DOOM's music remastered in OPL3

[bertrandguegan]

Hi,

 

I'm a VGM composer (addicted to retro stuff, especially PC music from the early 90's) and I'm currently working on a side project on my free time. 

 

My goal is to release (for free) an alternative version of DOOM's soundtrack composed by Bobby Prince, in OPL3 style.

 

I know that there has been similar projects such as DMXOPL or Hysimak GENmidi. My process here would be different though, as for every track, I recreate from scratch every single instruments, using exclusively OPL3 emulation and its features (4 ops, waveforms, algorithms,...). In a creative (and personnal) way, as if DOOM's music was composed for Soundblaster (OPL3), back in 1993.

 

The music pack will be released in a few weeks or so (mp3 and ogg format).

 

It would have been better if I could provide MUS files in replacement of the original files. Unfortunately, I don't have the skills to do such an implementation and tweak the GENMIDI file with the OPL3 parameters. As far as I know, it should be technically possible, but I honestly don't know if it's an easy thing to do. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in. 

 

 

// 2022.04.20 EDIT: // OPL3 remastered DOOM's soundtrack is released. 

 

FREE download (full album version + seamless loops pack)

 

Link in the description ->

 

 

// 2022.04.20 EDIT : there was an issue with the OGG files (thanks @TheUltimateDoomer666 for spotting it and pointing it out). Bug has been corrected and there is a new version of the pack online //

Edited April 20, 2022 by bertrandguegan

[CoolerDoomeR]

1 hour ago, bertrandguegan said:

Hi,

 

I'm a VGM composer (addicted to retro stuff, especially PC music from the early 90's) and I'm currently working on a side project on my free time. 

 

My goal is to release (for free) an alternative version of DOOM's soundtrack composed by Bobby Prince, in OPL3 style.

 

I know that there has been similar projects such as DMXOPL or Hysimak GENmidi. My process here would be different though, as for every track, I recreate from scratch every single instruments, using exclusively OPL3 emulation and its features (4 ops, waveforms, algorithms,...). In a creative (and personnal) way, as if DOOM's music was composed for Soundblaster (OPL3), back in 1993.

 

The music pack will be released in a few weeks or so (mp3 and ogg format).

 

It would have been better if I could provide MUS files in replacement of the original files. Unfortunately, I don't have the skills to do such an implementation and tweak the GENMIDI file with the OPL3 parameters. As far as I know, it should be technically possible, but I honestly don't know if it's an easy thing to do. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in. 

 

 

Good job !

I will try it out.

[bertrandguegan]

E1M2 isn't an easy one and I'm not there yet. It needs more work, especially on the bass! But that's a start.

 

 

[lokbustam257]

it sounds nice, good job! Can't wait to hear Doom 2 MAP01 and E2M2 getting remastered

Edited March 9, 2022 by lokbustam257

[ImproversGaming]

On 3/5/2022 at 3:31 PM, bertrandguegan said:

Hi,

 

I'm a VGM composer (addicted to retro stuff, especially PC music from the early 90's) and I'm currently working on a side project on my free time. 

 

My goal is to release (for free) an alternative version of DOOM's soundtrack composed by Bobby Prince, in OPL3 style.

 

I know that there has been similar projects such as DMXOPL or Hysimak GENmidi. My process here would be different though, as for every track, I recreate from scratch every single instruments, using exclusively OPL3 emulation and its features (4 ops, waveforms, algorithms,...). In a creative (and personnal) way, as if DOOM's music was composed for Soundblaster (OPL3), back in 1993.

 

The music pack will be released in a few weeks or so (mp3 and ogg format).

 

It would have been better if I could provide MUS files in replacement of the original files. Unfortunately, I don't have the skills to do such an implementation and tweak the GENMIDI file with the OPL3 parameters. As far as I know, it should be technically possible, but I honestly don't know if it's an easy thing to do. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in. 

 

 

 

Wow, this is really nice. I tend to run maps with the music at a relatively low level but your recreation is really nice and crisp and would encourage me to bump it up  a little. I love the comparison video, these are very iconic tracks.

 

I do not know enough to help but the music could be bundled into its own PWAD and can then be loaded alongside the original WAD to replace the music. It would be great to do it this way. I am sure that someone else could give guidance on this or help out but it would be quite straightforward (for someone who knows how to).

 

Great work! Will keep an eye out for your next releases, please keep us updated.

[Nikku4211]

Nice work.

