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Archer6621 20 minutes ago [-]
Very sad news, RIP.
Particularly enjoyed his work for Duke Nukem 3D, you could easily tell the difference between the tracks made by Bobby and the ones made by Lee Jackson, Bobby's tracks were a bit darker and more gloomy, adding a lot of atmosphere.
Beautifully written article by the way, as the legend deserves.
The sound of Doom was a big part of why it was so immersive, and everyone focuses on the mobs and gunshots (there's some pretty cool positional audio for the time), but the music really played a big part of the whole atmosphere.
gnarbarian 9 hours ago [-]
he had great taste in metal. most of the tracks were adapted (now classic) speed/thrash metal.
nailer 9 hours ago [-]
Yep. The Doom 1 demo theme is Painkiller by Judas Priest
Ah man, hell no :( The music in DOOM was such a huge influence on me. I had the Macintosh version which IIRC had the .mid files alongside the game, so I hung onto those and listened to them outside of the game quite frequently. I was just a kid at the time, and later on when I discovered bands like Pantera, Slayer, Judas Priest etc. I suddenly "got" all the references (not previously having known they were references/iterations on those bands' songs)! Great memories. RIP \m/
It's amazing how much better all these sound to me in OPL2.
When CD-ROM soundtracks because the norm it really ruined a lot of game music for me, because all that chip music perhaps inspired by guitar and orchestral music just ended up being replaced with actual guitar and orchestral music, and then games just ended up sounding like movies and it's like what even is the point?
From my side I remember painstakingly transposing Led Zeppelin into an 8 bit tracker when I was a kid and being thrilled at how much more exciting the 3-channel square wave interpration sounded, and pretty much from that point on my guitar just became something to noodle out a riff prior to inputting to the computer.
vintermann 4 hours ago [-]
When it was actual guitar and orchestral music it was one thing, but when it was "much better but still not quite there" midi renderings of orchestras and guitars, that could be a bit uncanny valley. And even when it wasn't, stuff that was really written for a 2 op FM idea of an orchestra, often sounded a bit thin on a real orchestra.
gryson 4 hours ago [-]
Huh? Those are the original MIDI versions of the music, which is how Bobby Prince composed them on a Roland SC-55. There is no more authentic sound.
I doubt anyone in 1993 thought the OPL2 version of the music sounded better. General MIDI was mind-blowing in comparison.
vintermann 3 hours ago [-]
Presumably most midi game composers checked that their music didn't sound like trash on the AdLib sound card most users would actually have? Good music that's actually written for AdLib can be extremely good, check out Stephane Picq (who sadly also died recently).
conradfr 2 hours ago [-]
It sounded great on my Gravis Ultrasound with custom midi samples.
(it was also a pain when the Sound Blaster compatibility was needed, dma 1 irq 5).
otabdeveloper4 2 hours ago [-]
OP is right. A waveform generator chip is a much more "real" musical instrument than a glorified sampler.
recallingmemory 10 hours ago [-]
Wolfenstein 3D has such memorable tracks for me.. thanks for the music Bobby.
I knew I should’ve paid extra and gotten the Sound Blaster!
saturn8601 10 hours ago [-]
Thats Ad Lib type music no?
tadfisher 8 hours ago [-]
Sound Blaster is an Ad Lib (Yamaha OPL2) that mixes in a PCM stream
xnx 7 hours ago [-]
Today I learned that he also did (all of?) the sound effects for Doom.
RIP (and tear)
taffydavid 1 hours ago [-]
I can easily recall the Duke nukem music, even though I haven't played it in about two decades
MikeShah 7 hours ago [-]
I've been teaching my students for years about sound and music, and I always showcase Bobby Prince's work. Here's a fun clip of him playing in the early days: https://youtu.be/9w3yoIOK-9U?is=alZLs2OSL8pJ7JEQ
ChrisArchitect 13 hours ago [-]
RIP Legend.
Neat that just last month the Library of Congress added the Doom soundtrack to its registry too
Hell put in a special petition to heaven to at least borrow him for a bit—not to torture him, mind, but to retain him to score their official soundtrack.
Particularly enjoyed his work for Duke Nukem 3D, you could easily tell the difference between the tracks made by Bobby and the ones made by Lee Jackson, Bobby's tracks were a bit darker and more gloomy, adding a lot of atmosphere.
Beautifully written article by the way, as the legend deserves.
One of my favorite videos (and songs) sang by Bobby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w3yoIOK-9U (Eat Your Vegetables)
RIP. You will be missed Bobby.
The sound of Doom was a big part of why it was so immersive, and everyone focuses on the mobs and gunshots (there's some pretty cool positional audio for the time), but the music really played a big part of the whole atmosphere.
https://open.spotify.com/track/0L7zm6afBEtrNKo6C6Gj08
When CD-ROM soundtracks because the norm it really ruined a lot of game music for me, because all that chip music perhaps inspired by guitar and orchestral music just ended up being replaced with actual guitar and orchestral music, and then games just ended up sounding like movies and it's like what even is the point?
From my side I remember painstakingly transposing Led Zeppelin into an 8 bit tracker when I was a kid and being thrilled at how much more exciting the 3-channel square wave interpration sounded, and pretty much from that point on my guitar just became something to noodle out a riff prior to inputting to the computer.
I doubt anyone in 1993 thought the OPL2 version of the music sounded better. General MIDI was mind-blowing in comparison.
(it was also a pain when the Sound Blaster compatibility was needed, dma 1 irq 5).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgvFSV2xxI
RIP (and tear)
Neat that just last month the Library of Congress added the Doom soundtrack to its registry too
https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/national-recording-registry-in...
F.
Such a good composer for all of those games I can remember those songs still.
A Visit to id Software (November 1993)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpEBUV_g9vU
(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48600671)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=qVn6C6uiFo0