Maidens of the Kaleidoscope

~Hakurei Shrine~ => Touhou Addict Recovery Center => Topic started by: Romantique Tp on October 26, 2015, 10:30:31 AM

Title: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 26, 2015, 10:30:31 AM
(http://i.imgur.com/tEiqdUT.jpg) (http://i.imgur.com/qtVtJ5i.png)
1: Introduction
Here's an era of Touhou history that doesn't get talked about much. In the years between the release of Mystic Square and Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, ZUN graduated from university and got hired by Taito. It's normal for young japanese programmers to completely cease their doujin activities once they get hired, but ZUN continued to contribute to the Seihou Project (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Seihou_Project) as a music composer. He also made some arranged versions of his old compositions which were posted at his site, on a (now hidden) page called "東方幻想的音楽". At the time, most simple doujin games were distributed in low capacity floppy disks and download speeds were very slow, so his music had to be distributed as MIDI files, which are much smaller than recorded audio files such as WAV, AAC and MP3.

MIDI files contain no audio information. Instead, they function like a script for a synthesizer, containing not just the notes to be played but also control messages, allowing composers to use model-specific features such as the ability to heavily edit how an instrument is played and activating effects such as reverb or guitar distortion. Almost every model of synthesizer responds differently to these messages (if they respond at all) on top of having different sounds, so playing a MIDI file on a synthesizer other than the one specified by the composer will often result in the music sounding completely different from intended. Like most japanese MIDIs you'll find on the internet, the MIDIs made by ZUN were meant to be played on a Roland Sound Canvas, more specifically the SC-88Pro.

Released in the second half of 1996, the SC-88Pro is the successor to the SC-88 (1994) and the SC-55 (1991). The 88Pro became extremely popular among japanese desktop musicians for including many instrument samples from expansion boards for the JV-1080, a highly regarded synthesizer used by almost every professional composer that worked with MIDI in the 90's. While the sounds in the 88Pro lack the depth and expression that they have in the JV-1080 due to simplified instrument programming  and some samples being cut down, they still sound familiar enough to fool people into thinking that many game soundtracks made with a JV were actually made with a 88Pro. Some commercial game soundtracks were indeed made with a SC-88Pro though: a few well known examples are Thunder Force V, Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, Ys Complete (also in Ys Chronicles as an alternate soundtrack), Kanon, Mother 3 and the Pokemon games for the GBA (RSE and FireRed/LeafGreen).

ZUN used the SC-88Pro from 1999 to 2001. In mid-2001 he got the newer SC-8850, which he quickly got rid of (compared to the 88Pro it's just more of the same... but with compatibility issues). In late 2001 he got another new hardware synthesizer, the same one he uses to this day. However, before he got this new synth he had already finished pretty much all of the tracks for Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, Kioh Gyoku and Dolls in Pseudo Paradise using the 88Pro. Since this new synth sounds very different from the 88Pro, he decided to arrange what he had done so far, which became the WAV versions of the music. In other words, the MIDI versions of the EoSD and Kioh Gyoku soundtracks are ZUN's original compositions, while the WAV versions are arranged and sound pretty different.

2: Recording & technical details
The following was used for recording:

Synthesizer: Japanese Roland SC-88Pro, firmware Ver 1.02 (the most common)
Software: Steinberg Cubase Pro 8.0.30/8.5 and Wavelab Pro 9
Audio and MIDI interface: Edirol SD-90
Cable: KnuKonceptz Krystal Kable 2 Channel 1M Twisted Pair RCA Cable
Original file format: FLAC, 44100 Hz, 24 bit

I took special care to ensure that these recordings sound as close as possible to actually listening to the 88Pro in person: All of the annoying loud hiss and distortion you may have heard in other recordings of this synth aren't present in mine. The file names are the same name as the original MIDI files, but they're tagged with the japanese names of the tracks.

There are about 150 tracks in total, about 10 hours of music.

----------------
Important: These files are big. If you have download speed or stability issues, try using a download manager such as Free Download Manager (http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/). Also note that these have none of the processing that ZUN does to his current music, so this will sound way quieter than usual. Increase the volume on your headphones or speakers. BTW you should totally get foobar2000 to listen to these.
----------------

3: The Music

YouTube
Do you appreciate the time spent on this and want to help these recordings show up higher in YouTube search than the stock Windows MIDI synth stuff? Read this post. (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,18989.msg1286680.html#msg1286680)
^^^^

Games where the SC-88Pro MIDIs are the original soundtrack:

-秋霜玉 (Seihou Project 1: Shuusou Gyoku) (OST/original) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coZsnhQyozM&list=PLzdQcm51guT8_7wBWFgEZia3FcGqeEqbx)
-稀翁玉 (Seihou Project 2: Kioh Gyoku) (MIDI original) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTFcWbnns7U&list=PLzdQcm51guT--RXwVI9hv9wmRz8Ws5Zg_)
-トルテ ル マジック (Torte Le Magic) OST (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhQYf2knIxQ&list=PLzdQcm51guT9gl_Ziz1wZeA5ltknfbw61)
-東方紅魔郷 ~ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (MIDI original) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gptQndKxYBI&list=PLzdQcm51guT_Du9fuiiHpGENQWyLPtFoE)
-秋霜玉 (Seihou Project 1: Shuusou Gyoku) (C58 Trial) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFlfYEnrGrI&list=PLzdQcm51guT95WusE_GkZdANVsVcqjxo9)

SC-88Pro arrangements and miscellaneous compositions from ZUN's site:

-その他の作品 ~ ZUN's Strange Works (original music) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijniBZWR5D0&list=PLzdQcm51guT8Wljks6-D00J8qEEIs3ZEy)
-ZUN's PC-98 Touhou MIDI arrangements (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ThIAMywETg&list=PLzdQcm51guT8dJ8tcWs9P02O049OLKzwp)
-秋霜玉 (Seihou 1: Shuusou Gyoku) (arranged OST) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPTT3-cLZ-8&list=PLzdQcm51guT9sNJnRGMMqsCGW6Tb4lnt-)

Games where SC-88/SC-88Pro MIDIs are included as a bonus:

-東方封魔録 ~ the Story of Eastern Wonderland (MIDI version) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enDte5gY5b4&list=PLzdQcm51guT9FmSbAS6N5-PVPgO1Pwadc)
-東方妖々夢 ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom (MIDI version) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrdOCl199jI&list=PLzdQcm51guT_bborSjkaQ1NFeEZ_z5t-s)
-東方永夜抄 ~ Imperishable Night (MIDI version) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rub-X0a5lc&list=PLzdQcm51guT8MxYK7JCLpoPEC_tfOaNhr)
-東方花映塚 ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View (MIDI, trial tracks only) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=modec7cWHso&list=PLzdQcm51guT8YmEU6pdpaQfREmfRQ3zFG)

Bonus:
-Official SC-55, SC-88, SC-88Pro, SC-8850, SD-90, Super Quartet, SD-20 MIDI demos and information (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,18989.msg1284909.html#msg1284909)
-Kioh Gyoku original SC-88Pro MIDI soundtrack vs WAV arrange (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,18989.msg1284493.html#msg1284493)


If possible, please use the playlists when sharing these videos with others.
This makes it easier for people to listen to other tracks from the same game if they want to. YouTube's recommended videos feature has unfortunately become useless for this.

Tip: Looking for a recording of a specific file but don't know the track's name? Just search for the filename between "quotes", like this: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22th5_06.mid%22

Full Download

-FLAC (16-bit):
Dither: MBIT+, Noise Shaping: Medium
4.56 GB: Google Drive (https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0Bz7SbTnE6dVUTFpzUEQ1Xy1OT0U&export=download) | Mega (https://mega.nz/#!Vg0y1JoJ!LKZrpxy8NP6YZOM_5XYz9-lsr3DZSF1L3S9dyxBWJbE)

-AAC (VBR, Highest Bitrate):
MP4 lossy audio. Official closed source Fraunhofer IIS encoder.
1.37 GB: Google Drive (https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0Bz7SbTnE6dVUUTQ5VHdtb0ZZdHc&export=download) | Mega (https://mega.nz/#!U4sHXYpD!ru-rSqrEe4IwRfVpm3JjBJCnSYuP3iNcikIWXmZlvBg)

The 16-bit FLACs should sound the same as the original 24-bit recordings for as long as no further audio processing is applied.
This includes dynamic range processing, equalizing and encoding to a lossy format such as AAC/OGG/MP3. If you downloaded the 24-bit versions previously and you don't plan to do any of that, feel free to delete them and download the zip file above.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 26, 2015, 10:30:52 AM
Original 24-bit recordings

The colored dates mean the following:

Black: These are average SC-88Pro MIDIs. The instruments aren't very heavily edited and the use of 88Pro-exclusive stuff is kept to a minimum.
Brown: These are MIDIs for the older "vanilla" SC-88. The 88Pro is able to reproduce these perfectly, as it comes with all of the old instrument samples and the same synth engine as the SC-88.
Red: Also for the SC-88Pro, but the instruments are edited and there's heavy use of 88Pro-exclusive features. These sound off on any other synthesizer. The closest to PCB-era music.
Purple: These tracks were originally composed for another synthesizer, but ZUN also made a quick SC-88Pro version. Quality may vary.

☆秋霜玉 (Seihou Project 1: Shuusou Gyoku) (arranged) (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku)
Polished and arranged versions of the first Seihou's soundtrack. Posted on ZUN's site.

2001/05/02  Shuusou Gyoku ~ Clockworks (http://www.mediafire.com/download/c4endbmeyix3261/ssg_01.flac)      Title screen Theme      ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Title_screen_Theme)
2001/03/05False Strawberry (http://www.mediafire.com/download/xqxnhc7b2jpow6d/ssg_02.flac)Stage 1 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_1_Theme)
2001/03/08Primrose Shiver (http://www.mediafire.com/download/8ayd31t57n8ex7p/ssg_03.flac)Stage 1 Boss - Milia's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_1_Boss_-_Milia.27s_Theme)
2001/03/11Illusory Imperial Capital (http://www.mediafire.com/download/pd2hck84cqrj470/ssg_04.flac)Stage 2 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_2_Theme)
2001/03/13Disastrous Gemini (http://www.mediafire.com/download/7n278n90dmosa2g/ssg_05.flac)Stage 2 Boss - Mei and Mai's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_2_Boss_-_Mei_and_Mai.27s_Theme)
2001/03/23Illusion of Flowers, Air of Scarlet Dream (http://www.mediafire.com/download/zmx4mes3e9cdfbb/ssg_06.flac)Stage 3 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_3_Theme)
2001/03/07Firmament Army (http://www.mediafire.com/download/r990xzlkk3al4gh/ssg_07.flac)Stage 3 Boss - Gates' ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_3_Boss_-_Gates.27_Theme)
2001/03/06Illusionary Sputnik Night (http://www.mediafire.com/download/h36wwmjq92gu5ek/ssg_08.flac)Stage 4 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_4_Theme)
2001/03/17Mechanical Circus ~ Reverie (http://www.mediafire.com/download/ajmxvlynj64ls90/ssg_09.flac)Stage 4 Boss - Marie's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_4_Boss_-_Marie.27s_Theme)
2001/03/14Illusionary Girl from Canaveral (http://www.mediafire.com/download/odwssn1ezt8n2ly/ssg_10.flac)Stage 5 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_5_Theme)
2001/03/27Magical Girl's Crusade (http://www.mediafire.com/download/mdfkci2mkp0qj8z/ssg_11.flac)Stage 5 Boss - Erich's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_5_Boss_-_Erich.27s_Theme)
2001/03/30Antique Terror (http://www.mediafire.com/download/01i719ik98yvdek/ssg_12.flac)Stage 6 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_6_Theme)
2001/04/10Dream Machine ~ Innocent Power (http://www.mediafire.com/download/t1ogf76l7o08yfc/ssg_13.flac)Stage 6 Boss - Vivit's First ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_6_Boss_-_Vivit.27s_First_Theme)
2001/04/16Illusory Science ~ Doll's Phantom (http://www.mediafire.com/download/6o28ghaz42ya7gk/ssg_14.flac)Stage 6 Boss - Vivit's Second ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_6_Boss_-_Vivit.27s_Second_Theme)
2001/04/29Girl's Divinity ~ Pandora's Box (http://www.mediafire.com/download/o83ldkujyop9h0c/ssg_15.flac)Stage 6 Boss - Vivit's Third ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_6_Boss_-_Vivit.27s_Third_Theme)
2001/05/13Silk Road Alice (http://www.mediafire.com/download/i9i337kto0ixt97/ssg_16.flac)Extra Stage ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Extra_Stage_Theme)
2001/05/23The Witches' Ball ~ Magus (http://www.mediafire.com/download/si7v7mjsmhaih3s/ssg_17.flac)Extra Stage Boss #1 - Marisa Kirisame's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Extra_Stage_Boss_.231_-_Marisa_Kirisame.27s_Theme)
2001/05/31Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Ancients (http://www.mediafire.com/download/uxmbj69h7jdljce/ssg_18.flac)Extra Stage Boss #2 - Reimu Hakurei's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Extra_Stage_Boss_.232_-_Reimu_Hakurei.27s_Theme)
2001/05/02Herselves (http://www.mediafire.com/download/mc30cn2cbm6hekc/ssg_19.flac)Ending ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Ending_Theme)


☆秋霜玉 (Seihou Project 1: Shuusou Gyoku) (original) (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku)
The music as heard in-game. These have a heavier feel than the arranged versions.

2000  Shuusou Gyoku ~ Clockworks (http://www.mediafire.com/download/wbj99pyu2wsijry/DATA0000.flac)      Title screen Theme      ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Title_screen_Theme)
2000False Strawberry (http://www.mediafire.com/download/3bgcjiibx12uhb8/DATA0001.flac)Stage 1 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_1_Theme)
2000Primrose Shiver (http://www.mediafire.com/download/4cvxv7db85hppqm/DATA0002.flac)Stage 1 Boss - Milia's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_1_Boss_-_Milia.27s_Theme)
2000Illusory Imperial Capital (http://www.mediafire.com/download/qskgfh8n8ug5fyt/DATA0003.flac)Stage 2 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_2_Theme)
2000Disastrous Gemini (http://www.mediafire.com/download/u32ei0qhrnbd57j/DATA0004.flac)Stage 2 Boss - Mei and Mai's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_2_Boss_-_Mei_and_Mai.27s_Theme)
2000Illusion of Flowers, Air of Scarlet Dream (http://www.mediafire.com/download/7dbo56lq1qj3vp3/DATA0005.flac)Stage 3 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_3_Theme)
2000Firmament Army (http://www.mediafire.com/download/u8flq19s0r1u7m6/DATA0006.flac)Stage 3 Boss - Gates' ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_3_Boss_-_Gates.27_Theme)
2000Illusionary Sputnik Night (http://www.mediafire.com/download/nkuvf3e3bh45hby/DATA0007.flac)Stage 4 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_4_Theme)
2000Mechanical Circus ~ Reverie (http://www.mediafire.com/download/w7xkn3x0qp87ljb/DATA0008.flac)Stage 4 Boss - Marie's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_4_Boss_-_Marie.27s_Theme)
2000Illusionary Girl from Canaveral (http://www.mediafire.com/download/589jbbw9pojxw19/DATA0009.flac)Stage 5 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_5_Theme)
2000Magical Girl's Crusade (http://www.mediafire.com/download/j7z9hehmo527jmg/DATA0010.flac)Stage 5 Boss - Erich's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_5_Boss_-_Erich.27s_Theme)
2000Antique Terror (http://www.mediafire.com/download/7qtmduiyrbz7qi2/DATA0011.flac)Stage 6 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_6_Theme)
2000Dream Machine ~ Innocent Power (http://www.mediafire.com/download/680203tfyb3tgb3/DATA0012.flac)Stage 6 Boss - Vivit's First ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_6_Boss_-_Vivit.27s_First_Theme)
2000Illusory Science ~ Doll's Phantom (http://www.mediafire.com/download/bnidg2r421qgjf2/DATA0013.flac)Stage 6 Boss - Vivit's Second ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_6_Boss_-_Vivit.27s_Second_Theme)
2000Girl's Divinity ~ Pandora's Box (http://www.mediafire.com/download/drp4dukt3djk60n/DATA0014.flac)Stage 6 Boss - Vivit's Third ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_6_Boss_-_Vivit.27s_Third_Theme)
2000Silk Road Alice (http://www.mediafire.com/download/c69va4gbw3mmndm/DATA0015.flac)Extra Stage ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Extra_Stage_Theme)
2000The Witches' Ball ~ Magus (http://www.mediafire.com/download/98uqmt2af9df5u7/DATA0016.flac)Extra Stage Boss #1 - Marisa Kirisame's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Extra_Stage_Boss_.231_-_Marisa_Kirisame.27s_Theme)
2000Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Ancients (http://www.mediafire.com/download/zdzm0gwhybj5bfr/DATA0017.flac)Extra Stage Boss #2 - Reimu Hakurei's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Extra_Stage_Boss_.232_-_Reimu_Hakurei.27s_Theme)
2000Herselves (http://www.mediafire.com/download/mcvq9f1bo9l5bk6/DATA0018.flac)Ending ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Ending_Theme)
2000Titled Maid (http://www.mediafire.com/download/50fozq0jqp0y5vy/DATA0019.flac)Name Register ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Name_Register_Theme)


☆秋霜玉 (Seihou Project 1: Shuusou Gyoku) (C58 Trial) (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku)
The music for the trial is slightly different from the final version. The boss themes have the most noticeable differences.