 

On 3/5/2022 at 10:31 AM, bertrandguegan said:

It would have been better if I could provide MUS files in replacement of the original files. Unfortunately, I don't have the skills to do such an implementation

 

Actually, Vanilla Doom 1.5 and later support using regular MIDIs for music.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Nikku4211

[bertrandguegan]

On 3/7/2022 at 11:34 AM, lokbustam257 said:

it sounds nice, good job! Can't wait to hear Doon 2 MAP01 and E2M2 getting remastered

 

Thank you :) oh yeah, I still have to finish the tracks for DOOM1 but I'll certainly remaster DOOM2's in a near future. That's a real pleasure to work on Bobby Prince's music, as DOOM1&2 were part of happy memories from my chilhood (in LAN, that was awesome!)

 

On 3/7/2022 at 12:34 PM, ImproversGaming said:

 

Wow, this is really nice. I tend to run maps with the music at a relatively low level but your recreation is really nice and crisp and would encourage me to bump it up  a little. I love the comparison video, these are very iconic tracks.

 

I do not know enough to help but the music could be bundled into its own PWAD and can then be loaded alongside the original WAD to replace the music. It would be great to do it this way. I am sure that someone else could give guidance on this or help out but it would be quite straightforward (for someone who knows how to).

 

Great work! Will keep an eye out for your next releases, please keep us updated.

 

Thank you so much for your kind words! Working on E1M1 has been indeed a little bit intimidating at first, but I'm happy with the results! 

Yeah bundle the music this way could be possible, but I suppose it should be a different process depending of a each Doom port?

 

1 hour ago, Nikku4211 said:

Nice work.

 

 

Actually, Vanilla Doom 1.5 and later support using regular MIDIs for music.

 

Thanks :) Mmm.. I don't think it'll work this way. Despite that my work is based on the original MIDI (converted) files, there needs to be something telling the software how to operate the OPL3 emulation according to my own new settings (values for carrier, modulator, etc.. for each of the 4 operators, for every instrument). As far as I know, this data was initially contained in GENMIDI file. But I'm sure there should be a way to do this (it would involve some extra-work I suppose) :)

 

Here's a little snippet about my work on E1M3 ->

 

 

[maxmanium]

What exactly is holding you back from creating MUS files? I'm not familiar with how composition works with these old soundblaster type synths.

[bertrandguegan]

11 hours ago, maxmanium said:

What exactly is holding you back from creating MUS files? I'm not familiar with how composition works with these old soundblaster type synths.

 

I agree, this is not obvious if you're not familiar with it :)

 

I would say that MUS files (which are very similar to MIDI files) are not really the issue here, but more the way DOOM's engine interprets it. This is how I see it : 

 

MIDI (MUS) file (which contains by definition no sound but "commands" and "orders") -> "interpreter" (GENMIDI and DMX in the case of DOOM) -> Soundchip (OPL2 (AdLib and Soundblaster cards)  or OPL3 (many Soundblaster cards) -> FM synthesis (created on the fly by the soundchip, this is why it is called "chiptune") -> audio (through speakers)

 

So I was talking more about what was going on in the "interpreter" part. OPL3 is a more advanced (and powerful) chip than the OPL2. OPL3 can also behave exactly like an OPL2 (retro compatibility). The opposite is not true. Back in the 90's, for PC DOS video games, because it would involved extra-work, music was just simply made "OPL2 compatible", that's why soundtracks sounded merely the same on OPL2 or OPL3 soundcards (this is the case with DOOM). 

 

This is the case for DOOM. The "interpreter" (GENMIDI) is (roughly) configured for OPL2. That's the reason why if you play DOOM with an OPL2 or OPL3 soundcard, it sounds very similar. 

 

I hope this helps ! :)

[ImproversGaming]

@Jimmy or @Peter (or anyone else) can you offer any advice to this thread about considerations or best practice for someone recreating MIDIs for the original Dooms? Is there a recommended method to bundle/compile them for use with the original engines (like for Doom or Doom 2) or considerations for these running through other ports?

 

The specific ones here are Midi Pack recreations for the Doom and Doom 2 so I was interested to know what would be a good way to bundle and distribute them? I guess it would be merging them into a PWAD but I know nothing of this process - any advice?

 

P.S. I am not involved in this project, just an interested bystander. Also apologies, I am calling on the two of you as I have seen both the “Raven Midi Pack” and the “Not Even Remotely Fair” releases and think you can probably offer some quick tips.

