The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

It's been a looooong hiatus for The Precursors, but we're finally back in business. Despite not having completed the fourth remix pack (yet), we decided that we're close enough that we can start releasing the pack in smaller doses. From today, we'll strive to release at least one track from the new remix pack every friday. To kick this party off, we're giving you not only one, but two Utwig remixes, and to top it off they both play in the game during different circumstances.

Since we're not releasing these remixes in packages yet, you'll have to add them to the game yourself. This can be done by creating a folder called "comm" under the content folder in the Ur-Quan Masters install folder. Under the new comm folder, create another folder called "utwig" and place the two OGG-files there (the game won't play the MP3-files. )

The first Utwig remix, "Mask of Ultimate Embarrasment and Shame", was composed by Tore Aune Fjellstad and Espen Gätzschmann. OGG (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/utwig.ogg) - MP3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/Utwig__Mask_of_Ultimate_Embarrasment_and_Shame.mp3)

The other remix, "The Ultron", was composed by guest composer Casey Monroe. OGG (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/utwigult.ogg) - MP3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/Utwig__The_Ultron.mp3)

Keep an eye on this thread for updated information on new releases.

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UPDATE - January 13th 2006

As we promised, here is an update with more remixes. This time we'd like to showcase two guest contributors. One of the tracks has already been released as a preview several years ago, but has lost none of its charm or quality since then. The other is a better kept secret, yet still shares the same traits.

The first track was made by George E. Nowik, and is a remix of the Shofixti theme.  OGG (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/shofixt.ogg) - MP3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/Shofixti__Bonsai!.mp3)

The second track was made by A. Keren, and is a remix of the Chmmr theme. OGG (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/chmmr.ogg) - MP3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/Chmmr__Photosynthesis.mp3)

To add the OGG-files to the game, you must once again make new folders under the comm-folder. This time they are "shofixt" for the Shofixti remix, and "chmmr" for the Chmmr remix.

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UPDATE - January 20th 2006

A new week, a new set of remixes. Today the spotlight is on Forevian, a newcomer to this remix pack. One of his remixes, Frungy Party, was released as a preview in late 2005 and is being released officially today. The other is the Supox remix, called Shake Yer Rootz.

"Zoq-Fot-Pik - Frungy Party": OGG (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/zoqfot.ogg) - MP3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/Zoq-Fot-Pik__Frungy_Party.mp3)

"Supox - Shake Yer Rootz":  OGG (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/supox.ogg) - MP3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/Supox__Shake_Yer_Rootz.mp3)

The folder names to use the remixes in UQM this time are "zoqfot" and "supox" respectively.

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UPDATE - January 27th 2006

Today's remix belongs to what might be the most mysterious race in Star Control 2, except for the Precursors themselves: The Orz. This remix was originally made by Riku, and later re-remixed by VOiD, resulting in the first musical collaboration between the two of them.

Orz - *Squeezing* the *Juice*: OGG (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/orz.ogg) - MP3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/Orz__Squeezing_the_Juice.mp3)

The folder name to use the Orz remix in the game is simply "orz", still under the "comm" folder.

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UPDATE - February 3rd 2006

Today we have another Forevian classic for you. It's karma, dude!

Pkunk - Pkunks Not Dead: OGG (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/pkunk.ogg) - MP3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/Pkunk__Pkunks_Not_Dead.mp3)

Folder name: "pkunk", still under the "comm" folder.

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UPDATE - February 11th 2006

Better late than never! This week's remix is very cool, if I have to say so myself. This is a bonus release, and as such won't be part of remix pack 4 itself, but can be added freely to the game to replace the old remix if people feel like it. Behold: A new Hyperspace remix, by none other than Mark Vera!

Hyperspace - Lightyears Away: OGG (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/0/hyper.ogg) - MP3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/0/Hyperspace__Lightyears_Away.mp3)

Create a folder called "lbm" in the content folder of your UQM installation, and place the OGG file there to hear it in the game.

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UPDATE - February 24th 2006

Today's release isn't a remix, but a completely new track made for the Ur-Quan Masters by Riku Nuottajärvi and Harri Hakala. It plays if you leave the game at the main menu for a while.

Credits: OGG (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/credits.ogg) - MP3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/Credits.mp3)

Create a folder called "credits" in the content folder of your UQM installation, and place the OGG file there to hear it in the game.

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UPDATE - March 3rd 2006

This week's remix is the long-awaited Fwiffo theme, remixed by Mark Vera. The Spathi now have two different themes, one for when you talk to Fwiffo, and one for their homeworld.

Spathi - Fwiffo's Starrunner: OGG (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/spathi.ogg) - MP3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/packages/4/Spathi__Fwiffo's_Starrunner.mp3)

To listen to it in the game, create a folder called "spathi" under your comm-folder, and place the OGG there.

Enjoy!

PARTY!  :D

Great, and :-* THANK YOU!  :-*

Dudes! Way cool guys. Looking forward to every Friday from here on out ;D Keep up the great work!

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Yay!

These tracks sound great. They are both equal in my opinion. The Ultron is my favorite right now because I'm happy about the new music. I really like that glorious... noise.. thats at the end of it and isn't quite regular.

They are super repetative though. I wouldn't say its the best music, I woulda liked a bit more developement. But its great non the less, and I'm really looking forward to next friday.

Cool, the final countdown to the final remix!

A grand celebration is in order! We prepare now for the festivities!

Agreed! It's time to don the mask of Rampant Jubilation and Jumping With Ecstatic Glee, don't you think?

...oh wait. All the remixes aren't done, so I still have work to do. :/ Well, I'll be joining in when we're done, then.

Yes! This is sooooo ultimate that the music is going forth! Thank you all! Keep up the awesome work!

FRUNGY PARTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111111111oneoeneoenoneeneeneeneeneeneen

Err.. yes.. Great work! :)

Hooray!

I just listened to both, and as usual, they are some fine pieces of music. Not quite "in my MP3 player" awesome like some of the others (Thraddash), but a fine job nonetheless. I can't wait to hear the rest!

Speaking of the rest, will we eventually be able to get a full pack release for the game like the others? Or will these only come individually?

After all the remixes have been released individually. we'll assemble them in a pack just like the other remix packages.

Great news! Finally!

Good stuff, both of those tunes.

--Eino

Just got a chance to hear them. Both pieces are excellent.

It sounds like the first is pre-ultron repair, and the second is post.

Hm... the first remix takes the utwig way more seriously than I ever have.  :)

The second one is a bit grandiose, but perhaps that's fitting for the utwig.

I don't really know, I'll have to try them in game before I pass judgement. Still, I've always imagined the utwig theme to be a bit more... cheesy. Something to match their moping, self-pitying countenance. The middle of the mask theme, starting at 01:17, is more what I had in mind.
I guess I'm put off a little bit by the voices- not that there's anything bad about them in particular, but it gives the impression that the utwig are solemn monks or something of that nature, instead of whiny and pompous adolescents (which is how I've always thought of them). Maybe other people don't have the same impression... it would be possible if you play without the 3d0 voice packs.  ;)

Both of these pecies will probably grow on me, though. They usually do.

I always hated the voice acting because I took the Utwig a little bit more seriously than Halleck -- and the first remix really captures them for me. Fabulous.

The second is kind of... er... well, it does about as well as one could hope given that it is attempting to convey the post-Ultron Utwig with the same underlying theme.

Anyway, EXCELLENT!

"I always hated the voice acting because I took the Utwig a little bit more seriously than Halleck"

I agree, the voice is what needs to change, not the remixed music.  The Utwig Juggers are very effective in battle, after all. The endless sobing and so forth just doesn't fit.

Thats probably some hilarious juxtapositionary humour that the makers or the game came up with, but we can't seem to get it. Their powerfull ship only amplifies the ridicule of their moping. Who says that moping isn't something very serious for them.

It is more the voice acting, not the content of their words. Perhaps a slower, lower tone, that sounds like a deeply depressed creature lost without the guidance of a benevolent force, not a whiny 10 year old brat that dropped his favorite toy down a toilet.

That would at least fit the remixes better (and I think they are both perfect, as they are.) I never really liked to listen to the original utwig theme, but these are very well done.

You're not alone in that respect.

Can anyone tell me what day is it? I think it is Friday!  ;D

Yay! New remix Friday (I hope)!

*Dances*

Two new tracks have been released. Look at the first post in this thread for more information.

Utwig remixes are as good as I could possibly expect, as that was never one of my favorites.
Shofixti remix is very familiar, doesn't seem to have changed too much.  The voices in the track are a bad idea IMHO, but I'm no musician.
Chmmr remix is perfect.

The Shofixti is okay, in my opinion. I really like the Chmmr theme.

Really impressed with the Utwig and Chmmr tracks.