2000  False Strawberry (http://www.mediafire.com/download/br9a2yu9dqkn0ma/DATA0000_trial.flac)      Stage 1 Theme      ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_1_Theme)
2000Primrose Shiver (http://www.mediafire.com/download/2s4iy2yci81t16i/DATA0001_trial.flac)Stage 1 Boss - Milia's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_1_Boss_-_Milia.27s_Theme)
2000Illusory Imperial Capital (http://www.mediafire.com/download/2v8ek0rrb85a0ss/DATA0002_trial.flac)Stage 2 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_2_Theme)
2000Disastrous Gemini (http://www.mediafire.com/download/zdvzx8mbafecadt/DATA0003_trial.flac)Stage 2 Boss - Mei and Mai's ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_2_Boss_-_Mei_and_Mai.27s_Theme)
2000Illusion of Flowers, Air of Scarlet Dream (http://www.mediafire.com/download/eqd3fj1z730k5v1/DATA0004_trial.flac)Stage 3 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_3_Theme)
2000Firmament Army (http://www.mediafire.com/download/gc3xxtu9yn1qjh3/DATA0005_trial.flac)Stage 3 Boss - Gates' ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music#Stage_3_Boss_-_Gates.27_Theme)


☆東方靈異伝 ~ Highly Resposive to Prayers (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Highly_Responsive_to_Prayers)

2000/03/05  Eternal Shrine Maiden (http://www.mediafire.com/download/kq7zj4byj89y1gg/th1_01.flac)      Theme of Levels 1-4, Hell Levels 16-19       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Highly_Responsive_to_Prayers/Music#Theme_of_Levels_1-4.2C_Hell_Levels_16-19)
2001/09/27Eastern Strange Discourse (http://www.mediafire.com/download/9pf49dc7ttrfk5y/th1_04_8p.flac) Theme of Hell Levels 6-9 ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Highly_Responsive_to_Prayers/Music#Theme_of_Hell_Levels_6-9)
2001/01/07The Legend of KAGE (http://www.mediafire.com/download/sw7l96hj4d7ivb2/th1_10.flac) Theme of Makai Levels 16-19 ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Highly_Responsive_to_Prayers/Music#Theme_of_Makai_Levels_16-19)
2000/10/29Iris (http://www.mediafire.com/download/9aauij6z3qaik9c/th1_14.flac) Ending theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Highly_Responsive_to_Prayers/Music#Ending_theme)

☆東方封魔録 ~ the Story of Eastern Wonderland (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland)

1999/10/15   Hakurei ~ Eastern Wind (http://www.mediafire.com/download/x4qmpi4ypd0suc9/th2_02.flac)      Stage 1 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Stage_1_theme)
1999/12/12 Love-Colored Magic (http://www.mediafire.com/download/q85x339nm6nzsj9/th2_09.flac) Stage 4 Boss - Marisa Kirisame's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Stage_4_Boss_-_Marisa_Kirisame.27s_theme)
2001/07/21Complete Darkness (http://www.mediafire.com/download/66iiyiezr20fe5a/th2_11.flac) Final Boss - Mima's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Final_Boss_-_Mima.27s_theme)

☆東方夢時空 ~ Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Dim.Dream)
Reincarnation makes the 88Pro run out of polyphony...

2001/10/30  Reincarnation (http://www.mediafire.com/download/qubawk1qnfubxca/th3_05_8p.flac)      Mima's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Dim.Dream/Music#Mima.27s_theme)
2000/01/16 Tabula rasa ~ The Empty Girl (http://www.mediafire.com/download/qnq83ej2rekiu4p/th3_06.flac) Ellen's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Dim.Dream/Music#Ellen.27s_theme)
2000/07/23 Vanishing Dream ~ Lost Dream (http://www.mediafire.com/download/21q63a2rowvwwk7/th3_08.flac) Kana Anaberal's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Dim.Dream/Music#Kana_Anaberal.27s_theme)
2001/04/23 Eternal Full Moon (http://www.mediafire.com/download/lvbdmappx1754ld/th3_17.flac) Nighttime Ending theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Dim.Dream/Music#Nighttime_Ending_theme)

☆東方幻想郷 ~ Lotus Land Story (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lotus_Land_Story)


2000/01/16   Witching Dream (http://www.mediafire.com/download/bhncjd7un0x53bi/th4_02.flac)      Reimu's Stage 1 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lotus_Land_Story/Music#Reimu.27s_Stage_1_theme)
1999/12/19 Spirit Battle ~ Perdition crisis ver 1.01 (http://www.mediafire.com/download/vvmy5ifb5qysu5r/th4_08.flac) Stage 3 Boss - Elly's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lotus_Land_Story/Music#Stage_3_Boss_-_Elly.27s_theme)
2000/01/16 Alice Maestra (http://www.mediafire.com/download/yvomakgsdzjawlo/th4_10.flac) Stage 4 theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lotus_Land_Story/Music#Stage_4_theme)
1999/10/13 Maiden's Capriccio (http://www.mediafire.com/download/p00g0yb3ryv2457/th4_09.flac) Stage 4 Boss A - Reimu's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lotus_Land_Story/Music#Stage_4_Boss_A_-_Reimu.27s_theme)
2000/10/13 Vessel of Stars ~ Casket of Star (http://www.mediafire.com/download/h2l6gwmfnszeevc/th4_11.flac) Stage 4 Boss B - Marisa's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lotus_Land_Story/Music#Stage_4_Boss_B_-_Marisa.27s_theme)
2000/06/04 Sleeping Terror (http://www.mediafire.com/download/ch663x4ao4dadvo/th4_12.flac) Stage 5 Boss - Yuuka's theme 1 ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lotus_Land_Story/Music#Stage_5_Boss_-_Yuuka.27s_theme_1)
2001/04/04 Faint Dream ~ Inanimate Dream (http://www.mediafire.com/download/654c9caexc7p7ng/th4_15.flac) Final Boss - Yuuka's theme 2 ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lotus_Land_Story/Music#Final_Boss_-_Yuuka.27s_theme_2)
2000/02/28 The Inevitably Forbidden Game (http://www.mediafire.com/download/ov2uudfcr6d9o6t/th4_16.flac) Extra Stage theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lotus_Land_Story/Music#Extra_Stage_theme)

☆東方怪綺談 ~ Mystic Square (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square)
The TXT file for Dream Express says it was arranged for the SC-88, but the MIDI doesn't switch the synthesizer to SC-88 mode. I've recorded both 88 and 88Pro versions.

2001/05/10  Dream Express (http://www.mediafire.com/download/ezf7hhmbqohisbx/th5_02.flac)      Stage 1 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Stage_1_theme)
2001/05/10Dream Express (SC-88) (http://www.mediafire.com/download/i4gsnsdx1irap3g/th5_02_88.flac) Stage 1 theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Stage_1_theme)
2000/01/10Dimension of Reverie (http://www.mediafire.com/download/5c3wyd03tsr74wh/th5_04.flac) Stage 2 theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Stage_2_theme)
2001/06/28Romantic Children (http://www.mediafire.com/download/af976f57u9chc7s/th5_06.flac) Stage 3 theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Stage_3_theme)
2000/10/22Maple Wise (http://www.mediafire.com/download/2vu2iu5cuop9gl8/th5_08.flac) Stage 4 theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Stage_4_theme)
2000/06/18Forbidden Magic (http://www.mediafire.com/download/pnjcmf68njeiw1d/th5_09.flac) Stage 4 Boss - Yuki and Mai's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Stage_4_Boss_-_Yuki_and_Mai.27s_theme)
2000/10/02Crimson Maiden ~ Crimson Dead!! (http://www.mediafire.com/download/m7rykn088qbcv2w/th5_10.flac) Stage 4 Boss - Yuki's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Stage_4_Boss_-_Yuki.27s_theme)
2000/01/04Treacherous Maiden ~ Judas Kiss (http://www.mediafire.com/download/xo95osik7d6u3db/th5_11.flac) Stage 4 Boss - Mai's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Stage_4_Boss_-_Mai.27s_theme)
2000/08/06the Last Judgement (http://www.mediafire.com/download/7oaxglq26b2tnjn/th5_12.flac) Stage 5 theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Stage_5_theme)
2000/04/02Legendary Illusion ~ Infinite Being (http://www.mediafire.com/download/gp79kkpb29p1yz2/th5_15.flac) Final Stage Boss - Shinki's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Final_Stage_Boss_-_Shinki.27s_theme)
1999/10/23Alice in Wonderland (http://www.mediafire.com/download/4veb9ur5cwvh9m3/th5_16.flac) Extra Stage theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Extra_Stage_theme)
2001/09/05Peaceful Romancer (http://www.mediafire.com/download/kyll16dl573p1v0/th5_21_8p.flac) Extra Ending theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Extra_Ending_theme)

☆トルテ ル マジック (Torte Le Magic) (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Torte_Le_Magic)

2001/05/20  Witch of Love Potion (http://www.mediafire.com/download/f8bdnvrc3n9ir0g/trt_00.flac)      Stage theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Torte_Le_Magic/Music#Stage_theme)
2001/05/20Magical and Hopeless (http://www.mediafire.com/download/i0o9b3v7gw5n25z/trt_01.flac) Boss - Chou's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Torte_Le_Magic/Music#Boss_-_Chou.27s_theme)
2001/05/20Sacred Battle (http://www.mediafire.com/download/p7szum5tepmp7a0/trt_02.flac) True last boss - Cointreau's theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Torte_Le_Magic/Music#True_last_boss_-_Cointreau.27s_theme)

☆その他の作品 ~ ZUN's Strange Works (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN's_Strange_Works)
The TXT file for some of these say they were made for the SC-88, but the MIDI doesn't switch the synthesizer to SC-88 mode. I've recorded both 88 and 88Pro versions.

2000/01/10  Magician of the Twilight (http://www.mediafire.com/download/1tlsu415p92zc6w/zun001.flac)      Violently in fantastica       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN's_Strange_Works#Violently_in_fantastica_.28.E3.81.B5.E3.81.81.E3.82.93.E3.81.9F.E3.81.99.E3.81.A6.E3.81.84.E3.81.8B.E3.81.AB.E6.BF.80.E3.81.97.E3.81.8F.29)
2000/01/10Magic of Life (http://www.mediafire.com/download/22b4k6hv1z1g2i6/zun002.flac)Cruel Alice series ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN's_Strange_Works#Cruel_Alice_series_.28.E6.AE.8B.E9.85.B7.E3.81.AA.E3.82.A2.E3.83.AA.E3.82.B9.E7.B3.BB.29)
2000/02/23Plastic Space (http://www.mediafire.com/download/zp7cshbhpsysjhv/zun003.flac) Shuusou Gyoku '99 (named arbitrarily) Stage 1 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN's_Strange_Works#Shuusou_Gyoku_.2799_.28named_arbitrarily.29_Stage_1_Theme)
2000/02/23Plastic Space (SC-88) (http://www.mediafire.com/download/yoegs6u9fr127jr/zun003_88.flac)Shuusou Gyoku '99 (named arbitrarily) Stage 1 ThemeZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN's_Strange_Works#Shuusou_Gyoku_.2799_.28named_arbitrarily.29_Stage_1_Theme)
2000/05/21Inventive City (http://www.mediafire.com/download/eztgwrzssesppzb/zun004.flac) Shuusou Gyoku '99 Stage 2 theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN's_Strange_Works#Shuusou_Gyoku_.2799_Stage_2_theme)
2000/05/21Inventive City (SC-88) (http://www.mediafire.com/download/b8usuovwi5ok4ds/zun004_88.flac) Shuusou Gyoku '99 Stage 2 theme ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN's_Strange_Works#Shuusou_Gyoku_.2799_Stage_2_theme)
2000/01/10Fantasy Corridor (http://www.mediafire.com/download/2bhx5dpw3i7lbbl/zun005.flac) Slow-tempo wild music ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN's_Strange_Works#Slow-tempo_wild_music)
2001/01/14 Hourai Illusion ~ far East (http://www.mediafire.com/download/2nbg28fqa7l652m/zun006.flac) Shuusou Gyoku Extra stage theme (unused) ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN's_Strange_Works#Shuusou_Gyoku_Extra_stage_theme_.28unused.29)
2001/01/14Hourai Illusion ~ far East (SC-88) (http://www.mediafire.com/download/4ua3q779cd948q8/zun006_88.flac) Shuusou Gyoku Extra stage theme (unused) ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN's_Strange_Works#Shuusou_Gyoku_Extra_stage_theme_.28unused.29)

☆東方封魔録 ~ the Story of Eastern Wonderland (original) (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland)
ZUN's first published MIDI work, made for the vanilla SC-88. Somewhat different from the FM versions.

1997  Eastern Sealing Magic Record ~ Pure Land Mandala (http://www.mediafire.com/download/o06i3fmll6p84o3/OP.flac)      Title screen theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Title_screen_theme)
1997  Hakurei ~ Eastern Wind (http://www.mediafire.com/download/e6nhk2fwq67dks9/STAGE0.flac)      Stage 1 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Stage_1_theme)
1997  She's in a temper!! (http://www.mediafire.com/download/5j5zq1d45vagk5l/BOSS1.flac)      Stage 1 Boss - Rika's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Stage_1_Boss_-_Rika.27s_theme)
1997  End of Daylight (http://www.mediafire.com/download/53min1jpcrgt6q1/STAGE1.flac)      Stage 2 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Stage_2_theme)
1997  Power of Darkness (http://www.mediafire.com/download/1828dcskyqiwyr6/BOSS4.flac)      Stage 2 Boss - Meira's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Stage_2_Boss_-_Meira.27s_theme)
1997  World of Empty Dreams (http://www.mediafire.com/download/trj6rsb4dkr1r5c/STAGE2.flac)      Stage 3 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Stage_3_theme)
1997  Bet on Death (http://www.mediafire.com/download/jxft5ej2glybtsc/BOSS2.flac)      Stage 3 Boss - The Five Magic Stones' theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Stage_3_Boss_-_The_Five_Magic_Stones.27s_theme)
1997  Himorogi, Burn in Violet (http://www.mediafire.com/download/uoev82poq6qi8dh/STAGE3.flac)      Stage 4 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Stage_4_theme)
1997  Love-Colored Magic (http://www.mediafire.com/download/efyxce9p62fam02/BOSS3.flac)      Stage 4 Boss - Marisa Kirisame's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Stage_4_Boss_-_Marisa_Kirisame.27s_theme)
1997  Eastern Sealing Magic Record ~ A Phantom's Boisterous Dance (http://www.mediafire.com/download/1h8e244h6c58hc8/STAGE4.flac)      Final Stage theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Final_Stage_theme)
1997  Complete Darkness (http://www.mediafire.com/download/fj91et1o4uo9r11/MIMA.flac)      Final Boss - Mima's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Final_Boss_-_Mima.27s_theme)
1997  Extra Love (http://www.mediafire.com/download/oaw7vy2j73uuu1o/STAGE5.flac)      Extra Stage theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Extra_Stage_theme)
1997  The Tank Girl's Dream (http://www.mediafire.com/download/ay6l7mm0zjjj4pj/BOSS5.flac)      Extra Boss - Rika's 2nd theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Extra_Boss_-_Rika.27s_2nd_theme)
1997  Forest of Tono (http://www.mediafire.com/download/29rmpdjhea5tfaz/END1.flac)      Ending theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Ending_theme)
1997  Legendary Wonderland (http://www.mediafire.com/download/zi5ia59y03a3a1a/ENDING.flac)      Staff Roll theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Story_of_Eastern_Wonderland/Music#Staff_Roll_theme)


☆東方紅魔郷 ~ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil)
ZUN's original compositions for EoSD, with different instrumentation and other differences compared to the WAV versions. (Increase the volume for the intended sound, even if it sounds loud enough.)

