Ah man, hell no :( The music in DOOM was such a huge influence on me. I had the Macintosh version which IIRC had the .mid files alongside the game, so I hung onto those and listened to them outside of the game quite frequently. I was just a kid at the time, and later on when I discovered bands like Pantera, Slayer, Judas Priest etc. I suddenly "got" all the references (not previously having known they were references/iterations on those bands' songs)! Great memories. RIP \m/
It's amazing how much better all these sound to me in OPL2.
When CD-ROM soundtracks because the norm it really ruined a lot of game music for me, because all that chip music perhaps inspired by guitar and orchestral music just ended up being replaced with actual guitar and orchestral music, and then games just ended up sounding like movies and it's like what even is the point?
From my side I remember painstakingly transposing Led Zeppelin into an 8 bit tracker when I was a kid and being thrilled at how much more exciting the 3-channel square wave interpration sounded, and pretty much from that point on my guitar just became something to noodle out a riff prior to inputting to the computer.
vintermann 7 hours ago [-]
When it was actual guitar and orchestral music it was one thing, but when it was "much better but still not quite there" midi renderings of orchestras and guitars, that could be a bit uncanny valley. And even when it wasn't, stuff that was really written for a 2 op FM idea of an orchestra, often sounded a bit thin on a real orchestra.
alisonatwork 2 hours ago [-]
TBH I never really got the point of those "video game score played by a real orchestra" things, although to be fair most of them seemed to be for games from the console world so as a PC gamer I didn't have any attachment to the original tunes in the first place.
For me I really felt things turn between Dune 2 and Command & Conquer when Frank Klepacki got to put full-blown lyrics and guitars into the soundtrack. I did listen to a bit of industrial music at the time so I still enjoyed it for what it was, but it never felt as magical as dedicated OPL3 scores like Stéphane Picq's Dune... and when Trent Reznor was pulled in to do the score for Quake I was just like, okay, that's it, game music is over now. I think Epic kept it on life support by still using demoscene composers like Siren (Alexander Brandon) and MCA (Michiel van den Bos) who both went on to do Deus Ex, but since then seems like chip musicians and tracker composers are mostly doing niche indie games.
It's always a blast when you play a AAA these days and hear something that still has a bit of that old vibe - one tune I always remember is Sam Hulick's Uncharted Worlds, which is the galaxy map song from Mass Effect. I think you could probably build it on OPL, SID, even AY chip and have it still sound great.
gryson 7 hours ago [-]
Huh? Those are the original MIDI versions of the music, which is how Bobby Prince composed them on a Roland SC-55. There is no more authentic sound.
I doubt anyone in 1993 thought the OPL2 version of the music sounded better. General MIDI was mind-blowing in comparison.
vintermann 7 hours ago [-]
Presumably most midi game composers checked that their music didn't sound like trash on the AdLib sound card most users would actually have? Good music that's actually written for AdLib can be extremely good, check out Stephane Picq (who sadly also died recently).
ahartmetz 1 hours ago [-]
The TFX intro is some genius level AdLib programming. All other versions sound pretty weak in comparison.
It sounded great on my Gravis Ultrasound with custom midi samples.
(it was also a pain when the Sound Blaster compatibility was needed, dma 1 irq 5).
alisonatwork 3 hours ago [-]
In 1993 I thought the OPL2 version sounded better and still do now.
But my broader point was that comparing this old game music to "real" guitar music kinda takes away from what it actually was for a lot of people listening to it - something different to and unique from mainstream rock/metal. It always made me a bit sad when these guys did interviews and talked about listening to ordinary rock bands, it kinda broke the spell that games were a special little place for people who were into computer-based art for its own sake.
otabdeveloper4 5 hours ago [-]
OP is right. A waveform generator chip is a much more "real" musical instrument than a glorified sampler.
bombcar 14 hours ago [-]
NEDM, Prince.
The sound of Doom was a big part of why it was so immersive, and everyone focuses on the mobs and gunshots (there's some pretty cool positional audio for the time), but the music really played a big part of the whole atmosphere.
gnarbarian 12 hours ago [-]
he had great taste in metal. most of the tracks were adapted (now classic) speed/thrash metal.
nailer 12 hours ago [-]
Yep. The Doom 1 demo theme is Painkiller by Judas Priest
I knew I should’ve paid extra and gotten the Sound Blaster!
d3Xt3r 3 hours ago [-]
Yeah... look at all these rich kids with their fancy sound cards! Peasants like us had to make do with a humble PC speaker and a monochrome monitor.