[Reisal]

That E1M1 OPL2 vs. OPL3 of yours is night and day comparing to the original.

[bertrandguegan]

14 hours ago, Armaetus said:

That E1M1 OPL2 vs. OPL3 of yours is night and day comparing to the original.

Thank you so much !! :)

 

There is a new little snippet today : -> E1M4

 

I really like the part at 00:34 ^^ So groovy! \m/

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2022 by bertrandguegan

[bertrandguegan]

Before the weekend, here's some WIP on the OPL3 remaster project -> E1M5

Metal influences in DOOM's music are great, but I love the dark and horror vibes too. This one makes me think of Carpenter's music.

 

 

[bertrandguegan]

Let's beef up E1M6 by using OPL3 features !

 

 

[bertrandguegan]

New video today, before the weekend :)

 

This is an OPL3 remastered version of E1M7.

 

Sounds dark, solemn, as a Requiem. I really love this one!

 

 

 

 

[ImproversGaming]

@bertrandguegan, I have been listening to these more and they are really good and very enjoyable (obviously credit to Bobby Prince, but also the recreation work you have undertaken). I have never had a great joy in music but would love to play Doom with these or would happily leave these playing in the background while I do other stuff.

I have some questions for you just for my interest:

+ Do you still play Doom and/or is your interest primarily the music?

+ Do you have a favourite track for Doom or Doom 2?

+ Have you composed any of your own original music for any games or for any WADs of Doom? Would this interest you (this is not leading to anything; I am just interested)?

[bertrandguegan]

Thank you so much @ImproversGaming !! 

 

Well, it has been a while since I played Doom1&2 thoroughly, but I'll get back to it as soon as I'm done with these tracks. Because of my job, I'm more focused on Indie games on a daily basis, but I really enjoy retrogaming (PC DOS games) during breaks and holidays. And Doom was next to my to-(re)do list ;) 

 

About my favorite track, that's a tough question ! I played (a lot) Doom & Doom 2 during my childhood (one of my first experiences in LAN), and there is a lot of nostagia involved here. It's hard to choose ! I would say E1M5 and E1M7 for Doom, "Shawn's got the shotgun" and "Into Sandy's City" for Doom 2. OPL versions of course! 

 

I'm currently working on a retro pointandclick game (Lucy Dreaming) which will be released end of summer (for which I composed a double soundtrack, MT32 / AdLib OPL). I just released yesterday a track for a retro horror RPG -> 

 

As for Doom, I've no plans to compose new music yet. That being said, I may think about it because that's something I could be interested in :)

 

 

[gayzad]

holy shit this is fire

[bertrandguegan]

20 hours ago, gayzad said:

holy shit this is fire

Thank you !! And it's 100% OPL3 :)

[StalkerZHS]

Will it be possible to release some kind of soundfont to use with GZDoom, so I can try out Memento Mori OPL remastered?

[bertrandguegan]

On 3/19/2022 at 12:57 PM, StalkerZHS said:

Will it be possible to release some kind of soundfont to use with GZDoom, so I can try out Memento Mori OPL remastered?

 

mmhh.. that should be technically possible I suppose, but I don't know if it's an easy thing to do (I mean by that, converting samples into a gm soundfont)

 

but that sounds interesting, I'll keep that idea in mind ;)

[bertrandguegan]

Here's a new video today ! I need to go back to this track later though, as I'm not 100% satisfied.

 

 

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

On 3/10/2022 at 3:44 AM, ImproversGaming said:

The specific ones here are Midi Pack recreations for the Doom and Doom 2 so I was interested to know what would be a good way to bundle and distribute them? I guess it would be merging them into a PWAD but I know nothing of this process - any advice?

As bertrandguegan mentioned, MIDI files don't actually contain any audio at all, so a MIDI pack of these recreations wouldn't change the sound. The songs are remastered by changing the FM instrument sounds, which in DOOM are stored separately from the song files. The songs could be rendered to audio files however (such as OGG) for use with ports.

 

On 3/19/2022 at 9:57 PM, StalkerZHS said:

Will it be possible to release some kind of soundfont to use with GZDoom, so I can try out Memento Mori OPL remastered?

Sort of. Provided DOOM's GENMIDI format has full OPL3 support, it should be possible to create a bank with the new OPL3 instruments. There is a catch, however. General MIDI only has 128 melodic instruments, so it won't be possible for different songs that use the same GM instrument slots to have unique instrument sounds (e.g., every song that uses "Overdriven Guitar" will have exactly the same guitar sound).

