ReMix:Tyrian "A Rare Find" 4:01

By Disturbed

Arranging the music of one song...

"Composition in Q"

Primary Game: Tyrian (Epic Games , 1995, DOS), music by Alexander Brandon, Andras Molnar

Posted 2003-04-19, evaluated by the judges panel


Our first ReMix from the 2D PC shooter Tyrian comes from newcomer Disturbed, and is a very classy acoustic piano arrangement to boot. I had initially attributed this game's soundtrack to Alexander Brandon alone, but the well-known composer of Unreal and Unreal Tournament himself informed us via the review thread for this mix that portions of the Tyrian score, this piece included, were actually composed by Andreas Molnar. So there's some background for ya :) Disturbed has taken the source material and created an emotive, flowing piano arrangement with very subtle string accompaniment. What I specifically enjoyed about this arrangement is that it gets progressively better, with some lovely trills towards the end. There are some peculiar intonations at times, but the whole thing was played live in one take, so intentional or not, the overall performance is impressive. Not your typical shmup music - very dramatic, melancholy, and nostalgic. Perfect for a rainy afternoon, this is highly cinematic and would fit seamlessly into the dramatic tragedy of your choice, during the denouement after we learn of a primary character's death or what not. Unusual source material and a unique, somber, enjoyable ReMix from Disturbed.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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OA
on 2009-12-10 15:13:25

Pretty melancholy track with a solo piano and some tasteful backing strings. The build throughout is gradual but well integrated, and there is plenty of drama to be had. DJP's description of the track is pretty much spot on.

If you are looking for a heart-wrenching piano track, look no further.

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Marmiduke
on 2009-04-09 04:36:01

Very cool piano work here. It definately exposes a bit more of the emotion that was retained in the original. Very accomplished expansion of the source melody, it's all pretty consistant arrangement wise.

One thing about the string element, it does its job well and I think the piece benefits from its inclusion, but at times I think it shadows the piano a little too closely. Very minor gripe, and one that I don't even notice during some listenings. Like I said, the benefits outweigh and detractions the strings have.

Another solid piano mix. And here I was thinking that the piano mix was a niche product for an already niche audience. There are a ton of really talented pianists with healthy videogame love. It's a real privelage to be able to share in that love. Keep them coming.

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Frictional Antidote
on 2006-09-12 01:10:48

I agree, the song does evoke emotion, however perhaps around the 2:00 mark of the song the dynamics could have been more. Other than that, very well arranged. Perhaps one day when I am bored I'll transcribe the whole thing so I can have the sheet music. Great mix. Thank you Disturbed for your work.

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damathacus
on 2005-06-02 12:05:20

Er, I stand corrected. I should have read more carefully.

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Borg Number One
on 2005-05-30 14:13:59

Hi.

This is definitely a cool remix. I had no idea Tyrian's music would be taken to this kind of level.

Having said that, Composition in Q was actually written by Andreas Molnar. Andreas deserves a lot of credit for a number of pieces in Tyrian. Granted, I didn't exactly hire him for them, but he programmed the "Loudness" sound system, which in its day was the best AdLib system ever created, turning standard AdLib instruments into full blow DX7 synth sounding ones. He even converted a MOD I made (for the return to Savara level) into that format, so the guy definitely pulled his weight and his tunes made for excellent contributions.

So thanks, Disturbed, for a job well done and keeping the Tyrian flame alive!

1.)

That is really true.

It seems to be a kind of a phenomenon:

All the current tunes which are in:

Loudness Sound System ( LDS ) format sound more than decent.

To get more LDS tunes, you can check melcom 's

chiptunes archive:

http://chiptunes.back2roots.org/

2.)

The file: " music.mus " inside the Tyrian directory contains all the Loudness tunes which are the game music.

If you do not have knowledges in " ripping " or in extracting data from " container files ",

then you can check the Game Extractor:

http://www.watto.org/extract

It is able to extract files from " music.mus "

and it is a more than decent JAVA application so that it runs on different operating systems which are able to run JAVA applications.

(e.g. Windows, Linux,...)

Here you can get more information about ripping pictures, sounds, music, etc.

http://www.extractor.ru/download_index.phtml

http://www.xentax.com/

http://wiki.xentax.com

http://www.elberethzone.net

( http://www.elberethzone.net/index.php?page=dup5language=en )

3.)

I made great efforts to:

figure out and find the creator/builder/author of the Loudness Sound System ( LDS ) format.

Finally, I found him. :D

Here is the whole story:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~vannevar/tyrian/music.html

You can also use the old RDosPlay program to listen to the LDS files. It was written by Roman Dolejsi who was located and contacted by Borg Number One. Roman had lost the sources to RDosPlay but he told Borg Number One that Andras Molnar (the original author of the Loudness Sound System) lived in Germany so Borg spent almost three years searching for him. Andras was able to supply his source code which Borg Number One passed on to Simon Peter who used them to add LDS support to AdPlug.

That effort is why we are now able to enjoy Tyrian's music in this format so thanks go to Borg Number One and Simon Peter for their hard work.

Because of "Melcom", Simon Peter (author of ADPlug) and me

know us each other very well,

I sent the LDS player sources* docs*

to Simon and he converted them to C/C++.

So it was possible to add LDS support to ADPlug in a really fast way.

*=Andras was surprised in a very positve way,

when I got in contact with him the first time and when we talked about his really greeeeaaaat format:

Loudness Sound System ( LDS ).

4.)

Andreas Molnar did not develop/introduce the LDS format.

His name is: Andras (without the e)

You can also take google and look for "Andrew Miller".

5.)

