SynthStation Nakamichi is dead ??? Enter "Synth Dynami

nakamichi · Post by **nakamichi** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 3:25 am

Finally,I've decided Synth Station Nakamichi is ready for retirement,and the new label "Synth Dynamics" is ready for the new DCRPG Music project.

The former name "SynthStation Nakamichi" was too lame,dull and non-original.
It reminds you of some kind of a device which is a hybrid of a PlayStation and a Synthesizer made by the Japanese company Nakamichi :)

Along with the name,the quality of the production is dramatically increased:
The music is still made with my DC,but now using a PC with a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 and Sound Forge 6.0 for recording,editing and mastering :)
Some of my tracks are now made with a PC using the MIDI samples taken from my DC and used in Fruity Loops Studio 4,so I get much better reverb and stereo separation now,and still get to use my MIDI keyboard :)

So,now you get the least noise and the highest quality you can get from the DC XG MIDI sound.

And from now,all tracks will be encoded in 192kbps/44kHz/stereo MP3 format.(no 320kbps files anymore,192 is still enough for high-quality sound)

And now,the best part:

Fresh new DEMO tracks uploaded!

- Atmospheric RPG Theme 3 (alpha version)
- Atmospheric RPG Theme 3 (beta version)
- Sentimental RPG Theme (demo)
- and FINALLY - Crystal Atmosphere 2 ! (of course,demo)

These are just a test. What you're gonna hear in DCRPG will be totally different and truly amazing.
(these tracks show just 10% of the quality you will experience in the ACTUAL Synth Dynamics' DC RPG music)

I've finally got a FTP site and uploaded 2 DC RPG Demo songs and a few other tracks for other Homebrew DC games,such as the newest "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" (Version 2!) for ZeroWing MAME.It's WAAAAY different from the first one I uploaded before on my DCHomebrew page.

(Just PM me for the FTP address/login/password)

I also have a few other demos just for your enjoyment.

Just to note,the FULL,final DC RPG tracks ARE complete !
(10 tracks)
...and 10 more in the works (nearly complete)

When I release the ending DCRPG song,you can compare it to even Nobuo's stunning FF9 piano track (you know what song I'm talking about) :-)

Just the problem is,will the DCRPG continue,or it's really DEAD...

To all homebrew game programmers:
If I see a quality release and you need music for it,I'll make sure it exceeds the quality of the software you made :)

I'm waiting for "Feet Of Fury 2" and some hot dance tracks :P

DJ Geki · Post by **DJ Geki** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 5:11 pm

nakamichi wrote:To all homebrew game programmers:
If I see a quality release and you need music for it,I'll make sure it exceeds the quality of the software you made

I'm waiting for "Feet Of Fury 2" and some hot dance tracks

Eh? We have to make a second one now?? Did you need better dance tracks than what we had?

*Buries head in keyboards and MIDI cables*

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 5:20 pm

That all sounds great, but how about using OGG for audio? It's half the size or twice the quality depending on how you look at it, and there's a player for just about every operating system, not to mention the Dreamcast.

hypersonic5ng3 · Post by **hypersonic5ng3** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 10:40 pm

Why don't you just make some FoF swap discs :-p

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 12:17 am

I think I'd have to recommend using OGG for the music as well, because OGG files can be directly used in a DC homebrew game, even a commercial one, with no problems at all, whereas MP3s have all sorts of legal problems. Not to mention the fact that it's much higher quality than MP3 - it's comparable with MP3Pro, AAC, VQ and all the other new audio formats.

aced411 · Post by **aced411** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 12:52 pm

I love .ogg as well, but perhaps that would be a bit much. The encoding is more intense, thus needing some more processing power

aced411 · Post by **aced411** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 12:52 pm

just to clarify....the decoding would take more processing power is what I meant

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 12:59 pm

Feet of Fury uses it, and it works just fine. Decoding OGGs isn't that much more CPU intensive than MP3s, and it's pretty negligable on a system as powerful as the Dreamcast. The only reason that MP3 players are so much more efficient on a PC is because they tend to be very highly optimised and written in assembly. There are no such things on the DC for MP3 or Ogg, so it's much more even.

