Remaking the Ultima 7 soundtrack

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:18 am

Hello all,

Newly registered user here, though I've been using Exult for many years now.

I'm thinking about remaking the entire Ultima 7 soundtrack using a combination of Reason and Kontakt libraries. This undertaking would probably take me a year to finish due to the long process of working on each individual song. I've never taken on any of the Ultima 7 music, but I have successfully remade a couple of the songs from Ultima Online. You can check them out at the links below.

Moonglow:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... glow-remix

Vesper:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... sper-remix

These are, of course, the original versions of these songs back when they were still using MIDI files.

Anyway, respond to this message with your yays or nays. The yays will help me decide.

Post by **Dominus** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:32 am

Go for it. With the digital audio pack being already in files it's easy to replace the songs.

Mimu · Post by **Mimu** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:44 am

Hey, sounds great. We could do with more HD music. (I'd probably even occasionally listen to the enhanced soundtrack on its own!)

Gunther2 · Post by **Gunther2** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:46 am

So, Moonglow and Vesper sounded kinda like this in UO? This reminds me alot of some of the tracks that were made by Team Lazarus & Team Archon for their remakes for U5 & U6.

Nice work, btw. Maybe you should do Skara Brae & Cove too.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 10:31 pm

Did this one quickly. Took only 2 hours. I did this one first because it's the most memorable in the Ultima series.

Used LASS, iStrum, Miroslav Woodwinds, and Bass Legends.

Stones:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... ones-remix

Post by **drcode** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:00 am

That 'Stones' version is nice!

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 1:08 am

Another quick one.

It's labelled "Passion Play" but I think it plays in other areas of the game. It's also the one theme that gets stuck in my head.

Passion Play:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... play-remix

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Tue Dec 17, 2013 10:49 pm

Remember this creepy tune?

This took a couple hours to remake.

Used a combination of Project SAM Orchestra Essentials & Concert Harp, Miroslav Woodwinds & Choirs, Piano in Blue, and Sonic Reality chimes and drum samples.

I used harps instead of guitars because harps sound creepier.

Dead Bodies:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... dies-remix

Grimlock Dragon · Post by **Grimlock Dragon** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 12:18 am

Nice work JD!

Gunther2 · Post by **Gunther2** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:08 am

That last one is sometimes being played in Moonshade.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:19 am

Yeah, it plays in various places.

Post by **Dominus** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 12:06 pm

Now we only need to line them up with the ogg numbers (and have them as oggs)

All sound nice so far.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 6:28 pm

Here's another one.

I combined the 7 virtue themes because each song sounds so identical, and I didn't want to make 7 of the same song, so I combined them into one.

Shrines of Virtue:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... -of-virtue

OGG Files and Exult:

To anyone wondering "How do I get OGGs of these songs?", if you visit my Bandcamp page (http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii) you can download any of the Ultima VII remakes (or the entire album at once) in OGG format. You don't have to pay anything, just put $0.00 as the price you want to pay. Exult's download page could probably just point there if the maker of Exult wishes to do so.

The only downside is you have to rename the files yourself to get them to work in Exult. I'll probably add info to those songs and album for what to rename them to and how to install them into Exult. I'm pretty sure those OGG files are compatible with Exult, unless Bandcamp encodes them weirdly.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 7:43 pm

Update:

I just tried this with my install of Exult and my GOG copy of Ultima 7 Complete and the OGG files downloaded off of Bandcamp work great.

I've added the file names to the song titles on Bandcamp to make naming a little easier.

I might go back and make all 7 of the virtue themes instead of one single file. I'm thinking about using a different woodwind instrument for each theme. Flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, english horn, bass clarinet, bass flute, etc. Maybe use trombones and french horns for a couple of them. I don't like the synth brass the originals use.

Post by **Dominus** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 7:55 pm

The idea to make the 7 songs slightly different is neat. Thanks for making the effort. I'll make the thread sticky later so it remains on top for now.

jaanascurse · Post by **jaanascurse** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 8:11 pm

Thats very cool. Thankyou. Are you going to do SI next?

Is it possible to add additional tracks while still keeping the old ones in exult?
Perhaps an ini file. Making new eggs probably would be when and where.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 9:52 pm

Alright, I made the 7 virtue themes and added them to the Bandcamp page. Each one is slightly different from the others just like the original songs. Each one also has a different lead instrument for it. The harp and strings are a little loud on some of them. I kept the combined file there for anyone that likes that one better. Also, you can mix and match the different virtue themes since they're all the same length.

