FirebrandX
11-02-2017, 02:04 AM
Background:
So this is a project I had been working on over the years of trying to get the best possible rip of the Doom 64 soundtrack. First I tried emulators, but found they just didn't emulate the notes and frequency range as accurately as I hoped. Then I tried straight analog stereo ripping, but found I was highly annoyed by background noise and low quality from the D/A converter. Then a couple years ago, Aubrey Hodges released his official OST for the game. I paid for it and listened closely to each of the stage tracks. Much to my disappointment, his tracks were also ripped from analog audio, and even worse is his stage tracks were riddled with horrible AC coupling noise. The best I could do was isolate the A/C coupling noise in silent parts of the music tracks, and then subtract them as a noise filter from the rest of the music. This was just a bandaid approach though.
Enter the UltraHDMI mod!
While the UltraHDMI mod is simply amazing for video with its 1080p scaling and deblur features, it also has the benefit of pulling the sound directly from the digital audio processing of the N64. It completely bypasses the clunky D/A conversion circuitry of the N64, and outputs audio in pure digital format at 48Khz. This was exactly what I needed to finally make a definitive rip of the Doom 64 soundtrack! It has the best of both worlds being pure digital AND from real hardware! The fidelity and clarity of these new recordings blow away any and all previous soundtrack rips, including Aubrey's own release (which he has since released a new 20th anniversary edition that overlays new sound effects on all the tracks).
So if you want a definitive soundtrack rip of Doom 64, look no further! The files have been tagged and assigned cover art, and as usual are encoded in lossless FLAC format. Enjoy!
Doom 64 UltraHDMI Perfect Rip CST (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dVBWs37qXm4qZV962bGqb_9zL30I2Eva)
-FBX
So this is a project I had been working on over the years of trying to get the best possible rip of the Doom 64 soundtrack. First I tried emulators, but found they just didn't emulate the notes and frequency range as accurately as I hoped. Then I tried straight analog stereo ripping, but found I was highly annoyed by background noise and low quality from the D/A converter. Then a couple years ago, Aubrey Hodges released his official OST for the game. I paid for it and listened closely to each of the stage tracks. Much to my disappointment, his tracks were also ripped from analog audio, and even worse is his stage tracks were riddled with horrible AC coupling noise. The best I could do was isolate the A/C coupling noise in silent parts of the music tracks, and then subtract them as a noise filter from the rest of the music. This was just a bandaid approach though.
Enter the UltraHDMI mod!
While the UltraHDMI mod is simply amazing for video with its 1080p scaling and deblur features, it also has the benefit of pulling the sound directly from the digital audio processing of the N64. It completely bypasses the clunky D/A conversion circuitry of the N64, and outputs audio in pure digital format at 48Khz. This was exactly what I needed to finally make a definitive rip of the Doom 64 soundtrack! It has the best of both worlds being pure digital AND from real hardware! The fidelity and clarity of these new recordings blow away any and all previous soundtrack rips, including Aubrey's own release (which he has since released a new 20th anniversary edition that overlays new sound effects on all the tracks).
So if you want a definitive soundtrack rip of Doom 64, look no further! The files have been tagged and assigned cover art, and as usual are encoded in lossless FLAC format. Enjoy!
Doom 64 UltraHDMI Perfect Rip CST (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dVBWs37qXm4qZV962bGqb_9zL30I2Eva)
-FBX