Ys IV MD?

[Black_Tiger]

I've been meaning to post this for like a year or two now. I was hoping to finish the feature I've been working on for it, but I was reminded once again about this today, so here it is.

I bought this CD expecting it to be the soundtrack to Dawn of Ys PCE, without any voice/sound effects overlapping cinema bgms. When I played it for the first time, I was disappointed at first to hear something that sounded like it came from a console/computer from the time. But as I continued to listen, I noticed that it sounded like Genesis sound to me. The more I've played it, the more it sounds like Genesis sound and nothing else. I've found tracks posted acroos the internet with random labels such as X68000 and PC-98, but everything I've heard from those consoles sound noticeably different than this. Plus I've never heard/seen anything reliable that Ys IV had been announced or planned for anything else other than the canceled Mega Drive version. But I also realize that I've listened to this soundtrack so many times that I may have lost perspective. The PSG parts and several FM instruments sound like signature Genesis sound to me.

My sound editing program won't open the ripped tracks for some reason, so I had to use a video editor to put together a rough mix of clips.

http://superpcenginegrafx.net/misc/ysivmd.mp3



So what do you guys think? Does this sound like the long lost soundtrack to the MD version of Ys IV, or something else?

[QuickSciFi]

Couldn't you just have put it on Youtube? There's a new feature now that lets you do so privately. Anyways, all I can say is, great music!

[Barone]

"So what do you guys think? Does this sound like the long lost soundtrack to the MD version of Ys IV, or something else?"
No, this reminds me the PC-8801 version of the Bare Knuckle/Bare Knuckle II soundtrack (from "Yuzo Koshiro Best Collection").

Those drums surely don't sound like Mega Drive. They are just too clear, too strong, too high quality... PC-8801 sounds closer to that.
IMO it's a YM2608 not a YM2612.

My 2 cents...

[Christuserloeser]

Sounds like Ys IV MD indeed. But yeah, it probably was recorded from a different setup, like PC-8801 with YM2608, like the Bare Knuckle OSTs.

[Kamahl]

Sounds like Ys IV MD indeed. But yeah, it probably was recorded from a different setup, like PC-8801 with YM2608, like the Bare Knuckle OSTs.

I'm gonna go with this too.

[Genesis Knight]

Those tracks are jamming. Nice upload!

[TmEE]

I'm not hearing anything MD couldn't do. Lots of FM drums and basic FM sounds. PCM drums used in some of the tracks don't seem to sound like YM2608 ROM samples. Still most probably not MD

[chinitosoccer]

It could be a port for FM-Towns, it has an YM2612 too.

[TmEE]

FM-Towns has 8ch PCM sampler in it, and these songs only play single PCM channel at the time. YM2608 allows 6 different fixed samples sound at the same time.

OPN and OPM which are most used FM families in arcades and japanese computers are 95% compatible. OPL saw a lot of use too but it is not compatible at all.

[Zebbe]

It sounds 90% Mega Drive with 10% something else to it. Can't put a finger to exactly what.



Could you, like, upload the whole album for free download? Pretty please? Or at least "Inside the Scorching Blaze", it's my fave track. Many thanks.

[Kamahl]

After listening to it again, it's a YM2151 rendition. This was probably for the Sharp X68000.
EDIT: Yup, seems like I was right

[Black_Tiger]

I think that if this soundtrack wasn't recorded straight from a Mega Drive, then it at least came from some sort of development gear and was work towards the MD version of Ys IV. Some tracks sound unfinished, like more channels would have been added, so the it might have been recorded from a Mega Drive in its most complete state and had the drums added to flesh it out. The other thing to keep in mind is that because this is a commercial release, it was likely massaged by studio magic and would sound cleaner than just hooking up a Genesis to your TV.

Couldn't you just have put it on Youtube? There's a new feature now that lets you do so privately. Anyways, all I can say is, great music!

I don't like using my youtube channel for storage. Like I said, I was working on a nice way to present this, with scans, downloadable full tracks, comparison clips, etc. But all that stuff is on an old computer somewhere. Someone else has uploaded much/all of the soundtrack to youtube as "Ys IV X68000" or something.

"So what do you guys think? Does this sound like the long lost soundtrack to the MD version of Ys IV, or something else?"
No, this reminds me the PC-8801 version of the Bare Knuckle/Bare Knuckle II soundtrack (from "Yuzo Koshiro Best Collection").

Those drums surely don't sound like Mega Drive. They are just too clear, too strong, too high quality... PC-8801 sounds closer to that.
IMO it's a YM2608 not a YM2612.

My 2 cents...

Yeah, I listened to those soundtracks again, but this still sounds pretty much like a Genesis while those soundtracks sound noticeably different. I listened to everything I could find for PC-88 and PC-98, but none of it sounds close to this or a Mega Drive. The drums aren't as much of a disqualifier for me as the PSG sounds are for all other possibilities. Also, the not-so-MD drums of this soundtrack often remind me of some of Tiido's Mega Drive tracks and they could simply be high quality samples. This would have been composed before the rest of the game was operational or as I just mentioned, they could be place holders.

After listening to it again, it's a YM2151 rendition. This was probably for the Sharp X68000.
EDIT: Yup, seems like I was right

As I said, people have been calling it all kinds of things online for years, usually X68000. Someone uploading it to youtube and labeling it X68000 without any info doesn't really provide anymore insight. It still doesn't sound like X68K FM and the X68K doesn't do PSG or anything similar.

[Barone]

Yeah, I listened to those soundtracks again, but this still sounds pretty much like a Genesis while those soundtracks sound noticeably different. I listened to everything I could find for PC-88 and PC-98, but none of it sounds close to this or a Mega Drive. The drums aren't as much of a disqualifier for me as the PSG sounds are for all other possibilities. Also, the not-so-MD drums of this soundtrack often remind me of some of Tiido's Mega Drive tracks and they could simply be high quality samples. This would have been composed before the rest of the game was operational or as I just mentioned, they could be place holders.

Yeah, this makes sense. My previous post was just a guess, I have no real idea about it but might be something around what you said...

Anyway, those parts of the soundtrack are very good.

[Kamahl]

As I said, people have been calling it all kinds of things online for years, usually X68000. Someone uploading it to youtube and labeling it X68000 without any info doesn't really provide anymore insight. It still doesn't sound like X68K FM and the X68K doesn't do PSG or anything similar.

The PSG sounding instruments are subtle enough that they could be FM (The YS soundtracks for the X68k have similar sounds). X68k FM sounds just like MD FM, the only difference is in the amount of channels.

Not wanting to use Wikipedia as a credible source... but it's here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ys_IV:_The_Dawn_of_Ys

I've seen other sites that claim it's PC-98 (well... 1 forum post). But no MD.

[youloute]

According to Mega Drive Fan, Beep! MD and Working Design plannings, the game was planned for Mega-CD, not Mega Drive. (Another clue)
By the way, the 3 versions of Y's IV share the same musics (most of the titles match), but the orchestration is different.