Get them here:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

Note: You can use both the old OGG soundtrack and these new files together. Simply copy these new ones over the old ones, or save the old ones to a different folder and put these in their place.

And yes, I will be doing Serpent Isle next after I get the Black Gate ones finished.

I'm also not entirely sure what I plan to do for the ambient music files. I'm guessing find some ambient sounds from forests, swamps, and sea shores and use those. *shrug*

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:01 pm

Another song here to add to the collection.

This is the title theme. I wanted to keep it creepy to sort of set the mood.

Theme:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... heme-remix

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:52 am

Update:

Added the 5 instrument sounds to the collection (harp, lute, musicbox, xylophone, and harpsichord). These were pretty quickly done and easy. Oddly enough, some of them sound almost the same as the original instruments. I tried to keep the volumes low so they wouldn't blast your eardrums.

Get them here:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

Just replace the old ones with these, find an instrument, and go double-click crazy.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 11:23 pm

Market Place theme finished.

I shortened the ending and beginning so it'll loop correctly. Or I'm hoping it will. I haven't tested it in-game yet.

Listen to it here:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... lace-remix

Download it here:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 10:17 pm

"Sea Shanty" theme finished.

Listen to it here:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... anty-remix

Download in OGG format here:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/track/21bg-sea-shanty

Zacros · Post by **Zacros** » Mon Dec 23, 2013 9:32 pm

Very cool - thankyou for the effort you've put in, much appreciated!

Can't wait to hear more. I hope you do manage to remake all the tracks eventually, it would be awesome to replace the originals with your versions.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 1:00 am

By the way, when using these new music files in the game, you may want to turn off digital audio looping 'cause very often the game will not switch to other themes until you enter a place that has a specific theme. I went into the tavern in Trinsic and had to listen to that same song for like 30 minutes while collecting all the info to get the password to leave. Only after leaving the town and walking by the play stage did the music finally change.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 2:51 am

Seedy Bar's finished.

It plays in other parts of the game, but Seedy Bar is what the midi's called.

Listen to it here:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... -bar-remix

Download it here:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 10:36 pm

Finished several fanfare style songs.

I did them all together because they use pretty much the same exact instruments.

Fanfare of Courage
Fanfare of Lord British
Fanfare
Fight's End
Orchestral I
Orchestral II
Victory

Download them at:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 10:06 pm

Fellowship Theme's finished.

Listen here:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... ship-theme

Download here:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 11:12 pm

Bootup theme's finished.

Listen:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... otup-remix

Download:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

theshephard · Post by **theshephard** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 9:29 pm

Just awesome stuff, man! So cool!

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 11:18 pm

Been a few days since I've worked on any of these songs, so I made 4 at the same time for today.

Love Theme:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... heme-remix

Love, a Virtue:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... rtue-remix

The Beauty:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... auty-remix

The Wisps:
https://soundcloud.com/jdhardingmusic/u ... isps-remix

They can all be downloaded at:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

They're not exactly like they were in the game. I used different instruments than the originals.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 7:53 pm

I'm thinking about doing a second soundtrack for Ultima 7 using my Yamaha MU100R. It's an XG synthesizer, but it's a hardware synth (not a soundcard or software), so it's slightly better quality than running one of those Yamaha softsynths. I notice the music actually sounds pretty decent on this synth. It's not as good as what I've been doing, but it's another alternative someone can use instead of the MT-32 or MIDI soundtracks. These synths are kinda pricey, so not everyone has access to them.

I'll think about it some more before going ahead with it.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:52 pm

Updated all of the songs with new volume levels due to some songs being way louder than others. I'm hoping these volume levels work for everyone.

The "Love Theme", "The Beauty", "Love, a Virtue", "Musicbox", and "The Wisps" themes did not need to be updated, so don't download those if you don't want to.

Still all available for download at the same location.
(http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii)

Also, all of the Soundcloud links do not work anymore as I had to delete all of the songs due to limited space.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 11:36 pm

Alright, here's a couple more for you guys. Did these real quick.

53bg: "The Emps"
- http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/track/53bg-the-emps

54bg: "Beecave"
- http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/track/54bg-beecave

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:43 am

One more for today.

23bg: "Brittania Rule"
- http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/track/23bg-brittania-rule

Mimu · Post by **Mimu** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 9:38 pm

These are really, really impressive. And you're putting them out at an impressive rate.

