[Music Project] Bobby's Lost Midis

[Gifty]

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?

Howdy! I always thought it would be neat to polish up Robert Prince's unused midis and fill in the gaps in Doom's soundtrack--make it so every level has a unique song and there are no track repeats. So recently I've started doing just that.

It's going well so far, but I'm now realizing how many new compositions will be needed; Bobby's leftovers are finite, and they're all very rock-oriented, which just isn't going to work for moodier levels. I'll keep working on this, but I'm also open to any submissions that the community would care to throw at me; I know we have a lot of really cool MIDI wizards around here.

[WIP Download]

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?

-e2m3: "I'm afraid of American" [from "un12"/"un14"]
-e2m5: "Behind You" [origina;]
-e2m9: "Hittin' 50" [from "un16"]

-e3m4: "Romero's Digs" [original]
-e3m5: "The Lost Souls" [original]
-e3m6: "John spilled my Cola" [from "un51"]
-e3m7: "Holdin it" [from "un17"]
-e3m9: "Adrian's Browsin'" [from "un45"]

-e4m1:
-e4m2:
-e4m3:
-e4m4:
-e4m5:
-e4m6:
-e4m7:
-e4m8:
-e4m9:

UPDATE: I have tracks in place for all three original episodes now; there may yet be some tweaks or fixes down the road, but I can probably take the WIP sticker off at this point. I'm now working on episode IV; again, submissions are open if anyone would like to give it a shot!

[Jaxxoon R]

I think the reason why Bobby's MIDIs were lost was because they were grating and not all that good. The tracks in this pack don't even really sound like Doom songs, to be honest.

[scifista42]

They don't sound like Doom songs because they're neither the actual final IWAD songs, nor their remixes. That's why they don't and cannot strike you as Doom songs, but it doesn't disqualify them from being suitable for usage in Doom. IMO, they're OK.

[Gez]

Bobby didn't shy away from recycling older songs of his by changing the tempo and instrumentation, so you can also look at older games and adapt. For example:

Spoiler

Spoiler

(From 0:43)

[DooM_RO]

This should be an extra option in Smooth Doom.

[Doomkid]

Blake Stone may be another good place to look to for some inspiration with these. I've always thought these two tunes were quite similar, the Doom one being like a "2x speed" version, with some changes of course:

[yakfak]

good luck with this project :D I'd love to help out with a track but I think I've become allergic to riff... same riff with IV bassline... riff I riff V riff IV riff I riff V =P

[Varis Alpha]

sounds interesting enough, but i'm not sure i'd be able to emulate the Bobby style that way. mostly because i feel that i'm not really experienced enough for such a task, and that my style of music would probably deviate from the feel by quite a bit.

[Reisal]

Another recycled tune from the Blake era:

Spoiler

[Gifty]

Funny enough, there's also a straight up Blake tune in the unused midis with basically no edits from the original version. I've found a way to incorporate it into a track; there's only one more E2 midi to go and the first three episodes will be repeat-free.

[NiGHTMARE]

Also compare:

Blake Stone's Genefunk and Doom 2's Between Levels (the Doom wiki mentions Wolfenstein 3D's Zero Hour, but Genefunk is far more blatant IMHO).

Blake Stone's Freedom and Doom 2's Shawn's Got The Shotgun.

Blake Stone's Meeting and Doom 2's The Healer Stalks.

There are probably more as well.

(Honorary mention to a non-Bobby Prince midi: System Shock 1's elevator music, which sounds oddly similar to Blake Stone's Rumba.)

[Gez]

NiGHTMARE said:

(Honorary mention to a non-Bobby Prince midi: System Shock 1's elevator music, which sounds oddly similar to Blake Stone's Rumba.)

Spoiler

The Elevator from Ipanema

[Memfis]

Imo e2m3 and e2m9 sound wrong from the very beginning and should be removed\edited: such fast tempo is never used in Doom. Lol at song descriptions in the wad.

[Gifty]

Well, with the exceptions of Dis and Hangar. I mean, I agree, super fast tracks were used sparingly, but the new song in E2M3 is more or less the same tempo as Hangar, and E2M9 is a super brief, action-packed level, so I think it fits.

I've eliminated all redundancies in the first three episodes now, and at least one track has been bumped and replaced with a new one. Starting on Episode IV, which will hopefully leave a little more creative wiggle room since it didn't have an original soundtrack in the first place. Maybe this could be an opportunity to envision an alternate reality where Bobby composed slightly longer, less repetitive midis for the new episode. :P