kind of person and listen to Doom music almost exclusively in this way. I made a recording of complete Back to Saturn X Episode 2 soundtrack with GZDoom's OPL Synth emulator, including "Mystproj", which you can listen to here:
https://youtu.be/Iswli5xbyoU?t=899

I admit it's not comparable with any high-quality arrangements like yours, but this is probably something about how best can your song sound with an oldschool FM Synth-based rendition. I hope you will like it at least a bit and am curious what do you think.

Unfortunately, in the soundtrack, I skipped the "Lurking" track, because it did not work with OPL Synth at all. It is much more ambient type of song, not much melodic like rest of the soundtrack, and that just does not go well. That was also the reason why I disliked this song when I was playing BTSX E2. But now I can actually hear how it really is!

Edited July 8, 2019 by Hisymak

[esselfortium]

Finally done with this. Ether is my favorite of all the songs I've written for BTSX, I hope you'll enjoy this new version of it!

 

 

Direct download because SoundCloud stream is potato quality:

Ether (320kbps MP3)

[Catpho]

Tapped my foot and bobbed my head throughout the bus ride. "Ether" always felt like penultimate/final level material, but darn this arrangement is really something else!

[fraggle]

Do you do requests? "Phobophobe" is probably one of my favourites from E1 and I'd love to hear it redone.

[esselfortium]

1 hour ago, fraggle said:

Do you do requests? "Phobophobe" is probably one of my favourites from E1 and I'd love to hear it redone.

Phobophobe is one I'd really like to hear as well :) I've given it a couple of tries but haven't managed to get things feeling right yet. It's a challenging song to do and translating it is going to take some significant rethinking, but I haven't given up on it yet.

[DMPhobos]

Woaah, this sounds insane goood, seriously this is a really awesome arrangement!

Im really looking forward to hear more arrangements in the future, and i hope you're planning on doing something from E1 soon

[esselfortium]

1 hour ago, DMPhobos said:

Woaah, this sounds insane goood, seriously this is a really awesome arrangement!

Im really looking forward to hear more arrangements in the future, and i hope you're planning on doing something from E1 soon

Thank you!

 

I have done work on a couple from E1, it’s just coincidence that all the songs I’ve been able to finish satisfactorily so far have been from E2.

[wallabra]

Do you use VSTs?
 

You also might be interested in tracker formats (i.e. OpenMPT and the like). They allow for some nice, unbounded sounds too :)

 

   ———  ~  ———

 

Nonetheless, nice job! I truly enjoyed these arrangements.

Edited July 24, 2019 by Gustavo6046

[esselfortium]

4 hours ago, Gustavo6046 said:

Do you use VSTs?
 

You also might be interested in tracker formats (i.e. OpenMPT and the like). They allow for some nice, unbounded sounds too :)

 

   ———  ~  ———

 

Nonetheless, nice job! I truly enjoyed these arrangements.

Thanks for listening! There are indeed VSTs used in these, mainly various Kontakt libraries. I’m familiar with trackers, but they’re not the right format for what I’m aiming to do with these arrangements.

[Edward850]

Just want to say that the Ether arrangement is hands down fucking fantastic and I can't stop listening to it. Which is a problem because if I listen to it too much I'll get sick of it, and I don't want that to happen. D:

[esselfortium]

16 hours ago, Edward850 said:

Just want to say that the Ether arrangement is hands down fucking fantastic and I can't stop listening to it. Which is a problem because if I listen to it too much I'll get sick of it, and I don't want that to happen. D:

Thanks for the kind words, I'm happy to hear you've been enjoying it so much!

[Melton]

A friend of mine suggested me to try out BTSX. After a few weeks, I am a couple of maps short of having completed the first episode (I'm not a very good player). I think it's an amazing .wad, and not only because of the maps, but I think the music is just spot on.

 

Granted the music is all in MIDI, I took the opportunity to spend some of my sparetime to try to improve my mixing and mastering, which is easy to do with MIDIs, since someone else did the hard work of being creative, which I'm not at all.

 

Here's my take on Clonk. I fell in love with the heavily compressed snaredrum. I haven't heard that in a MIDI soundtrack before. In general, I think it's just a great soundtrack, amongst all the others. 

 

 

 

I also listened to your posted soundtracks. They sound absolutely stunning. It's really great work. Sadly, I haven't made it that far yet, so I haven't heard the midis, and I don't want to cheat ;)

 

Also, Hi! I'm new here.

[esselfortium]

Hey @Melton. Thanks for the kind words! The compressed snare drum in Clonk is the general midi Power Kit drumset, which I love for its gratuitous 1980s-ness :)

 

Feel free to remix the BTSX tunes as you like, but I'd like to request that you please use another thread to post them rather than mine, and please don't refer to them as "remastered", as it dilutes the meaning of the word and makes it harder to differentiate from official releases. Thank you!

[Varis Alpha]

i can't believe i missed this thread. Ether is also my favorite of the tracks you composed for BTSX, and the new arrangement you made of it is just fantastic. it sounds just like how i would envision it sounding with more realistic instruments. are those guitars VSTs?

[esselfortium]

8 hours ago, Viscra Maelstrom said:

i can't believe i missed this thread. Ether is also my favorite of the tracks you composed for BTSX, and the new arrangement you made of it is just fantastic. it sounds just like how i would envision it sounding with more realistic instruments. are those guitars VSTs?

Thanks! All of these were done entirely in-the-box, including the guitars. I used Shreddage 3 Jupiter and Evolution Rock Standard for the guitars in Ether.

[JDR]

This arrangement of ether had stuck in my head for a couple of days and i've already relistened a bunch of btsx soundtracks a dozen of times. Feels good.

[esselfortium]

I've updated the OP to add an arrangement of Phobophobe from BTSX E1. Enjoy!

[jazzmaster9]

Awesome, Phobophobe is probably my favorite track in all of BTSX E1 :D