Music (Chrono Cross)

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Complete Track List

Track listings based off game data and .psf rips; all tracks composed by Yasunori Mitsuda.

Note that two translations were done for the soundtrack of Chrono Cross. The one that appears here is the more accurate but less proliferated translation; remixers and other sites commonly use the alternate, which can be found at Primary Translation.

Click on a track to view which albums it appears on and its existing remixes and arrangements.

1. Chrono Cross ~ Scars of Time ~
2. Between Life and Death
3. Arni Village ~ Home World ~
4. Fields of Time ~ Home World ~
5. Lizard Dance
6. Reminiscing ~ Uneraseable Memory ~
7. On the Beach of Dreams ~ Another World ~
8. Arni Village ~ Another World ~
9. Ephemeral Memory
10. Lost Fragment
11. Drowned Valley
12. Termina ~ Another World ~
13. Departed Souls
14. Forest of Illusion
15. Viper Mansion
16. Victory ~ A Gift of Spring ~
17. A Child Lost in Time
18. Guldove ~ Another World ~
19. Hydra Marshes
20. Fragment of a Dream 2 (Same as Track 68)
21. Voyage ~ Another World ~
22. Ghost Ship
23. Death Volcano
24. Fortress of Ancient Dragons
25. Grief
26. Beginning of a Dream
27. A Narrow Space Between Dimensions
28. Termina ~ Home World ~
29. The Dragons
30. Voyage ~ Home World ~
31. Guldove ~ Home World ~
32. Marbule ~ Home World ~
33. Zelbess
34. The Splendidly Grand Magic Troupe
35. Nap
36. Chronomantique
37. Dilemma
38. Optimism
39. Isle of the Dead
40. Dead Sea/Tower of Destruction
41. Prisoners of Fate
42. A Light for Lost Hopes
43. Island of the Earth Dragon
44. Navel of the World
45. Gale
46. Victory ~ A Cry in Summer ~
47. Marbule ~ Another World ~
48. Magic from the Fairies
49. Etude 1
50. Etude 2
51. Magical Dreamers ~ The Wind, Stars, and Waves ~ (Intro)
52. Magical Dreamers ~ The Wind, Stars, and Waves ~ (Main)
53. Garden of God
54. Chronopolis
55. Fate ~ The God of Destiny ~
56. Jellyfish Sea
57. Burning Orphanage
58. The Girl Who Stole the Stars
59. The Dream that Time Dreams
60. Dragon's Prayer
61. Tower of Stars
62. Frozen Flame
63. Dragon God
64. Dark Realms of Time
65. Life ~ A Distant Promise ~
66. Reminiscing - Uneraseable Memory (Same as Track 6)
67. Radical Dreamers ~ Unstolen Jewel ~
68. Fragment of a Dream
69. Between Life and Death (Variation)
70. Termina ~ Home World ~ (Variation)
71. Magical Dreamers ~ The Wind, Stars, and Waves ~ (Variation)
72. Birds Ambience
73. Cave Ambience
74. Cave Ambience 2

Official Releases

Chrono Cross Music Selection

CCMS.png

Compact Disc (15:47)

Composed & Arranged by: Yasunori Mitsuda
Release: August 15, 2000
Label: Squaresoft

Track List

1. Chrono Cross -Scars of Time- (2:29)
2. The Bend of Time (2:46)
3. Chronomantique (3:16)
4. Magical Dreamers -Wind, Stars, and Waves- (3:33)
5. The Girl Who Stole the Stars (3:43)

Purchase

This music sampler came with copies of Chrono Cross that had been preordered.

Limited Availability

Images

Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack

CCOST.png

Three Compact Discs

Composed & Arranged by: Yasunori Mitsuda
Release: December 18, 2000
Label: Digicube

Track List

Disc One (60:40)

1. Time's Scar (2:29)
2. The Brink of Death (2:38)
3. Home Village Arni (3:23)
4. Fields of Time - Home World (3:26)
5. Dancing the Tokage (2:41)
6. Reminiscence - Feelings Not Erased (3:25)
7. Dream of the Shore Bordering Another World (2:22)
8. Another Arni Village (3:32)
9. He Sang of Feeling (2:51)
10. Lost Fragments (3:12)
11. Drowning Valley (2:00)
12. Another Termina (2:43)
13. Leaving the Body (3:43)
14. Shadow Forest (3:25)
15. Viper Manor (2:54)
16. Victory - Spring's Gift (0:56)
17. Lost Child of Time (3:24)
18. Another Guldove (3:26)
19. Hydra Marshes (3:10)
20. Dream's Creation (1:35)
21. Voyage - Another World (2:32)
22. Phantom Ship (2:00)
23. Death Volcano (3:39)
24. Ancient Dragon's Fort (3:54)
25. Grief (0:20)

Disc Two (59:50)

