Rareware's sound engine

I've noticed that Rare's Donkey Kong Country games on the Snes have a very distinct sound to them that seperates them from the usual Snes games. It doesn't sound low tech at all, but it doesn't sound like they recorded and digitized real instraments like most Snes do. All of the instraments seem a bit artificial and they sometimes sound a little trance-like. I really like the style and I'm curious in what Rare does differently to make it sound better than most everybody else.

I know they used pre-rendered graphics, but are there such things as pre-rendered sound? Is the music sampled (or "prerendered") from a high-tech synthesizer?, because if it is, it would make a lot of sense why the instraments sometimes sound a bit trance-like.

Allz I knowz iz da' Banjo-Kazooie gotz da' illest sounds trax eva'!

I always thought that Donkey Kong Country sounded extremely SNES-like, no different than most SNES games. Very muffled with not a whole lot of energy in the music.

Sorry, my brain just blocked out all of the bad music from the game and I was only thinking about the few songs I like from the game. It's funny how people's brains do that.

I was mainly thinking of Coral Capers, Oil Drum Alley, Stickerbrush Symphony, Ghostly Grave, and Squawk's Shaft. I forgot how plain, boring and lifeless all the other levels' music were.

Anyone who says DKC has bad music dosen't know what good music is. Period. End of discussion.

I really only liked the underwater theme from the game. That was really good. Other than that it was pretty "blah".

Earthworm Jim Fan, please give examples of good music.

DK Island Swing:
http://208.53.158.138/soundtracks/do...land-swing.mp3

Cranky's Theme:
http://208.53.158.138/soundtracks/do...ky-s-theme.mp3

Aquatic Ambiance:
http://208.53.158.138/soundtracks/do...c-ambiance.mp3

Ice Cave Chant:
http://208.53.158.138/soundtracks/do...cave-chant.mp3

K. Rool's Cacophony: http://208.53.158.138/soundtracks/do...nk-galleon.mp3

Welcome To Crocodile Isle:
http://208.53.158.138/soundtracks/do...odile-isle.mp3

Perhaps I wasn't very clear. I was hoping for examples of music that was actually good. I had already mentioned Aquatic Ambiance, which is the only tune in the above set of links that is acceptable.

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Originally Posted by Joe Redifer

Perhaps I wasn't very clear. I was hoping for examples of music that was actually good.

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Ahh-hahahaha...

Joe Redifer: putting the smack down.

As much as I've heard DKC songs, I think there's quite a few instruments recorded off form a FM synth...

There's not enough bleeps OR bloops in that video game :/

Really fun otherwise though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joe Redifer

Perhaps I wasn't very clear. I was hoping for examples of music that was actually good. I had already mentioned Aquatic Ambiance, which is the only tune in the above set of links that is acceptable.

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How about you show me what YOU think good music is(How can anyone not like DK Island Swing? It's so peaceful.)?

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Originally Posted by TmEE

As much as I've heard DKC songs, I think there's quite a few instruments recorded off form a FM synth...

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They don't really sound very close to FM synth at all. And I'd know because I have an old PC with FM.

I think a better comparison would be made to 1992-1994 module scene music, mostly the ones made in Scream Tracker (.s3m files) or even older MOD modules. They seem to have a distinctive instrument set (possibly one included with the program back in the day, or just a heavily traded and popular one) that is very similar to the ones used in the DKC games. This is extremely noticable in the the lava level song from DKC2 (I think it's called Hot-Head Hop if you try and look it up), where the nearly every instrument sounds like it's from this "standard" module set.

It would make sense if they did use them, anyway. Both the SNES and Scream Tracker supported 8 channels, and the way the SNES plays back music is very much like playing a module.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Ksoft

They don't really sound very close to FM synth at all. And I'd know because I have an old PC with FM.

I think a better comparison would be made to 1992-1994 module scene music, mostly the ones made in Scream Tracker (.s3m files) or even older MOD modules. They seem to have a distinctive instrument set (possibly one included with the program back in the day, or just a heavily traded and popular one) that is very similar to the ones used in the DKC games. This is extremely noticable in the the lava level song from DKC2 (I think it's called Hot-Head Hop if you try and look it up), where the nearly every instrument sounds like it's from this "standard" module set.

It would make sense if they did use them, anyway. Both the SNES and Scream Tracker supported 8 channels, and the way the SNES plays back music is very much like playing a module.

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Um, PC FM synth is not going to sound like studio FM synth.

Need I say: DX7 for example.