Author Topic: CT Turns 11: Authoritative Soundtracks Released  (Read 1831 times)

ZeaLitY

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CT Turns 11: Authoritative Soundtracks Released
« on: August 20, 2006, 10:15:36 pm »
After noticing a few errors in the latest SNESMusic rips of Chrono Trigger and the Prerelease, I decided to undertake my own ripping project for Chrono fans. Along the way, I discovered a few more errors that have been a fixture of every rip to date, and also made various improvements to the soundtracks. This should, in theory, be the last time you have to download the spc soundtracks for these games. Download CT here and CTP here. Click "read more" to learn about the changes.

[hidden]The full list, reprinted from the readme.

CHRONO TRIGGER

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.) Improvements Over Past Releases
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In past releases of Chrono Trigger spcs, several songs were mishandled and certain parts were omitted. These have been corrected in this release.

02 Chrono Trigger (part two)

In past releases, part two starts immediately with the lead melody. In the game however, part one ends and part two truly begins a second or two earlier with sweeping strings. The rip is now complete with the inclusion of this intro.

27 People Who Threw Away the Will to Live

The quirks of the SNES (on and off the actual console) cause an instrument in
this song to randomly assume two higher pitches. These two variants are
included here, the first time they appear in official release.

28a Lavos's Theme

Prior rippers were not quick enough to capture the cymbals in the intro. They
appear for the first time here.

61 Last Battle

Something within the latest SNESAmp causes the volume of the main synths in
this song to mute considerably after the piece begins. The cause is unknown,
and the track sounds fine within other spc players. Strangely, the rip of this
track included in this archive is somehow tagged or otherwise modified to avoid
the bug. It comes from an old SNESMusic.org rip; their current one suffers from
the volume drop.

~

Certain songs within the current SNESMusic.org rip are not included here. For
the sake of education, they are listed here with reasons.

2-22b Magus's Castle (With Bats) - The bats are not a normal part of this song,
and appear in Chrono Trigger as a looping sound effect. It is easy to
accidentally include them in the rip if it is done at the entrace to Magus's
Lair.

se04 Prison Tower (Variant) - This is just Prison Tower, albeit starting at
0:35.

se11 Tsunami, se13 Fall of Mt. Woe - There is no reason to separate these, as
they can be ripped as one track.

se06 Computer Active, se07 Intruder Alarm, se17 Blackbird Crashes,
se22 Ozzie Laughs, se23 Ozzie Falls - These are all sound effects, and are not
found in the game's music data.

~

You can download both Chrono Trigger's normal sound effects and battle sound
effects by following this link:

http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Miscellaneous_(Chrono_Trigger).html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.) Songs Renamed
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few songs were renamed after a new translation was undertaken.

09 Longing of the Wind was originally Wind Scene.
16 A Prayer to the Travelers was originally A Prayer to the Road That Leads.
29 The Final Day of the World was originally The Day the World Revived.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.) Imperfect Songs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

02 Chrono Trigger

Part one and part two cannot be linked in one file. However, this is possible
with the Chrono Trigger Prelease, as the song did appear as one spc stream in
that game. Please download the CTP archive at

http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Music_(CTP)

19 Frog's Theme

Though not imperfect by the game's standards, Frog's Theme can only be found
complete on the OSV.

22a The Hidden Truth

This song cannot be linked in one file with The Hidden Truth - Finale.

48 Singing Mountain

On the OSV, more wind can be heard before the actual song starts.

82b Inside the Shell (Approaching)

If one walks up to the Lavos core, it takes ten seconds for the full
acceleration of the song to occur. Since this effect relies on successive
SongSpeed commands and varies by player path, it cannot be ripped. It was
approximated in this spc set by a SongSpeed command raising "Inside the Shell"
to maximum over roughly ten seconds (a duration of FF in the command).

CHRONO TRIGGER PRE-RELEASE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.) Differences with the Final Version
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

002 Longing of the Wind - The bass is absent.
003 Corridors of Time - The arrangement is rough.
004 Rhythm of Wind, Sky, and Earth - Different drum instruments are used.
005 Ruined World - The clanging bells have a high pitch.
009 Zeal Palace - The song's instrumentation is incomplete.
013 Lavos's Theme - Among other changes, the bass and ending are different.
016 Manoria Cathedral - The choras is stronger in the mix.
020 Schala's Theme - The main lead is buried in the mix.
021 Delightful Spekkio - The flute does not fade note to note.
024 Chrono Trigger - This is the full song! In the final game, this song is
    stored within one music offset, but the second part can only be triggered
    through a certain event command. This precludes ripping it as one song on
    the final. Be thankful it was left on the Pre-Release!
031 A Strange Happening - The instrumentation is rough, and the bells are
    faded.
035 The Hidden Truth - Instrumentation is different and the intro is longer.
046 Mystery of the Past - The song lasts longer due to an added chorus.
052 Lavos Heartbeat and Grunt - The grunt is absent from the final game.
053 Earthquake - The ambience is different.
057 Lavos's Theme (Day of Lavos Video) - In the final version, this is stored
    with the regular Lavos's Theme music, and can only be accessed through an
    event command. On the Pre-Release, it gets its own song offset.
062 The Brink of Time - The song is clearly pitched higher.

