The Secret of Monkey Island OST (Adlib)- how about an OPL3 remaster?

[Bertrand Guégan]

Hey everyone! 

 

A couple of days ago I remastered the iconic Monkey Island theme (from TSOMI)

 

Back in the early 90's, the OPL3 soundchip was the core of many well-known and popular audio cards such as the Sound Blasters. Unfortunately, mostly for compatibility reasons, the OPL3 was rarely used as its full potential and sounded like a "mere" OPL2 (Adlib).

 

In this remaster, I tried to demonstrate how OPL3 music can sound, when used as its full potential.   

 

Monkey Island theme - AdLib VS Soundblaster

 

I'm seriously thinking about remastering the entire soundtrack this way. Worth it? 😄

[Jake]

It’d be worth it for a specific type of nostalgia because so many people played the game with that sound chip, and it’s the sound they associate with 90s PC gaming (I am one of those people). Hearing this sounds like coming across a “lost” version of the score, it’s really cool.
 

(That said, it’s worth pedantically pointing out that the composers composed on,  optimized it for an MT-32. Or at least I’m 99% sure that’s the case. So this wouldn’t actually be a “lost restoration,” more of a “what if?” situation.)

 

I’d love to hear more!

[Bertrand Guégan]

Thanks Jake! 

 

100% agree with you! It's true that MI's music was originally created for MT-32. In the process, AdLib and PC speaker versions were arrangements of the MT32 score.

 

OPL3 was a very good and capable soundchip, but sadly underused. What I'm trying do to here is to rehabilitate it somehow. So indeed, it would be more like a "what if" situation like you said  

[Thrik]

Wow, that OPL3 version sounds great. I do have a lot of nostalgia for the more typical OPL2 style but the fact such quality was available and unused is sort of wild. I’d definitely be happy to hear the whole soundtrack done.

 

I knew of MT-32 being the card of choice for MI2 but didn’t know about MI1. I’m curious to hear both games given this treatment now.

 

A sadness that in practice almost no one heard it on MT-32 as the composers intended. I guess ‘intended’ was a loose idea back then, compared to the locked down nature of recordings.

[Bertrand Guégan]

Thank you !! I'm glad you like it  

 

The MT-32 was so expensive (even today btw) that most people (including me) only knew the Adlib or PC speaker versions for MI's music. To be honest, I just knew about the existence of the MT32 only a few years ago..! 🤫

 

Now that I own one, I'll always remember the first time I tried it with the game... goosebumps!!

 

Daniel Albu made a great interview with Michael Land 3 weeks ago. If you're interested about the music of MI and Lucasarts other titles, this is a gold mine of information!

  

[Bertrand Guégan]

Making progress  "Fettucini Brothers" are now OPL3 remastered!

 

 

[Bertrand Guégan]

one more ! this one wasn't easy, the original sounds already so great. Maybe it's nostalgia speaking, but I may still prefer the original OPL2 trumpet sound. 

 

 

[Thrik]

Haha, yes I see what you mean. It’s much scratchier in comparison. I think it was intended to sound smoother like the OPL2 version, if you use the MT32 or CD versions as a comparison.

[Bertrand Guégan]

Yeah I really like that smoothness! I was nonetheless looking for a grittier sound when I redesigned this instrument ("aaarrrr!!"☠️) but maybe it would be more suited for the zombie version of Lechuck in MI2  ?

[Bertrand Guégan]

New track done! 

The difference isn't staggering in this example, but I still like how it turned out

 

The main difference is the sound of the instrument playing the chords. It's quite different from the adlib version. The former has a percussive sound (like marimbas) whereas the latter has a more organ-ish sound. Actually, I tried to emulate the sound of the instrument used in the MT32 version.