Pardon my insolence, but- hip-hop?

I guess it's an original spin on the shofixti theme... but, no offense, it's not going to be part of either my in-game rotation or my out-of-game playlists. If the music is supposed to match the race, I would think that something in more of a traditional japanese style would befit the Shofixti. I guess it has energy like the shofixti, but energy can be achieved without resorting to fake scratching and "hip-hop" voice samples. Props for experimentation... but a disappointment nonetheless.

However, the new chmmr track more than makes up for it. That one is a keeper as far as my playlists are concerned.  :)

Without having composed the Shofixti remix myself, I'd say that the reason for the style is that the scratching sounds like small dogs. I think it's a cool remix myself.

Having separate remixes for before and after the Ultron fix is a great idea, and the remixes themselves are equally great in that they capture the moods of the Utwig perfectly. Considering that the Utwig theme was my least favourite music from the original SC2, I'd have to say that you made not one but two silk purses from a sow's ear.

The Shofixti remix seems to be same as the previously released preview. I'm still a bit unsure about some of the samples (scratching, the loose panther thing, guitar stabs), but I think it captures the spirit of the original well, especially rhythmically.

The Chmmr remix is the most intense cacophony of mechanical and electronic noises and drums I've heard that still remains both true to the original and very listenable. I'd call it the logical next step in Chmmr evolution.

I really like the Chmmr remix. The old MOD was a bit grating and annoying, but this update makes the same sort of sound seem pretty darn cool.

The Shofixti remix, however... How can I put this delicately? Of all of the Precursor remixes to date, this is the only one that I would take the time and effort to extract and delete from a remix pack, so I never have to hear it again. Blah. The spirit of the original is lost, as is the main bulk of the song save for the very first section. And it was dropped in favor of scratching and rediculous sound samples. No. Just... no.

Ah well, you're still 3/4 on this pack, and there's always next week to look forward to!

That Chmmr remix is freakin' AWESOME! :o
The Shofixti remix is... well.... different, to say the least.. I'm not sure yet whether I like it or not...

Also, "Utwig - The Ultron" could in my opinion use some effects added to it.. It currently sounds as if it was a .midi file played on my old 233mhz PC with an SB16 card.... There's too much blanks in it.. It doesn't have the same 'power' great songs such as "Starbase - beneath a red sky" has... Though that doesn't mean it's not good.. In fact, it's quite nice. Just add some effects and it'll be a whole lot better! I'm not sure how fitting such effects would be, though...  "Utwig - Mask of ultimate embarrasment" DOES have a whole lot more 'power' in it, so I guess it could be okay...

A while ago, you said that there were some other versions of various songs that you had created (4 or 5 different melee themes you would release, for example). Are you planning to release them eventually?

We have already released 3 melee themes. To the best of my knowledge, there are no plans to create more.

As for other remixes, we always release those we feel are solid enough, if nothing else as bonus remixes. We don't spend much time making alternate remixes these days, as the focus is on filling in the missing spots in the game.

It should be added that anyone can submit music to this project. If we (The Precursors) don't think a song is good enough to be a part of the game itself, it will still be released as a bonus. That is, after all, how most bonus tracks have come into this project to start with.

Eh, a lot of dislike for the original Utwig theme in this thread, I see. I personally thought it fit perfectly - it's not the sort of music you listen to outside the game, but the Utwig shouldn't have the sort of music you want to listen to outside the game. It's gloomy music that fits just right when you're playing and listening to the mournful Utwigs.

At any rate, the new Mask of Embarassment of Shame is a nice job. I don't think it'll replace the original in my game though - it's definately "out of game" music, with the electronic hiss and the sobbing effects which would be very disconcerting while playing.

I'm curious, is the remix pack going to include menu music?

I'm currently using the Mark Vera track "Control the Stars" as menu music, and it's quite nice.

Also, what about the melee selection screen?

For that one I've been using an ancient sketch of battle-Kohr-Ah.ogg... battle3_low.ogg. I quite like it, actually.

"Control the Stars" is godlike.. I mean it.. I love it.. Waaaay too short, though.. :( Might also need some better looping, too...

Menu music? I've heard some IRC rumours that someone was working on it.. No idea if this is true, though... :P

I for one am shocked... SHOCKED to see this reaction to the shofixti remix. It does match the spirit of the other one, which was INTENDED to be funky, and well, hip-hop. Their are scratch samples in it.. bad ones, but still scratch samples. This shofixti remix has the greatest scratch lines ever. It's not mindless, it has a melody, somehow... I havn't figured out how yet, but it is a scratched MELODY... DUET!!!

And those scratch trills.. that remix rocks my socks off.

The original had in its notes (an instrument in the mod file was named this): ow! that funky alien!"

My problem with the Shofixti remix is that it just seems to fall apart somewhere around the halfway point, and is, well... just noisy from there on.

"I'm currently using the Mark Vera track "Control the Stars" as menu music, and it's quite nice."

I couldn't find that track on the precursor's site, where did you get it?


"I for one am shocked... SHOCKED to see this reaction to the shofixti remix. It does match the spirit of the other one, which was INTENDED to be funky, and well, hip-hop."

I think part of it might be the vocals, they don't seem very shofixti like.

WOW.... the opening bass in Chmmr thumps BRUTALLY with the right pair of subwoofers and heavy emphasis on the low frequency on a mixer. This finally makes me feel good about my wallet-busting Soundblaster X-Fi Fata1ity. You should have repeated that opening part somewhere else in the song. When I'm talking to the Chmmr this song is PERFECT for reminding me of just how tough the Chmmr are. If I were the Ur-Quan I would feel like the Brooklyn Brawler about to face The Rock in WWE Smackdown. :D

The Bonsai! Shofixti remix is wicked sick, it's the MOST IMPROVED song ever from the annoyingly patronizing wanna-be Japanese sounding mod version in the game. I have it in my playlist for my story I'm writing, especially the night club scenes, lol! Get down and do the friggin robot 'n stuff, fo shizzle.

As for the Utwig Mask of Ultimate Embarrassment and Shame remix, that just chills you right to the bone. I wish they'd done it on a different note-base (is that what you call it?), but that could have been the opener for Doom, Constantine, Resident Evil, you name it. It's scary, kind of like what I envision the Utwig to look like under their masks. Definitely in my playlist for writing scary scenes. I'm hacking this into my Doom 3 game so I can hear it in game. :D

The Utwig Ultron remix inspires me to think of a soldier looking over a battlefield and wishing he didn't have to be a part of the carnage that happened and that is to come. Definitely a rotation song, I put this on right before Homeworld's "Adagio for Strings" (which is itself a soulful remix of a song from a Vietnam war movie whose name FRUSTRATINGLY ESCAPES ME NOW!!! argh!!! _{ok, I'm calm now. it's okay, really. just tell me the name of that movie and I promise not to karaoke for you.}


There ARE other Precursor remixes that aren't in my playlist, but so far all of their songs show strong, focused and yet highly disciplined creativity that is utterly devoid of pointless musical show-offery (aka "look at me, I mastered this technique, but not how to make it fit in a song!").


There's one thing that sucks about this remix... it's the FINAL one?! I sure hope not! I'm sure I can get music nearly as good as this from trawling through USENET"s alt.binaries.sounds.anime newsgroup, but maybe you guys could bust out some tunes in general? There are precious few artists that I know who are this good at so many various styles. Like Necros of Five Musicians, Precursors seems to beat the odds consistently, namely after a while, an artist or group is DESTINED to run out of steam.

Man, I wish I could compose like this. I wish I had these instruments you used.

The shofixti remix falls apart half way through??? what?? Half noise?? Its a duet. Listen to it. Theres a high turn table and a low turn table. They alternate and bounce off each other. It's amazing. It's sensational. Maybe you'll need to know it to appreciate it, but trust me, it's not noise. I can't get it out of my head.

Is remix pack 4 the final set of remixes to be released officially for UQM. I think so, as we'll have replaced all the old .MOD-files after this pack.

However, is it the final music released by the members of the Precursors team? No way! I know I compose a lot of (non-UQM) music, but I'm just not very good at releasing it. Stay tuned as we try to rectify that. :)

You can find it here: http://www.mikseri.net/artists/?id=18770 (http://www.mikseri.net/artists/?id=18770), some way down the page.



You may be thinking of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, which was composed in 1936 and used to great effect in Oliver Stone's Platoon fifty years later.

Ok, it was Platoon, thanks ;D

And the remix in the game "Homeworld" makes even the Platoon version of "Adagio for  Strings" look horribly shallow. Samuel Barber would surely have been proud.

I'm with you Chrispy, I love the shofixti remix. Great stuff. Mind you, I'm not a hip-hop fan at all, but this is pretty good.