2001  A Dream That Is More Scarlet than Red (http://www.mediafire.com/download/i33rgfue793h36l/th06_01.flac)      Title screen theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Title_Screen)
2001  A Soul as Red as a Ground Cherry (http://www.mediafire.com/download/b6cy17fr226l57z/th06_02.flac)      Stage 1 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_1_theme)
2001  Apparitions Stalk the Night (http://www.mediafire.com/download/jav2snm4g9xho61/th06_03.flac)      Stage 1 Boss - Rumia's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_1_Boss_-_Rumia.27s_theme)
2001  Lunate Elf (http://www.mediafire.com/download/hkh7fhxlpyd8fmk/th06_04.flac)      Stage 2 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_2_theme)
2001  Tomboyish Girl in Love (http://www.mediafire.com/download/xmxzm483d4f9gyv/th06_05.flac)      Stage 2 Boss - Cirno's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_2_Boss_-_Cirno.27s_theme)
2001  Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea (http://www.mediafire.com/download/0iwx4rllaz10i6t/th06_06.flac)      Stage 3 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_3_theme)
2001  Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17 (http://www.mediafire.com/download/guqazblnjil4jyo/th06_07.flac)      Stage 3 Boss - Hong Meiling's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_3_Boss_-_Hong_Meiling.27s_theme)
2001  Voile, the Magic Library (http://www.mediafire.com/download/459lukv0289jknn/th06_08.flac)      Stage 4 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_4_theme)
2001  Locked Girl ~ The Girl's Secret Room (http://www.mediafire.com/download/57qayvwpmbcth8e/th06_09.flac)      Stage 4 Boss - Patchouli Knowledge's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_4_Boss_-_Patchouli_Knowledge.27s_theme)
2001  The Maid and the Pocket Watch of Blood (http://www.mediafire.com/download/lr9wv9vl12de1bi/th06_10.flac)      Stage 5 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_5_theme)
2001  Lunar Clock ~ Luna Dial (http://www.mediafire.com/download/40w5ar4x0k1rxje/th06_11.flac)      Stage 5 Boss - Sakuya Izayoi's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_5_Boss_-_Sakuya_Izayoi.27s_theme)
2001  The Young Descendant of Tepes (http://www.mediafire.com/download/8grmixqi8c1yigo/th06_12.flac)      Stage 6 theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_6_theme)
2001  Septette for a Dead Princess (http://www.mediafire.com/download/wv45ku24avacem3/th06_13.flac)      Stage 6 Boss - Remilia Scarlet's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Stage_6_Boss_-_Remilia_Scarlet.27s_theme)
2001  The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls (http://www.mediafire.com/download/30lphbcc5j23a7h/th06_14.flac)      Extra Stage theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Extra_Stage_theme)
2001  U.N. Owen Was Her? (http://www.mediafire.com/download/avgbecytnn021cy/th06_15.flac)      Extra Stage Boss - Flandre Scarlet's theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Extra_Stage_Boss_-_Flandre_Scarlet.27s_theme)
2001  An Eternity That Is More Transient than Scarlet (http://www.mediafire.com/download/zfmuf3fvicec5of/th06_16.flac)      Ending theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Ending_theme)
2001  Crimson Tower ~ Eastern Dream... (http://www.mediafire.com/download/1ptywcwo41m5tqp/th06_17.flac)      Staff Roll theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music#Staff_Roll_theme)

☆東方妖々夢 ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom (Trial) (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Cherry_Blossom)
Originally composed for another synth. ZUN didn't put much effort into the SC-88Pro MIDI versions.

2002  Mystical Dream ~ Snow or Cherry Petal (http://www.mediafire.com/download/xblctt35dyhrpvw/th07_01.flac)      Title screen theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Cherry_Blossom/Music#Title_Screen_theme)
2002  Paradise ~ Deep Mountain (http://www.mediafire.com/download/h0ok6kpgowqd1e9/th07_02.flac)      Stage 1 theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Cherry_Blossom/Music#Stage_1_theme)
2002  Crystallized Silver (http://www.mediafire.com/download/preg3oqlhi7pnfg/th07_03.flac)      Stage 1 Boss - Letty Whiterock's theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Cherry_Blossom/Music#Stage_1_Boss_-_Letty_Whiterock.27s_theme)
2002  The Fantastic Tales from Tono (http://www.mediafire.com/download/sewvc1q9r5cnwyr/th07_04.flac)      Stage 2 theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Cherry_Blossom/Music#Stage_2_theme)
2002  Diao Ye Zong (withered leaf) (http://www.mediafire.com/download/yeooairjosy3m0c/th07_05.flac)      Stage 2 Boss - Chen's theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Cherry_Blossom/Music#Stage_2_Boss_-_Chen.27s_theme)
2002  The Doll Maker of Bucuresti (http://www.mediafire.com/download/u45z7s2hmc9acys/th07_06.flac)      Stage 3 theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Cherry_Blossom/Music#Stage_3_theme)
2002  Doll Judgment ~ The Girl Who Played with People's Shapes (http://www.mediafire.com/download/2ixt29ntb8w1q35/th07_07.flac)      Stage 3 Boss - Alice Margatroid's theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Cherry_Blossom/Music#Stage_3_Boss_-_Alice_Margatroid.27s_theme)

☆東方永夜抄 ~ Imperishable Night (Trial) (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night)
Originally composed for another synth. ZUN didn't put much effort into the SC-88Pro MIDI versions.

2004  Eternal Night Vignette ~ Eastern Night (http://www.mediafire.com/download/6oae3u198ke3x7q/th08_01.flac)      Title screen theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Music#Title_screen)
2003  Illusionary Night ~ Ghostly Eyes (http://www.mediafire.com/download/zuvy8v93ztpyoeu/th08_00.flac)      Stage 1 theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Music#Stage_1_theme)
2004  Stirring an Autumn Moon ~ Mooned Insect (http://www.mediafire.com/download/1qn2ef4cie6kt22/th08_03.flac)      Stage 1 Boss - Wriggle Nightbug's theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Music#Stage_1_Boss_-_Wriggle_Nightbug.27s_theme)
2004  Song of the Night Sparrow ~ Night Bird (http://www.mediafire.com/download/486i5pt8mgaad80/th08_04.flac)      Stage 2 theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Music#Stage_2_theme)
2004  Deaf to All but the Song (http://www.mediafire.com/download/ozlmyg1lzcp4t65/th08_05.flac)      Stage 2 Boss - Mystia Lorelei's theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Music#Stage_2_Boss_-_Mystia_Lorelei.27s_theme)
2004  Nostalgic Blood of the East ~ Old World (http://www.mediafire.com/download/s6b0q32hbk1k185/th08_06.flac)      Stage 3 theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Music#Stage_3_theme)
2004  Plain Asia (http://www.mediafire.com/download/p9i1j5wha8agarn/th08_07.flac)      Stage 3 Boss - Keine Kamishirasawa's theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Music#Stage_3_Boss_-_Keine_Kamishirasawa.27s_theme)

☆東方花映塚 ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View (Trial) (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Flower_View)
Originally composed for another synth. ZUN didn't put much effort into the SC-88Pro MIDI versions. The drums play the wrong notes

2005  Flower Viewing Mound ~ Higan Retour (http://www.mediafire.com/download/1vmgtcss9gmlbi2/th09_00.flac)      Title screen theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Flower_View/Music#Title_Screen_theme)
2005  Spring Lane ~ Colorful Path (http://www.mediafire.com/download/y1oa7xpaqu6ypj5/th09_01.flac)      Reimu Hakurei's theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Flower_View/Music#Reimu_Hakurei.27s_theme)
2005  Oriental Dark Flight (http://www.mediafire.com/download/b3aal7c8ajario6/th09_00b.flac)      Marisa Kirisame's theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Flower_View/Music#Marisa_Kirisame.27s_theme)
2005  Flowering Night (http://www.mediafire.com/download/jmo8fruim61djm1/th09_02.flac)      Sakuya Izayoi's theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Flower_View/Music#Sakuya_Izayoi.27s_theme)
2005  Adventure of the Lovestruck Tomboy (http://www.mediafire.com/download/6bn8w27u9wt7fml/th09_05.flac)      Cirno's theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Flower_View/Music#Cirno.27s_theme)
2005  Deaf to All but the Song ~ Flower Mix (http://www.mediafire.com/download/voflz45de8q1owb/th09_07.flac)      Mystia Lorelei's theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Flower_View/Music#Mystia_Lorelei.27s_theme)
2005  The Mound Where the Flowers Reflect (http://www.mediafire.com/download/38p7asbas0f2nuo/th09_00c.flac)      Pre-Battle Conversation theme       ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Flower_View/Music#Pre-Battle_Conversation_theme)


☆稀翁玉 (Seihou Project 2: Kioh Gyoku) (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Kioh_Gyoku)
ZUN's original compositions for Kioh Gyoku. Most of these tracks are very different from the final WAVs.

2001  Jingle (http://www.mediafire.com/download/sr30ml2sd5i3mx2/kog_sj.flac)      Seihou Project logo       Yep
2001  Kioh Gyoku ~ Fairy Dance (http://www.mediafire.com/download/p808n6ht5ej3vjd/kog_00.flac)      Title screen theme       ZUN's comment (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Kioh_Gyoku/Music#Title_Screen_Theme)
2001  [url=http://www.mediafire.com/download/qk9ryy651mw9tkz/kog_01.f
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Mеа on October 26, 2015, 03:17:21 PM
Oh oohh these are such a treat, wonderful job with these! Missing a few personal gems, but I'll keep them to myself until you seem finished with your project. I'm curious, how were you able to determine which version of the synthesizers they were meant to be played on?
This is a substantial contribution to the fanbase.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Leon゠Helsing on October 26, 2015, 03:24:51 PM
Ooh, voting for EoSD... Because vampires. :V

By the way, is 24-bit FLAC really needed? Most of the guys I know just go with 16-bit FLAC.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 26, 2015, 04:30:58 PM
Oh oohh these are such a treat, wonderful job with these! Missing a few personal gems, but I'll keep them to myself until you seem finished with your project. I'm curious, how were you able to determine which version of the synthesizers they were meant to be played on?
This is a substantial contribution to the fanbase.

Thanks. The MIDIs from most japanese sites come in a .lzh file (it's like a zip or rar) which include both the MIDI and a text file. The text file will usually tell you which synth/playback mode the MIDI was made for.
The manual for the Windows Touhou games actually list the SC-88Pro as a system requirement if you want to play with MIDI music.

By the way, is 24-bit FLAC really needed? Most of the guys I know just go with 16-bit FLAC.

16 bit FLAC is more than enough for stuff like CD rips and distributing your own finished, mastered tracks online, yes. In these cases 24 bit is just a waste of space. Since these tracks are unprocessed (they aren't "mastered", making them quieter than average), I decided to record them in 24 bit to give people the freedom to do the processing themselves if needed for stuff like danmakufu projects.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: xJeePx on October 26, 2015, 07:56:46 PM
Man, this is amazing. Good job!

My vote goes for Shuusou Gyoku.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Inubashira on October 26, 2015, 11:23:21 PM
This looks very interesting. I can't wait to listen for myself.
Shuusou Gyoku please! :)
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Failure McFailFace on October 27, 2015, 11:25:47 PM
This is neat.

I want more, and perhaps try the EoSD-IN MIDIs with your SC-88Pro? I'm curious as to what it sounds like.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 28, 2015, 06:24:07 PM
EoSD will be done, but I'm unsure about recording PCB and IN. That would be another day or two of recording/editing/tagging files but ZUN obviously made the 88Pro MIDIs for the two games in just a few minutes so they don't sound very great. Maybe I'll just record the tracks from web trial. We'll see.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: LunaWillow on October 30, 2015, 03:31:17 PM
Oh me, oh my, this is amazing, the sound is so clean!

I voice for PoDD, it has best ost from PC-98 era in my opinion, and I don't really care about Seihou.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 31, 2015, 12:07:38 AM
Just to clear things up, what's being uploaded here comes from:

-ZUN's site: http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/html/music_old.html This is all done except for the arranged Shuusou Gyoku tracks around the middle of the page.
-The games that come with a MIDI version of the soundtrack: SoEW, Shuusou Gyoku, Kioh Gyoku, EoSD, PCB, IN, PoFV trial.

There's nothing left to record from PoDD since it doesn't come with a MIDI version of its soundtrack, sorry. Around the time ZUN was making music for the PC-98 games and Shuusou Gyoku, he was using a bad japanese MIDI sequencer (sequencers are the precursors to today's DAWs, the kind of software that everyone uses for MIDI these days, unless they're clueless) which made making MIDI versions of his music very slow and awkward, so he just didn't bother. The only PC-98 Touhou game that came with MIDI music is SoEW.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: shockdude on October 31, 2015, 12:17:18 AM
Oh man these sound so good. Well done.

Your recording of The Legend of KAGE has a slower tempo than the in-game & untouched score versions, is this expected? Still sounds awesome, but just curious.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: LunaWillow on October 31, 2015, 06:07:37 PM
Ah, that's too bad. Well, I'll guess I'll just stay with other stuff you upload.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on November 01, 2015, 06:07:17 AM
Oh man these sound so good. Well done.

Your recording of The Legend of KAGE has a slower tempo than the in-game & untouched score versions, is this expected? Still sounds awesome, but just curious.

ZUN arranged most of these to varying extents, so expect to hear little changes such as that one. In Legend of KAGE's case, recordings of instruments are more complex than the simple modulated sine waves used in the PC-98 games, so he had to slow the tempo down to prevent the track from sounding like a mess.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on November 07, 2015, 01:23:06 AM
I have uploaded the original soundtrack for the first Seihou Project game, Shuusou Gyoku. It's at the top of the list. Note that these are different from the arranged versions from ZUN's site (not uploaded yet).

Like all of ZUN's music, these have more of an impact if heard while you're playing the game. Since this game only supports MIDI music, the closest you can get to that is changing the music manually while watching someone's (muted) run on YouTube or Niconico, keeping in mind that all 3 of the final boss' forms has its own theme. Try that if you have some free time.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: moitie on November 07, 2015, 02:05:21 PM
I just downloaded the Witches Ball ~ Magus file and it sounds so much softer ( in a good way ) and clearer than the one you can find on youtube!!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on November 10, 2015, 02:29:15 AM
I uploaded the music for the C58 trial version of Shuusou Gyoku. Yaaaaay.

I also added where each track is played, and turned the ugly track list into an ugly table. That took a while to do (and lots of trial and error to get it to look the way I wanted it to) but hopefully it will make things less confusing to look at.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: ShoddyCordal on November 10, 2015, 03:41:04 PM
Just signed up here to say thanks for the effort put into this. Great job!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Alfred F. Jones on November 11, 2015, 08:10:56 PM
Oh man, this project is great! Thanks for your hard work.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Sedrife on November 12, 2015, 04:19:13 AM
This is great.  Excellent job and keep'em coming.  東方封魔録 ~ the Story of Eastern Wonderland (TH2) MIDI with SC-88Pro should be very interesting.  For the sake of completeness, if you can tackle PCB, IN, PoFV midis, that would be super special awesome.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: xJeePx on November 22, 2015, 10:39:38 AM
SoEW next, please!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: 7TC7 on November 24, 2015, 02:12:31 PM
I am in love with this thread and have been sharing it around.
The sound of these files is amazing and as a lover of pc98-Touhou and the other ZUN songs of that time in general I felt like it was early Christmas.

Like this, I finally get myself to actually comment on this, but because of what else but a complaint. It seems Primrose Shiver (the C58 Trial version) has been deleted from mediafire or is otherwise not available. If you could re-up it, that would be great!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on November 24, 2015, 02:25:46 PM
Looks like mediafire was having some minor server issues a few minutes ago, but hopefully everything should be back to normal now.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: 7TC7 on November 24, 2015, 10:13:11 PM
Yes, it works perfectly now!

Also, I'm voting for Kioh Gyoku because nobody else does and I really wonder how different these versions of the tracks are.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: SirSlarty on December 05, 2015, 04:24:02 AM
The link to Girl's Divinity ~ Pandora's Box says it was removed.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on December 05, 2015, 04:58:58 AM
Thanks for the heads up. No idea why mediafire keeps doing that, but it seems that simply reuploading the track makes the original link work again.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: SirSlarty on December 06, 2015, 02:17:21 AM
Thanks for updating it.

These are great! I really appreciate hearing the original intent ZUN had in mind for these songs. I've played the PC-98 games and some of the songs are good in-game but ultimately suffer due to the disk space.

To bad there aren't more original MIDIs of Mystic Square. I love the music form that game (like Plastic Mind).
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on December 22, 2015, 04:48:44 AM
Here's the MIDI version of the soundtrack for the second Touhou game, Story of Eastern Wonderland. It's kinda rough around the edges since ZUN didn't have much experience with MIDI back then. The MIDIs for this game were made for the vanilla SC-88 rather than the SC-88Pro, and sound noticeably different from any of his future styles.

A lot has been happening lately so this took a lot longer than usual. Sorry about that. I recently got a really good new keyboard (http://www.roland.com/products/a-800pro/features/), Cubase Pro 8.5 was released, I've been reading two (http://store.steampowered.com/app/251150/) nice books (http://store.steampowered.com/app/251290/), I've been learning a lot of new things... And soon I'll be getting a Roland U-220 along with most of its expansion cards and maaaaybe a Roland JV-1080, because what's responsible spending? Hopefully I'll be able to finish recording all of this before 2017.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on December 22, 2015, 04:37:30 PM
Alright, next person to post gets to pick what gets recorded next, Kioh Gyoku or EoSD. :V

As stated in the first post the MIDI versions of these soundtracks were originally going to be _the_ OSTs, and they both sound quite different from the final WAVs. Not only were recorded recorded from a different synthesizer, they also have different instrumentation and use of effects.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Leon゠Helsing on December 22, 2015, 04:45:55 PM
For the glory of House Scarlet, I pick EoSD! :V
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Zil on February 16, 2016, 04:08:06 AM
Sorry to be a nag, but did you ever finish EoSD?
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on February 16, 2016, 06:30:21 PM
Sorry, I've been feeling a bit sick and demotivated for the past month. I'll try to finish that before the end of the month.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: SirSlarty on February 29, 2016, 01:53:07 AM
I'm looking forward to it. It's a really cool look into one of my favorite part of Touhou.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: ?lice Bl?ckb?rn on February 29, 2016, 03:50:01 AM
Holy shit, flacs. Thank you for providing these!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: KoolKool993 on March 09, 2016, 04:36:51 AM
nice work! highly appreciated! :P

Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on March 13, 2016, 06:23:47 AM
Sorry for the wait. I'm ok (I hope).