I was just listening to that latest one, Rule Britannia #23. Some of the instruments sound as though they are cutting out inappropriately at points. Notes that I would expect to be a part of a counterpoint segment are dropped on maybe three or four occasions, leaving an unpleasant muted gap.

It turns out the original midi file has the same problem, it's just not as pronounced when using a lower-fidelity midi system (hardware FM, in my case ^_^). Any chance you could fix the arrangement? Or, perhaps I should just fix the midi file and share it, shouldn't take too long...

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:39 pm

I'll probably just fix the note durations myself.

The midi has a lot of note duration problems.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 2:24 am

Okay, I fixed it.

I did fix the note durations, but that wasn't the actual problem. The problem was some of the notes in the midi file are on top of each other. This causes note on/offs to be literally right next to each other, which causes problems in a lot of DAWs. When two note-ons or two note-offs of the same note are literally in the same position, the software will simply drop the note altogether.

Mimu · Post by **Mimu** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 1:31 pm

Brilliant. I thought it'd be something like that. Thanks!

alagner (not logged in) · Sat Jan 25, 2014 11:37 pm

Kind of thing Ted Reedy tried to do, but he never finished, unfortunately. Great job, really.
Can't wait to listen to Kilrathi and Wall of Lights themes

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 11:10 pm

I'm going back through the songs I've done thus far and tweaking them a bit because I'm not happy with how the reverb sounds. It's really drowning out the instruments and I piled it on pretty thickly.

I'll eventually do more of these, but currently I'm very busy with other music projects. I've got a Chrono Trigger remake project going alongside this one.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 7:16 pm

Here's a list of the songs that have so far been updated with reverb and EQ tweaks. They've all been normalized to be at the same volume level (-8db).

- Bootup
- Victory
- Orchestral I
- Orchestral II
- Fight's End
- Brittania Rule
- Fanfare of Lord British
- Dead Bodies
- Fanfare
- Fellowship Theme
- Fanfare of Courage
- Beecave

Available at http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

Download them again if you think they're an improvement, or just keep the originals.

Post by **Dominus** » Wed Jan 29, 2014 9:26 pm

odd, the album costs now a minimum of $1,-

I just made a sticky one-post-thread pointing at this remake http://exult.info/forum/viewtopic.php?p=653474#p653474
(since somehow the last time I made this thread sticky it wreaked havoc with the forum)

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:36 pm

Sorry. It costs nothing again. I was going through putting prices on stuff and messed up. Ultima 7 is a free album with free songs. Everything else costs a little $ now.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 12:29 am

Got the five instruments reverb and EQs tweaked and re-recorded.

Normalized most of them to -8db except for the Musicbox, which I dropped down to -14db. The musicbox's sound is ear-piercing at higher volumes.

Updated songs:
- Musicbox
- Xylophone
- Harpsichord
- Harp
- Lute

All still available at the link below:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 1:22 am

Some more fixed/tweaked songs.

- Market Place
- Seedy Bar
- Sea Shanty
- Shrine of Honesty
- Shrine of Compassion
- Shrine of Valor
- Shrine of Justice
- Shrine of Sacrifice
- Shrine of Honor
- Shrine of Spirituality

Changed the woodwinds in Sea Shanty to more appropriate instruments.

All still available at the link below:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 1:49 am

One more quick one.

Redid this one using my newest library; LA Scoring Strings 2.0.

- Stones

I think it sounds pretty great with the new strings.

Still available at:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 6:27 pm

Alright. The last of these songs have been tweaked and updated.

This update includes:
- Theme
- Love Theme
- Passion Play
- The Beauty
- Love, a Virtue
- The Emps
- The Wisps

All available at:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

I'll begin new work on the rest of the songs soon. There's 19 from The Black Gate remaining, and all of the game specific themes from Serpent Isle left. I think there's 20-30 of those. So around 50 songs left.

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:16 pm

Here's a new one.

- 29bg: "Chamber Music"

Get it at:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/track/29bg-chamber-music

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:21 pm

Got four combat related themes finished.

- 10bg: "Danger"
- 11bg: "Combat"
- 12bg: "Flight"
- 18bg: "Hidden Danger"

I tried to stay true to the original songs without too much improvising.

Get them at:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/album/ultima-vii

jdharding · Post by **jdharding** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 11:48 pm

Last one for today.

01bg: "Introduction"

I didn't stay very true to the original theme this time and changed some stuff.

Get it at:
http://jdharding.bandcamp.com/track/01bg-introduction

Mimu · Post by **Mimu** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:53 pm

They're sounding very polished now!