I'm looking forward to anything you guys are willing to share with us. My rather harsh criticism of the Shofixti track aside (I know I couldn't do any better, that's for sure), you guys really are amazing. I know I'd be interested to hear how you sound outside of remixing one of my old favorites for the PC.

For those of you wanting more music, have a look at the Project Aqua music (http://www.aethr.net/pa/general.php?cat=4) section. TiLT and Chrispy have composed some excellent music for us already, with more (hopefully) to come.  Check out:

Nova Observatory Background (http://eliot.bambi.net/dump/projectaqua/Nova_Observatory_Background_nonlooping.mp3) by TiLT
Shrine (http://eliot.bambi.net/dump/projectaqua/Shrinemp3.mp3) (temple theme) by Chrispy
Party (http://eliot.bambi.net/dump/projectaqua/Partymp3.mp3) (battle music) by Chrispy

Enjoy!

Well, I hope everyone here has also installed the ZFP remix, which is very close to the original, with more polish.  I can't recall the guest remixer who did that one, but kudos to him.

The Utwig pre-Ultron theme fits them quite well.  The original was quite bland, although fitting.  This new one is low-key, but posseses plenty of character  It's  like walking through a haunted monastery.  The post-Ultron fits them nicely - they are now  fighting a hopeless war, but they have the Ultron, so there is still hope.

The Chmmr.  We all know and love them - they are unions of crystal and machine.  How fitting that their theme has both a harsh mechanical melody, and airy crystalline elements.

The Shofixti have a lot of Japanese elements in them, probably picked from how humans reacted to them.  However, the most important thing I see in the Shofixti is their sheer energy.  They grow up extremely rapidly, usually die quickly in combat, and likely only live a short time compared with humans - a bit like Earth's shrews.  The remix seems to dull the energy they have, and the scratching goes off the deep end in the latter half of the remix.  The vocals also completely seem wrong.  The Shofixti are a bunch of large shrews/rodents, and we know their voices are high-pitched (Kaieee!) - so where is this black guy coming from?  Please don't take this as ingratitude - I know composing is a lot of work, and you are volunteers, but it is not up to the standards of your previous music.

Fun fact: When speaking about the Shofixti remix, there is no previous remix to it. AFAIK, it was the first finished remix ever released for UQM. (Ilwrath doesn't count, since it was unfinished)

I like the Shofixti remix, which is saying something, since I don't like hip-hop. The ONE thing I would ditch is the one human vocal toward the beginning (the muffled speech one, not the howl). It did make me worried, and, oddly enough, it jars me in a way that the other human vocals in other remixes did not. Can't say why.

I never liked the original Chmmr, but I like the remix. This is probably what the original was aiming for but didn't have the technical capability to produce (in terms of the computer, not the musician). I can't see this called Photosynthesis, though.

*Does the Chmmr robot dance*

:P

Hey hey, good job, Chrispy... I like those tunes... and TiLT's, too. ;D

Going slightly OT here, but I just rediscovered a little ditty I made a year ago to test out a piano sound in Reason. Now, there's something strangely familiar about that theme...

http://www.medievalfuture.com/void/temporary/piano%20(jan05).mp3 (http://www.medievalfuture.com/void/temporary/piano%20(jan05).mp3)

Haha, thats neat, though a completely different mood than the origional.

*crosses fingers* Tomorow it might be the pkunk day. Oh please pretty please be it the pkunk day.

(I also want to here some thing new by Mark Vera. So anything to satisfy either of those two cravings (or both if pkunk was mixed by him))

So there's four tunes left, right?:

Pkunk
Yehat
Syreen
Orz

Supox is left, and also Zoq-Fot-Pik. (of which there's already a beta floating around, and it was a dang good beta, so I wouldn't be surprised to see that one show back up as the final)  So that makes 6 left.

That's assuming they don't remix the intro or ending tunes, or give us another track or two for orbit reasons. (though I can't think of any types of planets left that would need different tracks than the existing 5 orbit tunes)

If that one does not have bag pipes in it ill be disappointed.

Actually, I think I remember hearing rumours of a remixed intro theme that supposedly gives the intro slides a more "cinematic" feel.

Also, I don't think the ZFP theme was a 'beta'. It was a preview of the upcoming remix pack, but the precursors considered it finished as far as I know.

Aaaaaand it's Friday again! :)

"Yehat
If that one does not have bag pipes in it ill be disappointed. "

Adding bag pipes to that theme sounds like it might be a challenge.


"Actually, I think I remember hearing rumours of a remixed intro theme that supposedly gives the intro slides a more "cinematic" feel."

That would be great.

New remixes have been added to the first post in this thread. Have fun! :)

Unfortunately, it's probably gonna be about an hour before I can listen to these (need to go retreive my Mother from her work), but I already love the Supox one on its name alone.

EDIT: The Zoq-Fot-Pik track is as off the wall as it originally was, and I love every bit of it.  The Supox one... very funky.  It felt like a "blast this out of your car stereo on the way to the beach" track at points.  Both are excellent at any rate.

Well, it was neither of my cravings, but who cares, this Supox theme is good. I am truely flattered. Maybe water always be near your roots, Forevian.

photo = light
synthesis = put together

Think "The Process", and the Sun Device.

The new supox remix is very nice indeed!
Forevian is talented... he has also made some cool ships for timewarp.

I think I already mentioned how much I like "Frungy Party", and "Shake Yer Rootz" is another remix that on the one hand is true to the original and on the other changes it into a fully fleshed-out new tune.

"Shake Yer Rootz" seems to stick quite close to the original structurally and melodically, but fleshes out the arrangement beyond the original MOD and brings out the melody more clearly, neatly addressing my only criticism of the original. May your roots always find nutritious and moist dirt, Forevian (mine can't stay still anymore!).

Both of these new ones are very nice. I especially like the Supox one; I was never much of a fan of their original music, but I have a new appreciation for it with this remix. ;D

Excellent!!!

I especially like the Supox theme, it is a very sunny tune that 's fits them perfectly. I really wish songs like this played on the radio.

WOAH... that new Supox remix is an eye popper. What would you call that... an insanely eclectic mix of musical styles, from rock to techno to what else? all mixed in? How many different styles are cooperating PERFECTLY in this song? Forevian just scored a major hit that'll be felt all the way from Beta Librae to Procyon and from Beta Corvi to the Organon station!

ZFP Frungy Party is making my subwoofer thump in just the right ways :D

...please powers that be, let there be a remix of that oh so catchy Orz theme ;_;

Woah! what's this? I'm gone for a month to try and get my grades up (I already threw away my HL2 and Star Craft CDs so I won't fail any more courses  :() and you guys release half the remix pack!



.. cool!   ;D

I must say that, despite what many of you seem to think, the original Chmmr music was quite catchy and I liked it very much - it had this "power effect", so the Chmmr remix was one of the few I was really *really* looking forward to.
It's excellent, and sounds even better when I boost the bass to give the drums more power.  Still needs more power I think.
I'm only a bit disappointed with the ending where it fades out completely, stops, and then starts again for 20 seconds. was this part supposed to get in the final release? it seems like a work-in-progress. Otherwise it's a well remixed track!
Will there be any bonus Chmmr tracks? ;)

"The Ultron" Utwig remix reminds me of Warcraft 2 music.. I like that style and it's composed wonderfully. ooh, and it repeats seamlessly. Good job!

"The Mask" Utwig remix.. woah. reminds me of your Under a Red Sky remix.. I love the vocals/choir, that's always an important addition to the atmosphere of a tune like this. You've outdone yourselves, again ;)
Why aren't you going professional (movie soundtracks for example)? I've heard a few "online composers" who got their chances  in movie trailers and such, and you guys have just as much potential, if not more..


BTW, two last questions -
 - who are all these anonymous composers? I don't remember seeing a "Casey Monroe" or on the forum
 - and excuse me for this, but, how do you pronounce "Tore Aune Fjellstad' ?  ;) (sorry)

I think the 20 seconds at the end of the chmmr remix are to make it loop better. It probably will sound better in-game, even if it is a bit jarring when being listened to in a different context.

Tehcnically, that woudl be an ear popper.


Not unless you, or anyone else, submits one shortly. ;)


Speaking for myself, I don't think I ever will go commercial; I get far too much enjoyment out of doing things like this for free. Besides, there usually are stricter guidelines and shorter deadlines in commercial work. I can easily see myself doing music on a volunteer basis like this ten years from now.


Very early in the project a number of remixed songs were submitted from all over the place. Most of these haven't been released until now, as by a freakish coincidence most people chose New Alliance themes to remix (Shofixti and Chmmr, for instance).