1. Start of the Dream (0:42)
2. Cleft of Dimension (2:47)
3. Home Termina (3:38)
4. Dragonrider (3:01)
5. Voyage - Home World (3:22)
6. Home Guldove (3:58)
7. Home Marbule (2:55)
8. Zelbess (2:42)
9. The Big Admirable Mysterious Sleight of Hand Group (1:31)
10. Nap (0:13)
11. Chrono Main Theme (3:18)
12. Predicament (2:47)
13. Optimism (2:19)
14. Isle of the Damned (3:11)
15. Dead Sea - Tower of Ruin (3:10)
16. People Seized with Life (3:26)
17. Previously Lost Hopes (0:32)
18. Earth Dragon's Island (3:16)
19. Gaia's Navel (2:59)
20. Gale (2:00)
21. Victory - Summer's Cry (0:53)
22. Another Marbule (3:00)
23. Fairies Make Way for Magic (0:13)
24. Etude 1 (0:12)
25. Etude 2 (0:14)
26. Magical Dreamers - The Wind, Stars, and Waves (2:02)

Disc Three (53:21)

1. Garden of the Gods (2:45)
2. Chronopolis (4:12)
3. Fates - Gods of Destiny (3:10)
4. Jellyfish Sea (2:55)
5. Orphan of Flame (2:44)
6. The Star-Stealing Girl (3:48)
7. The Dream that Time Dreams (4:01)
8. Dragon's Prayer (5:57)
9. Tower of Stars (2:26)
10. Frozen Flame (2:54)
11. Dragon God (3:21)
12. Into a Time of Darkness (0:42)
13. Life - Faraway Promise (6:32)
14. Reminiscence - Feelings Not Erased 2 (Same as Reminiscence - Feelings Not Erased) (1:39)
15. Radical Dreamer - Without Taking the Jewel (4:25)
16. Dream's Creation (2:00)

Liner Notes

Yasunori Mitsuda commented on each track; his words have been translated by Ongakusei, and posted at Chudah's Corner. Ongakusei has graciously allowed us to display the notes here; these are the absolute best available.


Still Green Around the gills


Seems it's been nearly 10 years since I started really coming to grips with my "musical job" (including my days of training). When I think about it carefully, it now seems I was charging on with no thought to consequence. And I'll probably keep doing the same thing... until I die... (laughs). Back in my days of youth, I often thought, "I'm working hard but...why does no one acknowledge it?" and flared up at various people for that. Considering it now, I realize that the production process is not important to others; what matters is the result, the meaning the listener gets out of my work. But at that time, I was too young to realize this. Even now, my immaturity hasn't changed, but I do feel that the real value for me is not in being recognized for my hard work, but in the emotions my music stirs in people. So perhaps I have grown a bit. Were you all moved to cry just once in this game?


Only Death Stops Learning


"People keep learning until they die". My father always used to say that. For someone like me who hated studying, I really resisted this (laughs).

But recently I've come to think that it's not "studying" he was talking about, so much as "internalization". The world is full of fashion trends, but most people don't seriously question why something becomes fashionable, and simply submit to the vogue of the day. I'm the kind of person who isn't satisfied when something doesn't pass through my internal filter, so if something's concerning me, I always analyze it and attempt to digest it. So I finally arrived at an understanding of what my dad meant when he said "study".

I had no thought of writing "fashionable" music, and I realized that my awareness of this destiny, which finally passed through my internal filter, was directly tied to my personality, so I can't ignore that one really does "keep learning until they die". Heh. I'm trying, dad. (laughs).


The Power of Sound


Sound has a mysterious power. A power greater than anything you can say with words. I think that no matter how good a piece of music may be, if it isn't expressed with the right sound, it has no meaning. A composer saying that sounds don't matter is the same as him saying that he has no love for his own music. There are so many colors in sounds.

By way of understanding this, you'll notice that most of this soundtrack is built on a "guitar sound". Of course, it can't compete with the sound of a real guitar, but to enable people to perceive this atmosphere, I tried to use the "nerve" of the guitar to the maximum extent possible (does that make sense?). In pursuit of this, synthesizer programmer Ryo Yamazaki supported me without giving up to the very end. I cannot thank him enough.

If even a bit of the emotion this music possesses reaches you, you could say it's because of the power of his sounds.


The Power of All


Not just in this project, but always, producing game music requires the total commitment of everyone involved.

For example, to accommodate the slow disc loading speed, sound memory was reduced, so even if someone on the production level wanted to do something, the programmers frequently had to nix it. If I can only do half of what I envisage, I'm satisfied.

In the sound for this project, thanks to the combined efforts of the main programmer, the battle programmer, and many many others, we were able to overcome things I thought were physically impossible and finally arrive at this point. I would like to emphasize that the music echoing from these CDs is built on the power of all these people.


Folk Music Continues Onwards


I tried to apply a Mediterranean sound to all of this music, experimenting with Fado guitar type sounds.

