First of all thanks to all the users that will be reading this post either if they'll be interested in partecipating, just enjoying it or will have suggestions for it to improve. Presenting: Hrost Project http://www.hrost.net/ What does HROST stands for? Easily said; Hardware Recorded Ost. Yes exactly that. There's many games out there on miriads of old and new consoles and portables that had a great Soundtrack but never saw a CD release; or maybe they had a release with incorrect fade/loops (FFIV OST for example was butchered to fit on a single cd and was looped at 1,5 times instead of 2...). What is this all about? Easy said; giving games that had great soundtracks but never had an OST released their well deserved attention. But why doing this when you can already listen to emulated music for almost all consoles? It's simple; it's just because the emulated sound is in no way 100% faithful to what the snes, or any other console (beside those using Cd based hardware) outputted. This may be due to incorrect emulation, bad music rips, the sound not being processed through the obsolete console's DAC, etc etc. In any case if you want to have the good old feeling your had while listening your favorite OST long ago, HROST is the place to join This project seems interesting! Can i join, help, record or request a game to be recorded? All of this and more (like for example submitting OST reviews) can be done by joining our Forums! There you'll find sections regarding current rips, releases, requests, technical informations, how to, and more! Is this project free? Yup! all you'll see here will always be made for free and nothing will be in sale (unless maybe in the future some webpage merchandising if anyone will want it lol); if anyone will ever want to help out with hosting fees; well i won't stop him What consoles and machines do you plan to cover? Just about anyone I or YOU can get your hands on! From arcade machines, to NES, GB, PCengine.... In short anything that has an OST valuable enough to be saved, listened to and preserved! For those wondering what a HROST Album looks like, here is a picture of the first released albums; If instead you want to hear how they sound... Head to the site, register to forum and enjoy your stay! karsten PS I'll gladly answer any and all the questions regarding HROST here and on the project's forum.
I have a question about this--does that mean that you won't be doing any digital captures at all? I've done S/PDIF mods on all my consoles because it sounds better at higher volumes (and I crank the volume when I play games). I'd rather see a project like this capture the sound digitally.
It shouldn't sound better or worse at high volumes unless the amp you are using isn't very good. That's like saying records sound far worse than CDs at high volumes. Digital audio from say a Mega Drive doesn't have the warmth of the real analogue sound for example.
It's not that it has inherently better sound at lower volumes, its that the interference is too quiet to be noticeable at lower volumes, but it is still there if you listen very hard. This is the worst when using SCART cables, of course, but the digital audio is still better no matter what you use, even if just marginally better. Also: how do you get digital audio from a Mega Drive? And speaking of the Mega Drive, this also opens up another issue: for consoles with multiple revisions which have different audio hardware, how do you pick which revision is the "definitive" version?
I do not see how you can get Digital audio out of a megadrive considering the DAC is integrated in the YM2612/3438 sound chip.
I don't see why not, it has to be converted to digital anyways to be put on the pictured CD's. As long as the external digital conversion is done after the console outputs it's analog audio (not by intercepting the digital audio signal inside and keeping it digital).
Exactly. Unless there's a revision of the Mega Drive that I'm not aware of that has a separate DAC, I don't understand what Yakumo means when he says he's heard digital audio from a Mega Drive before... Well of course I am talking about intercepting the digital audio signal inside and keeping it digital. I didn't expect him to distribute these soundtracks on wax cylinders, vinyl records, or cassette tapes...
Ah, you are talking about noise interfearance. True, digital can remove this but again it comes down to the equipment being used. No idea but I guess it could be done with some special amp mod. I never said I've heard digital audio via Mega Drive hardware. I should have mentioned via audio emulation. The results are pretty much acurate these days. You can hear the clearness of the sound but it's not the same. It sounds better in ways but not in so many other ways.
The very basic rule is that is better having a recording that not having it. Concerning the console to record from, if the releases feature audio chips that sound substantially different the 1st model should be preferred. In regard of recording from spdif, consider the basic rule Any comment about the first 5 releases yet? Btw 2-3 more will join soon!
yeah I think this is a cool idea with this OST Forum. Just registered. Now I hope that someone will upload some good ol Shmup OST's
Well that would be pointless given that the Yamaha sound chip outputs analog audio, you'd be converting from analog to digital only to convert back to analog again. The whole point is to never have analog at any point in the chain except at the very end. What makes you feel that it's an accurate emulation then? Take the SNES for example, there are very accurate SNES emulators but their sound still is a little "off." But digital audio on the SNES sounds just like the analog audio except clearer, I wouldn't at all say it's "not the same" -- same thing for Saturn, PlayStation, Dreamcast and all the other consoles you can get digital audio from.
First update and 6th album rolling on! Another Shoot'em up soundtrack! This time we all have to thank our friend Yakumo for his priceless high quality recording of Aero Blasters! What to say of this soundtrack? I like it, it sounds "fresh" and quite cheerful for a shooter. Take a listen at the album i'm sure Out Of Gravity, Final Boss1 amongst the other you'll all certainly like. Again say a big thank to Yakumo!
I forgot pointing out that I find this is a great project idea. I just registered on the furum, and downloaded actraiser II. My only concern is that the volume seems a bit low.
Indeed interesting project I also joined and although I doubt I can help providing soundtracks, I hope it becomes successful,
Ah, this is probably due to the actual game audio being low in volume. There are ways to increase the sound but you have to be careful as not to distort or reveal any hidden back ground noise. Super Aleste also has quiet audio however the soundtrack rip to that one is perfect. Over the periods of August 2nd to 12th I hope to get another 3 albums ready.