Now, here's where things get more difficult. To begin with the end, my family name is actually the easiest to pronounce for most people; you pronounce it more or less as it's written even in English!). Only keep in mind that the s is a hissing s sound, not the "sh" I notice foreigners usually use for this; and the ending d is muted. (Also, people from my part of the country normally palatalise the double l, but that's not for beginners, I think).
   Next, the middle name. To pronounce the Norwegian diphtong au, just picture a good old-fasioned Oxford professor saying "Rome", and use the resulting o sound. There's not really too many ways to pronounce -ne, I believe. So far so good.
   Now the hard part. Though only four letters, I think most of you people here would have a hard time pronouncing my first name wothout coaching. But here goes. First, the "o" sound in Tore is pronounced like in, um, stoopid, I guess. The r is, of course, a rolling r where you use the pressure of air from your lungs to make the tip of the tongue vibrate against your gum (unlike the english, or even american, pronounciation, where your tongue seems to want to slip halfway down your throat to make the sound; also not to be confused with the french R, where the sound is made between the middle of the tongue and the gum). The ending "e" is pronounced like in elephant.

That's it for today's language lesson folks, now back to the topic at hand. ;)

You misunderstand. I understand why photosynthesis is related to the Chmmr, but this particular TRACK does not evoke photosynthesis.


I like the supox theme.

So then what if it was called "The Process." That sounds more mechanical like the theme itself.

Just an idea, anyway. The track is superb no matter what it is called.

PS, evidently I think releasing the music packs song by song is much more gratifying for you.. this way you get praised every new week all over again ;)

Hurray!

'The Process' would be perfect.

these are so AWESOME!

now if only some mp3 player actually played OGG files....

Try WinAmp, my player of choice since it was first released in the 90s.

XMplay > Winamp big time... Nothing plays .mods and .xms better!
http://www.un4seen.com/xmplay.html

Wow, xmplay sure has changed since I last used it.  It doesn't crash as much now.

*Checks calendar*

Why, I do believe it's New Remix Friday!

*Waits with eager anticipation*

*taps foot*.  ;D

The Orz remix has been released. Once again, check the first post in this thread for more info.

Another direct hit! The original Orz theme was perhaps the worst of the few badies. I wasn't sure how you guys would pull this one off, but you did it.

It both fits the mentality of the Orz, and moves the original from a have-to-switch-off-the-speakers-during-communication, to a favorite that kicks ass even on its own, played separately from the game.

i meant a player as in, something thats in your car or that you carry around with you (like an ipod or the creative zen player)... I know how to play ogg on a computer :) (heck. thats what I rip all my CDs as).

And wow... yesturday was the first time I downloaded these, and now there is already a new song... WEEE

Very nice! It really sounds like orz... bubbly, sort of underwater effects accompanying an overenthusiastic synth.

Halleck remembered to *enjoy the sauce*. Halleck is a *happy camper*.

HERETIC! none of the original (PC version) audio was bad... I loved the original orz theme (PC, not 3DO version). "Papapapoi pou" ahoy!

Jumping peppers! It is smiley time!

I really do like this one; the attitude and atmosphere are both perfect. I was always sort of straddling the fence on how much I liked the original MOD, since it really fit the Orz well, but it always seemed to be too overbearing and "in your face," so to speak. Thankfully, this remix has done away with the bad while retaining the good, and you folks deserve your kudos for that!

"HERETIC! none of the original (PC version) audio was bad... I loved the original orz theme (PC, not 3DO version)."

FOOL! There is no 3DO version of the Orz theme, nor any comm themes unique to the 3DO version.

Not sure I like it. The old .mod was cool because it was deranged. This is something you could attach to the Pkunk or Supox and still have it be in character. The song should say more than "hello, we're your teammates".

*Bubble* *singers* are *squeezing* the *Juice*. It is making me *expand* and *squirt* happy *coloured* *bubbles*! *Singers* are the best *campers* for *slow time* *pleasant combinations*. *Silly cows* are *frumple* because *song* is not *slow time* *bubbles*. If *silly cows* are *spitting* *lumpy* words, Orz are not *squishy*.

I have to agree, this sounds a bit Supox-y or Pkunk-y.  The synth reminds me of Mark Vera's style (as a side note, no ill intetion ;)).

The atmosphere of the Orz music should be friendly yet misunderstood, mysterious, uncanny and even a tad bit spooky. Yet this remix seems to capture only the first of the above.

oh and it seems Novus agrees too!  ::)

"The atmosphere of the Orz music should be friendly yet misunderstood, mysterious, uncanny and even a tad bit spooky. Yet this remix seems to capture only the first of the above."

Well, the Orz are not dangerous in SC2, and they are relatively transparent and friendly. They are not especially serious, and they don't have to be. They are so powerful we just seem like toys to them. It is sort of like kids burning ants with a magnifying glass, it isn't considered that dark to us, even if the ants don't enjoy it all that much.

Also, when you remix something, you're not supposed to get too far away from the original. And the original Orz them was not mysterious, spooky, or dark.

Hmm... I think some of us are forgetting that the Orz didn't say anything particularly disturbing in SC2. Sure, they did talk about some slightly creepy stuff, which is what initially gave people the impression that they are not all they seem to be, but they didn't seem genuinely dangerous until SC3. Seems as much as we would like to ret-con the game into oblivion, some of it sticks with us anyway...

I've never played SC3, I dont know what goes on there.

The Orz are supposed to make you feel puzzled - in a creepy way. You don't know if to trust them or not. They are friends 'with caution'.

This is what TFB ment and I think it works well. Can't find the original chat log, but a quote:


http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/faq/#6

and I do think this remix has strayed too far from the original, as you say.

This lacks that special sketchiness and, well, alieness of the original. The sound-effect-y-ness of the music was important. What happened to the squeezing sounds and the squirts and creaking?

It's sort of a 'Riff on the Orz theme' rather than an actual 'Orz theme'.

Sounds nice, though.

As you guys have already said: it sounds nice, but it doesn't fit the Orz too well... The orz are EEEEEEVIIIIIIIIILLL... Not pkunky/supoxy!

Nice remix, though, sounds awesome...

Wow... been a while since I made that Chmmr remix.  Glad to see the positive comments  ;D

I am going through the others now. Always cool to hear the more.. eccentric interpretations. :)

it was you? well done  :D *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*

I know this is kind of a dumb question, since of course it was intentional, but what's deal with the pause before the last 20 seconds?

I think I remember adding that because it sounded too jarring without it, right after the fade-out part. Regarding the whole thing though, it sounds fine to me now, but I keep noticing some little things and thinking I could've tweaked/improved them... oh well - you know what they say about hindsight. ;)

As for my comments on the other tracks:

Orz: Very well done - almost Jean Michel Jarre-like. Strays from the original while staying roughly in the same spirit - well, perhaps not as "goofy", but I still think it fits.

Utwig (E. Gätzschmann & T.A. Fjellstad's version): Great dark ambient-style atmospherics - gives off a feeling of terminal despondency to match the Utwig's mood, while the background chants seem to make a fitting reference to the religious/spiritual nature of their ailment. Very well-done.

Utwig (The Ultron - Casey Monroe): The first thing that popped into my mind was... Holy Bobby Prince, Batman (and mind you, this is a compliment)! This is oddly reminiscent of some of his work for the original Wolfenstein 3D series - many of the levels featured similarly gloomy, dirgy funeral marching music. Of course, that was Adlib FM synth music, and this is much more accomplished. :) Great work.

Supox: Very eclectic and all-over-the-place, yet at the same time as technically proficient as little else. A lot of talent here - down to the jazzy touches and lead guitar - and amazingly enough, it all works when pieced together! Applause.

Zoq-Fot-Pik: Now, THIS is what "staying true to the original" should always mean. Top-notch stuff -  extremely faithful to how the original sounded and "felt", down to the individual samples, yet still taking advantage of modern technology in such a way that the transition is seamless and feels natural.

TilT and Void may guess what I am about to say, but I will say it anyway:

I am a person of musical experiences, when I played star control II the first time, I loved it because it played awesome music on my crappy PC speaker (!!!) like no other game did, and what a music at that. There were 2 tunes that made the difference, first was the hyperspace tune but the most important was the orz tune. Up until first meeting with  the ORZ for the first time I thought this was a nice addictive game, but then as I first heard it, it brought that sense of alien strangeness that made the game a classic to all of us.

So after gushing again I would like to say that this is the remix I waited for the most and... well...
You outdid yourself guys if that is possible. (This means that if you were selling CDs I would be buying them....)

Another awesome tune that fits the game like a glove.

Gill Bates, our biggest fan. And that's official!  :)

I suggest you check his name again. I think Gill, depending on his take on computers, might be insulted that you said that. :P

maybe you should've said "Gill Bates. Our figgest ban!" instead.

friday friday friday YAY

*waits for more music*

 ;D

How about "Gill Bates. Our faggest bin!"? Or is that too offensive?