So here's the MIDI version of the music for EoSD. These are going to sound fairly different from what you're used to. The WAV versions in the final game were originally going to be just processed recordings of these MIDIs. Needless to say, my recordings are going to sound quieter than intended since they lack such processing, so please increase the volume of your headphones or speakers, even if it already sounds loud enough to you. Besides the differences in instrumentation and key, some of the tracks have elements that are either missing or are barely audible in the WAV versions. If you hear them in some arrange or "remix" there's a 95% chance that you're listening to an edited MIDI. Shameful display.

As some of you know, ZUN originally planned to release Dolls in Pseudo Paradise on December 2001 at Comiket 61, months before EoSD was even announced. The music for that CD was composed for a Sound Canvas, just like the music for EoSD and Kioh Gyoku, and it would have probably sounded similar to EoSD on the SC-88Pro if it was released at C61. Since he got his current synth shortly before Comiket, he would have no time to properly arrange the tracks for both that CD and Kioh Gyoku, which was also being released during C61.


BTW, this has nothing to do with ZUN and Touhou, but I recently got a fascinating new (old) hardware synth. This one might be relevant to the interests of those who like SNES music. I wont say much, but if you're interested, take a look at Akyu's Arcade in a few weeks (or months...!) and hope your computer can run at least the balanced version of Higan.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Drake on March 13, 2016, 07:26:36 AM
Woahhoh even just hearing EoSD tracks that aren't pitch-shifted is spooky.

EDIT: I guess Septette is an exception to the whole probably-edited-MIDI thing seeing as the quiet bits in there are quite audible in the in-game version.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: xJeePx on March 14, 2016, 05:18:19 AM
Thanks for the update! Can we have Kioh Gyoku next, please? :)
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Zil on March 15, 2016, 07:54:32 AM
Glorious. I thank you up and down.
Title: Regarding a "SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard." thread.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on April 03, 2016, 03:25:08 PM
(Greetings folks, I'm new to this forum, and in accordance to the rules of this forum to not post on threads untouched for a week or more, I thought I'd utilize the chance to post my first thread, so apologizes if I step out of line with this as the last thing I want is to upset or disturb the folks who work hard to manage this forum. ^^')

Referenced thread here: https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,18989.0.html

So this topic is one that really had interested me quite a lot when I saw it as I'm someone who's a seriously addicted individual of Touhou music, so when I heard this thread gave the music that was recorded on a device that gave the original and ZUN arranged Touhou MIDI music the quality and sound it was originally suppose to have, I, of course, spent more than an hour's worth downloading everything here in bulk without hesitation.

So one of the biggest question I had is as follows: Is this still on-going process? From what I've seen some of the posts last seen in the thread are relatively recent, but I would really like to know because I seriously have been searching for years to find a way to listen to these songs in their full glory and would like to be assured they will come someday; also, after I downloaded pretty much everything the MediaFire links had to offer, I saw Romantic Children under the Mystic Square portion was taken down by MediaFire which has indeed left me rather distraught as someone who wanted the complete collection of these wonderful tracks.

Seriously though, words cannot fully express how much I think Romantique Tp, the original poster of the aforementioned thread, is a hero for doing what they've been doing there. If anything, I'm very much willing to help signal boost this project in various other places as I think there would be quite a few people who would enjoy this. I really hope more people see this thread as I think this kind of thing doesn't deserve to go thankless and unnoticed.
Title: Re: Regarding a "SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard." thread.
Post by: Romantique Tp on April 03, 2016, 05:22:13 PM
Feel welcome, and thanks for the heads up, that file should be back up now. If you see any other broken links just let me know, mediafire likes doing this silly thing where links just randomly stop working even though the files themselves are still online.

And yes, this is still an ongoing project. I still have to upload the tracks for Kioh Gyoku and the arranged version of the Shuusou Gyoku soundtrack from ZUN's site. I'm a bit really distracted with certain sound-making devices right now, but I hope to have them up soon.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Alfred F. Jones on April 03, 2016, 06:01:04 PM
(Greetings folks, I'm new to this forum, and in accordance to the rules of this forum to not post on threads untouched for a week or more
I appreciate your taking the time to read the rules and to be conscientious about bumping topics that haven't seen any posts in the past two weeks!

That being said, the idea is to discourage contentless bumps. Such as "omg this is great! More plz" is worthless as a one sentence post. It's okay to post if you actually have things to say, which you clearly do. Carry on.

ps I actually have something planned for when this thread has been around and active for a year, so don't you fret, I have noticed the hard work that's gone into this thread and I intend to act on it. But that's a secret, hush hush.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on April 03, 2016, 08:44:28 PM
Quote
Feel welcome, and thanks for the heads up, that file should be back up now. If you see any other broken links just let me know, mediafire likes doing this silly thing where links just randomly stop working even though the files themselves are still online.

And yes, this is still an ongoing project. I still have to upload the tracks for Kioh Gyoku and the arranged version of the Shuusou Gyoku soundtrack from ZUN's site. I'm a bit really distracted with certain sound-making devices right now, but I hope to have them up soon.

Thank you very much for the warm welcome then! I'll try my best to keep an eye out on this thread for that. Heavens knows this more than made my entire month finding something like this. I cannot speak about the level of time I hoped something like this would emerge. I've been longing to complete my collection of ZUN's musical material and MIDIs were the last thing I had to contend with, and I have most of the original MIDI files from each game that has them aside from Shuusou Gyoku's trial and Kioh Gyoku's.

Believe it or not I've never actually heard the MIDI's of Kioh Gyoku proper; even when I use to have a Windows XP Laptop, which was one platform that enabled me to even listen to Touhou MIDI music on it's default set of instruments, but that laptop did not last; otherwise, I would have recorded all the MIDI's from how the XP OS would play them since any platform above XP has obvious missing instrumentation when you hear the MIDIs then, so for these to come to be is something really special as I'm already an advocate for the under appreciated parts of Touhou's musical history. I'm very glad to be able to hear these songs as they were intended to be heard.

I guess it's pretty clear that I'm looking forwards to this, so I wish you luck with the rest of your recordings, and just know that I seriously appreciate what you're doing. You have my best regards! ^^

Quote
I appreciate your taking the time to read the rules and to be conscientious about bumping topics that haven't seen any posts in the past two weeks!

That being said, the idea is to discourage contentless bumps. Such as "omg this is great! More plz" is worthless as a one sentence post. It's okay to post if you actually have things to say, which you clearly do. Carry on.

Understood, I'll keep that in mind, but I'm sure it would be silly to go back to a thread from 2011 or lower with no activity or some such, so you probably won't see me do that or post something really simple like that. ^^;

I understand the want and even the need for more comprehensive posts here so I am willing to do that while I attend this forum. Oh, and thanks for moving my post to here whoever did, yet I'll be honest, I was timid as a new member given that I have yet to completely fulfill the 10 post requirement to unlock a lot of the fundamental features, so I was a bit concerned about the standing of posting under the warning the site gave me, so applauds for the welcoming response! ^^
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Mеа on April 06, 2016, 09:45:47 AM
Hey great going btw, you seem to be tackling these still strong. I was about to ask why you left out some of the really awesome themes like Strawberry Crisis when I noticed that those tracks were missing from zun's page as well. Any idea what he did for those themes?
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on April 06, 2016, 10:41:04 AM
Quote
I was about to ask why you left out some of the really awesome themes like Strawberry Crisis when I noticed that those tracks were missing from zun's page as well. Any idea what he did for those themes?

I can answer that: ZUN only did a select few MIDI arrangements for certain PC-98 themes. We didn't ever get a fully arranged version of each soundtrack from each game. My guess is that for these it was just one-off arrangements ZUN did for select themes, though I do wish that he covered everything, it's pretty apparent this didn't happen.

The original MIDIs for most of the main games, Seihou's arranged version, Torte Le Magic, and ZUN's strange works can be found here: http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/html/music_old.html

If the text displays in gibberish, set FireFox's Text Encoding plugin to Japanese (Shift_JIS). Firefox seems to be the only browser that can do that, but the titles are much more clear that way.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on April 12, 2016, 07:08:08 PM
Huh, I notice that some of ZUN's comments (http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Shuusou_Gyoku/Music) on Seihou 1's arranged content is still largely left untranslated. I have been wondering for a long while now if someone will get to translating those because I'd actually really like to know what ZUN has to say on them, but I guess we have to wait if someone can willing translate that as not many people seem to care that much about Seihou. ^^;

In other news, I've been absolutely addicted to the soundtracks that have come out of the SC-88Pro, they sound wonderful off this that's for sure.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on April 29, 2016, 03:24:16 AM
Sorry for another long wait. I wanted to have this posted at least 2 weeks ago but I've been having some bad sleep problems.

Anyway here's the MIDI version of the music for the second Seihou game, Kioh Gyoku. Like EoSD, the music for Kioh Gyoku was originally composed for the SC-88Pro, but ZUN decided to change most of the instrumentation (among other things) when he got his current synthesizer, which was shortly before the game was released. The music for this game is very transitional. Neither MIDI or WAV versions sound much like either his old MIDIs or the music for his later games, but both introduce or polish elements that would show up frequently in his later music, including little things that would only be reintroduced years later.

As with my recordings of EoSD's MIDIs, you'll probably want to increase the volume.

Since this game is hard to find and most people here probably don't have it, I'll be uploading the WAV soundtrack at a later date, all properly tagged and looped, and hopefully without the little pops that some rips I've heard have.


Important note about the C60 trial version: In one of the text files included with the game, ZUN mentioned that the tracks included in the trial version had changed considerably in the final version. For years I just assumed that he was comparing the MIDI and WAV versions, which are indeed pretty different from each other, but considering that the trial version for the first Seihou game had different music from the final game, it's likely that the trial for this game also had different MIDI music from the final version. All I know about this trial version is that it was released at 2001 Summer Comiket (Comiket 60), it probably had more than 1 playable character, "オルフェの詩 ~ Pseudoclassic" was in it and the cover looked like this:

(http://i.imgur.com/JEfyJwu.jpg)

Only a few copies of this must still exist, so I'll probably need all of the help I can get to find someone who still has one and is willing to rip the contents of the disk. If you know anything, please post in this thread, or e-mail me at romantiquetp at gmail.

Note that there was a downloadable trial with only VIVIT as a playable character and the same MIDI music as the final version. This is not what I'm looking for. The version I need was only available at Comiket.


EDIT: The music is the same as the final version. Character portraits are different.

More info: https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,18989.msg1346277.html#msg1346277
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on April 30, 2016, 06:12:50 AM
I downloaded this much earlier today, and never before have I downloaded music so fast before! After listening to the music throughout my day, what I listened to was completely new for me (aside from the opening jingle) as trying to listen to the MIDI sequences before never truly played correct through the game itself on my operating system. I am flabbergasted at how these compositions are like, I really did enjoyed these immensely. Thanks a million for sharing this with us!

considering that the trial version for the first Seihou game had different music from the final game, it's likely that the trial for this game also had different MIDI music from the final version.

So, a trial with exclusive music to it? There was version 0.01 of Touhou Perfect Cherry Blossom with something like that that surfaced at one point, which sported different music from the final game. If the case is the same with Seihou 2 here, I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised. I really hope someone with a copy of it will surface someday as it seems like one of those things that is so rare it ought to be outright painful to find anyone who has it that isn't from Japan.

Perhaps ZUN has copies of the music from the C60 trial version, I've always had the distinct feeling he hasn't shown us every composition he has made and is still hiding a few from us. ^^; Still, glad to see Kioh Gyoku made it out here; thank you so much for recording this! After you upload the WAV version, it seems like Shuusou Gyoku arranged is up next, and I'm really looking forwards to hearing that one as I enjoy those arrangements indeed.

Say, in the future is there a chance that the MIDIs you used for the recordings get uploaded for download? I feel like the original MIDI sequences would be neat to have for some people as there are those who like to arrange MIDI or try soundfonts for them, and you have to admit, ZUN's work with the sequence especially nice. Thanks in advance for your answer.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: xJeePx on April 30, 2016, 03:30:07 PM
Many thanks once again, I've been waiting for this. :)

Important note about the C60 trial version:

After some googling, I've only managed to find the Trial Version 1.000h (http://coolier.sytes.net:8080/th_up4/index.php?andor=or&sword=4033+4034&mode=ret) with VIVIT being the single playable character.

I doubt he still has it, but maybe we could try asking Ponchi from Shunsatsu sare Do? (http://ss-do.sakura.ne.jp/#/support)

A while back, me and my friend contacted him regarding a screenshot of Shuusou Gyoku prototype ("Neo Gian ~ Shuusou Gyoku" aka "Shuusou Gyoku '99"), which appeared during 10th Touhou Series Popularity Contest, and he confirmed that it was legit (the prototype has at least one known unreleased track titled "Frontal Attack", out of possible six unreleased tracks).

(http://i.imgur.com/ezaG76a.jpg)

He also confirmed that the first prototype ("Neo Gian" aka "Shuusou Gyoku '98") was originally made for PC-98 (ZUN composed the original version of "Fly Above Hatoyama at Night" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxZ0PQY0zTE) for it). However, even if he still has the prototype files, he refused to share them.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on May 02, 2016, 03:25:18 AM
I'm under the impression that Ponchi may not be too happy with people apparently only caring about Seihou because ZUN once made music for it, so making it obvious that you're probably only interested in the music might not be the best way to approach him about these things. You have to show interest for the whole thing.

If a fluent japanese speaker wants to contact him about this that would be great, but please word your e-mail carefully because we probably only have one chance of getting the C60 trial of Kioh Gyoku from him. I also recommend posting here before e-mailing him, since him getting e-mails about the same thing from two different people would be really weird. I kinda doubt he will upload the trial, specially considering that it's something that was once sold, but I guess you never know.


As for the Shuusou Gyoku prototypes, they're probably a lost cause at this point. Only people who were members of Amusement Makers at the time are likely to still have a copy, and these copies are most likely stored in old floppy disks or hard drives where they may be difficult to access. If you just wanted to hear Frontal Attack you're probably not missing out on much. ZUN probably didn't think highly of it since he didn't post it on his site along with the other two titled tracks. It's likely just a very short boss theme. Personally I was more interested in the prototypes for the gameplay and story changes.


So, a trail with exclusive music to it? There was version 0.01 of Touhou Perfect Cherry Blossom with something like that that surfaced at one point, which sported different music from the final game. If the case is the same with Seihou 2 here, I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised.

You're thinking of the Trial+ version of PCB which was released at C63, pretty early into development. The biggest changes in the music were mix changes, the base compositions themselves didn't change much. The Kioh Gyoku trial is different. ZUN stated that the tracks had changed a lot, to the point where they could be considered different tracks.

Say, in the future is there a chance that the MIDIs you used for the recordings get uploaded for download? I feel like the original MIDI sequences would be neat to have for some people as there are those who like to arrange MIDI or try soundfonts for them, and you have to admit, ZUN's work with the sequence especially nice. Thanks in advance for your answer.

These MIDIs were made only for listening, they were never intended to be modified. Generally speaking, if something is packed inside a .dat file or similar, there's a good chance that the developer doesn't want you to be messing with it or using it elsewhere. Packing files isn't just for optimizing disc usage.

In any case, using MIDI files is a crutch. They limit creativity. The only thing you need to know about a track to start arranging it is the melody, and that's usually not too hard to sequence by hear. Nothing else needs to stay the same as the original track, and any mistakes you make while sequencing could become inspiration for your arrangement, or even inspiration for a new composition.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on May 02, 2016, 01:09:40 PM
Generally speaking, if something is packed inside a .dat file or similar, there's a good chance that the developer doesn't want you to be messing with it or using it elsewhere. Packing files isn't just for optimizing disc usage.

I can understand that; honestly, since you released this, there is very little point to it with your project now, yes. One of the main reasons I originally asked is because there are certain platforms that can play MIDI files differently such as Windows XP and before, which have different ways of playback with the sequences because of platform's variation to handling MIDI, and in the future I wanted to hear and record what some of them sounded like on different platforms.

So in a way, the only reason I would want them is to mess around with 'em, which is vapid enough to not be a great excuse I understand.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were meant to be heard.
Post by: xJeePx on May 02, 2016, 06:50:10 PM
Quote
I'm under the impression that Ponchi may not be too happy with people apparently only caring about Seihou because ZUN once made music for it, so making it obvious that you're probably only interested in the music might not be the best way to approach him about these things. You have to show interest for the whole thing.

You do have a point. The email we sent him wasn't just about ZUN's unpublished music, but also about the future of Seihou and Seihou derivative works. He seems to be focused on his latest Super Mate Mate Laser project at the moment, though.

Quote
I kinda doubt he will upload the trial, specially considering that it's something that was once sold, but I guess you never know.

I dunno. He has a whole collection of Mate Mate Laser trial versions on his website, all of which were sold at Comiket, but there are no old builds of Banshiryuu or trial versions of Shuusou Gyoku & Kioh Gyoku at all.

Quote
As for the Shuusou Gyoku prototypes, they're probably a lost cause at this point. Only people who were members of Amusement Makers at the time are likely to still have a copy, and these copies are most likely stored in old floppy disks or hard drives where they may be difficult to access.