 

Since I think unique OPL3 instruments are being created for every song, it won't be possible to get a faithful SoundFont version. I think the best way to use the remastered songs ingame would be with an OGG pack.

Edited March 22, 2022 by TheUltimateDoomer666

[StalkerZHS]

4 hours ago, bertrandguegan said:

 

mmhh.. that should be technically possible I suppose, but I don't know if it's an easy thing to do (I mean by that, converting samples into a gm soundfont)

 

but that sounds interesting, I'll keep that idea in mind ;)

I wouldn't know about a GM soundfont specifically, but many recent versions of GZDoom include some kind of... custom WOPN sound bank under OPNmidi

[bertrandguegan]

On 3/22/2022 at 6:59 PM, TheUltimateDoomer666 said:

As bertrandguegan mentioned, MIDI files don't actually contain any audio at all, so a MIDI pack of these recreations wouldn't change the sound. The songs are remastered by changing the FM instrument sounds, which in DOOM are stored separately from the song files. The songs could be rendered to audio files however (such as OGG) for use with ports.

 

Sort of. Provided DOOM's GENMIDI format has full OPL3 support, it should be possible to create a bank with the new OPL3 instruments. There is a catch, however. General MIDI only has 128 melodic instruments, so it won't be possible for different songs that use the same GM instrument slots to have unique instrument sounds (e.g., every song that uses "Overdriven Guitar" will have exactly the same guitar sound).

 

Since I think unique OPL3 instruments are being created for every song, it won't be possible to get a faithful SoundFont version. I think the best way to use the remastered songs ingame would be with an OGG pack.

 

You're right ! Unique intruments are being created. It happens that sometimes I re-use the same patch for 2 different tracks, but I always end up by tweaking parameters to make fine adjustments. It could be possible for me I suppose to reduce the total number of instruments to 128, so files could be played natively by DOOM engine using OPL emulator or real hardware. But that may be overkill.

 

For now I'll follow your advice and release an OGG pack.

 

BTW It should be avalaible for DL around mid-April :) 

 

Thanks a lot for your insight !  

[bertrandguegan]

Making progress ! 

 

 

[Hisymak]

@bertrandguegan have you tried the GENMIDI Editor? I posted it here: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/1816312

It would be nice if you could put your instruments into GENMIDI which could be used along with ((G)Z)Doom. Since your instruments are tailored and different for each specific Doom song, you could make multiple GENMIDIs, each one for particular song. The only problem is that GZDoom is missing a feature to assign apecific GENMIDI lump to specific music track (through SNDINFO, for example), so a player would need to run each level with different wad with different GENMIDI. Or you could make a single GENMIDI with selection of your best instruments.

By the way, my favourites were E1M4 (nice drums) and E1M9. Nice work. What is the program you are using?

[bertrandguegan]

On 3/25/2022 at 2:15 PM, Hisymak said:

@bertrandguegan have you tried the GENMIDI Editor? I posted it here: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/1816312

It would be nice if you could put your instruments into GENMIDI which could be used along with ((G)Z)Doom. Since your instruments are tailored and different for each specific Doom song, you could make multiple GENMIDIs, each one for particular song. The only problem is that GZDoom is missing a feature to assign apecific GENMIDI lump to specific music track (through SNDINFO, for example), so a player would need to run each level with different wad with different GENMIDI. Or you could make a single GENMIDI with selection of your best instruments.

By the way, my favourites were E1M4 (nice drums) and E1M9. Nice work. What is the program you are using?

 

oh wow thank you @Hisymak ! I heard about your project (and DMXOPL too) but I missed that you developped a GENMIDI editor tool ! Nice work :) Sure that it interests me. As @TheUltimateDoomer666 suggested I will first export my work in an OGG pack, but I may come back to this project by using your editor this time and see where I can go with it.

 

For the DAW part I use FL studio. As for the VST, I use exclusively ADLplug (a strict OPL3 emulator). That's an awesome plugin !

[bertrandguegan]

First map of "the Shores of Hell" \m/

12 tracks left before full pack release!

 

 

[zokum]

I think doom’s sound lib, dmx, supports some opl3 features, bit not all. There Are some bugs and weirdness in the implementation. There is a project making a new instrument set that details this a bit better. The current set is a generic 128 gm set, not made for doom. It plays any midi you throw at it reasonably ok. This makes sense since they probably used other instruments in doom 2, and in differensiert ways. Pwad support is also important.