A new remix has been released. Check the first post in this thread for details.

Oooooh, Pkunk!

I can't wait to hear the Yehat one. I just love the two Yehat remixes by Rush and Mango, can't wait to hear the Precursor take on it.

That's awesome... It really is..

I ain't got enough thumbs to put up, though... :(

The version of pkunk.ogg that was posted initially had a higher bitrate than intended. It has now been replaced by the proper version. If you've already downloaded the ogg, I recommend redownloading.

*wallows in awe*

Forevian, you are one of my new favorite musicians. I didn't much like the mumbly voices in the beginning but oh my god the rest of the music I cower before its amazingness. And the guitar at the end is just, like, the best thing in the history of ever. And the Supox is just killer through the whole thing and I don't know how you got such good music out of the Zoq-Fot-Pik theme.

Now we're at the subject of heaping praise on the UQM remixers, I think I should probably mention that I recently checked out Precursor MarkVera / Jouni Airaksinen's page at mikseri.net, and was completely awestruck at the "Control the Stars" song. That was just great. I haven't really been listening much to electronic music since my days as an Amiga demo scene hangaround (I'm mostly a metal person), but that song was just great. So great, in fact, that I grabbed a bunch of tunes from that page (both old game remixes and original songs) and found that there's still electronic music around that I appreciate. Thanks.

Pkunk: It's how remixes are done. ;)

Excellent work as always. Is it wrong to be looking forward to next Friday already?

Very true to the original and much, much nicer to listen to. :)

PKUNK remix is the bst of all. Even better than Slylandro!

I like it. I really liked the original, and this is a nice update which didn't screw around with a good formula.

I do think the voice that comes in at 1:42 is underbalanced. It was more pronounced in the original, and it has some interesting stuff going on, why not let it stand out more?

Also, the sudden inclusion of the electric guitar at the end was kind of odd; but that's okay.

Whoopdy Dee and Trolly Bazoo! The Pkunk mix is here, and it's... cute. A bit overloaded with different instruments (at least in comparison to the somewhat minimalistic original MOD), but cute and instantly recognisable and very... Pkunky. Or should that be Pkunkish?

I've always been scared of the Pkunk.. (on and off the battlefield) they just creep me out. Their ships give good R.U. though :D

This makes them EVEN MORE CREEPY (I'm strange I know)! But it's a fantastic remix :P

Lord, Precursors did as much as they could for the Pkunk/Orz themes, but nothing you can do can make it any more than the Pkunk/Orz themes.  Only a complete musical rewrite can fix that. So far the Supox and Starbase themes are two the most awesomely improved tunes I've heard so far. :D

Where could I find a working link to those remixes? I've tried the ones on the Pages of Now and Forever the Fileplanet shows that the files are no longer there.

wow...someone who actually kills pkunk? pkunk are so innocent and kind... why would you wanna kill them you evil evil person...

Try again. FilePlanet has a nasty habit of saying that files are missing, but the file still appears on the second attempt.

That's where I got them from, actually. I've been having some problems with Fileplanet myself, trying to get the SC2 Roleplaying Resource Guide and it says the same thing.

You don't know half of it ;)

Ok I will confess, what I do is I ally with the Syreen and then start a whole Pkunk slave trade. Cool huh?! :D I get about 500 crew every homeworld visit, oh yes thats a heck of a lot of Druuge Maulers eh? My simple reason why I war with the Pkunk is becuase I conquer for the greater glory of the Human race. You should too :) You also get a heck of a lot of R.U. from those Psionic amps I pawn from the destroyed furies back at starbase (which is really good for upgrading the Emperor (my Vindicator)

I'm going to post a topic soon on "How to be evil as evil Emperor of Star Control". It will cover everything evil enough for you ;)

(And I didn't kill the Pkunk on the first game, although they were creepy they were loving :P, I just play for big bad mode (second game))

That's okay, Pkunk don't really die. They just get reborn!

besides, why let the Yehat get all the RU from them? they're YOUR allies! those RUs are yours!

though you would need at least one fury if you want to play with the Sa Matra in the end.


P.S.,
I like my remixes well-done, and the latest one is quite exquisite  ;D

Really? I thought Pkunk die forever after they stop coming back for more at the end of a Hellbore Cannon :)

That "reborn" logic is fake, they clone themselves ;) Lies, all lies! :P

The R.U. is really helpful though, but you can finish the Sa-Matra without a Pkunk.

Okay okay, I hate to break up the party, but this is still a thread about the remix packs.

"'My simple reason why I war with the Pkunk is becuase I conquer for the greater glory of the Human race. You should too  You also get a heck of a lot of R.U. from those Psionic amps I pawn from the destroyed furies back at starbase (which is really good for upgrading the Emperor (my Vindicator)"

Darth Siddius?


"Okay okay, I hate to break up the party, but this is still a thread about the remix packs."

Well, to refocus the conversation, you could release the Yehat tune. ;)
Okay, back on topic. So far, what is everyone's favorite tune, released for this pack so far?

For this pack:

Favourite: Chmmr (next: Utwig)
Least Favourite: Orz

*to tell the truth, I listened to the Orz remix a couple more times, and it started growing on me a bit, but I still think it could've been done much better with more/more distinct alienish samples and with a different instrument than that.. what is it, a synth? (the main instrument) (sorry).

It's gotten quite tough to pick a favorite from this batch. It's pretty even running between the Utwig (sad version), Chmmr, Supox, and Pkunk remixes for me.

BTW, TiLT, VOiD, would you consider putting up any of the songs for one of the computer compos? Assembly 06, for example? it's a sure win and a big credit to the game ;) really!

if I had to pick one, I would say the Starbase theme.

Most of these compos do not accept previously released material. See, for example, the Assembly '06 compo rules (http://www.assembly.org/compos/general_rules/en). Remixing the remixes might work, though.

damnit.

you can't possibly get the Starbase theme to sound any better. it's too good ;)

Hate to break it to you, but I think they are planning on remastering it.

The pkunk remix is great! Sounds like a pretty close copy of the original but with much better instrumentation and mixing. Good work.

"Hate to break it to you, but I think they are planning on remastering it."

Noooooooo!

Don't mess with perfection  8)

Don't worry, it's not a huge change. Some of you might not even notice a difference. The truth of the matter is that the Precursors have developed a lot as musicians throughout this project. We made some glaring mistakes with Under A Red Sky in our opinion, and we just wanted to fix a few of them and increase the sound quality while we were at it.

I might as well just post the remaster right now, in a highly unofficial manner. This is just something I did over the holidays, so don't take it for more than that. :)

Under a Red Sky (http://www.medievalfuture.com/music/Under_a_Red_Sky.mp3)

i noticed these remixes sound way better than some movie soundtracks. ;D

I've been trying for a while. Same. Even tried to use the search button to see if the files were still there....

Can't anyone provide a mirror link? :/

Wait, I don't hear any difference between this version and starbase.ogg...  :o

See, told you.  ;)

Except for the general remastering, there are only three noteworthy changes:

1) The drums during the gregorian chanting had their reverb reduced significantly.
2) The japanese pluck is tighter and has more echo.
3) The drums during the celtic section had their reverb reduced as well.

TMI moment coming in

5
4
3
2
1
....


uh, dude, what's your name? Thanks to that starbase song playing tonight, I think we'll need a few name suggestions by November. :D

I never did get to listen close to the differences in the two remixes. I'm going to try now that at least one of us is sleeping...

"Except for the general remastering, there are only three noteworthy changes:
1) The drums during the gregorian chanting had their reverb reduced significantly.
2) The japanese pluck is tighter and has more echo.
3) The drums during the celtic section had their reverb reduced as well."

I thought the chorus vocals about mid way through had more of a stereo effect added to them. Sort of sounded like they were ghosts drifting from left to right or something. I guess maybe I just needed more sleep.

The Precursors - professional music makes great sex! 

;D

You're welcome to post in the Intelligence Intercept thread if you like... :D

I can't wait for more songs. I totally love star control music, original and espcially the remixes. Are we going to get some more today? :)

I believe today is a Syreen day. They're keeping Yehat for themselves to the end :)

who do we have left on the list?

Whats the deal with the Yehat anyway? Their theme was my favourite, but is it also the most anticipated among the community? Listening to the remix packs, I was cynical as to the quality of them at first, even angry at the massive deviations in some tracks, the excessive use of certain annoying cliches and samples, some are unfaithful to the originals, but as the releases came out I soon realised that the precursors were getting better and that they are already talented. At this point I honestly believe that if there is ever a Star Control movie, they should do the music.
Through the Angles of Space, Mystic Shadows, Ultra Gross, Culture 19 and the Pkunk Themes are my favourites as all mentioned apart from the first two are very faithful, while the first two tracks are brilliant in their own right and deserve a place in the game also. The Ur-Quan theme Now and Forever also fits the latter description.