Many other songs are minutely different from their counterparts in the final
game. The volume of some songs on whole or certain instruments varies between
versions, and other subtle details.

It is also worth noting that "045 People Who Threw Away the Will to Live" has
three variations, just as it does in the final version of Chrono Trigger.
The quirks of the SNES (on and off the actual console) cause an instrument in
this song to randomly assume two higher pitches.

~

Certain songs within the current Pre-Release SNESMusic.org rip are not included
here. For the sake of education, they are listed here with reasons.

39b - Confusing Melody (Bats) - There are no bats here. Someone accidentally
ripped them with the song at Magus's Castle.

se06 Computer Active, se07 Intruder Alarm - These are sound effects, not to be
found within the game's music data.

se12 Earthquake - There is no Earthquake, just Earthquake (Variant) in the
Prerelease ROM.

~

You can download both Chrono Trigger's normal sound effects and battle sound
effects by following this link:

http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Miscellaneous_(Chrono_Trigger).html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.) Songs Not Appearing in the Final Version
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Certain songs simply don't exist in the final version, apparently scrapped
before release.

014 Untitled - The purpose of this song is totally unknown. In the future, the
Compendium plans to ask Yasunori Mitsuda at his site what this was to be used
for. It is possible that a Nobuo Uematsu song replaced it in the final.

040 Tyrano Lair (Unused) - As the name suggests, this was the Tyrano Lair music
before Nobuo Uematsu's own work replaced it.

068 Battle 1 (Rough Version) - Battle 1 is most certainly in the final game.
However, two alternate, slightly-slower versions exist in the Pre-Release ROM.

069 Battle 1 (Different Instrumentation) - This is the other version.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.) Imperfect Songs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19 Frog's Theme

Though not imperfect by the game's standards, Frog's Theme can only be found
complete on the OSV.

22a The Hidden Truth

This song cannot be linked in one file with The Hidden Truth - Finale.

48 Singing Mountain

On the OSV, more wind can be heard before the actual song starts.

82b Inside the Shell (Approaching)

This rip is totally complete except for a version of "Lavos Heartbeat and
Grunt" which speeds up. Compare to "Inside the Shell" from Chrono Trigger. If
you recall, as you approach Lavos before the final battle, the song reaches a
fever pitch. Currently, Temporal Flux cannot edit the Pre-Release, so we cannot
replicate this effect with a SongSpeed command in a controlled environment.[/hidden]
« Last Edit: August 22, 2006, 02:41:47 pm by ZeaLitY »

Lord J Esq

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Re: Authoritative Soundtracks Released
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2006, 03:39:19 am »
Outstanding. I'll listen to this when I return home this week.

Dirtie

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Re: Authoritative Soundtracks Released
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2006, 06:13:47 am »
First of all excellent work.

Secondly, that quirk you speak of - is it in any way related to the fact that you get various different pitches for certain sound effects in ZSNES? I mean just go into battle and when the command list appears hold down the down button - the pitch of the beeps vary noticably, and it happens in many other sound effects also (usually the shorter ones).

Lastly, what is the "small utility that allowed easy playback of songs" by chickenlump?

ZeaLitY

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Re: Authoritative Soundtracks Released
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2006, 01:34:11 pm »
Just a one trick little application that changes the song Gato plays.

Kae

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Re: CT Turns 11: Authoritative Soundtracks Released
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2006, 09:00:40 pm »
Being a huge video game music nut, I'd like to bring up something I noticed, and am now theorizing between the Prerelease and Release soundtracks.

Granted, you [Zeality] titled the tracks, but I think that in the Prerelease, "40 - Tyrano Lair (Unused)" was later reworked in to the Boss Battle 2 of the official release.

Couple things that support this.
1: There is no "Boss Battle 2" track in the Prerelease.

2: Both "Tyrano Lair (Unused)" in the Prerelease and "Boss Battle 2" in the Official Release share the same number, 40 (and as such are located at the same address in the ROM?).

3: The songs are very similar in makeup. They both feature a ~13 second lead-in, and the overall structure of the songs is similar.

4: Most telling, in my opinion. At approximately 0:13 in both tracks, they both open into the main chorus of the songs. And while not identical, there's a definite similarity in the choruses between the two!


What do you think?
« Last Edit: August 25, 2006, 10:04:40 pm by Kae »