I have a strong sense of Fado style as being represented by deeply expressive lyrics and minor-key music. But for a challenge, I tried to make my overall theme as writing music that could penetrate to the depths of one's heart with a bright, major-key sound.

In addition, as I've recently been studying African percussion, I made use of the rhythms of Africa, and the sounds of the ancient music of various lands like Finland, China, Mongolia and Greece. Of course, my Irish sound is also doing well...(laughs).

When I listen to this collection of music, the one thing I admire is that I'm able to achieve a well organized form out of seemingly disparate sounds. Could that be my greatest accomplishment!?...probably. (laughs).

From here on, in order to deliver more of that enjoyable yet mysterious Mitsuda sound, I'm really going to crack the whip on myself. Please have fun and wait for it.


Liner notes by Ryo Yamazaki (Sound Programmer):


Have any of you ever wondered while hearing the music in a game whether it's running off CD or being produced by the PlayStation sound chip? A lot of people might say "Well if the music's good, it doesn't matter", but for us who handle sound it's a big problem. Compared to recording the music, the process of cramming all the sounds into the hardware's available memory requires a lot more time and labor. When I work with outside creators who have no experience dealing with chip generated sound, they're generally dumbfounded by the hopeless hardware specs.

Because of that, a lot of creators who have to compose chip music give up or delegate the work out, but working with Mitsuda on this project, I never saw a trace of that disappointing attitude. Rather, he took the attitude that chip generated music was a challenge to be faced, and I felt incredible sympathy for him for that.

I did at times think it somewhat reckless to attempt to express some humanity through mechanical, computerized performances, but I was also just as often encouraged by Mitsuda's enthusiasm and insistence on communicating exactly what he wanted to convey through his music.

Afterall, achieving sound of this quality through the internal sound module may be due to no more than the ego of the developers, or else part of a process that gets left behind as hardware evolves. But no matter when or on what hardware, I would like for creators never to forget the history of conflict that arose in attempting to communicate something with all one's skill.

If listening to this soundtrack, permeated as it is with our obsessions, brings you to ponder even briefly your viewpoint on this thing called game music, it would be an honor.


Disc 1 ~ Awakening


Chrono Cross - Scars of Time -

The music adorning the opening of Chrono Cross. I think you can really sense how high the level of the musicians was. During the recording, new ideas constantly came to me and were quickly incorporated. The ambiguity of what the lead instrument is makes for a high tension piece. The mixing was extremely difficult. I thought the sound produced by laying a Gran Cassa (a huge drum) on its side and hitting it with brush sticks was very interesting.

Deadline

I think there is one version of this with voices and one without, but I included the version with voices on the CD. I don't like the standard orchestral style very much, so I tried emphasizing the percussion. I really am such a contrarian (laughs).

Aruni Village ~ Home

All the "first town" themes I'd written to this point were very sunny and bright, so this time I tried to make something with a calmer atmosphere. I thought Fado guitar style music would be great for this town, but Fado music typically has a dark, sorrowful image. So I thought, if I tried writing a bright, peaceful song with a Fado guitar, what kind of music would it turn out to be? Well, maybe in that case it's not really Fado...(laughs)

The Field of Time ~ Home World

Oh! Where have we heard this melody before? That's right, I rearranged the main theme from Chrono Trigger. But since a simple rearrangement wouldn't be interesting, I started with the "C" melody section. So it takes a while before you realize it's from Chrono Trigger. Somehow, the sound of sitar seems to go well with Chrono.

Dance with the Lizards

The strange piece from the first dungeon in the game. I don't think there are many people who would use the hammered dulcimer in a shuffle tune. And since the Angklung (an Indonesian instrument) is rarely heard in games, I tried playing it faintly in the background. It's nice having a dungeon that reminds you of good weather, isn't it? (laughs)

Reminiscing ~ Enduring Memories

I wanted to bring out the sense of a memory both nostalgic and painful on solo piano. I'm not a very good pianist, but I was able to play the whole thing with only a few later corrections (for Playstation playback). I played it over and over again until it had the right emotion, so even though it's simple, you can feel the love right!? (laughs)

On the Shore of Dreams ~ Another World

Those who know will recognize this as the main theme of Radical Dreamers. The use of the themes from Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers for "Home" and "Another World" was the idea of Masato Kato, the director. I'm glad this theme didn't wind up being forever unknown.

Aruni Village ~ Another

"Aruni Village Another" gives you the sense of non-existence that comes from pure emptiness. So I arranged Aruni Village Home with a feeling of emptiness as the theme for this piece. The desolate sound of piano and guitar fit this village well.

Transient Thoughts

This is another simple piece, using only electric piano and clarinet, but it's full of Lena's thoughts for Serge. Love is by no means a major theme of this game, but working in the common thoughts one feels towards the opposite sex in every day life was terribly hard.

