8-Bit Games - Audio - 1993-1997

Music Director - 1993-1997

Reverse Chronology ... 8 bit audio to MIDI
Autoplay tune:
"Return of the Robot" - GenMIDI SB 16 version
Click HERE to shut off Autoplay


Kumite

1996
Didn't bother with any MIDI on these.  I was lovin' my samplers at this point...
Kumite Theme
1996
First sketch for a Konami fighting prototype for the Saturn and PlayStation.  The game was never made as the startup went boom.
Kumite Teaser
1996
Track used for the Konami looping booth video at E3’95.  I used my own voice for the “ethnic” yelling, low chant pad and singing.

 

Team 47 GoMan
1995
Started all the songs in MIDI, then added other tracks as I got my "CD-ROM" streaming 'real estate'...

GoMan Theme
Game Theme – GenMIDI Version (Audio Version - Roland JV30 w/overdubbed guitars).  
I was brainwashed with Japanese cartoons as a kid - Speed Racer and Marine Boy.  The whistle melody (a la Buckaroo Banzai) did exactly what it was meant to do... heroic light-hearted theme, catchy, japanese-sounding, and it REEEEEALLY pierced the LA Convention Center at the Coconuts Japan booth that year (95).  I suspect there are some game industry folks who would come after me if they knew I wrote that tune!  If you're reading this, I hope you've cooled off over the last 7 years!
Return of the Robot

GenMIDI Version  (Audio Version - Roland JV30)
Win theme - Close thematic variation of the GoMan theme that I'm still fond of despite it being low-fi card music 
End Credits

GenMIDI  (Audio Version - Roland JV30 w/overdubbed guitars).  
This is my personal favorite; it really sums up what I think of as "video game music" in a pre-DVD kind of way: ridiculous inhuman computerized lines, impossible tempos and computer-layered to the robotic extreme.

Roggosh

Desert Monster - GenMIDI (Audio Version - Roland JV30 w/overdubbed guitars).  
"High Noon" type vibe that builds up to a faster harder tune.
 Masochists: see if you can find the Bach "Joy" quote in the MIDI version...
Kothos

Mountain Monster - GenMIDI (Audio Version - Roland JV30 w/overdubbed guitars).
Also* check out the alternate theme: first crack at a sampler (Unused - it does take a little practice to get the hang of what to sample and how to use it... as you can hear;)
Tolgo

Ocean Monster - GenMIDI (Audio Version - Roland JV30 w/overdubbed guitars).  
I was happy w/the "Fenderized" NRPN controller programming I did on the "clean guitar" strums in the SB AWE32  version (tremolo using amp modulation and pbenders)

Nealloth

New York Monster - GenMIDI (Audio Version - Guitar licks in ProTools - banked in SCII)
... Also* check out the alternate theme: first chance crack at a sampler (Unused)
Shagtoq

San Francisco Monster - GenMIDI (Roland JV30) with overdubbed voice...
SF being the center of our 1994 South of Market Microserf existence, this was supposed to be the clubby one.  (Didn't have any experience with 808s/909s, TB303s, etc, since it was all MIDI up to this point.  I think the style of this tune pretty fairly represents some "shot-in-the-dark" dance music I was listening to at the time (I think the CD I had was called the "Universe Compilation" - it was kind of cool, but very much NOT in the spectral "middle" of techno stylistically...  Anyway, once I got a sampler there was no turning back.

Gaingris

Tokyo Monster – Sampler (ScellII, ProTools): used low vocal chant loops, guitars and a bowed computer casing for the metal ambiences.  There was also a GenMIDI vesion
Play Again

GenMIDI  (Roland JV30)
Asteroid Nemesis

Intro Movie Theme - GenMIDI (Roland JV30) with overdubbed guitars and samplers
Training Robot
(MIDI)

Just GenMIDI for this one...This was about as close to NIN as you get with a SoundBlaster (no offense to Creative Labs)
You Lose
(MIDI)

Just GenMIDI for this one too.  Pulled out the stops and went for the sfx bank... dicey dicey.  This sounds fine on an AWE32, but it's pretty crazy on my Crystal WDM card...
Honorable Win
(MIDI)


That's if you get the monsters AND didn't destroy too many buildings kill too many civilians to do it.
Scorsby and Hootch (MIDI)

Joke name for an alternate honorable win tune.  GenMIDI - This turned out pretty well in terms of fidelity, though it's really 70s!



English '96 - Inventec, Tianjin
1995
(Inventec, Tianjin)
Somewhere in China there are a whole lotta thirty-somethings with my MIDI tunes stuck in their heads...
Didn't convert these to audio tracks until after late 1996, so the "audio" versions
 are just MIDI through my JV30, instead of the SB16 or AWE32 cards.

English ’96 Theme

GenMIDI (Audio Version - MIDI file through my Roland JV30)
Shows my
Sesame Street upbringing

Clown Aria

GenMIDI (Audio Version - MIDI file through my Roland JV30)
I’m still trying to play this melody on the piano for real... don't know if I should have shared that!

Reggae or Not

GenMIDI (Audio Version - MIDI file through my Roland JV30)
One of only two "reggae tunes" I've written.  I'm very happy with the bridge, but that may just be because I'm REEEEEALLY not well-absorbed in this style of composition... you be the judge.


Creep Clash - MGA PC Demo
1993
3D Fighting Game for PC (Renderware)
If my memory serves me we included 8-bit audio versions of these on the CD

Creep Theme
GenMIDI (Audio Version - MIDI file through my Roland JV30)
Fly-in Sequence
GenMIDI (Audio Version - MIDI file through my Roland JV30)

 

Sento
1993
3D Fighting Game for PC (Renderware)

Some 8-bit audio included with the Avis on the CD

Sento Theme
GenMIDI (Audio Version - MIDI file through my Roland JV30)
Aughx
4 track GenMIDI (Audio Version - MIDI file through my Roland JV30 w/overdubbed guitars)
Buzz
4 track GenMIDI (Audio Version - MIDI file through my Roland JV30 w/overdubbed guitars)
Hood
4 track GenMIDI (Audio Version - MIDI file through my Roland JV30 w/overdubbed guitars)
Spike
4 track GenMIDI (Audio Version - MIDI file through my Roland JV30 w/overdubbed guitars)


 

Hardjack - Gibson/Matrix Demo

1993
3D Fighting/RPG for the PC - Never made.  Guess we hit the "Matrix" idea a little too early...
(Renderware... I mean Rendermorphics...  I mean Microsoft... DOH!)

(The Lifespan of one small valiant company in a nutshell...)

HardJack Theme
4 track GenMIDI (Roland JV30) with overdubbed guitars
Flyin
4 track GenMIDI (Roland JV30) with overdubbed guitars
Map Theme
GenMIDI (Roland JV30)  This was written just after the Command/Alex room pieces.  As you can see, it sounds a lot more like video game music... I'm starting to get the hang of it.
Alex
GenMIDI (Roland JV30)  The companion (minor) piece to the "Command Center" Theme.. the troubled heroe's living quarters.
Command Center
GenMIDI (Roland JV30) - The first ("diminished") of two linked pieces.  In fact the very first video game tune I ever wrote!  This was for the environmental theme for a computer room.  The room was going to blow up at the end, but the timing of this was never determined or implemented.  That's why everything goes chaotic at the end. In retrospect, this is definitely NOT video game music.  For a first attempt I don't think it's bad SoundBlaster music.