Oh and with the Yehat theme, try to keep the dramatic feel of the original.

Yehat and Syreen. However, I believe we were promised a separate remix for Spathi ships ("Safe Haven" was supposed to be Spathi home only).

The Yehat theme is one of the most popular SC2 tunes, so the Precursors have been working extra hard to produce a really nice remix; the Yehat theme is probably the primary reason that Remix Pack 4 hasn't been released months ago.

Based on this, I think it's likelier that we get the Syreen remix today than the Yehat one.

I agree. But I have an additional stipulation.
As long as there's an agreement somewhere in the contract that Uwe Boll wont be involved in the movie in any shape or form.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0093051/
# Hunter: The Reckoning (2007)
# Fear Effect (2008)
# Postal (2007)
# Far Cry (2006)
# In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2006)
# BloodRayne (2005)
# Alone in the Dark (2005)

The last two he's already ruined. I think the only game movie he's not involved in recently is halo.
Now someone please tell me what game studios are thinking signing over the movie directing/producing rights to him?  Or if they aren't in on it, what are the studios who buy the game movie rights thinking handing the movies over to him? What, is he really really REALLY cheap? Well in this case you get what you pay for.

He's also not involved in MGS; Hideo Kojima flat out said "Why is he even talking about this?  He's not directing my movie."  I love how he took Alone in the Dark and made it... not alone and not in the dark.  And House of the Dead wasn't in a house either.  :P  I heard some rumor that he's making movies because there's some sort of law in his home country that lets him get money for failed movies; making it sound like he's making bad flicks on purpose.  I don't know how true that is though.

I'd assume we'll get Syreen before Pkunk too, but has anyone said whether we're getting remixes of the game's intro and ending tunes or not?

"I'd assume we'll get Syreen before Pkunk too"

I bet you a million dollars that won't be the case. :P

Its true, its a loophole in german tax law. And not only does it let him make money, it lets the people who invest in the movie make money. (basically everyone gets to take a huge tax writeoff if the movie fails). However (and probably because of him) that loophole that was specifically for failed movies was closed last month, Jan 2006 (I'm guessing that is for any movies started after that date, which means that the several he already has in production will still get the tax break and still be miserable failures). So the question is, can he make a successfull movie at all? I certainly woulnd't want to let him try on anything I like.

Here's an article on it if you want to read up on it:
http://www.cinemablend.com/feature.php?id=209
"the German investors in a movie only pay tax on any RETURNS the movie makes, their investment is 100% deductible, so the minute the movie makes a profit, said investor has to start paying tax. Plus the investors can actually borrow money to put towards investment and write that off too."

Also, I think there is new menu music (control the stars?) and a new intro theme for us.

Just wanted to tell you that we'll release this week's track on saturday instead of friday. Trust me, it's going to be worth it. :)

Also, in order to bring clarity to some speculation that has been surfacing recently, Yehat is indeed going to be one of the last tracks we release. However, this is not because we want to build tension (it's part of the reason, but far from the main one), but because the track just isn't finished. Enjoy the other remixes for the time being, but don't go expecting Yehat right away.

Well, that's OK by me.  I kind of figure the remixer in charge of that one is in a similar situation to Riku was with the hyperspace track.

How many tracks are left, anyway? 

Definite:
Syreen
Yehat

Possible:
Intro
Ending
Credits
Shipbound Spathi
New tracks

(thought - maybe separate music for Yehat Rebel and Loyalist factions after civil war starts? Though I think maybe the Utwig are really the only ones with such a massive shift in style that they should get two shipbound themes.)

A new remix has been released. Check the first post in this thread as usual.

Awesome, I like it a lot.

Well done jouni.

I actually sort of prefer his electro remix. Of all the remixed hyperspace themes, the old 3DO version still seems to be the best, to me. I don't think it could be remixed to be any better though, anywho.

BTW, don't feel rushed with the Yehat tune. We can wait, release it whenever you feel it is where you want it to be.

Very sweet remix! The hyperspace songs have always been some of my favorite.

BTW, the front page story with all the links needs to be updated to include the new one :)

good job there with the hyper song!  ;)

nice timing, with all the recent talk of remastering and "staying true to the original".. this is indeed good stuff.

The new hyperspace song is more faithful than the other "Across the Galaxy" remix I have by Riku, but Riku's remix is more of an absolute textbook examle of what good music is made of. I'm sorry but the new one doesn't even come within light years of catching up with the quality of Riku's remix.

"Across the Galaxy" is what I call the "Lear Jet take off & flight to Hawaii" music... heck, let's petition Virgin Galactic corp. to make it their future space flight advertisement music lol!!!

While you're remastering songs, think it might be possible to set us up a version of Now and Forever without that noticeably low-quality 'knife' sound? For some reason, that just really detracts from the rest of the track for me.

I have to echo the sentiment that the Orz isn't really Orz. It's bubbly and mysterious and underwater, which works, but it's completely lost the crazy Orz edge. Changing the song style worked for the Druuge because the creepy element was retained (I like both versions), it worked for the Arilou for the same reason (it just kept the same sort of 'mood'). But the Orz one replaces the mood completely. Ah well, it's still a decent track.

For some reason I'm not getting into the Alliance remixes as much as I did the Hierarchy ones, but that's probably just because apart from a few exceptions (Yehat, Supox) my favourite original tracks were in the Hierarchy.

???? The opening sequence of this new remix (Lightyears Away - LyA) sounds like it was done on an ice rink organ!!!

The rest is good, though. LyA would make sense to use in-game. Maybe the beginning will seem normal after a few times through (the tune, not the game).

The earlier remix (Across the Galaxy - AtG) had such a long introduction that many trips would be over by the time you got to the statement of the main theme. For outside-the-game purposes, though, I like the AtG better, somewhat.

I find it comparable it to the non-Precursors remix on Mark Vera's electronica page,.

I think that by far the best Hyperspace song has been the 'Re-Enter mix' by Jouni Airaksinen.

Well..that's just mixing all the original audio tracks separately.

"Lightyears Away" is quite similar to Mark's previous exquisite "Electro Blast" (http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00938/) remix, but different enough to be considered a different remix. While I'm not a great fan of the first 15 seconds or so of "Lightyears Away", the rest of the tune even manages to improve on "Electro Blast" by adding just that little bit of variation the tune needs to feel fresh again.

Le Poke?

*Happy Campers* like to hear *Music* on *Special Days.*

Has the schedule to release the music been changed?

I ran into some time trouble (I work the entire weekend), but I'll release a new remix tonight.

"Electro Blast" has waay too much drumwork.
Lya kicks eBlast's butt!


;)

I do have one question about the remixed music packs: why did you bother making them zip files? They're only the tiniest bit smaller as zips then they are normally.

They're not even smaller. The .ogg files are stored without compression. The purpose is to have them together as a package, which can be enabled and disabled as a whole.

Another question: Why is it when I unzipped the remix packs (simply as an experiment), the game then reverted to the original music? Is it something about them being zip files that the game requires?

See here (http://uqm.stack.nl/wiki/Content_Management).

And to bring this thread back on topic: another excellent remix, MarkVera.

Well, this was fun as long as it lasted :/

the next remix has been tackled a few times by Slylandro Probes during it's voyage through hyperspace to the "Remix Pack 4" star system.

I'm sure it'll be here shortly though!  8)

By the way, in the Orz track, what happened to the "Bye" voice sample that was used as an instrument? That was cute and I think it was sort of integral to the song's charm.

It was probably left out because it would disrupt the flow. A lot of the stranger sounds from the original don't seem like they'd fit too well inside the orz remix.

no install instructions? what directory do i need under comm to have it work?

For what mix? As far as I can tell, they all have install instructions.

Refer to the first post in this thread for install instructions.

Anyway, we've decided that we might as well skip the week that was and instead get back to focusing on next friday. This was caused by several things, but most notably was real life catching up, and the feeling that the remix we were supposed to release could do with a little more polish.

Just hang in there! :)

*hangs*  :P

I've wanted to post for awhile now ... but ... well ... haven't really had the *time* ...

I'm having problems getting the hyperspace track to work ... All the other bonus tracks works fine, but for the life of me, I can't get the hyperspace one to work ... any idea of what could be wrong? I copied the "lbm" from the post, and put the .ogg file there, but no go ...

Nevermind ... I'm just silly ... it's supposed to be under a different folder than the others ...