Lost Fragments

A guitar and cello version of the Chrono Cross opening theme. I tried to approximate Kira-san's phrasing in my sequencing of his guitar part. I was really worried it wouldn't work out.

Drowned Valley

I was trying to create a medieval-style melody featuring two recorders, and before I knew it, the piece had wound up in 5/8 meter. (laughs). I suppose when you compose from a melody, rather than consciously try to create an odd metered piece, the result sounds very natural.

Telmina ~ Another

Yup, here it is! This is my 18th festive song with a 6/8 beat. This time, I tried arranging it with a Scottish feel. However, it sounds just like the Guardia Millennial Fair from Chrono Trigger! (laughs). . . Well, you've got to have at least one of this kind of piece, you know.

Departed Souls

I wish I could have expressed the heroism of the Dragon Knights even more emphatically in the second half of this piece. The sense of harmony one perceives in the sound of the Shakuhachi and the Shinobue would have worked well here, but synthesized emulations cannot capture the particular essence of the actual instruments, so I didn't want to use them. And this is how the piece turned out. But I wonder if there wasn't a better solution?

Forest of Shadows

One of my favorite genres of music is minimalism; repeating the same motif over and over produces such a nice sensation. I don't know how many times I dozed off while writing this song. . . Did you all fall asleep while listening to this in the game too?

Jakotsu Mansion

We had extra memory here, so synthesizer programmer Ryo Yamazaki and I thought "what would be a really interesting sound to put in here?", and wound up putting in this really cool sound. We still laugh about it and think "how stupid".

Victory ~ Gifts of Spring

This is the same fanfare from Chrono Trigger, arranged for orchestra. Personally, I didn't like using fanfares, but when I put this one in, it gave it the flavor of an old-school RPG. I think this game has a real sense of the theatrical.

A Child Lost in Time

I'm particularly fond of the sound of the cello and the pizzicato phrases in the second half of this piece. Does it cause you a sense of unease? Personally it just makes me laugh...this one's stupid too. (laughs).

Galdorf ~ Another

When you move back and forth between the dimensions in this game, the "Home" and "Another" towns each have their own versions of their themes. But sometimes you lose track of which dimension you're in, probably because of the different arrangements. But personally, I thought the effect of losing track of where you are was kind of interesting...

Hydra Swamp

I broadly synchronized this to the movements of the dwarves. If the timing's right, it should look like the dwarves are dancing. I hope, anyway... This map had both a sense of pop and a sense of mystery, so it was tough trying to attend to both of those elements.

Pieces of Dreams

You may have noticed already, but in one of Kato-san's projects, you always have to have a music box theme. I really think that even though the music box is very simple, it's a strange instrument (or is it a machine?) capable of powerfully affecting musical expression.

Sailing ~ Another World

The kind of music I'd like to hear while lazily sailing around on a boat. At first glance (or is that first listen?) it sounds perfectly natural, but the form and chord changes make it a good but kind of strange piece. In musical terms, it changes key rapidly via a II-V progression until the harmony comes full circle and arrives back at the original key. So it's a mischievous piece.

Phantom Ship

No matter what, when I hear the sound of a Vibra Slap, I think of Saburo Kitajima's song "Yosaku". I was conscious of this when I used the sound and tried to slip past that image so the listener wouldn't make the association but...it was no good (laughs). This piece really makes you realize the impact of "Yosaku".

Death Volcano

After a fretless bass intro, an African beat fades in slowly. After that, the development changes up and the Uillean Pipes of Ireland and distinctive Udo percussion come in. There are instruments from all over the world in this piece.

Ancient Dragon's Fort

I had to rearrange this piece 2 or 3 times before I was satisfied with it. At first, it was a progressive rock piece that sounded like the Italian band Goblin, but as I rearranged it, it took on a completely different feel. If I had more space on the staff paper, I would have written a long 20-minute track (laughs).

Grief

Please listen to Mitose's "demonic wails" (laughs). The track lasts only a few seconds, but it produced a very frightening effect when synched with the video. This sort of thing is the most interesting aspect of writing music for images. I tripled each of Mitose's 6 parts to make an 18 voice choir altogether. (In fact I wanted to include even more...) You keened very nicely for me, Mitose-san, thank you.


Disc 2 ~ Acceptance'


Beginning of a Dream

This was composed for Square's internal presentation, not used in the game itself. But I figured only a few people had heard it and I'd gone to the trouble of writing it, so I should include the full version here. This was my first image of Chrono Cross. It truly sounds like the sea.

The Bend of Time

I had a pressing urge to compose this, and finished it in 2 hours. (laughs) Some strong inspiration must have hit me. If it was like this all the time, I could finish a whole soundtrack in 10 days (laughs).

Telmina ~ Home

The way I handled the music for Telmina was special, so strictly speaking I would call this the theme music for events that occur in Telmina. I also based this on ancient music, while preserving something of the feel of a festival.