This might be the case, but you never know. PCB Trial Plus 0.01 seemed like it was forever lost for the longest time, but it was found and re-uploaded.

Quote
If you just wanted to hear Frontal Attack you're probably not missing out on much. ZUN probably didn't think highly of it since he didn't post it on his site along with the other two titled tracks. It's likely just a very short boss theme. Personally I was more interested in the prototypes for the gameplay and story changes.

My primary question regarding the upload of the prototype files was about the prototypes themselves rather than just the music, but yeah.
 
Along with the screenshot of the '99 prototype, some information about Frontal Attack (http://desktop2ch.net/news4vip/1393500247/) was posted. It takes 2 minutes and 24 seconds to loop, so it's a pretty long song. I remember reading somewhere that Frontal Attack was an early version of Firmament Army, but I might be wrong.

Apparently, there were at least two bosses in the '99 prototype - KOKU OH MARU and HYOU ZEN MARU. Both seem to be named after species of cacti, but there are no pictures of them. If someone is going to send an email, you might as well ask Ponchi about this.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: iVAwalys on May 02, 2016, 09:09:57 PM
So, a trial with exclusive music to it? There was version 0.01 of Touhou Perfect Cherry Blossom with something like that that surfaced at one point, which sported different music from the final game. If the case is the same with Seihou 2 here, I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised. I really hope someone with a copy of it will surface someday as it seems like one of those things that is so rare it ought to be outright painful to find anyone who has it that isn't from Japan.

I actually found the soundtrack from PCB 0.01 Trial. (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVG13Y9toHHU2qolKRDnAOhTSJcZTmezp)
Generally, it's not much different from the final versions, but kind of interesting nonetheless.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on May 03, 2016, 01:11:55 PM
I actually found the soundtrack from PCB 0.01 Trial. (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVG13Y9toHHU2qolKRDnAOhTSJcZTmezp)

Oh, I already knew about it, I actually found the source material and downloaded the trial version in question. I've since pulled the music directly from the trial myself before this was uploaded to Youtube, but thanks for the link nonetheless. It'll be nice to check out for those who haven't heard it.

I when I checked this I ended up finding that the MIDI version from this trial version aren't (as) altered like the .wav version were, but I'd honestly have no way of knowing that for sure as I couldn't check thorough details like that. .wav's were clearly different though.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on May 04, 2016, 10:34:09 AM
The PCB Trial+ was posted here not too long ago.
https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16234.0.html

This might be the case, but you never know. PCB Trial Plus 0.01 seemed like it was forever lost for the longest time, but it was found and re-uploaded.
I don't think you can compare the two cases directly. The only people who might have had copies of a Shuusou Gyoku prototype were Amusement Makers members and maybe a few of their friends. The PCB Trial+ was sold to multiple people at Comiket not too long after Touhou got some free exposure thanks to Watanabe Seisakusho, and ZUN already had a small following before that. Most of these copies were probably thrown away long ago (it was just a demo on a cheap CD-R), but multiple surviving copies are known to exist, so the Trial+ was never truly completely unlikely to be recovered.

Quote
Along with the screenshot of the '99 prototype, some information about Frontal Attack (http://desktop2ch.net/news4vip/1393500247/) was posted. It takes 2 minutes and 24 seconds to loop, so it's a pretty long song. I remember reading somewhere that Frontal Attack was an early version of Firmament Army, but I might be wrong.
That's a troll thread. That would be about 5 minutes long which is longer than any track in Shuusou Gyoku and nearly all tracks in EoSD.

Quote
Apparently, there were at least two bosses in the '99 prototype - KOKU OH MARU and HYOU ZEN MARU. Both seem to be named after species of cacti, but there are no pictures of them. If someone is going to send an email, you might as well ask Ponchi about this.
I've seen these names being mentioned elsewhere before. I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask about them near the end of the email.

I can understand that; honestly, since you released this, there is very little point to it with your project now, yes. One of the main reasons I originally asked is because there are certain platforms that can play MIDI files differently such as Windows XP and before, which have different ways of playback with the sequences because of platform's variation to handling MIDI, and in the future I wanted to hear and record what some of them sounded like on different platforms.

So in a way, the only reason I would want them is to mess around with 'em, which is vapid enough to not be a great excuse I understand.
I don't see the point. Both OS X and all versions of Windows featuring Microsoft GS have the same sounds, the only difference between OSes is how incorrect MIDI playback is, and almost nobody plays MIDIs through their OS' default software synthesizer anymore.

Also, like I said in the OP, these MIDIs were made for the SC-88Pro, they're not generic MIDIs. If you just want to mess around with them or test stuff there are thousands of GM MIDIs on the internet which are far more suitable for that kind of thing.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on June 20, 2016, 08:17:28 PM
I'm not dead yet. For those who care, about a month ago I got an ear infection. I was told to wait and see if it would get better on its own, and to avoid wearing my (really tight) headphones. Well, it only got worse and I also developed some light tinnitus along with the obligatory hearing loss. Lots of fun. I'm now taking antibiotics which seem to be slowly helping everything go back to normal.

I guess it sounds like I'm coming up with excuses every time I update this thread. I swear I'm just having an unusual year so far. This is actually getting in the way of other music projects I have in mind, so I'll try to finish recording these as soon as I can.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on June 21, 2016, 10:19:58 AM
Oh my goodness, that's definitely a justified reason for taking a temporary leave from recording; it's totally fine for you to withhold doing more of these because of that I feel.

I wish you the best in the rest of your recovery; I'm okay with waiting as long as you need to get back, and I'm assured that when you do eventually recover you'll be back at this project. Health comes first, and I totally understand that, so don't think of it as an excuse like you were putting this off because I know your reason is a valid one.

I love Touhou music, so the very idea of hearing loss is the most terrifying thing to me. ^^;
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on July 30, 2016, 07:09:18 AM
So here's the arranged version of the Shuusou Gyoku soundtrack from ZUN's site.

Compared to the originals, some of the tracks have a few additions and are in a different key, Overall they have a clearer, more "open" sound, which is a result of the experience ZUN gained from arranging PC-98 tracks for the SC-88Pro during 2000. His mixing style here is still nothing like his style in the early Windows Touhou era, but it's a bit closer to it.

Note that ZUN's comments for these arranged versions haven't been translated yet.


Well, that's it.
In the end I guess these were downloaded by a few more people than I expected. I really only bought this synthesizer for this (it was about 500 USD including shipping and third world taxes, if you were wondering), so I hope you enjoyed.

https://youtu.be/rxF7G-w996w?t=7

Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Equimanthorn02 on July 31, 2016, 09:11:37 AM
Thank you for sharing this!

I've recently been fooling around with Roland's new SOUND Canvas VA plug-in, which emulates an SC-8820, including SC-55, SC-88 and SC-88pro sound maps. Your recordings helped me verify that the plug-in really sounds like the real deal. There is next to no audible difference. Thanks to your post I can now render ZUN's MIDIs with the plug-in knowing that they actually sound the way it was intended :D
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on July 31, 2016, 09:57:07 PM
So basically, "Thanks for spending hours recording these for free, I'll just go listen to these using a plugin instead". Feel welcome, that's super motivating.

The plugin doesn't emulate any of the SC-88Pro's hardware quirks. In other words the frequency response isn't the same, the resonant filters don't behave exactly the same and the MIDI processing isn't always the same. It also doesn't respond to some MIDI commands the same. This has been reported by multiple people and Roland Japan hasn't moved a finger in almost a year.

Here's a quick example (listen with headphones): https://www.sendspace.com/file/a9uh5x
This is an one bar loop copied 6 times. Every 4 notes it switches between the plugin and the real SC-88Pro, both using factory default settings. I picked the SC-88Pro MAP on the plugin , but this is a preset that's supposed to sound exactly the same on the SC-8820, SC-88Pro and vanilla SC-88.

The whole point of this thread is that nothing sounds quite the same as the SC-88Pro, the synth these MIDIs were made for. SC VA sounds close, probably close enough for you to make your own original compositions with it, but for playing back other people's work it's not the same, otherwise I wouldn't have spent hours of my free time (which could have been spent doing something else, such as actually making music or working on my other projects) recording nearly 150 MIDI files manually using real hardware, carefully monitoring and adjusting the input gain to keep the noise floor as low as possible while also keeping unintentional clipping to an absolute minimum, sometimes having to listen to the same track over 4 times to achieve that.

In the end maybe you don't care about the differences, you could even argue that I'm an idiot for wasting so much time on stuff that was downloaded by less than 50 people, but I do care, and this thread was primarily aimed towards those few who also do. Waking up to your comment felt like a slap to the face, even if that wasn't your intention.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: WishMakers on July 31, 2016, 10:33:25 PM
These MIDIs now sound beautiful.
I listened to a couple of my personal favorites, and the SC-88 Pro adds a certain touch that even the originals (both MIDI and WAV) just don't have, with amazing quality and little to no noise to boot!
I'm going to keep an eye on this thread from now on, keep up the amazing work  :D
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on August 02, 2016, 08:39:32 AM
To put my thanks into perspective: This thread was the motivation for me to finally make a proper Maidens of the Kaleidoscope account in the first place. I was ecstatic to see someone put this kind of time and effort into showing us these wonderful musical tracks in the way they where honestly meant to be listened too.

I remember reading from ZUN a comment on the Romantic Children track download from his MIDI hosting page that said:
Quote
"But then again, if you don't listen to it with an 88 Pro, it's pointless." (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Stage_3_theme)
I admit when I first heard these songs and had a Windows XP to have a proper listen that I was cozy with the idea that I didn't need a 88Pro to hear the full glory, I was wrong. The fact that you got a device to play these and spend many hours just to record these in lossless audio has me more thankful than you could ever hope to believe. I've heard tracks that I've never heard a version of before and I've reheard tracks with a new way of hearing it, and all in all, this has been an enlightening experience for me, and is easily my highlight of all of 2016.

You have my heartfelt thank you for doing this, Romantique Tp, and I will gladly listen to your hard work in recordings for years to come. As an obsessive lover of ZUN's music, I'm beyond happy this has happened! ^^

With that aside, I would like to ask you a few questions I've held off asking until the thread was completed:

Are you okay with these songs getting uploaded to platforms like YouTube under the guise that this forum post is credited?
Truth be told this is something I really wanted to do myself, but of course, I would want this to finish first, and also for your own word on what you would want if people did want to upload this to a video/music sharing platform. This could extend to other platforms like Niconico and such if someone has any interest, but I'd like to know your say on that matter.

Will you be making mass download archive files of all the songs of a particular group featured in this thread, or allow them to be created?
Of course downloading one by one is something I was okay doing since I have wonderful download speed and time for it, but some out there would like those giant downloads with all songs in one pack for convenience sake. Let me know your stance on this for this since having that would allow my own friends who show interest to have a slightly easier time getting all of these songs in one fell swoop.

Is creating tracks here in .mp3 format and distributing them for download alright with you?
Nowadays .mp3's are considered the norm of accepted audio file format when it comes to non-lossless audio compression. The compression of .mp3 helps those with limited storage space since those under .wav .flac tend to be huge files and not all hard drive can handle the size. Needless to say quality wise I do indeed prefer .flac myself since it's of the highest quality, but a large part of my own music library is .mp3 on things like my laptop due to this reason, but the distribution of those files is something I ought to know your thoughts on.

Lastly, are the MIDI sequences from Touhou 7 PCB to Touhou 9 PoFV going to have their tracks recorded on your SC-88Pro and posted on this thread?
I guess this question speaks for itself without need for clarification, but of course I know that PoFV only had MIDI sequences exclusive to the trial version and not the final game.

Sorry for all the questions though as I carried on quite a bit. ^^; I ask you these questions in hopes that your hard work is more widely appreciated by those who are yet unaware of the musical marvels on this side of classic Touhou (and Seihou) since you say in your introduction to this thread that "Here's an era of Touhou history that doesn't get talked about much". I've been really sadden that people still haven't given things like Seihou and Touhou MIDI sequence music the light of day for how honestly amazing it is, but I'm sure with a thread like this, it's now possible to show people ZUN's music at it's best because you indeed showed that to me.

Thank you in advance for your answers, and I hope in the end I came to this series of posts in good faith. I know I'm reiterating by saying this, but words alone cannot express how much I am honestly in appreciation for you doing this, I mean it, thank you so very much a million times over for this. ^^

Oh, and best of luck finding and obtaining the C60 Kioh Gyoku Trial music!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on August 02, 2016, 06:46:50 PM
Thanks ^^

Are you okay with these songs getting uploaded to platforms like YouTube under the guise that this forum post is credited?
Truth be told this is something I really wanted to do myself, but of course, I would want this to finish first, and also for your own word on what you would want if people did want to upload this to a video/music sharing platform. This could extend to other platforms like Niconico and such if someone has any interest, but I'd like to know your say on that matter.

I was planning to upload these to YouTube myself. I have the knowledge and tools to make the videos sound as close as possible to the original FLAC files, so I would prefer if nobody else uploaded them.

Quote
Will you be making mass download archive files of all the songs of a particular group featured in this thread, or allow them to be created?
Of course downloading one by one is something I was okay doing since I have wonderful download speed and time for it, but some out there would like those giant downloads with all songs in one pack for convenience sake. Let me know your stance on this for this since having that would allow my own friends who show interest to have a slightly easier time getting all of these songs in one fell swoop.

I'll be uploading one big archive with all the FLACs in 16 bit. That should halve their size. I'll be using a studio grade dithering algorithm included with Wavelab Pro 9 before conversion, so they will sound identical to the original 24 bit files at normal listening volumes.

Quote
Is creating tracks here in .mp3 format and distributing them for download alright with you?
Nowadays .mp3's are considered the norm of accepted audio file format when it comes to non-lossless audio compression. The compression of .mp3 helps those with limited storage space since those under .wav .flac tend to be huge files and not all hard drive can handle the size. Needless to say quality wise I do indeed prefer .flac myself since it's of the highest quality, but a large part of my own music library is .mp3 on things like my laptop due to this reason, but the distribution of those files is something I ought to know your thoughts on.

I'll upload high quality AAC (.m4a) files soon. AAC is the successor to MP3,  It should be supported by all good media players and it's usually just plain better than its predecessor. If the one you use doesn't support it, it's probably time to update or switch to another one. :)

Quote
Lastly, are the MIDI sequences from Touhou 7 PCB to Touhou 9 PoFV going to have their tracks recorded on your SC-88Pro and posted on this thread?
I guess this question speaks for itself without need for clarification, but of course I know that PoFV only had MIDI sequences exclusive to the trial version and not the final game.

I might record the tracks from the PCB trial, but every MIDI after that sounds like it was edited for the 88Pro in just a few minutes, so I think it would be a waste of time. If it wasn't for the downloadable versions of the trials, ZUN wouldn't be touching his 88Pro at all at that point. Contrary to what certain individuals seem to think, ZUN didn't stop making 88Pro versions of his tracks because people were stealing them to make arranges, he obviously just didn't want to waste time making them at all.

Note that the full version of PoFV did have MIDIs, but only the ones that were included in the trial.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on August 02, 2016, 10:31:03 PM
Quote
I have the knowledge and tools to make the videos sound as close as possible to the original FLAC files, so I would prefer if nobody else uploaded them.
That's fantastic to hear! Having these on YouTube in high quality is something I'd consider a big plus for signal boosting. With you handling the uploading of these tracks, I say no one else is better for the task. ^^

Quote
I'll be using a studio grade dithering algorithm included with Wavelab Pro 9 before conversion, so they will sound identical to the original 24 bit files at normal listening volumes.
Oh wow, that sounds absolutely amazing; it'll be great to have. You're really going above and beyond with the bulk downloads and I think it's really awesome you're taking the time to make it count!

Quote
I'll upload high quality AAC (.m4a) files soon.
Ah yes, AAC, that slipped my mind there, my bad. ^^; I do have a few soundtracks in that format, and while I will admit that .mp3 is still really common, but I do acknowledge the other formats as worthwhile.

Quote
I might record the tracks from the PCB trial, but every MIDI after that sounds like it was edited for the 88Pro in just a few minutes, so I think it would be a waste of time.
Huh, that's interesting that's the case, but I guess this was when .wav versions really ended up being ZUN's preferred music style over the latter, so I'd say you made a fair point; glad to know that.

Sounds like you overall have everything sorted planned out! I guess at this point the best bet is to leave it to you, and thank you for answering my questions, t'was good to know your position because of those plans. It's something I intently look forwards to. You're continuous contributing to that aforementioned highlight of mine, so I am glad to have more come. ^^
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: yoshimo on August 03, 2016, 08:00:53 PM
I personally feel that it would be rather foolish and against your initial argument for starting this thread to skip recording the MIDI from TH07?09. You say that this isn't talked about much, and the MIDI for TH07?09 might continue to be ignored unless there is proper archival of them. You have the ability to change the musical perspective of this fandom and you already have partway; don't squander what's left!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on August 09, 2016, 02:27:17 PM
Here's the MIDI versions of the music for the trial versions of Perfect Cherry Blossom, Imperishable Night and Phantasmagoria of Flower View. These are the same as the ones included with the full versions.

From PCB on ZUN composed and recorded his music using his new MIDI module. The SC-88Pro wasn't used at all. The only reason these MIDI versions exist at all was due to the circumstances at the time (distributing 150 MB trials over the internet was impractical). ZUN would probably prefer if nobody heard these, but here we are.

