The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

This is not about THE Precursors in SC2, but about our Precursors, the team of (probably extraplanar) musical geniuses from the cold north.
I was recently rummaging through my machine when I came upon the Remix called "Orz - *Squeezing* the *Juice*". It is awesome. I miss those guys.
If I recall correctly, they had the last package (4th) to finish, but they disappeared in the middle of doing that.
Anyone has more details about them?

I think a much better question is, Gill_Bates (http://www.star-control.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=170), Gill_Bates, where hast thou been? Haven't seen you around since *Heavy Space* was awash with action and you were busy blowing stuff up (http://www.star-control.com/forum/index.php/topic,417.msg5265.html#msg5265).

You remembered that? I even forgot my login account, which, thank the gods (the real ones) has been found!
I missed the action on this site, it was like nothing else anywhere...

To be honest, I didn't recall that you had been posting on this site at all, but I did remember you from the SCDB. And I'm always happy to see an old hand return, even if it is usually for just a brief while. Welcome back.

As for your question, I'm afraid I can't help you. The Precursors haven't done anything in quite some time. As a consolation, I can point to you towards the PNF music (http://star-control.com/fan/music.php) page, which contains some other interesting remixes. I especially recommend TheMisterCat and PabloLuna.

Thanks, I actually used to listen to all of these a long time ago.
My question was related to the better Precursor stuff done by TiLT, Void, Riku and Mark Vera. It's a shame they got so close to the end and then stopped (missing probably one or two songs to complete the whole deal).

P.S. If were actually looking at the PNF music page, Saibuster's (Itamar's?) remix is still as good as I remembered it.

I really doubt that seeing as a lot of the material I recommended was produced during the last two years or so. that goes for all of TheMisterCat's material, a couple of PabloLunas songs and some of the various songs. The rest is old though.


As I recall most songs have been produced and some have preliminary releases. But there are people here who know a lot more about this than me, i'm sure someone will turn up to fill you in.


Yeah, there's a lot of good old stuff. Of course there's some exciting new stuff as well, such as comics (http://www.star-control.com/comics.php), christmas cards (http://www.star-control.com/hosted/christmas-cards/) and the likes.

Thanks for the heads up, and yes, TheMiserCat's a relative newcomer, I only heard one of his tracks (don't remember which) before today.
There are even Androsynths and Mmrnmhrm mixes there... Nice.

Maybe we should start a petition to get the Precursors to finish that last remix pack. ;)

How many songs are actually missing still? Yehat, but any others?

I think there was also no Syreen tune, and the one that is circling around isn't of good enough quality according to Mark Vera.
They probably also need to polish the existing tunes a bit, since none of these were formally released as part of the last pack.

The last time the Precursors updated here, I seem to recall the word being that the only missing song is for the Syreen. And apparently, that was only because the only one dissatisfied with it was the author himself (Mark, I think). I'm sure that's floating around in an old thread somewhere, but I can't find it.

Hmmm.. I didn't realize we we're just one song short. How annoying. Maybe we should start a petition then :)

I think we're still missing the intro and victory themes. Also, I was under the impression there would be a more faithful arilou piece. So maybe we're still four short.

AFAIK, nothing has changed since the previous thread about the Syreen remix (http://forum.uqm.stack.nl/index.php?topic=4140.0).

Thank you, Novus, that's the exact thread I was thinking of.

We're missing the Syreen theme and the intro/outro themes. The team doesn't really keep in touch these days (well, VOiD and I do, but we're neighbors and friends in real life anyway). I've been working on the into theme occasionally, but it's been tricky. I want to time it properly to the things that happen on the screen, and I'm trying to give it a more orchestral touch than the original. It's a very ambitious piece of music. Probably too ambitious, which is the reason I lost my inspiration. The outro theme is even more tricky to make and hasn't even been given any thought to the best of my knowledge. There is a credits theme, at least.

We never assembled a fourth remix pack, but almost all the individual tracks are released. You can find them at the Precursors site (http://precursors.medievalfuture.com) by clicking "Download Music" and looking at the "Additional Precursors Releases" section.

My biggest musical problem at the moment is that I'm out of practice. I had about a year or so where I made minimal amounts of music, and I've upgraded almost every piece of software I own (as well as the computer), so I can't rely on routine or experience. I'm trying though. If you're interested in my other musical creations, I've made a brand new site (http://tilt.medievalfuture.com) to promote myself with.

PS: Don't listen to the stuff said above about the Arilou remix. The one we released is final and we have no intention of releasing a different take on it.

I wasn't criticising the piece you have :-*, I thought the title ``Welcome to Falayalaralfali" implied it was for Falayalaralfali and excitedly surmised there would be another one for encounters in space.

@ TiLT: Thanks for the link to the new web page! As you may remember, I'm really a fan of your music  ;D.
There's a lot of good music there, good luck with making your music more public.

Anyway, the initial purpose of this thread was to hear from The Precursors about the status / plans for the last remix pack, so I'm glad with the answer.
I just hope for a decent closure of this monstrous undertaking cut short only yards before the finish line.

Sorry for dragging this old thread back out of the mud, but I feel some explanation is required. :P

Like TiLT said, the Precursors team hasn't really kept in touch for a long while. I guess real life took precedence and some team members lost interest/patience, and before you know the months and years fly by.

Personally I haven't really thought a lot about the Precursors project for ages, and except for the occasional pang of annoyance at leaving a job unfinished I've mostly devoted my creative time and energies to real life band activity. Lately I've returned to the solitary composing routine again though, releasing some stuff on my Trax in Space (http://www.traxinspace.com/profile/void) page (though the site itself is in rigor mortis) every once in a while. No new remixes have been attempted for quite some time, though, so completing the final remix pack is a long way away in any scenario. I guess leaving some of the most difficult and anticipated tracks for last wasn't the best of ideas.  :-\

Argh!
So close to the end, yet so far.
Thanks for taking the time to reply and telling where things are. I hope you both (TiLT & Void) find the time, energy and skill needed to finally finish this awesome musical project.
Also, since I am (and always were) a fan :) I'm happy to hear any new music you make (even non-UQM related).

Hmmm.
Several remixes released by The Precursors were actually submitted by other people - on invitation by The Precursors team.  Chmmr (by yours truly),  Shofixti and Utwig at least, though I could be wrong.

If the team members have lost interest in the project (which I understand and can empathise with... I know all about losing steam when something is 95% complete ;D) - why not open the Syreen remix for outside submission as well, perhaps a contest?  Just for the sake of having a complete package.

I think this is an excellent idea. After all, this approach worked nicely when creating SC2 in the first place. Besides, in this case, a little advice from the veterans should help bridge the gap from good to awesome.