Dragon Knights

This is so-called pop orchestra (laughs). This type of feel brings out the knights' bravery and pride. Yamazaki-san re-recorded this numerous times to get the brass sound right.

Sailing ~ Home World

I sampled a distortion guitar very meticulously, so the sound actually approached the quality of the real thing. I wanted this one to be very fast paced.

Galdorf ~ Home

I composed this piece early on in the production, and so thought of using it for Aruni village, but I switched it over to Galdorf instead, which it fit very well. I put a guitar tremolo in midway through, but I declined to even try to play it on a real guitar. I really wish I was better at guitar...

Marbule ~ Home

I composed this with medieval music in mind. Because ancient instruments have so many limitations, it was difficult to write this as if it could have been genuinely performed, but I wonder if it wouldn't be possible afterall...If I ever do an ancient music arranged album, I'd like to take a shot at it.

Zelbess

In this comfortable, pleasurable town of paradise, you learn an important lesson about how to live your life. Enjoying yourself is important, but as a human, so is experiencing hardship. This town teaches you how to best find that balance (laughs).

The Great Sneff's Troupe

Somehow when I hear the word "magic", I think of China, but why? Is it only me? I like how this track messes with my mind. (laughs)

Bed Time

OK everyone, let's sleep. 1. .2. .3. . zzzz...

Chronomantique

This is my cheap attempt at a reggae version of Chrono Trigger (laughs). It's only heard briefly in the game, but it's a pretty long track (for game music). In arranging it, it really turned into a different piece of music. This piece makes me think I need to study up on arranging a lot more.

Predicament

Just like with "Jakotsu Mansion", we had extra memory for this track, so I wondered if I couldn't do something with voices, and added in the exclamation "Zon!" with a male voice. It changed the character of the music, but I thought it was interesting. Do you get a sense of climbing up a cliff?

Optimism

Somehow optimistic, but also a bit funky. It develops into a very sweet arrangement in the second half, but the first half is so cheerful it makes me laugh. There sure are a lot of tracks that make me laugh in this game...

Island of Departed Souls

This was a dungeon theme I really felt compelled to write. I thought the flute keening that comes in midway through made a big impact; I liked that a lot. I also thought the Ring Rhythm (my own term) percussion came off great (laughs). To explain, "Ring Rhythm" creates the effect of revolving percussion through speaker positioning. I was able to put minimalism and polyrhythm to use. If the piece was just rotating percussion, it wouldn't have been much.

Dead Sea / Ruined Tower

The sound of the clarinet was very troubling to me here. A particular problem with the Playstation hardware is that reverb breaks up the sound to which it's applied, and since there were very few tracks in this piece, it was extremely noticeable. On top of that, the volume was very low and out of balance with the other pieces, so it was a really bad situation. Thanks to Yamazaki-san, the issue was skillfully solved.

Prisoners of Fate

The heart-wrenching scene of the fateful battle with Migel (Lena's father). When I heard this song during the battle, my hands faltered in inputting the commands. In any case, I used the emotion of this scene to shape the chord progressions and string arrangement. So sad, so sad...

A Light for Lost Hopes

This was the first track to be programmed into the game. The theme of this one was a "guitar sound", and I wrote it while checking the memory. This piece was very important in determining the overall sound for the game. Even so, they only used it as the game over message theme, so this game does have its poisons. (laughs)

Earth Dragon's Island

I think this piece really dealt with the concept of atmosphere well. The sense of transparency matched up to the images nicely and really expressed a sensation of space, despite the music's simplicity. Somehow it turned out really well, but it was just as much thanks to Yamazaki-san's power as mine. (laughs)

Navel of the World

Percussion was the focus here, and produced a very fast-paced mood. Even though the scene it's used in has a very laid-back feel, it matched up unexpectedly well. There were so many tracks in this one, mixing it was a real trial.

Hurricane

The abundant use of polyrhythm created a battle theme unlike anything else. Mixing 9/8, 3/4 and 4/4 meters together in the climax, then throwing 5/4 in as well, resulted in something completely crazy. I call this "Radical Traditional" (laughs).

Victory ~ Shouts of Summer

This trackname was thought up by Kato-san, and what a great title it is. It's the "Shouts of Summer"! I've never seen a jingle tune with such a great title before (laughs). It ties in so well with "Gifts of Spring"(laughs).

Marbule ~ Another

I arranged the Marbule theme in so many different ways, I wasn't really sure which one was the "original", but this was the first version. It's really simple, isn't it. I wanted to use instruments of the thinnest possible sound, as it's always a task of mine to make my music as clear as possible.

The Fairy's Magic

This is the "model" of this tune for the important scene where the dancer Miki teaches Slash about music and the joys of life. At first I just used the sound of Slash's guitar for this, but it was much too floaty, so I made up this version very quickly.