Short time ago,

I heard that the Loudness Sound System format ( LDS ) was also used in

(DOS) executables on different

PC magazines CDs

On these CDs, the executables start a menue that displays screenshots and descriptions of the CD content (in high resolution SVGA Vesa/VBE mode).

e.g. "PC Games" (in Germany)

Now, I am looking for persons who have got "PC Games" CDs

and I am looking for more (re)sources which use the Loudness Sound System.

6.)

If you have any question about:

+ Loudness (no requests about sources/documents), Andras, Chip tunes, Adlib, etc.

+ "How to record MIDI signals/data to a Midi file again?"

(e.g. ripping MIDI data from any certain game was not possible)

or, ...

then just ask the question here or get in contact with me (via eMail or private message or ICQ).

@Alex (Alexander Brandon)

Long time ago I prepared a

"Loudness Sound System misc files" -archive

which contains misc stuff about the Loudness Sound System format.

(e.g. unpublished Loudness tunes,

screenshots from games where you can see the Loudness string in the credits,

etc...).

Because of Andras lost some files (LDS project files, Loudness tunes, documents, etc...),

I would like to know if you still have Loudness related stuff?

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damathacus
on 2005-05-23 16:34:32

Um, the original composers of the piece aren't gonna be checking a review thread on a remix site. You might just as well go to a forum discussion thread about Mario and post open questions to Miyamoto.

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KirbySSB
on 2005-05-23 15:01:15

Alex Brandon -- Did you write "Rock Garden" and "Sarah's Song"?

Those two were some of the best pieces of music I've ever heard, and I actually have a plugin for my winamp to play the Loudness sound system (.lds) files in all their glory.

I also converted a few to .mp3 and have them on my mp3 player.

Thanks for the great music for one of my favorite games ever.

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djpretzel
on 2005-01-21 03:10:43

Great to see game composers themselves chiming in on ReMixes, especially when they're correcting inaccurate information - thanks for the update and for making some kickass music: I've played the Unreal and UT series extensively and loved everything I've heard, as have many I've spoken with. I've added Andreas' name to the credits list for the game and will fix the write-up as well.

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AlexBrandon
on 2005-01-15 17:16:42

This is definitely a cool remix. I had no idea Tyrian's music would be taken to this kind of level.

Having said that, Composition in Q was actually written by Andreas Molnar. Andreas deserves a lot of credit for a number of pieces in Tyrian. Granted, I didn't exactly hire him for them, but he programmed the "Loudness" sound system, which in its day was the best AdLib system ever created, turning standard AdLib instruments into full blow DX7 synth sounding ones. He even converted a MOD I made (for the return to Savara level) into that format, so the guy definitely pulled his weight and his tunes made for excellent contributions.

So thanks, Disturbed, for a job well done and keeping the Tyrian flame alive!

avatar
KirbySSB
on 2004-12-09 16:24:17

This was played after chapter 4 when Trent was talking about how all of Savara would worship him, and that he didn't want it.

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V. Celestine
on 2003-06-23 04:05:57

Once I get an award pic made I'm gonna give this work the honor of 'amongst the most listened-to of OC Remixes' (something like that).

This reminds me of when I used to bike to my old friend's place up the hill past the neighborhood and school. It was a time when P 133's were out, my friend had a Cyrix and AOL. He downloaded Tyrian off of the user files they had back then.

And Tyrian was discovered.

Though it was a demo, all the music was there, and I remember hearing this amongst the ST. It was the most played game the two of us had. Great shooter, good music.

Don't know how my friend is doing nowdays, hopefully he's found this site by now.

Good remix. Brings back memories.

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Night10194
on 2003-05-22 07:36:05

All I have to say is that this is a fantastic mood piece. Thank you for your excellent work.

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Ax
on 2003-05-21 15:50:01

Woohoo! First Review, but I've burnt four or five CD's off this site so far. I really have to say that this song is excellent. Personally, I listen to almost every kind of music, but I have a soft spot for classical. This song sounds like it's actually done on a piano, excellent. This mix is very emotional, it made me want to cry when I first heard it. The key trills were used in a perfect way. Not overused, but inserted at the perfect locations. A nice touch is the fact that it speeds up and slows down, it feels like it's constantly building. I highly recommend this mix.

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fisherman
on 2003-05-09 01:27:42

Thoroughly impressive. Mood and musicality are spot-on, and I didn't hear any major flaws with anything else. I noticed the spots djpretzel called "peculiar intonations." It only pops up two or three times though... not a big deal. It happens in this style of music just owing to the nature of things.

avatar
Akuen
on 2003-04-29 08:22:32

Haha! I've always loved this game, I remember the good old days when me and my big bro played games like this on our "computer" hehe, I love the game and it's so nostalgic for me, so is this remix. this remix is really awesome. though our first computer only had PC speaker and wern't able to play the music, I've played the game later and heard the music. the music from the game is great, I think, and this remix really is fantastic!

I can highly recommend this remix... AND this remixer. if you see any of Disturbeds other msuic coming up here, I recommend that you listen to it.

I've just checked his webpage, and heard some of his other music there,

it's awesome. I suggest that you check out his webpage. the link is a little above this post... oh well, I'll post it here again:

http://www.lysis.audio-stream.net/disturbed/

phew...

anyways, I'll give this remix :nicework::nicework::nicework::nicework::nicework: out of 5 nicework guys.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Tyrian (Epic Games , 1995, DOS)
Music by Alexander Brandon,Andras Molnar
Songs:
"Composition in Q"

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File Information


Name:
Tyrian_A_Rare_Find_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
3,940,609 bytes
MD5:
fa73e95ea7811fe4df4c1ec2d03fa450
Bitrate:
128Kbps
Duration:
4:01

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