Super Castlevania IV CST Digital FLAC:

So I recently got my SNES modded with digital TOSLINK output, and the clarity has so blown me away that I thought I might start making CSTs of my favorite games by doing direct-digital captures. If there’s any interest in this based on reaction to this one, I’ll release more in the future. I’ve since had a listen to the Akumajo Dracula Best 2 OST, and I found that version had a lot of analog noise and added post-processed echoes and reverbs, in addition to applied loudness. So you purists out there will appreciate the crisp and clean nature of this digital rip I made myself:

https://filetrip.net/dl?MZUar0trrr

Let me know if there is interest in more like this, and I’ll keep working on these TOSLINK projects.

Cheers!

I’ll be very interested on this SNES-TOSLINK-PROJECT.
My suggestion: 悪魔城ドラキュラXX / Castlevania Dracula / Castlevania VAMPIRE’S KISS.
Also, i would like to thank you for the three Silent Hill Complete Soundtrack Ultimate Editions.

Very nice ! Thank you for this

I’ve since had a listen to the Akumajo Dracula Best 2 OST, and I found that version had a lot of analog noise and added post-processed echoes and reverbs, in addition to applied loudness.

I’m actually one to enjoy those sort of effects that you find of many of the Super Nintendo soundtrack releases (Star Fox is another example). But, I also love the sound of game rips (I’ve created my own, using SPCs and tagging them) probably a bit more, they seem to have a crisp and clear sound, depending on the settings one may use, of course. Sometimes, I prefer to have both options. :p

Even so, I’m very intrigued to hear what you’ve done, the clarity that you speak of. I imagine it’s comparable to the sound of [interpolated] SPC files. Or better. So thanks a lot. I’ll listen to this, and let you know what I think.

———- Post added at 02:11 AM ———- Previous post was at 01:56 AM ———-

My suggestion: 悪魔城ドラキュラXX / Castlevania Dracula / Castlevania VAMPIRE’S KISS.

Ooo! I’ll go ahead and second this suggestion! 🙂

———- Post added at 02:18 AM ———- Previous post was at 02:11 AM ———-

It sounds good. The quality is exceptionally comparable to an SPC rip, so I’ll just end up keeping mine. Regardless, I’m just impressed that this is a console rip. Great job on this, seriously.

I imagine it’s comparable to the sound of [interpolated] SPC files. Or better.

Typically people tend to play SPC files from emulated sound players that are almost certainly inaccurate. The only way around this is to load them into the SD2SNES and play them on the real hardware, though again, you need the TOSLINK mod to enjoy digital clarity with the accuracy of real hardware. That’s the set-up I have, and I have the entire library of games from every region stored on the SD2SNES (with the exception of special chip games like SMW2 and Mario RPG, which I physical copies of anyway), so I can rip pretty much any soundtrack requested.

Thank you. This is one of my favorite game soundtracks, so I’m curious to hear what this sounds like.

Just finished ripping Dracula X. Currently working on the tag data and cover graphics. I’ll post it soon.

So is it like a line-out rip?
Anyway, I listened to it, and…
Huuh I don’t hear ANY difference with .spc files…
Right now I opened both my .spc folder of Castlevania IV and yours, and it sounds exactly the same.
(I have hi-fi "monitoring" headphones, btw, so it’s neutral and reproduces well the sound)

PS : Alpha II SPC plugin settings in Winamp => Sample rate 32,000hz – Interpolation Gaussian – No amplification

So is it like a line-out rip?
Anyway, I listened to it, and…
Huuh I don’t hear ANY difference with .spc files…
Right now I opened both my .spc folder of Castlevania IV and yours, and it sounds exactly the same.
(I have hi-fi "monitoring" headphones, btw, so it’s neutral and reproduces well the sound)

PS : Alpha II SPC plugin settings in Winamp => Sample rate 32,000hz – Interpolation Gaussian – No amplification

It’s a TOSLINK rip directly into the TOSLINK input of my PC’s soundcard. And while you may not hear any difference in those tracks, there will be examples in some games where the winamp player is inaccurate. These rips are for purists that can trust in original hardware, with the benefit of digital sound (i.e. no analog equipment used at any point of the recording).