Etude 1

Kigoshi-san, who came up with this event, told me "Slash does know his way around a guitar, so rather than having him play wrong notes at the start, please show his development through the 'soul' he puts into the music", so that's what I had to do. (It was really hard!) I wonder if you can really tell the difference?

Etude 2

I think this has more "soul" than Etude 1 but...what do you think? I'm sorry if I didn't really get it.

Magical Dreamers ~ Wind, Stars, and Waves

As I listened to Etude 2 more, I decided it did sound like a satisfying performance, but for me, this version has the most "soul", so I decided to use this take. The Mike Oldfield-style guitar in the second half really enhanced the medieval quality of the melody and gave the whole thing a very unique flavor, I thought...


Disc 3 ~ Return


Garden of the Gods

I had planned to use a boys' choir only in the "Garden of the Gods" sequence, but it was used right in the opening. But to recreate the originally intended track sequencing, I put it on the CD here. It's perfect for the start of disc 3. And now, the surging waves of high-tension music begin...

Chronopolis

I created this track using the chord progression from "Chrono Trigger" over a techno rhythm. You might think this one track is far removed from the general image of Chrono Cross, but I really think this kind of music has a place in Chrono. Perhaps those who have played Chrono Trigger will understand.

FATE ~ God of Destiny

Once again, a progressive tune. I particularly like the 4 measures in the middle where the organ and bass take over. This was the very last piece I composed for this game; incidentally, in Chrono Trigger, the 2nd boss battle theme was also the last one I composed. Somehow, the two situations wound up being the same. How strange...(laughs).

Jellyfish Sea

This is an ambient style piece. The transparent sound of the fretless bass and piano really evoke the impression of being deep underwater. If I'm picking my top 5 pieces from the soundtrack, this is one of them. Just like with "Forest of Shadows", I kept falling asleep while listening to this (laughs).

Orphanage Fire

When I tried combining a female Gregorian chant chorus and a male operatic chorus, this was the result. I really love the sudden modulation just before the final chord loops back to the beginning. Hearing this music should make you want to swear vengeance against Yamaneko. Yamanekooooooooooo!

The Girl who Stole the Stars

Hidden within Kid's tough exterior is a kind heart, and this piece portrays that side of her. Noriko Mitose's "lan, la, la, lan" scat suited Kid's image perfectly. She was personally one of my favorite characters in the game.

Dreams of Time

This was the music for the demo version's trailer, but I made some slight alterations here. It tries to sum up the essence of the whole game by including the themes from Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers. The perfect music for quickly giving a sense of the game's content from a storefront demo.

Dragon's Prayer

Jerry Goldsmith is one of my favorite composers, and I challenged myself to somehow absorb his unique sense of development and orchestration for this track. But...I'm at a loss for words. (laughs). I still need to study how to write various styles of music...

Star Tower

At first, there may appear to be nothing unusual about this track, but the Yoik vocals that slowly fade in and out give it a real sense of the macabre. This piece serves to remind you that you're getting closer and closer to the end. Did everyone's heart start to pound?

Frozen Flame

This piece was used in Radical Dreamers, but here it paints the beauty of the frozen flame, and describes the pattern of human misery that surrounds the gem. The music sounds normal on the surface, but I believe it actually presents a parade of key changes. I don't really remember how I composed this one (laughs).

Dragon God

This piece makes use of Yoik vocals and string quartet, on top of which I added a sizeable amount of percussion. To better frame the introductory Yoik vocal, I kept the strings and brass arrangements in the middle simple. I tried playing this battle before there was any music, and thought "what an easy going last boss", but when I put the music in, it became an incredibly up-tempo battle.

Life ~ Faraway Promise

In this piece, sound effects gradually synchronize into music, but it can't really be explained without the images. I had goosebumps for days after I first saw this scene. I suppose there are people who've bought this CD without playing the game, but if you get a chance, you should really hear this one song with the visuals.

Reminiscing ~ Enduring Memories

This piece is heard at the beginning, but also appears at the end of the story, as the keyword "enduring memories" for the 2 people. Which were the most important memories to Serge? And what was the meaning of that photograph...?

Radical Dreamers ~ Unstealable Gem

Kira's piquant guitar and Mitose's beautiful voice matched so well in this song. Initially, I twice thought about adding strings to the song, but it promised to sound too conventional, so I dared myself to stick only to vocal and guitar to the very end. It took a real act of courage to bring such a simple song for the ending theme. The difficulty of pulling off a song with so few parts is really felt keenly here. If the song truly is persuasive enough, I would consider that a great success. Noriko Mitose's lyrics are wonderful too, so please reflect on them while you listen.

Fragment of Dreams

Listening to this tune will surely put you into a peaceful state of mind. (laughs). After I finished watching the ending, I just sat there for awhile, listening to this music. Quietly close your eyes, and think back on the many adventures you had in the game.