DJ Geki · Post by **DJ Geki** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 10:05 pm

BlackAura wrote:Feet of Fury uses it, and it works just fine. Decoding OGGs isn't that much more CPU intensive than MP3s, and it's pretty negligable on a system as powerful as the Dreamcast. The only reason that MP3 players are so much more efficient on a PC is because they tend to be very highly optimised and written in assembly. There are no such things on the DC for MP3 or Ogg, so it's much more even.

Quite right. Actually, it would be better to ask Dan this question specifically (go to the CA boards to do that...Dan's too busy to travel the boards like I do). I do remember some of the discussions we had initially when trying to figure out exactly what to do with sound processing. The way it worked out, ogg processing was pretty much equal in CPU usage to MP3 processing (at the beginning). However, I'm pretty sure we got CPU usage down very low for decoding. The difference now is most likely negligible, but I'd still go with Oggs just because of their open source-ness

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 7:49 am

but I'd still go with Oggs just because of their open source-ness

As would I.

nakamichi · Post by **nakamichi** » Sun Jul 13, 2003 3:18 pm

Hmmm...I think it would be best to use the MP3 player integrated into DreamSNES
It sounds very,very good...

But OGG is VBR,and I hate VBR.
I use CBR encoding for everything...VBR encoded tracks always vary in quality in every part of the track,while CBR is more like CD-DA or DVD-Audio.

I'll try to use OGG as well,but I'm used to MP3s and they sound very good at 320kbps...I don't need more than that...

nakamichi · Post by **nakamichi** » Sun Jul 13, 2003 3:38 pm

I found Feet Of Fury VERY CHEAP (!) and a bit buggy.
You can press every button at once like mad on the joypad and beat even the hardest stage with ease.I don't like that.There should be a sort of penalty for pressing more buttons than needed for a "combo".
I can press 6 buttons at once,to clear a 2-button combo and still pass it with no penalty.That sux!
That's why we need a 2nd version.
And the music could be much,much better...
Much,much better.So much better that you will ask for a vinyl RECORD of the music

))

The music in FoF is a bit not my taste

(no dull repetitive songs,but A LOT of variation and much better melodic parts are needed)

Just wait 'til my DC RPG Soundtrack is finished...
You'll see what quality I'm aiming for.
Something that is comparable to the famous RPG composers you all know of.
(But,sadly the sound quality will be like the "SNES on steroids",which is not what I think of Hi-Fi

)
I mean "live" quality,but I CAN'T DO THAT with only a DC and that piece of DC MIDI software

(poor reverb,poor stereo separation,only 22kHz sound,very limited sample library in terms of quality samples,etc.)

But,anyway,if you listen to the ending theme,which is finished,you won't believe it's non-commercial music

I have even a Drum'N'Bass track for you,DJ Geki...
Just PM me.

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Sun Jul 13, 2003 3:39 pm

OGG can be CBR if you want to, but VBR is a lot better.

nakamichi · Post by **nakamichi** » Sun Jul 13, 2003 3:47 pm

Oh,BTW what is the best OGG encoder for PC (Win XP) that gives the best quality possible and where can I get it?

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Sun Jul 13, 2003 3:49 pm

nakamichi wrote:Oh,BTW what is the best OGG encoder for PC (Win XP) that gives the best quality possible and where can I get it?

OggDrop, the advanced version, is the official encoder: http://www.vorbis.com/files/1.0/windows/oggdropXPd.zip

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Sun Jul 13, 2003 9:12 pm

Generally Ogg files are a similar sound quality to MP3 files encoded at about double the bitrate. So an Ogg Vorbis track encoded at roughly 160Kbps (which is quality level 5/6 for 44,100Hz/16-bit/Stereo) sounds really, really good. Almost (but not quite) as good as an uncompressed version, in my opinion.

The official encoder, which is what pretty much everything else capable of creating Ogg Vorbis files uses, is pretty good, but it's still just a first generation encoder, so it's a little slower than the equivalent MP3 encoder.

DJ Geki · Post by **DJ Geki** » Mon Jul 14, 2003 12:08 am

nakamichi wrote:I found Feet Of Fury VERY CHEAP (!) and a bit buggy.