Google Super NES digital audio mod to find out more if you are interested.

At any rate, the Dracula X rip has been posted:

Thread 207943

These rips are for purists that can trust in original hardware

Well actually, I still appreciate it, even if I don’t hear the differences.
I remember I downloaded some line-out rips made by "TheIronGoat" on ffshrine. (Raiden Trad, for example)
I’m a purist too and I’m totally addicted to Megadrive line-out rips, which sounds 100000% better than ripped vgz files.

I respect your work! 🙂

I’m gonna check it out, very interested! Any future releases besides Castlevania X?

I’m gonna check it out, very interested! Any future releases besides Castlevania X?

Several are planned. Gonna do the FF series, Chrono Trigger, Turtles in Time, Secret of Mana, Zelda 3, etc.

Thank you!

Thanks a lot.

Thank you for this!

curious, i am going to test this.
nothin’ can beat the original hardware sounds 🙂

i wonder if you rec at 32khz instead of 44, because 32 are the Snes native khz.

thanks.

I’ll give it a compare.

Also, I guess I nominate Contra 3 and Star Fox if you want to do more.

it’s great, i confirm, more authentic sounds.

if you have time, i’ll request Wild Guns & Valken (Cybernator)

cheers.

Just an update in that I discovered the setting of 32,000 Hz I saved these raw digital captures to is very slightly slower than my Super NES executes them. We’re talking about a half-second difference over a 3-minute track, but it was enough that my OCD picked up on it. My audio capture device doesn’t extract the playback rate from the Super NES, so I have to set it manually each time I save a recorded track to my hard drive. I had assumed 32,000 Hz was the correct speed, but it turns out all Super NES consoles are set slightly above that. I measured mine to 32,055 Hz. I’ve edited the download link with the new tracks fixed to 32,055 Hz, and they now play back at the same speed as my console does. My apologies for the mistake, but I’m glad I was able to figure out what was wrong!

Cheers!

Several are planned. Gonna do the FF series, Chrono Trigger, Turtles in Time, Secret of Mana, Zelda 3, etc.

I’m gonna check it out, very interested! Any future releases besides super robot wars?

———- Post added at 08:07 PM ———- Previous post was at 08:04 PM ———-

it’s great, i confirm, more authentic sounds.

if you have time, i’ll request Wild Guns & Valken (Cybernator)

cheers.

Valken (Cybernator)
Thread 165432

Currently working on Chrono Trigger. It’s a ‘Mount Everest’ of soundtracks for the Super NES, so I’m spacing it out by doing 10 tracks a day. This will prevent me from getting burnt out, and will get the project for it done in about a week.

Thanks for this. Very nice SQ. Not sure if it’s one you’re looking to doing yet, but Tim Follin’s Plok! (https://youtu.be/3ODKKILZiYY) would be awesome to have in FLAC; the quality of his samples was amazing for SNES.

Thank you for this. I would be great if you made a separate thread with all your releases listed btw, it’s very hard to keep track of them otherwise.

Thank you for this. I would be great if you made a separate thread with all your releases listed btw, it’s very hard to keep track of them otherwise.

Good call!

When I finish Chrono Trigger, I will start a new thread where the OP lists the currently completed rips.

Thanks for this. Very nice SQ. Not sure if it’s one you’re looking to doing yet, but Tim Follin’s Plok! (https://youtu.be/3ODKKILZiYY) would be awesome to have in FLAC; the quality of his samples was amazing for SNES.

Will do. And for the record, the SQ is ‘bit-perfect’ since it is extracted digitally from the Super NES sound processor. It completely skips the D/A processing entirely, so music is captured in perfect lossless format.

thank you

This is fantastic. I never played this growing up so I missed out on these tunes.