Purchase

[1] 3,364 Yen

Note that this is the ONLY way to buy the official Chrono Cross OST at the moment. Square Enix reissued it in Japan, and Amazon Japan will gladly ship overseas to American customers.

PLAY! A Video Game Symphony

Starting 2006, a suite of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross music has been performed by the traveling symphony PLAY!. They kicked things off in Chicago, and many composers (including Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu) attended the event. It seems no official release is planned at this time; we will stay on alert for a commercial recording. The songs that appear in the suite are:

  1. Reminiscing ~ Uneraseable Memory
  2. Chrono Trigger
  3. Chrono Cross ~ Scars of Time
  4. Frog's Theme
  5. To Far Away Times

Though no official edition exists, you can watch the full suite in high quality at Google Video here. You may also download it from that page by using Firefox Video Downloader. If you're lazy and / or use Internet Explorer, you can download it here. Alternatively, you can download just the music. For other songs, try this recording of the Stockholm performance (100 mb, .rar): play.rar.

Playscreenshot.png

Square Vocal Collection

SQVOCAL.png

Compact Disc (74:21)

Composed and Arranged by: Kenji Ito, Hiroki Kikuta, Nobuo Uematsu, Yoko Shimomura, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda
Release: June 21, 2001
Label: DigiCube

Track List

1. Forevermore - The Bouncer (4:36)
2. Small Two of Pieces - Xenogears (6:21)
3. Treasure Chest of the Heart - Chocobo Racing (6:16)
4. 9 Times - Punk This Town - Generation XX (3:42)
5. Lovely Strains - Soukaigi (5:27)
6. Eyes on Me - Final Fantasy VIII 4(:51)
7. Somnia Memorias - Parasite Eve (5:59)
8. Stars of Tears - Xenogears (2:58)
9. Radical Dreamers - Chrono Cross (4:31)
10. Melodies of Life - Final Fantasy IX (5:52)
11. Song of Mana - Legend of Mana (6:03)
12. Tiny Wings - Dice de Chocobo (4:07)

Purchase

Limited Availability

Yasunori Mitsuda Fanclub: Hopeful Weeds 2002 Membership Renewal Bonus CD

Hopefulweeds.gif

Compact Disc (7:00)

Composed & Arranged by: Yasunori Mitsuda
Release: 2002
Label: Procyon-Studio

Track List

1. Lost Fragment (2:32)
2. Guldove ~ Home World (4:28)

Hopeful Weeds is the name of an annual bonus CD given out to members of Yasunori Mitsuda's fan club. In 2002, it featured two performances of songs from the Chrono Cross Guitar Arranged book.

Purchase

Limited Availability

Mitsuda took down the Hopeful Weeds shop, so look for this on auction sites. The fan club is still in opreation here.

Unofficial Releases

Chrono Cross Demo Rip

The Chrono Cross Demo was released on a disc called "Square's Preview, Vol. 5", packaged with the Japanese PlayStation releases of Chrono Trigger and Legend of Mana. Nine songs appear in the demo, and the instrument selection and acoustics are somewhat different. If you know how to rip .psf tracks from PlayStation games, please contact chronocompendium@gmail.com. Until the Compendium gets a proper rip, it will present this manual recording originally hosted at KH Insider.

  1. Beginning of a Dream (shorter; no "Final Fantasy Prelude" type instrument)
  2. The Dream that Time Dreams (different instruments)
  3. Between Life and Death (less percussion and no angry shouts at 01:10)
  4. Arni Village ~ Home World ~
  5. Nap
  6. Fields of Time ~ Home World ~ (different instruments)
  7. Viper Mansion (no "boom" sounds; at 00:42 for example)
  8. Lizard Dance
  9. Reminiscing ~ Uneraseable Memory ~

.psf Rips

Zophar.net (Tracks 2-19, 21-24, 27-65, 68-74)

Note that it is currently impossible to rip the entire track list, as certain songs are played during cutscenes or are streamed, conflicting with the ripping process.

What is a .psf?

A PlayStation Sound Format (PSF) file is a sound data file (akin to .SPC from the Super NES) ripped directly from a Sony PlayStation video game.

The PSF format was created by Neill Corlett in 2003. Neill Corlett later created the PSF2 format. Highly Experimental is the name of the Winamp plugin that plays PSF and PSF2 files. This plugin can improve on the original Playstation sound by playing the PSF's at sampling rates above 44.1 KHz.

Generally PSF files contain a number of samples and a sequence player program. This takes far less space than the equivalent streamed format of the same song (WAV, MP3) while still sounding exactly like the original song (as opposed to formats such as MIDI which depend on the creator's accuracy and quality of the MIDI synthesizer it's played on). Several PSF subformats also have a miniPSF/PSFlib capability, wherein data that is used by multiple tracks need only be stored once (in the PSFlib) and the differences are stored, with reference to the PSFlib, in a miniPSF file, further increasing storage efficiency. Additionally sections of the PSF are zlib compressed. Generally, background music stored in PSF files can be played forever, as the sequencer properly handles its own loop points, another advantage over streamed formats.