Umm...what? You found it cheap? As in, inexpensive to purchase? Or cheap like "The computer AI is so bad in the ways it cheats! It's CHEAP!"

nakamichi wrote: You can press every button at once like mad on the joypad and beat even the hardest stage with ease.I don't like that.There should be a sort of penalty for pressing more buttons than needed for a "combo".
I can press 6 buttons at once,to clear a 2-button combo and still pass it with no penalty.That sux!

We've addressed this "issue" before. There is a REASON we made it so that you could do this. You can use the controller to play, sure...but have you tried pressing all four buttons on a dance pad while playing? Or maybe all 26 letters on the keyboard while playing? I don't think so. Besides, you'd look funny doing frog leaps at 16th note speeds on "Those Damn Noodles"

nakamichi wrote: That's why we need a 2nd version.
And the music could be much,much better...
Much,much better.So much better that you will ask for a vinyl RECORD of the music ))

I apologize that the music was not up to your standards. Read the sections in the post-mortem about my experience with dance music in general when I started writing the songs for this game. That might explain a bit. In addition to that, we tried to please as many people as we could without breaking the bank. I personally didn't have the software I would have liked, nor did I have all the equipment I would have liked (and I STILL don't...DAMN YOU KORG!

).

nakamichi wrote: The music in FoF is a bit not my taste
(no dull repetitive songs,but A LOT of variation and much better melodic parts are needed)

Well, "dull repetitive" is what most dance music is, and there are those of us who kinda like it. Sorry

It's not the only type of music I listen to or write for that matter. Make sure you've unlocked everything in the unlock store for a taste of other stuff I like to write.

nakamichi wrote: But,anyway,if you listen to the ending theme,which is finished,you won't believe it's non-commercial music

Well, post it! I'm curious! Hell, at least post a short sample of it.

nakamichi wrote: I have even a Drum'N'Bass track for you,DJ Geki...
Just PM me.

That's cool, but I don't know what I'd do with it. We're most likely not going to make a FoF2 as our plans stand right now. That's liable to change, but we've got a pretty original idea for our next project, and we're hoping to get a working prototype here soon. Well, "soon"=="within the next 4 months"

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Mon Jul 14, 2003 12:47 am

I think it'd probably be cool to set up some kind of online thingy for Feet of Fury swap discs / tracks. They you'd have something to do with nakamichi's track, and a couple of others people have offered you.

DJ Geki · Post by **DJ Geki** » Mon Jul 14, 2003 1:47 am

BlackAura wrote:I think it'd probably be cool to set up some kind of online thingy for Feet of Fury swap discs / tracks. They you'd have something to do with nakamichi's track, and a couple of others people have offered you.

I don't think Cryptic Allusion would be able to do this without some type of licensing structure for the database/download site to keep us from getting sued by someone. Sounds like the beginning of a neat idea, though

With that said, nakamichi and anyone else who would like to put together a swap CD image and distribute it on the Web are more than welcome to do so. Dan is currently working on the tools that will make everything a bit easier to throw together in a shorter amount of time. Until then, I would recommend making step files for the songs you'd like to play on the swap disc, and then test them out with the newer versions of DWI. It is possible to make the discs on your own, but these tools will hopefully make everything much more accessible to us ordinary humans

nakamichi · Post by **nakamichi** » Mon Jul 14, 2003 1:53 pm

Geki,I don't mean I didn't like all of the tracks,I meant I did like ONLY A FEW of your tracks in FoF

The character select music and "Higher" are the only tracks that kept me movin'

The rest is not up to that standard.
I'll now send you something which I made with much worse software that you had making FoF.
I made this track with a plain old SONY PlayStation One,back in 1999 when I was doing DJ stuff

I used a program called "Music 2000",a sampler/sequencer/wave editor all-in-one which is a bitch to use.And everything I had to make with a joypad! (yikes!)

You'll see what I have done with a crappy PSOne.
The DC software I'm using now is even worse in its' capabilities,but gives me the freedom to use a MIDI keyboard and do stuff I couldn't do before...

Check your personal messages and you can download some demos of mine.

SynthStation Nakamichi is dead ??? Enter "Synth Dynami

SynthStation Nakamichi is dead ??? Enter "Synth Dynamics" !

Re: SynthStation Nakamichi is dead ??? Enter "Synth Dynamics" !

.ogg