Seriously though, playing old DOS games with fancy music and a color monitor just feels wrong to me.
saturn8601 13 hours ago [-]
Thats Ad Lib type music no?
tadfisher 11 hours ago [-]
Sound Blaster is an Ad Lib (Yamaha OPL2) that mixes in a PCM stream
Archer6621 3 hours ago [-]
Very sad news, RIP.
Particularly enjoyed his work for Duke Nukem 3D, you could easily tell the difference between the tracks made by Bobby and the ones made by Lee Jackson, Bobby's tracks were a bit darker and more gloomy, adding a lot of atmosphere.
Beautifully written article by the way, as the legend deserves.
p0w3n3d 50 minutes ago [-]
And Commander Keen. Don't forget about Commander Keen
xnx 10 hours ago [-]
Today I learned that he also did (all of?) the sound effects for Doom.
RIP (and tear)
MikeShah 10 hours ago [-]
I've been teaching my students for years about sound and music, and I always showcase Bobby Prince's work. Here's a fun clip of him playing in the early days: https://youtu.be/9w3yoIOK-9U?is=alZLs2OSL8pJ7JEQ
taffydavid 4 hours ago [-]
I can easily recall the Duke nukem music, even though I haven't played it in about two decades
ChrisArchitect 16 hours ago [-]
RIP Legend.
Neat that just last month the Library of Congress added the Doom soundtrack to its registry too
Hell put in a special petition to heaven to at least borrow him for a bit—not to torture him, mind, but to retain him to score their official soundtrack.
CalRobert 7 hours ago [-]
Shame. E1M8 (Sign of Evil) is still a great metal tune
ChrisArchitect 12 hours ago [-]
Related, including a great segment with the man himself talking about some of the music:
One of my favorite videos (and songs) sang by Bobby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w3yoIOK-9U (Eat Your Vegetables)
RIP. You will be missed Bobby.
When CD-ROM soundtracks because the norm it really ruined a lot of game music for me, because all that chip music perhaps inspired by guitar and orchestral music just ended up being replaced with actual guitar and orchestral music, and then games just ended up sounding like movies and it's like what even is the point?
From my side I remember painstakingly transposing Led Zeppelin into an 8 bit tracker when I was a kid and being thrilled at how much more exciting the 3-channel square wave interpration sounded, and pretty much from that point on my guitar just became something to noodle out a riff prior to inputting to the computer.
For me I really felt things turn between Dune 2 and Command & Conquer when Frank Klepacki got to put full-blown lyrics and guitars into the soundtrack. I did listen to a bit of industrial music at the time so I still enjoyed it for what it was, but it never felt as magical as dedicated OPL3 scores like Stéphane Picq's Dune... and when Trent Reznor was pulled in to do the score for Quake I was just like, okay, that's it, game music is over now. I think Epic kept it on life support by still using demoscene composers like Siren (Alexander Brandon) and MCA (Michiel van den Bos) who both went on to do Deus Ex, but since then seems like chip musicians and tracker composers are mostly doing niche indie games.
It's always a blast when you play a AAA these days and hear something that still has a bit of that old vibe - one tune I always remember is Sam Hulick's Uncharted Worlds, which is the galaxy map song from Mass Effect. I think you could probably build it on OPL, SID, even AY chip and have it still sound great.
I doubt anyone in 1993 thought the OPL2 version of the music sounded better. General MIDI was mind-blowing in comparison.
https://youtu.be/YhQl_waHXoQ
(it was also a pain when the Sound Blaster compatibility was needed, dma 1 irq 5).
But my broader point was that comparing this old game music to "real" guitar music kinda takes away from what it actually was for a lot of people listening to it - something different to and unique from mainstream rock/metal. It always made me a bit sad when these guys did interviews and talked about listening to ordinary rock bands, it kinda broke the spell that games were a special little place for people who were into computer-based art for its own sake.
The sound of Doom was a big part of why it was so immersive, and everyone focuses on the mobs and gunshots (there's some pretty cool positional audio for the time), but the music really played a big part of the whole atmosphere.
https://open.spotify.com/track/0L7zm6afBEtrNKo6C6Gj08
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgvFSV2xxI
Seriously though, playing old DOS games with fancy music and a color monitor just feels wrong to me.
Particularly enjoyed his work for Duke Nukem 3D, you could easily tell the difference between the tracks made by Bobby and the ones made by Lee Jackson, Bobby's tracks were a bit darker and more gloomy, adding a lot of atmosphere.
Beautifully written article by the way, as the legend deserves.
RIP (and tear)
Neat that just last month the Library of Congress added the Doom soundtrack to its registry too
https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/national-recording-registry-in...
F.
Such a good composer for all of those games I can remember those songs still.
A Visit to id Software (November 1993)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpEBUV_g9vU
(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48600671)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=qVn6C6uiFo0