*doh* :p

I am really impressed by these remixes, and the ones that came before these.  Hi.  Jessica U. Ingmann, first time poster.  Anyway...I should review all of these tracks when I get the time.  They absolutely rock.  ^_^

Welcome Jessica!
I'll join the praise to the whole remix pack, they are professional and cool, and also, again I see how great it is that this project is united and orginized (unlike many previous remix jobs, that star a one-time hit). once we heard the first remix among the new pack, I think most of us assumed they would keep it up.

what do you mean? keep what up?

most of the fourth remix pack was completed a long time ago, some of which was remixed by composers outside the Precursors, such as the Shofixti, Pkunk, Supox, Chmmr, one of the Utwig.. it's not a finish-and-immediatly-post job.  they're all only being released now because there's one or two tracks left to finish.

Will anything be able to make it out this week?

Yes

Whoa, hold on for a minute there... what's this talk about reviewing remixes of game music?  Would a few revamped Wolfenstein3D tracks be of any interest? :)

A new track has been released. As usual, check the first post.

Wow, that's Excellent (as usual.) This was definitely worth the wait (yes, I have become that spoiled.) :)

It would be cool to hear in the main menu and sub menus (setup, melee, etc.) as well, or will there be a separate track for those?

This music OWNZ!! I love star control music.

Deus_Siddis:
From OP.

I assumed he meant that the main menu goes to the credits, with the credits theme, if you sit idle at the main menu too long. A lot of games do this. I meant that the music could play while you are navigating through the menus, because it definitely seems long enough and well worthy of having more exposure.

Kudos on the new track! nice initiative too, writing a new piece to fill in the blanks.

Good job!  :D

A bit late in posting here, but I suggest people who are dissatisfied with the Orz remix swap it with Jarre's Zoolook track. Just listen to this comparison:

SC2 Orz music (http://www.medievalfuture.com/void/temporary/ORZ.MOD.mp3)
Jarre's Zoolook (http://www.medievalfuture.com/void/temporary/Jean%20Michel%20Jarre%20-%201984%20-%20Zoolook.mp3)

The Credits music is a nice tune. For some reason I keep thinking it'd make a great Androsynth comm music, were they in the game.

The Androsynth are mentioned several times during the course of the game, but they only appear in Super-Melee! as a selectable ship.(And if I do say so, I'm not half bad with the Androsynth Guardian against most other ships...)

Also...that Credits theme is pretty nice!  I don't hear much of the Star Control II Credits theme in there, but regardless, it's a damned fine piece of musical accomplishment.

They said this wasn't a remix, Jessica. I agree that it's good.

They did?  Uh...sorry.  Didn't see that.

You guys should try making some "Main Menu" music (the precursors i mean)
right now i'm using a remix i found on PNF by 'Joseph C.'

A new Spathi remix has been posted to the start of this thread.

While it's nice, it seems to resemble the existing Spathi remix a *LOT*...
So.. yeah... Nice, just as the already existing remix....

However, since Fwiffo is ALL ALONE in his Eluder, I would've thought that this remix would be a bit less "alive"... Ohwell...

Yeah, seems like they stripped out the Oompa Loompas scrambling around effect and made a few minute tweaks otherwise. Can't really complain, though.

Nice! Those who have been asking for more faithful remixes will not be dissapointed.

Doesn't that override the "Safe Haven" mix in remix pack 2? I guess you could fix that by moving Safe Haven to content/comm/spahome/spahome.ogg.

"Fwiffo's Starrunner" is maybe a bit too similar to "Safe Haven", but that doesn't prevent me liking it a lot. :)

reason for the fwiffo's starrunner being similar is that it was the first remix. The spathi home remix is just modified version of fwiffo's starrunner. Safe haven was released just much earlier and fwiffo been laying around my harddisk for almost 2,5 years now. Practically forgot it.

I still like it.

it's like wine, only improves with the years ;)

I agree with Halleck, its seems to be a high quality version of the original, so purists could even use it as the only spathi remix track.

So will this theme play aboard all spathi ships, or just the one on pluto?

Personally I think it should play on all Spathi vessels, while the other remix be used on the Spathi homeworld. I think this is what was intended.

besides, no use in making a whole remix just for one conversation..

Which one?  He's got an Attack! arrangement, Quasispace, Ur-Quan Kzer-Za, two original compositions which apparently were meant to server as "Androsynth" themes, and a "Black Spathi Squadon" arrangement of the Spathi theme.(Which I didn't even know he had posted, honestly.  Maybe I'm thinking of the Outfit theme he sent me...)

Back on topic, though...  This Spathi pieces is nice, much more closely resembling the original in ways missed in the Safe Haven theme.  But...it just feels like a toning down of the Safe Haven version, to me...  I was expecting somethin' entirely different for some reason!  ^_^;;

I just wanted to drop in and say that we probably won't be able to deliver the remaining remixes on a weekly basis. Some of the remaining ones need additional polish and development, and other releases are being slowed down by technical problems.

From this point on, we'll release the remaining remixes separately as soon as they are ready. Hopefully it won't take long.

Additional polish is never a bad thing.  You guys were beyond nice to even do this weekly deal for us, so we can't complain.

I should hope nobody will see a problem with waiting a little longer for their awesome FREE remixes. I know I'll wait as long as necessary. ;)

Uhm, could you dig through that hard disk and see if you got some 2,5 year old more faithful remixes of for example the Umgah? The released remix of that one sounds a bit too "chaotic" to me.

For the rest of the songs, a big thumbs up guys/girls. There's a lot of them that have grown on me, like the Ur Quan one for example. And I loved the Chmmmmr one right from the start. Keep up the good work and I'll have to buy another MP3 player to save 'em all on.

Hey all,

First time poster here!  I have been a rather large fan of the SC series (well except for SC3 of course) for many years and have enjoyed these remixes of the original music immensely.  Oh the things they did with a PC speaker back in the day haha.  Anyway, I was just curious, is the Yehat remix slated for release with pack 4?  It is quite possibly my favorite piece from SC2 and I am very enthused about a remix for it.

As far as I can tell, the Yehat remix is the primary reason why remix pack 4 hasn't been released yet; making a remix that does the original justice is highly nontrivial. No Syreen remix has been released yet, either, which suggests that it isn't finished either.

Why does everyone put the old Yehat tune on such a high pedestal above the other original themes? Is it just that people like the Yehat themselves? (Though I never played SC2 as a kid, Pterodactyls were my favorite dinosaur up to the point where some cruel bastard told me they were just reptiles and then Triceratops became the top dino.)

Great work guys! Do  you have one for the Intro music?

Besides being a great piece of music all by itself, I rember myself thinking "This tune really fits the yehat perfectly". Can't really put my finger on it, it just causes strange things to your skin when you hear it in the game...  ::)

hey I have just discovered the game because of the remix. From one of my friend, I have received a mp3 from the Ur-Quan master web site, I was curious and I dowloaded the game with all the remix. I remember playing SC 1 with my older brother a long time ago  :) Nice work thanks.

bump... don't want any newbies to miss the best music money can buy... for free, no less  ;D

I can't wait for the Yehat remix. That's gotta be awesome!

...you mean this topic isn't stickied/pinned?  O_o

there is any news on the progres of the music?

If there was, you'd have already read it. Here, to be precise.

;D I second that!

Hmm ... it's been awhile with no updates ... is the Yehat one the only remix we're waiting for or?

Syreen too. And any other tunes around the edges that they are planning to throw in, like the intro music.

Thinking over the list of the allies got me wondering what Chenjesu music would have sounded like if they had appeared in the game.

I think it would have sounded like this (http://www.submedia.net/~nic/uqm/giri_giri_surf_rider_remix.mp3).

...OK, maybe not.  :)

I'd Like to here what the Androsynth music would sound like too.

That one is too easy (http://www.submedia.net/~nic/uqm/oh_lamour.mp3).

:P

your mp3 did not work but I do know the song. An odd pick for the Androsynth

...  Don't make me throttle you, 0xDEC0DE.  >_>;;

Once she's done, I'm next!  >:(

In my book, the Androsynth tune would've been something industrial/techno, but would have a dark (not evil ala Druuge, dark ala Utwig) mood. Somber, yet ever moving. I'll try to find a song like that.

*digs out NIN*

I concur !

Not to sound biased, but I dunno.  Joseph Collins' take on the AndroSynth theme (http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/fan/remixes.shtml) was rather nice.  It starts out all eerie and then all of a sudden, record scratches, and go into a big blast of techno love.  It wasn't really "dark," or "sinister," or anything...  More like...inspirational.  Despite what the AndroSynth were, you have to admit that being utterly decimated by the Orz like they were was a bit extreme.  Some might even say...unjust.  His AndroSynth tune might work just as well for the Shofixti post-revival, but that's the thing.  The song, to me, just sounds like a revival; a resurrection of what all thought was lost so long ago.