Many of these have small differences in the instrumentation.

The MIDIs for IN are missing some Special instruments that have no equivalent in the SC-88Pro, while the ones for PoFV also play the wrong drum notes because the kit ZUN used wasn't fully GS/GM compatible and he didn't bother editing that.

Enjoy.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: iVAwalys on August 11, 2016, 12:01:51 AM
Just wanted to add something. The MIDI for Stirring an Autumn Moon (Wriggle's theme from Imperishable Night) contains some unused tunes that are inaccessible in-game, as the song loops to the beginning way before these even come up.
Here's the link. (https://youtu.be/WacacjiAp-0?t=1m22s)
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on August 11, 2016, 03:08:26 AM
There are zero notes after the point where this MIDI is supposed to loop. That's just some crappy player and/or synthesizer glitching out.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28494360/ShareX/2016/08/2016-08-10_23-43-32.mp4
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Dioxaz on August 11, 2016, 01:00:51 PM
I've just examined a freshly extracted th08_03.mid from my trial version (using thtk) and it indeed stops at 1:16.

However, I do have in my collection of old files some MIDIs I downloaded a while ago, probably extracted from a retail version of the game (I can't really tell their source). I opened another th08_03.mid from that collection in FL Studio and... to my surprise, some notes are indeed present after 1:16 like the following screenshot is showing it:

http://dioxaz.free.fr/download/shots/th08_03_from_retail_flstudio.png

From PCB on ZUN composed and recorded his music using his new MIDI module. The SC-88Pro wasn't used at all. The only reason these MIDI versions exist at all was due to the circumstances at the time (distributing 150 MB trials over the internet was impractical). ZUN would probably prefer if nobody heard these, but here we are.

[...]

The MIDIs for IN are missing some Special instruments that have no equivalent in the SC-88Pro, while the ones for PoFV also play the wrong drum notes because the kit ZUN used wasn't fully GS/GM compatible and he didn't bother editing that.
What an interesting fact I was totally ignoring. I always thought they were made with some SC-88Pro compatibility in mind because of how they sounded pretty well on my 8820 and it appears not. That makes those MIDIs even more interesting, because they were kind of "deprecated".

Otherwise, I'm just speechless about the wonderful initiative of what you did by recording all those MIDIs with high-end equipment and from your SC-88Pro. Also, the fact you recorded them without any compression makes them even more desirable (I've gotten allergic to dynamic compression over the years, to the point I'm doing transient restoration pretty often) and nice alternatives to some heavily compressed stuff even ZUN himself provided (th07_18 comes to mind).

This thread alone made me buy an SC-8820 (cheap desktop version with some SC-50, SC-55 and SC-88Pro compatibility) at a time those modules were still affordable on eBay. I was also pleasantly surprised to hear that the tunes sound very close to what you recorded (the 8820 has a more treble-y signature and has some noise at -50/-60dBFS on the other hand). Here's an example of how the SC-8820 sounds on th07_04 (after lazy noise reduction from me and recording with a crappy onboard soundcard so not the best conditions):

http://dioxaz.free.fr/download/touhou/sc8820_samples/th07_04_8820.flac
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on August 11, 2016, 07:45:55 PM
The full game and the updates don't have that extra part either. You probably downloaded that old rip from Mirsoft, where that specific MIDI was definitely tampered with:

-All other MIDI files have the same "last modified" date (the date and time when they were ripped), except this one, which was last modified over 2 weeks later.
-It's in MIDI Type 1 format instead of Type 0, which ZUN used for everything else.
-The track names are unlikely to have been set manually, but they don't match Cubase SX's default track names at all.

So basically this is probably someone's attempt at an arragement that somehow slipped into a pack of ripped MIDIs.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Dioxaz on August 12, 2016, 10:59:47 AM
My bad. This is indeed exact. I've just noticed the accompanying info.txt. It looks like a significant number of people downloaded those MIDIs from there. This is what the info.txt says:
Quote from: info.txt
Archive created by -=MIRSOFT=-
Look for game MIDs at http://go.to/gamemids

*** Archive info ***
Archiver: Knurek
Type: Game rip
Format: MID
Original Composer: ZUN
Sequencer: ZUN
Num of tunes: 21
Complete: 100%

*** Game info ***
Name: Imperishable Night
Platform: PC Windows
Year: 2004
Genre: Shooter
Publisher: Team Shanghai Alice
Developer: Team Shanghai Alice

*** Additional info ***

Track titles/additional info located here: http://www.pooshlmer.com/touhouwiki/index.php/Imperishable_Night:_Music
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on August 19, 2016, 11:32:29 AM
Chiming in to inform that I've listened to the entirety of the music posted here at last.

However, while I was listening to some of the music tracks, it seems that the arranged version of Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Ancients and Velvet Maiden Battle ~ Velvet Battle has some uncomfortable noise in their tracks. Dichromatic was quite noticeable whilst Velvet Maiden Battle was more minor, but noticeable on higher notes. Meanwhile, there is a slight skip in Tabula rasa ~ The Empty Girl 3:02 into the track.

Other than what I mention, there isn't any more issues, so the rest of the music tracks are fine from what I can tell. I tried to be as thorough in finding issues, but I could have easily missed a thing or two somewhere, but the issues in the track I mention I'm certain of.

In other news, I've got listening to the PCB through PoFV trial tracks too; I quite like how they sound, so thank you for recording those too; interesting that the full game MIDI sequences ended up going with a different module outside the trials, but eh, given ZUN's stance on MIDI music (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/ZUN%27s_AWA_Q%26A_Panel), it's apparent he likely would have moved on from it sooner than later after EoSD at the very least had the aforementioned circumstances of downloads not been in place that keep MIDI around. I do wonder what it would have been like if ZUN had gone the distance with them, nevertheless.

I also find it interesting that you say:
ZUN would probably prefer if nobody heard these
I didn't expect that ZUN wouldn't want people to hear it. I do think that, after a good listen, they did sound good off this all things considered. I'm happy I hear these because I've really come to appreciate and enjoy how the SC-88Pro makes these songs sound, so interesting probability of that preference for ZUN to be sure.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on August 25, 2016, 03:49:04 AM
The skip is a bug in VLC, no other player or audio editor I tried does that.

The high pitched hissing isn't a recording error. The SC-88Pro sounds infamously muffled, so it was common for Japanese composers to crank up the LPF resonance of multiple instruments. This was the only practical way to boost the overall high frequency content in a MIDI file intended to be distributed on the internet or floppy disk, since the 88Pro (like nearly every other synthesizer at the time) lacked a dedicated equalizer for each channel. This is of course not a very transparent or precise method of high frequency boosting.

In this particular case, ZUN combined this resonance with a high frequency boost from the insert effect he applied to the violin and another high frequency boost from the master equalizer (which is applied to everything). In other words, the resonance in this track is fairly loud, and how annoying it will sound will depend on your speakers or headphones. Cheaper speakers almost always have barely any bass and weak, uneven mids, so the loud resonance spike in this track will easily overpower everything else, or at least it will be a fair bit more audible and distracting than it's supposed to be.

Here's a little edit with the resonance spike EQ'd down a tad: http://www.mediafire.com/download/p1r23xheohl4mp5/ssg_18e.flac
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on August 25, 2016, 07:08:33 PM
Thanks for looking into that; I didn't expect VLC to have this bug since most other audio files I have worked fine, but I guess I should be using my foobar2000 program like you recommended for these.

Originally I did listen to Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Ancients through an aged USB headset with my only microphone. I listened to it on much higher quality headphones and it did make a difference, which prompted my recent edit to the original post about this. The edit you made did indeed make enough of a difference to make me want to listen to this that version instead over the other one. Thankfully I can live with Velvet Maiden Battle ~ Velvet Battle as it is more soft with the hissing, and even more thankfully all of the other songs do not have the same thing going on.

I know little to nothing about the SC-88Pro outside of what you have said, so this insight is indeed good to know in the interest of those tracks I mentioned.
Title: SC-88Pro: now on YouTube
Post by: Romantique Tp on August 31, 2016, 02:22:10 PM
I've uploaded everything to YouTube. The first video will automatically play when clicking these links. I recommend using the "Default view" player mode, and as stated in the first post, increase the volume on your audio hardware a little.

Games where the SC-88Pro MIDIs are the original soundtrack:

-秋霜玉 (Seihou Project 1: Shuusou Gyoku) (C58 Trial) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFlfYEnrGrI&list=PLzdQcm51guT95WusE_GkZdANVsVcqjxo9)
-秋霜玉 (Seihou Project 1: Shuusou Gyoku) (original) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coZsnhQyozM&list=PLzdQcm51guT8_7wBWFgEZia3FcGqeEqbx)
-トルテ ル マジック (Torte Le Magic) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhQYf2knIxQ&list=PLzdQcm51guT9gl_Ziz1wZeA5ltknfbw61)
-稀翁玉 (Seihou Project 2: Kioh Gyoku) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTFcWbnns7U&list=PLzdQcm51guT--RXwVI9hv9wmRz8Ws5Zg_)
-東方紅魔郷 ~ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gptQndKxYBI&list=PLzdQcm51guT_Du9fuiiHpGENQWyLPtFoE)

SC-88Pro arrangements and miscellaneous compositions from ZUN's site:

-ZUN's PC-98 Touhou MIDI arrangements (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ThIAMywETg&list=PLzdQcm51guT8dJ8tcWs9P02O049OLKzwp)
-秋霜玉 (Seihou 1: Shuusou Gyoku) (arranged) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPTT3-cLZ-8&list=PLzdQcm51guT9sNJnRGMMqsCGW6Tb4lnt-)
-その他の作品 ~ ZUN's Strange Works (original music) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijniBZWR5D0&list=PLzdQcm51guT8Wljks6-D00J8qEEIs3ZEy)

Games where SC-88/SC-88Pro MIDIs are included as a bonus:

-東方封魔録 ~ the Story of Eastern Wonderland (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enDte5gY5b4&list=PLzdQcm51guT9FmSbAS6N5-PVPgO1Pwadc)
-東方妖々夢 ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom (Trial tracks only) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrdOCl199jI&list=PLzdQcm51guT_bborSjkaQ1NFeEZ_z5t-s)
-東方永夜抄 ~ Imperishable Night (Trial tracks only) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rub-X0a5lc&list=PLzdQcm51guT8MxYK7JCLpoPEC_tfOaNhr)
-東方花映塚 ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View (Trial tracks only) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=modec7cWHso&list=PLzdQcm51guT8YmEU6pdpaQfREmfRQ3zFG)

When sharing these videos with others, please use the playlists when possible. This makes it easier for people to listen to other tracks from the same game if they want to. YouTube's recommended videos feature has unfortunately become useless for this.

Care was taken to ensure that these sound as close to the original FLAC recordings as possible, and to keep possible clipping introduced by YouTube's unavoidable lossy audio compression (http://izotope-rx.livejournal.com/5760.html) to a minimum. I kinda forgot about Audio 101 while doing so though, so a few videos might have a short click at the beginning, which hopefully isn't a big deal to anyone.

In total I had to encode, upload, title, tag and organize 153 videos. This took a few days! i.imgur.com/SXGIk29.jpg
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on September 02, 2016, 07:28:59 PM
And here's everything in 16 bit FLAC and AAC. If you have a slow connection and have to download from MediaFire, consider installing Free Download Manager (http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/).


FLAC (16-bit):
Dither: MBIT+, Noise Shaping: Medium
3.67 GB: Mega (https://mega.nz/#!1kdXgTjA!rEiAUNlqPRENUxmhNh4T9hl_p7Zsc6pG6FhcGWHzdDA) | MediaFire (http://www.mediafire.com/download/xf945f37g1g8fgt/ZUN%27s_SC-88Pro_MIDIs_%2816_bit_FLAC%29.zip)

AAC (VBR, Highest Bitrate):
MP4 lossy audio. Official closed source Fraunhofer IIS encoder.
1.11 GB: Mega (https://mega.nz/#!c8M2RDLI!MdBtrXlrVG1N4vyfnfAvDYIqUDYg87aB5LTNrKzD2fk) | MediaFire (http://www.mediafire.com/download/ynjq404a9u695bb/ZUN%27s_SC-88Pro_MIDIs_%28AAC%29.zip)


The 16-bit FLACs should sound the same as the original 24-bit recordings for as long as no further audio processing is applied. This includes dynamic range processing, equalizing and encoding to a lossy format such as AAC/OGG/MP3. If you downloaded the 24-bit versions previously and you don't plan to do any of that, feel free to delete them and download the zip file above.


And that's it. I guess I can go get drunk now.

One thing I noticed is that there's a huge burst of activity in this section every time I update this thread. It's like a little curse. Every time I posted an update, this thread would be nearly half a page away from page 2 just an hour or two later. Unfortunately I don't have enough content to post here to bring this board back to CPMC/black MotK theme-era levels of activity. Sorry...! (BTW for all you "Recent Posts" lurkers who missed it, I also uploaded everything to YouTube earlier)
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on September 13, 2016, 07:56:54 PM
(Apologizes for the late reply bump, t'was on vacation and had no Internet access in that time to say what I was originally going to here.)

I guess that's it for now indeed. Well, that's definitely not going to stop me from relishing in this forums hard work for many years to come. You going out of your way to get yourself an SC-88Pro and the important knowledge needed in regards to this topic is something that has on my part been very much appreciated; your dedication to what some may consider a more niche part of Touhou and Seihou is truly inspiring. It's truly another keystone example of the dedication people have for Touhou and this was entirely you being awesome throughout.

I hope that the one thing that's keeping this series from true completion can come to accessibility one of these days, so I will eagerly await the news of that.

If I can say anything more now that's it's reached this point, it's that your YouTube channel is currently showing only your feed. If you enable the "Customize the layout of your channel" option through the cog next to the subscribe button on your channel page, you can enable the tabs that show "Uploads" and "Playlists", as well as opening a "Discussion" tab for channel comments and an "About" tab for your channel so it isn't so watered down by YouTube as channels now are by default.

That's really all I have to say, so I'm going to take the time to organize this music and update the metadata for myself to the English equivalents; afterwards, I'll be sure to spend a fair amount of time listening to these. Of course, I'll consistently take the liberty to share this work with others every chance I get, too.

I just have to thank you again, Romantique Tp. This has been a truly fantastic collection of amazing efforts on your part, and I'm glad I've lived to see this part of Touhou and Seihou rekindle in the way it has since it's so obscure. I may have already given you my sentimental thank yous, but I'll truly be forever thankful to you for this.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on September 15, 2016, 06:47:12 PM
Feel welcome and thanks for the heads up. I was trying to find that setting, but I got a bit frustrated by YouTube's layout (the settings are all over the place) and kinda forgot about it. >.>

Someone pointed out that I had forgotten to upload the WAV version of the Kioh Gyoku (Seihou 2) soundtrack, so here it is.
This list should make it easy to compare the original SC-88Pro MIDI versions with the arranged WAV versions. The links lead to YouTube.
ZUN processed the WAV versions (limited or clipped), so it's going to sound louder than my SC-88Pro recordings if you don't touch the volume.

Kioh Gyoku WAV OST playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT_Ub2mO3nJKhboUUx6D5mR5)

MIDI Jingle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTFcWbnns7U)      Seihou Project logo       WAV Jingle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCGu-RL9Iv0)
MIDI Kioh Gyoku ~ Fairy Dance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIsCWIW9kDo)      Title screen theme       WAV Kioh Gyoku ~ Fairy Dance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m98DAAZ3WsE)
MIDI Velvet Maiden Battle ~ Velvet Battle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W9PDK4zZ0s)      VIVIT's theme       WAV Velvet Maiden Battle ~ Velvet Battle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oe62MZuD24)
MIDI Castle Explorer -in the Sky- (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmKQoLppruY)      Gates' theme       WAV Castle Explorer -in the Sky- (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0R6uIzUbaw)
MIDI Orphic Poetry ~ Pseudoclassic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7av7NZNw_LM)      Mei and Mai's theme       WAV Orphic Poetry ~ Pseudoclassic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl37wNh5NTM)
MIDI New Illusion ~ New Fantasy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf3paUxOCYs)      Milia's theme       WAV New Illusion ~ New Fantasy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pl4wRPgKhI)
MIDI Holy Knight of Orl?ans (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUcmDX7okIs)      Marie's theme       WAV Holy Knight of Orl?ans (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsxoWppK_b8)
MIDI My Maid, Sweet Maid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3trh1kHQ4o)      Erich's theme       WAV My Maid, Sweet Maid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XSvPXSofO0)
MIDI Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms ~ Flower of Japan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF2kCp4Kgfk)      Yuuka's theme       WAV Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms ~ Flower of Japan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NUT7GI-yqY)
MIDI Warrior Maiden ~ Heart of Valkyrie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnrKg_6z35E)      Morgan's theme       WAV Warrior Maiden ~ Heart of Valkyrie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ_7Ww4aZPI)
MIDI Enigmatic Doll ~ God Knows (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG4uMSFhj4U)      Muse's theme       WAV Enigmatic Doll ~ God Knows (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBReFar3YGw)

Kioh Gyoku WAV soundtrack (FLAC): MEGA (https://mega.nz/#!wo8kUZTB!VKs3DygZg5rf-LSPY6U3owcseytO6V1Vp2-zMEYUUyE) | MediaFire (http://www.mediafire.com/download/2c244fo4epao1ur/%E7%A8%80%E7%BF%81%E7%8E%89_%28Seihou_Kioh_Gyoku%29_WAV.zip)


The WAV version of this soundtrack is the point where ZUN stopped using the SC-88Pro.
He bought his new synth in late November 2001, so he only had a few days to figure it out and arrange everything he had composed so far in time for Comiket. The game was going to be sold on December 30.

