Despair
04-24-2010, 08:23 PM
The point of this stemmed from the fact that all of the rips or uploads of the Ecco series soundtracks were low bit rates. Of course, this is from a Sega system, there's no need for it to be in 320, right? Well, that's probably wrong.
My search for a descent rip led me to a site called project2612 that ripped the music from Sega iso's into a format called .vgm. Reading these files entailed using a plugin in winamp, then exporting to WAV's, MP3's, etc.
As I listened to them, I noticed extra "fuzz" sounds, coupled with the fact that the rippers themselves stated in text files that the .vgm format distorted the sound, I decided to rip them myself.
As it turns out, using Kega Fusion was how they got their .vgm's, but KF could also export in WAV's. Doing this, I recorded everything as WAV's, imported into Audacity, and exported as MP3's. Sounds like a great end, right? Not quite, see, Sega uses a sound chip, and the sound is usually put out by your TV that's 10 feet away from you, or your computer speakers that are roughly the same distance away, not headphones inside your ears. It resulted in you hearing the "pluck" sound of the sounds changing pitch, and the "buzz" as longer notes faded out.
In desperation for lowering these, I tried altering the sound options in KF, a Filter to lower sounds (pretty much ruining the track) or a "Super HQ" option (enabled by default) which, when turned off, only had differences in that Ecco's Sonar noise was shot up in pitch and distorted. Regardless, I recorded the tracks both with neither sound options enabled, and only the "Super HQ" enabled.
I tried using filter effects and the like to lower the "buzz" and "pluck" in Audacity with no real success. It just stems from the fact that you amplified a tiny sound chip signal to actually be comparable to say, a DragonForce song, so we kind of have to deal, or you could unamplify it to try to lower that, but enjoy much quieter track then.
I myself haven't been able to decide which version is better, the normal or the HQ, so I ask that you downloaders help decide. Both are included in the rip, there are only minimal differences. Also, some tracks might be able to be amplified by .1, but this causes clipping, which I used repair and clip fix, to fix. However, it then says it can be amplified by .1 again, which restores the clip. Not much of a difference anyway.
Also, playing these on a car stereo or something comparable usually distorts, atleast, when you turn up the volume to make it as loud as most songs on the radio, it will. Time Travel's pitch is too high, and those "pluck" noises sometimes distort too.
But, fortunately, Tube Of Medusa seems immune to these "pluck" and "buzz" noises, because it has so much other noise going on in the track, that they're covered.
And I've rambled for far too long. There's also the Unused/Beta tracks I plan to upload. Anybody who's listened to the tracks in Tides of Time from the debug menu knows that Tracks 1, 2, and 7 do not exist. They do exist in the beta iso's though, which is where I plan to rip them from. The Beta's also feature early versions of Two Tides, Sea Of Darkness, and a fairly different Tube Of Medusa.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/rhwwjk - Ecco The Dolphin
TL;DR: I request the favor that Downloaders listen and report back whether the Basic rip is superior, or the HQ rip is superior for each song.
My search for a descent rip led me to a site called project2612 that ripped the music from Sega iso's into a format called .vgm. Reading these files entailed using a plugin in winamp, then exporting to WAV's, MP3's, etc.
As I listened to them, I noticed extra "fuzz" sounds, coupled with the fact that the rippers themselves stated in text files that the .vgm format distorted the sound, I decided to rip them myself.
As it turns out, using Kega Fusion was how they got their .vgm's, but KF could also export in WAV's. Doing this, I recorded everything as WAV's, imported into Audacity, and exported as MP3's. Sounds like a great end, right? Not quite, see, Sega uses a sound chip, and the sound is usually put out by your TV that's 10 feet away from you, or your computer speakers that are roughly the same distance away, not headphones inside your ears. It resulted in you hearing the "pluck" sound of the sounds changing pitch, and the "buzz" as longer notes faded out.
In desperation for lowering these, I tried altering the sound options in KF, a Filter to lower sounds (pretty much ruining the track) or a "Super HQ" option (enabled by default) which, when turned off, only had differences in that Ecco's Sonar noise was shot up in pitch and distorted. Regardless, I recorded the tracks both with neither sound options enabled, and only the "Super HQ" enabled.
I tried using filter effects and the like to lower the "buzz" and "pluck" in Audacity with no real success. It just stems from the fact that you amplified a tiny sound chip signal to actually be comparable to say, a DragonForce song, so we kind of have to deal, or you could unamplify it to try to lower that, but enjoy much quieter track then.
I myself haven't been able to decide which version is better, the normal or the HQ, so I ask that you downloaders help decide. Both are included in the rip, there are only minimal differences. Also, some tracks might be able to be amplified by .1, but this causes clipping, which I used repair and clip fix, to fix. However, it then says it can be amplified by .1 again, which restores the clip. Not much of a difference anyway.
Also, playing these on a car stereo or something comparable usually distorts, atleast, when you turn up the volume to make it as loud as most songs on the radio, it will. Time Travel's pitch is too high, and those "pluck" noises sometimes distort too.
But, fortunately, Tube Of Medusa seems immune to these "pluck" and "buzz" noises, because it has so much other noise going on in the track, that they're covered.
And I've rambled for far too long. There's also the Unused/Beta tracks I plan to upload. Anybody who's listened to the tracks in Tides of Time from the debug menu knows that Tracks 1, 2, and 7 do not exist. They do exist in the beta iso's though, which is where I plan to rip them from. The Beta's also feature early versions of Two Tides, Sea Of Darkness, and a fairly different Tube Of Medusa.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/rhwwjk - Ecco The Dolphin
TL;DR: I request the favor that Downloaders listen and report back whether the Basic rip is superior, or the HQ rip is superior for each song.