...yeah, I'm biased.  So sue me.  XD

Any update? An ETA perhaps? Even roughly would be appreciated :)

I don't think an Androsynth theme would be dark or sinister, probably more inspirational with a techno theme. As the synth were just independant and too free spirited to be treated like crap by humans for their entire existence. They got a better deal working for the Ur Quan.

Any news? It's been a long time now ...

I'm still waiting patiently. I'd much rather have the precursors take as much time as they need in order to make the best tracks they can, rather than rush them out the door.

Aye, I would of course like to have free music, that's better than most anything you could buy, right now, but it must be understood that good craftsmenship takes time.

I don't see anybody asking that the next remix be released sooner, just to know at least at approximate how long to expect to wait for the next release, and I would like this too. It's a lot easier to wait for something when you know how long you have to wait for it.

With that said, don't even THINK about releasing any music that doesn't feel complete! ;D Waiting even a year or more is fair price to pay for an outstanding piece of music that will likely be enjoyed for many years more.

Well, I guess the remixes were nice while they lasted.  :-\

The Precursors' site has also been down for the last week or so (www.medievalfuture.com), so I've been unable to get the .ogg format remixes for loading into the game.

We'll just have to sit back and hope, I suppose...

Should be back up soon, their host had to shut down or something so they're moving to a new one.

We'll be looking at alternate hosting options in the time to come. Stay tuned!

If this is going to take awhile, I could host the existing Pack 4 files for everyone in the meantime.  I have the MP3s but not the OGGs, though (I know, I know).

... and here they are... you know, just in case no one has them yet!

http://sol.truespace.ca/Precursors/MP3/

Temporary links can be put on the main page if desired- the server has a lot of bandwidth.

Thanks!  ;D

Out of curiousity, has the Pack 4 project died?

There hasn't been an update for many months... last we heard, other things had come up and simply nobody had the time to continue.  It's kind of a shame, with only a couple of remixes remaining.

I can't speak for the others, but personally I'm busy with my day job and composing music for a commercial game project in the evenings. I just don't have the time or energy to work on UQM right now. Sooner or later though...

Just a note before you commit this latest music to CD: The word you want for the Shofixti is banzai not 'bonsai'. These words mean very different things. 'Bonsai' means 'potted plant' and is an artform where trees are pruned to remain very small and yet appear the same as larger (and old) trees. It makes beautiful gardens but I don't think that the Shofixti are gardeners (insert joke about the hobbies of Shofixti males without mates? :) ) and don't think they'd scream about their gardens while attacking the Ur-quan in any case. 'Banzai' on the other hand, is the (in)famous Japanese battle-cry. It means 'ten thousand years' and comes from a patriotic slogan 'may the emperor live ten thousand years'.

Bwahahaah, I think that's part of the joke.

Yes, it's a joke. Also note that one of the random Shofixti captains (in SuperMelee) is named "Bonsai!"

On a related note, as far as I can tell, "Kyabetsu", the name of the former Shofixti homeworld, means "cabbage".

???

Not a very clever joke.

You'll get scads of corrections like mine, but no laughs. It's just a stoopid mistake.

Orz - *Squeezing* the *Juice* has just become my new Phone Ringtone.

Replacing the old Spathi Theme.

I am not sure if it is useful bringing this old thread back from the dead, but I find it more appealing than 100s of "when is the remix pack ready" threads.

Anyhow, I just wanted to note that I dug up all the remixes again and I am listening to the Spathi one now, I am still loving every little bit of SC music that I find.

I was curious as well as to how the remix pack is progressing (okay okay, that was a "when is the remix pack ready" response  ;D ).

Judging by the time that passed since the last track release, I think the appropriate answer would be, "when hell freezes over" :P

Considering that they have two left, it's not like they haven't done a lot, and good show of it!

Syreen and Yehat... I can't get a good feel of how to remix those in my head. If you torque up the angst for the Yehat, you lose its wistfulness and dedication. Doing a mix which focuses on the romantic yearning for the way things used to be before the surrender might  do the job. It's hard.

And syreen... umm. That's a tricky one too.

So I can see why it's been so long.

I was hoping you'd say three and include the PC intro as well. And hats off to the people of the remixing project. They have done a wonderful job on the remixes.

Now I am wondering if I can pack a provisional remix pack 4 together from the already released songs... Shouldn't be too hard.

But didn't they have intro music? Or were the PC and 3DO intros different?

The PC and 3DO intros are very different. In particular, they have different music, and neither tune has (to my knowledge) been remixed by the Precursors.

I agree, except for one.

And that is the remix of the Mycon.  The original song is 1000 times better than the remix.

If you compare the 2 you will hear that it are 2 completely different songs, and the melody i liked so much in the original is hard to find back.

Personally, I think the remix rythm is to fast, sound is to loud and it has to much ding dongs.

But that is my opinion.

god i love these songs so much haahha

just as a reply to some of the shofixti posts above, i also remember takana mentioning something about "the might daikon" daikon meaning raddish lol

That's a nice way to think of it, but I'm sure the real reason it's taking so long is because they're not working on it.

Not that there's anything wrong with it, after all, it is volunteer work.  We (Vile, Clay and me) haven't finished the ship graphics renovations either (not that it was an official project, or that it was meant to be in-game, but it sure was fun).

We work on it whenever we have the time and motivation. So far we're up to our 4th attempt at remixing Yehat, I think.

just the fact that you are, now and then, workin on it is pretty sweet.

can we maybe have a listen at remixs 1, 2, and 3? hehe

These kind of fit together. You can't force inspiration, it comes to you (though you can remember or forget the problem). According to the report above, they seem to have thought they had a way of doing the Yehat 4 times, and none of them have worked out yet. So they drop it, do something else, wait for a new interpretation to come to mind.

If they don't have a good interpretation, all the work in the world is going to accomplish nothing.

That's a pretty accurate description of the situation.

Since we seem to have your attention...  ;D

I noticed your group has made 2 Spathi tracks, 2 Hyperspace tracks, and 2 Utwig tracks.  Since you can't have both tracks in the game, which do you think is a more fitting interpretation?

Also...

Plus I notice you've made a credits track.  What path should it have so it would be included in the game?

I don't know about the hyperspace, but isn't the two spathi and two utwig tracks used for two different circumstances? for example, the utwig track changes once you fix the ultron...

As far as I can tell, music changes for scripted events are not handled.  So only one Spathi and only one Utwig track can be used in game.

Edit-- NM on the Spathi one.  Found the mod file that corresponded to the Safe Ones.  So I changed the name and directory of the track in remix pack 2 so it'll work as the Safe Ones' theme.

The game currently accepts different music for:
- Starbase commander: normal (comandr.ogg) and low-power (comlowpw.ogg)
- Utwig: without ultron (utwig.ogg), and with ultron (utwigult.ogg)
- Spathi: Spathi in space (spathi.ogg), Spathi home world (spahome.ogg), and Fwiffo (spafwiff.ogg)
- Yehat: Loyalists/pre-revolution (yehat.ogg) and rebels (rebel.ogg).

What directories should those files be in?

Here's what I have in my uqm-remix-pack4-preview.zip :

arispace.ogg (Path: lbm\) (Quasispace - Mystic Shadows)
blackur.ogg (Path: comm\bluckur\) (Kohr-Ah - The Eternal Doctrine)
chmmr.ogg (Path: comm\chmmr\)
hyper.ogg (Path:  lbm\) (Hyperspace - Lightyears Away)
orz.ogg (Path: comm\orz\)
pkunk.ogg (Path: comm\pkunk\)
shofixt.ogg (Path: comm\shofixt\)
spathi.ogg (Path: comm\spathi\) (Spathi - Fwiffo's Starrunner)
supox.ogg (Path: comm\supox\)
utwig.ogg (Path: comm\utwig\)
utwigult.ogg (Path: comm\utwigult\)
zoqfot.ogg (Path: comm\zoqfot\)

Also, in the remix pack 2 zip, I renamed spathi.ogg to spahome.ogg and changed it's path to comm\spahome\

For those situations where we've made multiple remixes for something the game doesn't support (hyperspace and quasispace, for example), the track we feel is the most fitting interpretation is the one that is released as part of the remix pack and not as a bonus.

utwigult.ogg (Path: comm\utwigult\)[/quote]
This file should be in "comm\utwig\" like the "regular" utwig.ogg file.

Perhaps we should update the Technical FAQ at the Ultronomicon to detail what directories the remixes belong in...

It's not exactly a "frequently asked question"...

so... are the current 11 songs going to be packages as remix pack4 for v0.7? or will you guys wait with it until all the desired songs are remixed?
It would be nice to have those songs available (well, more easily available; since its possible, albeit complicated, to install them manually.)

Yehat is finished, although they might tweak that one again before releasing it. They also still need to remix the Syreen track. Once these are done we'll probably hear from these guys again.