Both versions of the soundtrack have almost completely different instrumentation from each other.
The SC-88Pro MIDI version is closer to Shuusou Gyoku in style, featuring prominent organs and square waves. These are almost completely missing from the WAV version, where there's a lot of piano, violin and cello action instead.
This game's soundtrack isn't bad. Give at least the WAV version a listen if you have never heard it before.

If you compare the WAV versions to the other recordings in this thread, you can get a rough idea of how the instruments in these MIDI modules have evolved over time.


Speaking of the SC-88Pro recordings, those who have heard a bunch of them may have noticed that something seems to be missing. Well, there's a first time for everything... I would say that the WAV version of Holy Knight of Orl?ans sounds pretty romantic.



(Hmm... I wanted my next post to be at the top of the next page, but it turns out that there are still 12 posts left for this thread to reach page 4, not 2 posts like I thought. There's no way this thread will receive 12 replies in the current century. Yay for horrible sleepy math.)
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Failure McFailFace on September 15, 2016, 09:47:14 PM
the wav and midi versions of Lovely Mound of Cherry Blossoms are a half-step apart, and slowly go out of sync if you play them at the same time

amazing
Title: Re: (!) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on September 17, 2016, 03:51:51 PM
I recorded the official demos for most of the synths relevant to this thread and uploaded them to YouTube. They'll give you the chance to hear a few of the hundreds of instruments from these modules which were never used by ZUN.
I'll also talk a little bit about them on the post below for those who may be interested in buying one, or for the curious. If you plan to buy any of these, avoid screenless versions. They're usually only slightly cheaper, they're a pain to use and all of them have worse DACs (noisier and less accurate audio) than the regular versions.

I also took the opportunity to re-record the SD-90 demos in even higher quality than before, also taking advantage of YouTube's updated AAC encoder. There are a bunch of new demos that I didn't upload last time. It's been 5 years...

Of course, these are all in massive overkill quality like always.

A list of the instruments and effects used in each demo can be found in the video descriptions. Note that most of these demos show off more than what's implied by their titles.

Roland SC-88 Sound Canvas Demos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVbmnvsKRhA&index=1&list=PLzdQcm51guT--hbRYS32kq8FYtRgG3sid)
Roland SC-88Pro Sound Canvas Demos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97zaMSnI8Rc&list=PLzdQcm51guT9aWEKDjBr4SrNtOvDyH_tM&index=1)
Roland/Edirol SD-90 Studio Canvas Demos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3HVk0PMA1w&list=PLzdQcm51guT_NeHkzro8n8AV7suEUyuLi&index=1)
Edirol HQ-QT Super Quartet Demos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMEBvsPU1ug&index=1&list=PLzdQcm51guT-G43aopEcMDs5k1SV8f2u-)
Edirol SD-20 Studio Canvas Demos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUVtGjRcgxc&index=1&list=PLzdQcm51guT9vjKdyzPRqt9U5ZUUTF4vf)

Recorded by EP:
Roland ED SC-8850 Sound Canvas Demos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSEoQpuOieQ&index=1&list=PLzdQcm51guT9Q17RxmNBLp5x7tiEeuZdb)
Roland SC-55 Sound Canvas Demos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhvI79GBqRY&index=1&list=PLzdQcm51guT8d9rVjBoSObXMWP1f56gQL)

To the people who subscribed to me, I'm sorry if this makes your inbox explode or something. I have no idea how this stuff works.

(I've decided to split this into two posts. The preview was looking a bit messy.)
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on September 17, 2016, 04:18:52 PM
This post looks big and scary, but it's actually not that long. I'm just bad with lines. I swear.

Pixel art by http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=981490

(http://i.imgur.com/ocwIGUa.png)  Roland SC-55 Sound Canvas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhvI79GBqRY&index=1&list=PLzdQcm51guT8d9rVjBoSObXMWP1f56gQL)
WAVE ROM: 3MB (6MB uncompressed) - 2MB of new sounds, 1MB for MT-32 sounds

Released in early 1991. You're probably already familiar with the sound of this one, even if you've never heard of it before. The stock Windows MIDI and Apple QuickTime sounds are lower quality versions of sounds from this module. There's no real "synthesis" going on in these software versions, which is one of the reasons why they sound so bad.

This is probably the best selling sound module of all time, but ironically it's one of the least heard on recordings. If you think you're hearing one, you're most likely actually hearing some 80's Roland synth. None of the sounds from this module were recorded specifically for it. They all come from other Roland products, and most were recorded around the mid 80's. About 8MB of sounds had to fit into only 2MB of ROM, so of course there were a few... casualties in terms of sound quality. But overall it doesn't sound bad for the time.

A minor upgrade, SC-55mkII was released in early 1993. It has a few new variations (based on samples that were already in ROM) and a less noisy, but slightly different sounding DAC. I recommend the old SC-55 to purists, but the SC-55mkII should be fine to those who play old computer games regularly. Both are very cheap.

No other Sound Canvas can play SC-55 MIDI files accurately.

--

(http://i.imgur.com/BZTuRza.png)  Roland SC-88 Super Sound Canvas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVbmnvsKRhA&index=1&list=PLzdQcm51guT--hbRYS32kq8FYtRgG3sid)
WAVE ROM: 8MB (16MB uncompressed) - 5+ MB of new sounds

Released in early 1994. This module has improved reverb and chorus effects, a new global delay effect and a new synth engine. Needless to say, it cant play SC-55 MIDIs accurately, even on the "SC-55 MAP" mode. And to make things worse, they actually ran out of ROM space for the new sounds, so a few of the SC-55 sounds had to be replaced, the most infamous examples being the strings and choir aahs. This has been inherited by every Sound Canvas released after it.

Virtually all acoustic instruments have new samples on the "SC-88 MAP". The samples come from the JV-80, an early version of the most widely used pro module of the 90's (the JV-1080), and the first five of its expansion boards. Many of the sounds in these demos should sound instantly familiar if you played 90's games (or even many from the 2000's) recently. The JV strings, french horns, harp and timpani for example can be heard in hundreds of recordings, both old and new. Many sounds had to be cut down to fit into the ROM (either there are less samples spread across the keyboard or they start looping sooner), but most are still recognizable.

Most of the demos are 32 channel, but many home setups at the time could only output to 16 channels, so a portion of the SC-88 userbase never got to hear them properly.

ZUN used this module for all of his MIDI work before 2000. He likely also used it for previewing the drafts of his PC-98 compositions before transcribing everything to MML.

The SC-88Pro sounds exactly the same as this module with "SC-88 MAP" activated, thanks to it using the same base synth engine, the same DAC and most of the same components, so the SC-88 is completely obsolete!

--

(http://i.imgur.com/uYScMf3.png)  Roland SC-88Pro Sound Canvas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97zaMSnI8Rc&list=PLzdQcm51guT9aWEKDjBr4SrNtOvDyH_tM&index=1)
WAVE ROM: 20MB (40MB uncompressed) - 12MB of new sounds

Released in late 1996. This is the star of this thread. People in the west love calling this just "SC-88", but it's actually a pretty big upgrade to that. New to the 88Pro are insert effects (such as guitar distortion), which allow composers to set themselves apart from the crowd by giving them more sound mangling or enhancement possibilities. One insert effect can be used at a time. Most of the important instruments had their samples replaced with the new stock samples from the JV-1080, and as well as even more high quality samples from expansion boards. The instrument programming is still absolutely nowhere as good as the JV series, but Roland was a lot nicer about the whole sample crippling thing this time around, so the new sounds are for the most part straight upgrades over their "SC-88 MAP" versions. It had the first good piano in a home user-oriented module.

This module was a mega hit in Japan, and its popularity grew even more ridiculous in the late 90's after it was revealed that Nobuo Uematsu used a vanilla SC-88 for the music of Final Fantasy. About 95% of all japanese MIDIs are made for either the 88Pro or vanilla SC-88.

This is hands down the best module for those who want to listen to MIDIs at consistently good quality. It rarely sounds astoundingly amazing, but pretty much everything sounds at least decent on it. The screen and the buttons on the front make it easy for even the most clueless person to switch between the SC-55/88/88Pro sound sets or make quick tweaks on the fly, for example while playing a game.

--

(http://i.imgur.com/Op9qREi.png)  Roland ED SC-8850/8820 Sound Canvas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSEoQpuOieQ&index=1&list=PLzdQcm51guT9Q17RxmNBLp5x7tiEeuZdb)
8850: WAVE ROM: 32MB (64MB uncompressed) - 12MB of new sounds
8820: WAVE ROM: 24MB (48MB uncompressed) - 4MB of new sounds

Released in 1999. This has the same amount of new sounds in MB as the 88Pro, so it has to be a big upgrade, right? Well not really, because they used most of that space on the new stereo strings (which are admittedly nice sounding) and a hundred of filler SFX sounds and one-shot ethnic percussion to try to inflate the module's instrument count! Other than that you get a stereo version of the 88Pro piano, new harpsichord, clavi, music box, tubular bell, santur, harmonica, acoustic bass, sitar and some new organ variations. The solo brasses, oboe and clarinet have extra samples for notes played either softly or hard. It also has a few new poorly programmed ethnic instruments and drums many people didn't like.

Overall, it still sounds too much like the 88Pro, but there's a catch: due to some synth engine changes, the SC-8850 is infamously unable to play many 88Pro MIDIs accurately.
This module usually sells for up to 250 bucks more than the 88Pro. You're technically paying 250 more for a SC-88Pro that can't play MIDIs made for itself 100% correctly. Most of the time (depending on the track), half of the new samples don't sound much better than the old ones, and often they actually sound worse. I think it's a waste of money.

The SC-8820 (released in late 1999) has much better SC-88Pro compatibility. It's missing nearly all of the new instruments from the 8850, but it keeps all of the filler SFX and percussion (lol). It has a few extra presets compared to the 88Pro, but most of them are just one old sound played together with another. You could do that yourself. By the way, it's also usually sold for more than a 88Pro. You're basically paying to lose the screen and all of the front panel buttons.

ZUN bought a SC-8850 around mid-august 2001, and he used it in a grand total of 3 tracks. He most likely sold it to buy a new module on november of that year (he kept the SC-88Pro). He did mention liking the piano, but I think you can guess what he thought of the module as a whole for him to replace it in 3 months.

--

(http://i.imgur.com/wFYTiNn.png)  Edirol SD-90 Studio Canvas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3HVk0PMA1w&list=PLzdQcm51guT_NeHkzro8n8AV7suEUyuLi&index=1)
WAVE ROM: 32MB (64MB uncompressed) - 24~ MB of new sounds.

Released in October 2001. This module is half a synthesizer, half a high quality USB audio interface, and it's what I used to record everything in this thread. Despite the name and the fact that it was also aimed at home users, the Studio Canvas series was a whole new family of modules unrelated to the Sound Canvas series, and it has almost zero backwards compatibility with them. Nearly all of the samples from the SC-55 and SC-88 have been dropped entirely, along with the filler and gimmicks from the SC-8850. Most of the important instruments have new samples, including many samples from the then new Roland XV series. The XV samples have a higher sample rate and have less aggressive lossy compression applied to them, giving them a deeper, more vibrant sound. The instruments that didn't get new samples have been reprogrammed, and sound more convincing. Higher quality versions of both the SC-88Pro and SC-8850 pianos are included, and some of the samples that had to be heavily cut down during the vanilla SC-88 era such as the violin, cello, oboe and shakuhachi return in full quality. Even prehistoric synth presets such as Fantasia and Halo Pad got revamped.

This module includes all of the engine features of the XV-5080, such as high quality SRV reverb, COSM insert effects like Guitar Amp Simulator (3 inserts can be used at a time) and the ability to customize every single parameter of a preset, or even create your own from scratch. The only thing that's missing is hardware expandability.

Contrary to popular belief, this module actually has 3 different sounding trumpets, not just one.

Don't buy this one if you only intend to listen to random MIDI files. It's wasn't designed for that.

--

(http://i.imgur.com/1HgbPGz.png)  Edirol HQ-QT Super Quartet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMEBvsPU1ug&index=1&list=PLzdQcm51guT-G43aopEcMDs5k1SV8f2u-)

Released in 2001, around the same time as the SD-90. This DAW plugin includes a collection of pianos, guitars, basses and drums, and could be considered a software-based expansion for the SD-90. It includes some samples which were clearly considered to be included with the SD-90 but were left out due to the lack of ROM space, such as a new piano, a modern 6 string bass (fingered, slapped and popped), some guitar and bass noises and a bunch spanish shouts to go along with your mexican trumpet.

The piano is pretty good for fast playing...

--

(http://i.imgur.com/LDpCjnR.png)  Edirol SD-20 Studio Canvas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUVtGjRcgxc&list=PLzdQcm51guT9vjKdyzPRqt9U5ZUUTF4vf&index=1)
(Actually recorded on a SD-90 in GM2 mode)

Released in 2002. This is a module mainly intended for use with a laptop, and it's missing almost everything I mentioned above about the SD-90. Half of the presets are missing, including many important ones, and you're stuck with no insert effects and the lower quality "General MIDI 2" reverb and chorus. They also managed to make it somehow even less editable than a Sound Canvas, which were already infamous for being inflexible... This is just not very suitable for a primary module, and like the SD-90 it's not very good for playing random MIDIs either.

Most of the demos for it are pretty cheesy too. I only recorded them because a few of the instruments used weren't featured in the SD-90 demos.

---------

Hmm, I doubt anyone here will interested enough to read even half of this, but hopefully this will be at least a little helpful to people who find this thread on google.
This was written after a whole week of bad sleep. I might have to take another look at this post later.

OK so maybe this post is kinda long,
Title: Re: (!) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DX7.EP on September 18, 2016, 06:32:43 AM
Fantastic write-up on the Sound Canvas line as always! :toot:

While the 88Pro is indeed the recommended model, I wonder if we can also suggest or at least get input on iOS Sound Canvas and Roland SC-VA, considering they are software 8820s. Given that quite a few are using the latter for DOS gaming (https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=46111), I reckon that they'll be serviceable for some who may find the convenience preferable over complete accuracy.

Additionally, as an SC-55ST (basically a headless SC-55mkII) and 8850 owner, I can provide recordings of the Roland demo MIDIs for both modules if you like.
Title: Re: (!) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on September 19, 2016, 01:46:55 PM
This will be a good reference if I have the desire to get a module for MIDI sequences, so thank you for posting such a well put together list with good information. No worries about the post's length; I tend to not mind reading post like that on the reality that I make them too. ^^;

On another note, I noticed too that you mentioned the idea of uploading the WAV soundtrack for Kioh Gyoku before, but since it wasn't too hard to find those songs on YouTube, so I didn't say anything, but I have to say it is really good to hear those song with a higher quality upload.

I also saw that for the Kioh Gyoku soundtrack download that we didn't get an AAC upload. Is there a chance we could get that later down the line? I noticed that after managing to organize most of the bulk downloads on my laptop, and since I'm heading back to college soon, I'll have decent chance to enjoy this music.
Title: Re: (!) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on September 20, 2016, 02:25:46 PM
Here's it in AAC: Mega (https://mega.nz/#!hpkXWYyD!95v4KtkI80ilHK_U_AfzH2uW3P_cFJgzUp_iCFd9OzQ) | MediaFire (http://www.mediafire.com/download/l5ncqdtzb05ynzh/%E7%A8%80%E7%BF%81%E7%8E%89_%28Seihou_Kioh_Gyoku%29_WAV_%28AAC%29.zip)

@EP:

That would be nice. Here's a few tips for making them sound as good as possible. You probably already know a lot of this, but I guess a little refresher doesn't hurt:

Record at 44.1kHz, 24 bit. This has to be set on both your SD-90 and your DAW. Set your audio buffer size moderately high to prevent clicks while recording. Setting it to 5 should be good.

The SC-8850 uses the same DAC as the XV-3080 and XV-5080. This DAC performs only very slightly worse than the one used by the SD-90, which has pretty much noiseless output (for reference, set the LINE level to 0 using the V3 knob).
So here's a little test. Set the 8850's volume knob to max and the SD-90's gain knob to minimum, LINE at 100. Play some decently loud MIDI file (something from Shuusou Gyoku or whatever demo MIDI you find the loudest works), adjust the gain until the PEAK LED starts to light up, then pause the MIDI. If you hear noise at this level, in a few cases you just have to move the RCAs around to make sure that no other cable is touching them, but if that doesn't help you probably need better RCA cables. The ones I mentioned on the first post are pretty good as you can hear all over this thread, but Blue Jeans or Monoprice cables should also do the job. The shorter the better, but no need to get something ultra short if it's impractical for you.

Record each MIDI with the gain knob set as high as possible, but watch your DAW's stereo input channel and make sure that the highest peak of what you're recording doesn't exceed -3 dBFS. You can safely normalize the recording to -1 dBFS afterwards. I would re-record the MIDI if I found that the recording peaks below -5 dB. Your DAW may have an audio analyzer tool that allows you to check the highest peak for the whole recording with one click.