A PSF2 file is a sound data file equivalent to the PSF, but ripped directly from a Sony Playstation 2 video game.

Both PSF and PSF2 files contains a header which specifies the type of video game system the file contains data for, and an optional set of tags at the end which can give detailed information on the file (game name, artist, length, etc.) The organization of the data is determined by each individual subformat.

PSF initially stood only for "PlayStation Sound Format", but with the addition of the PSF2, SSF (Sega Saturn Sound Format), DSF (Dreamcast Sound Format), USF (Nintendo Ultra 64 Sound Format), and QSF (Capcom Q-Sound Format) subformats, a more generic backronym was developed: Portable Sound Format.

From: Wikipedia

.psf players can be found at Zophar.net, the recommended choice being Highly Experimental.

Albums and Doujins

See: Albums and Doujins

Remixes

Chrono Compendium

Track 7. On the Beach of Dreams ~ Another World

Track 15. Viper Mansion

Track 20. Fragment of a Dream 2

Track 22. Ghost Ship

Track 40. Dead Sea/Tower of Destruction

Track 56. Jellyfish Sea

Track 58. The Girl Who Stole the Stars

Track 65. Life ~ A Distant Promise

Track 67. Radical Dreamers ~ Unstolen Jewel

Track 68. Fragment of a Dream

Overclocked ReMix

Overclocked ReMix is a video game music remixing organization. Despite wonky and weird leadership, it maintains a large collection of generally decent remixes.

From: http://www.ocremix.org

ThaSauce

ThaSauce is a remixing / video game music news site with its own original remix subdivision.

VGMix

VGMix is down. Until then, you may find an archive of remixes here. Check the text file to see if you have any we're missing, then contact Zeality@gmail.com and he'll add the missing songs to the archive.

VGMix is part of a community of amateur musicians who write arrangements of video game music.

From: http://www.vgmix.com

Please note that only remixes that have been rated Above-Average appear here for quality control.

Stuff of Legends

Must-Haves

Good Stuff

Other

Celestia: Square Enix Music Arrange Festival

This was a major event in the Japanese remixing community, where several RPG fans came together to make over 80 remixes for their favorite material. Standards in the Japanese remixing community aren't as rigid as they are in the US due to big sites like OCR and VGMix not existing over there; however, there are pieces of excellent quality in here, and you are not a Chrono fan if you do not bother checking these out. The lyrical At the Bottom of Night is a must, as well as the song simply titled Chrono Trigger.

The project itself, with all the other remixes, can be found at this page. Take note that the remixes are issued in .zip or .lzh format. You will need WinRAR or an appropriate utility to decompress them.

Chrono Cross

Chrono Cross & Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger Resurrection

These rearrangements were made by tssf for Chrono Trigger Resurrection. He released them to his forums in late 2004; many are incomplete.

Dwelling of Duels

Dwelling of Duels is a monthly remixing competition.

May 2006

11. 'Angelus Errare' by KiddCabbage

This very long remix includes the following songs:

  • Scars of Time
  • Viper Mansion
  • Between Life and Death
  • Departed Souls
  • The Dragons
  • Fortress of Ancient Dragons
  • Between Life and Death
  • Garden of God
  • Hydra Marshes
  • Burning Orphanage
  • Dead Sea / Tower of Destruction
  • The Dream that Time Dreams
  • Chrono Trigger
  • Isle of the Dead
  • Gale
  • Departed Souls
  • Dragon God
  • Victory ~ A Cry in Summer
  • On the Beach of Dreams ~ Another World
  • Termina Home
  • Prisoners of Fate

December 2006

2: 'Running After You' by Darangen
4: 'Dimension Horizons' by LuIzA
18tie: 'Windy Archipelago' by Paragon

Gekitsui King Contest

OCReMix WIPs

OneUp Studios - Time & Space (Green)

Note: The official, current Time & Space does not include a few songs released on the Green version. OneUp Studios has graciously allowed these to be hosted and made available to the fan community.

Personal Remixes

Personal remixes are remixes hosted on other sites with no connections to OCReMix, VGMix, OneUpStudios, or other major game arranging centers.

VGMix 1

VGMix.com has undergone two iterations, the first being a sloppy site with little quality control. However, some high quality remixes were submitted, and have been mirrored here.

VGMix WIPs

VGMix WIPs are works in progress posted on http://www.vgmix.com to receive feedback for improving the remix. While often unpolished, they are nonetheless capable of inspiration and conceptual beauty.

These are unfortunately prone to removal at VGMix.

VGMusic MIDIs

http://www.VGMusic.com is an archive of MIDIs from various games.

Zephyr Cradle

http://www.zephyr-cradle.info/sound.html

In addition to their fan doujins, Zephyr Cradle hosts video game remixes.

From: Music

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