The SC-8850 should be safe to record with its volume knob at max, the level being controlled only using the SD-90's gain knob. You can lower the volume on the 8850 a tiny bit if you're not sure, it shouldn't make much of a difference since the noise floor is so low.
The SC-55ST uses older components which may not be able to handle louder parts at max volume so well. You'll have to use your hears here. If things sound weird during louder parts I would try lowering the volume on the SC-55 a little and see if it changes anything.

As for the software stuff you mentioned, the one for iOS is so cheap that the inaccuracies don't really matter. I don't know if you can connect them to a computer and use them as a fake hardware module, but if you already have an iOS device just go for it. Don't go buy one just for this app though.
I find VA a pointless ripoff. Not only there are noticeable inaccuracies in several MIDI files, the price is just absurd. You can buy a real SC-55 for less (as low as 20 bucks if you're lucky), a SC-88 for about the same price and a 88Pro for just a little more. You could also buy a SC-55+MT-32 which is a fantastic retro computer gaming setup for roughly the same price. If you're a composer looking for bread and butter sounds, just add $100 more and you can buy the full version of Halion Sonic 2, which comes with sounds from the Yamaha Motif XS and XF (it will probably be updated soon with sounds from the Montage), full editability like the JV-1080 and the SD-90 and an interface and preset browser that make sense. VA's interface is a mess, specially if you're using it for gaming. On a real 88Pro, if the BGM sounds weird you can do stuff like switching sound sets or lowering the global reverb while playing the game, you don't even have to pause or look at the module. On VA you would probably have to pause the game, alt+tab then click several times just to make a tiny adjustment that would only take half a second on the real thing. Setting VA up for gaming is also a pain, because it's just not meant for that. A real Sound Canvas is pretty much plug and play even if it's your first time using one.

I think the SC-55 is the best for people who play stuff like DOS or X68000 games a lot. If these games were on console this is what the CD soundtrack would probably have sounded like anyway, at least for western games. If you primarily play western games you can get away with buying some $3 chinese USB-MIDI cable instead of a proper USB MIDI interface, which helps keep everything super cheap. These chinese cables can't transmit SysEx, but this isn't a big deal since nearly all MIDI files made outside of japan don't make use of the advanced features of any synthesizer.


Sorry for taking so long to reply, I've been feeling kinda dead for the past few days.
Title: Re: (!) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DX7.EP on September 22, 2016, 04:03:33 AM
The refresher course indeed did help with reviewing recording procedure and process. :)

Anyways I've gone and uploaded the 55 (via the ST) (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxLHKQnZaGMdNDJ1bmNmSXdVWkE) and 8850 (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxLHKQnZaGMdOGhrTUJZd3J1T1U) demos as 24-bit FLAC files - feel free to use these as deemed appropriate. I alas don't trust my connection enough to make YT videos to showcase these, but I reckon these will be a better fit on your channel anyway alongside the rest of the SC line's videos. Now everyone else can also savour the pleasure
(read: atrocity)
that is the 8850 standard drum kit! >:D

I also think I have ZUN's 8850-specific MIDIs lying around somewhere, and I'll probably get around to those in a bit. That would leave the 8820's demo MIDIs, but I think it's better to leave that for others who actually have 8820s or equivalent. :P

As for the software stuff you mentioned, the one for iOS is so cheap that the inaccuracies don't really matter. I don't know if you can connect them to a computer and use them as a fake hardware module, but if you already have an iOS device just go for it. Don't go buy one just for this app though.
This is probably possible via various MIDI interfaces (eg. iRig MIDI (http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigmidi2/) plus a proper USB-MIDI adapter) - heck, even Roland's web page for it (https://www.roland.com/us/products/sound_canvas_for_ios/features/) mentions that as a feature. Alas I don't have an iOS device to toy with at the moment; otherwise I'd look more into this software.

Quote
(SC-VA plugin - massive case of caveat emptor as an overpriced and underdelivering VSTi)
Personally I'm inclined to agree, having tried the demo version for a bit in both music and vintage gaming uses. Maybe it could work on a secondary system as a pseudo Sound Canvas for driving another system's MIDI output, but at that point one might as well get the real hardware, yeah? :P

Quote
I think the SC-55 is the best for people who play stuff like DOS or X68000 games a lot.
That seems to be the 55 line's biggest usage scenario, indeed, and the main reason I have mine.
Title: Re: (!) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: CC-kun on September 24, 2016, 05:56:32 PM
-AAC (VBR, Highest Bitrate):
MP4 lossy audio. Official closed source Fraunhofer IIS encoder.

I just wanted to give my personal thanks on using Fraunhofer AAC for the lossy format. In my personal use, it has been the best performing AAC implementation, especially on HE-AAC (for Niconico uploads which really shouldn't fit in 100MB).

By the way, do you know any of the pros/cons between OPUS and AAC?
I am doing some mass-conversion of songs, and I was wondering if you had anything to say about that.
Title: Re: (!) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on September 25, 2016, 03:25:08 AM
snip

Thanks. The SC-8850 recordings ended up being a little noisier than I expected but that's no big deal. I've uploaded everything to YouTube and I will add them to the original posts:

SC-8850 Demos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSEoQpuOieQ&index=1&list=PLzdQcm51guT9Q17RxmNBLp5x7tiEeuZdb)
SC-55 Demos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhvI79GBqRY&index=1&list=PLzdQcm51guT8d9rVjBoSObXMWP1f56gQL)


A list of the instruments used is included in the descriptions like always. Making these lists always takes much longer than expected.
Note that the SC-55 demos you recorded are actually the demo files included with the Roland SB-55 Sound Brush, which also include the vanilla SC-55 demos, so I've tagged the videos accordingly.

I've not heard the SC-8850 demos in forever. I totally didn't realize that the Super Quartet steel guitar demo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2WZKApVaRM&list=PLzdQcm51guT-G43aopEcMDs5k1SV8f2u-&index=4) was an arranged version of the SC-8850 blues demo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8l42eOXenM&index=3&list=PLzdQcm51guT9Q17RxmNBLp5x7tiEeuZdb) while I was recording it.

I've been always a bit disappointed with these demos because they don't feature the new clavi, harpsichord, santur and sitar at all. These are easily some of the best new sounds on the SC-8850.

One thing a lot of people don't notice is that the SD-90 piano is the same as the SC-8850 and SC-88Pro pianos, the later two are just in lower quality. The notes between D and G on the octave above middle C are a dead giveaway, specially if you play softly. I've recorded the SD-90 (http://www.mediafire.com/download/a6c5c7ypvr1w9b2/St.Piano_1w.m4a) playing the SC-8850 piano demo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtduDHTnr3Y). Note how the notes have a more natural ringing to them and a fatter sound, while the SC-8850 piano sounds thinner and almost like an electric grand (think CP-80) when high notes are played.

And yeah... That snare sounds like someone slapping a box, barely any punch. They probably went overboard on the lossy sample compression. SD-90's stereo drums aren't the most massive sounding drums either but that's because someone at Roland thought it would be funny if they put mostly unprocessed drums from a professional module into one intended for home users.

Here's ZUN's SC-8850 stuff if you feel like recording them: http://www.mediafire.com/download/4az2m1vnb8vf1hh/ZUN_8850.zip

By the way, do you know any of the pros/cons between OPUS and AAC?
I am doing some mass-conversion of songs, and I was wondering if you had anything to say about that.

It's hard to talk about Opus because it hasn't received as much testing as other lossy encoders. One downside is that like its predecessor (OGG Vorbis), it's not as widely supported as MP3 and AAC/MP4.
Both Opus and AAC seem to perform more or less the same at around 128kbps+. For a music collection, I would use AAC. You'll be able to play AAC on pretty much anything released in the past 8 years. I would recommend a bitrate of at least 192kbps~, but 128kbps~ should be fine if you don't have the space. The closed source Fraunhofer encoder uses these bits really well.
Opus performs better than HE-AAC for low bitrate stuff (100 kbps or less). If you really need to use low bitrate and your player/device supports it, you should definitely use that.
Title: (pls help) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on September 26, 2016, 11:25:31 PM
So hm, here's a little announcement.

Since I announced that I had finished this project about 3 weeks ago, this thread has received over 2000 views and the full music packs have been downloaded by about 500 people. Most of these views and downloads seem to be from people who aren't registered here, but that's still a lot for such a niche subject. Thank you very much.

However, the project is kinda underperforming on YouTube. Everything is properly tagged and titled, the problem is, since there's so many tracks (over 150), the views and likes for these videos are spread too thin. This hurts the discoverability of the project as a whole, because the ranking of videos on YouTube search depend heavily on these two things. It's important for these videos to show high in search because most people go straight to YouTube instead of using Google to look for music. A large portion of the fanbase may not even know that this project exists.

So, do you want to help people find and listen to these MIDIs the way ZUN intended them to be heard instead of those silly stock Windows MIDI synth recordings? I've been doing some research on the subject and monitoring my own videos to see which show up higher in search and why. Here's how you can help (the things that require the least commitment are listed first):


-Likes: Moderate effect on ranking. No need to like every video of course, even liking just your 3~5 favorite tracks helps immensely. (the same applies to everything below)
-Watch time: This has a big effect on ranking. Watching most of a video tells YouTube that it's probably good stuff. This counts even if the video is being played in another tab or window.
-Comments: Big effect on ranking. If you have something to say about any track, just go ahead. Anything goes, and feel free to post in your native language if you have trouble with english. In the past 95% of the comments on my videos were in japanese anyway.
-Subscribing has a similar effect to watch time, it tells YouTube that the video must be good. Almost everything I'll post will be related to ZUN or old video game music in some way, so don't force yourself to subscribe if you have no interest on these things. If the only reason why you haven't subscribed yet is because you don't want your Subscriptions feed to be completely flooded with synth demos, keep in mind that it's just the Sound Canvas modules that have a million demos and I've already uploaded all of them. :V

Basically, everything tracked by YouTube analytics helps your videos rank higher in search. If you ever wondered why so many people beg for likes and comments even though they seem completely pointless... Well, that's why. You can help any YouTuber by doing the above.


All playlists could use a little help, but here's the ones I believe need it the most:

Story of Eastern Wonderland MIDI version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enDte5gY5b4&list=PLzdQcm51guT9FmSbAS6N5-PVPgO1Pwadc)
ZUN's PC-98 Arranges (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT8dJ8tcWs9P02O049OLKzwp)
ZUN's Strange Works (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT8Wljks6-D00J8qEEIs3ZEy)
Seihou Shuusou Gyoku OST (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT8_7wBWFgEZia3FcGqeEqbx)
Torte Le Magic OST (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT9gl_Ziz1wZeA5ltknfbw61)

I also made a (completely disorganized) playlist of all ZUN MIDIs I've recorded (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT_EU6K_o9hZpQ-tm0UTDYZI), just in case anyone needs it for whatever reason. It's 10 hours long!

I configured all of my playlists (except the 150 video one above) so that every like, every minute watched helps the whole playlist the video belongs to rank higher in search.

Of course spreading the word about this project also helps. Just make sure people understand that these aren't recordings of some random sound module, this is how these MIDIs are supposed to sound.


I got this SC-88Pro just for this project, knowing only a few people would care. I admit I came pretty close to giving up on this more than once, but my objective was never to become more liked by anyone or gain any sort of internet fame for recording these. All I want is to give everyone the chance to listen to these the way they were meant to be heard, but there's only so much I can do alone to reach the few who may be interested.
Title: Re: (pls help) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on September 27, 2016, 03:06:50 PM
While most of my time has been allocated to listening on my music player, I definitely could spend some more time watching videos and commenting; I've already put my like on every one of your Touhou SC-88Pro uploads as well as subscribed before this prompt, so that much is done on my part. I wouldn't force my comments if it came to that here, but the good news is that I myself can leave genuine comments on most of these since I enjoy them.

YouTube can be slow with views, and likely a majority of your YouTube views is from this thread, so eventually, it would need promotion elsewhere, and since the SC-88Pro module is more obscure, the knowledge that Touhou MIDI sound the way the were intended to be heard off this module itself needs to be information more out there and told in other communities that are interested so it's not just limited to one thread on the web. I would post it on something like social media, but I don't bother with those myself.

What I also know is that on YouTube searches key words play a pivotal role on finding what people are looking for in searches in both the title and description, and you have indeed done well with key words, but the videos you're are competing with the ones that also do that with stock Windows MIDI Wavetable Synth uploads because those have been on there since early 2010's and beyond, so they've had the time and attention focused solely on them for a while now, and might continue to do, so the things we do to help might not get the videos popular right away because of that.

I saw you also made a big playlist with all of the songs you uploaded, but those they aren't all organized yet. Still, bear in mind that getting views on your playlist will also promote them in searches, and your lists do have a lot more views than the videos, which can promote the entirety of the videos and not just a video by itself.

I'll do what I can myself, add and organize your videos to my personal playlists, comment on the videos, and even make a big shout-out for this elsewhere, but all that will have to happen sometime later when I have the time. What I can do for now is open up a bunch of playlist tabs, set them those lists on repeat, mute the tabs through volume mixer or by browser tab mute, and let those videos play all day while I'm away at school. I won't mute them through the YouTube player because I'm unsure if the fact that I watched those videos muted would pick up in the algorithms of the site.
Title: Re: (pls help) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on September 27, 2016, 04:08:14 PM
Thanks!

I'm not sure if listening to them on repeat will help. YouTube might find it suspicious specially with short playlists like Torte Le Magic and the ones for the trial versions of the games. Just letting them play once from start to finish should be more than enough, really. :P

As for YouTube search, it seems to prefer newer, higher quality videos over old ones for as long as they have sufficient likes and user activity (watch time, comments, people subscribing, etc), so I think we still have a good chance of reaching the top of the search results.
In the case of the Seihou 1 OST and arranges, I originally recorded them on another synth (a Roland synth loosely related to the 88Pro) back in 2011, and they used to show at the top of search. I've since deleted them, but they had far more views than the Microsoft GS recordings that are now at the top. These can definitely be outranked with people's help.
Title: Re: (pls help) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on September 29, 2016, 11:17:51 PM
It's working! Everything is showing up higher (sometimes a lot higher) in search than before. I definitely wasn't expecting this to happen so soon, specially not in the middle of the week.
Thanks a lot to everyone who has helped so far, I really don't know what to say. We still need more help for these recordings to show up somewhere near the top of search results, but I couldn't be happier with this start.
Title: Re: (pls help) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on October 01, 2016, 12:31:30 PM
It's working!

Oh hey, that's good news! Truth be told, I haven't been letting those repeated playlist go off as much since I posted my last reply, so the boost isn't all from me because I was experiencing some video's not loading which in turn stopped any chances for video's to go from start to finish without some sort of input from me. I was able to fix that two days ago by clearing the cache and cookies on YouTube which fixed everything not loading weirdly specific videos ever. I now play these on my desktop and laptop and let it sit in the background, so I hope that helps at least a little more, but the more the merrier!

I'm not sure if listening to them on repeat will help. YouTube might find it suspicious specially with short playlists like Torte Le Magic and the ones for the trial versions of the games. Just letting them play once from start to finish should be more than enough, really.
Thankfully this has what I've been letting it do, and I'm using your bulk playlist, so yeah, things ought to be fine in terms of watch time and from being suspicious even though it's obvious what I'm doing :V. All the repeated playlist button does is bring you back to the first video of the list by the moment you reach the end, and I know that looping from double-right clicking doesn't give more views but neither does actually video replaying, so I'm not grinding views by refreshing the page or listen on repeat for this; playlists make this so much easier. ^^;
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: shockdude on October 02, 2016, 07:31:47 AM
Here's the MIDI versions of the music for the trial versions of Perfect Cherry Blossom, Imperishable Night and Phantasmagoria of Flower View. These are the same as the ones included with the full versions.

From PCB on ZUN composed and recorded his music using his new MIDI module. The SC-88Pro wasn't used at all. The only reason these MIDI versions exist at all was due to the circumstances at the time (distributing 150 MB trials over the internet was impractical). ZUN would probably prefer if nobody heard these, but here we are.

Many of these have small differences in the instrumentation.

The MIDIs for IN are missing some Special instruments that have no equivalent in the SC-88Pro, while the ones for PoFV also play the wrong drum notes because the kit ZUN used wasn't fully GS/GM compatible and he didn't bother editing that.

Enjoy.
Am I understanding this correctly? Half the MIDIs from the full versions of PCB/IN/PoFV were composed for the SC-88Pro (stages 1-3), and the remaining MIDIs were composed for the SD-80/SD-90/whatever ZUN used at the time?

Edit: wait the SC-88 version of Eternal Shrine Maiden has the same awesome intro and extra melodies as DiPP's arrange. What. I always thought HRtP's arrange was the original and that DiPP added extra cool stuff for the CD, why is the HRtP version so different?
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 02, 2016, 09:52:34 PM
snip
BTW, I forgot to mention one thing. For those who are letting the playlists play from start to finish with the audio muted, I would recommend only doing this once every one or two weeks at most, and without setting the playlist to repeat. This is because YouTube may be giving small ranking penalties to videos with low views where a large % of the views come from the same IPs.

Of course you don't have to worry about any of this you're listening to the music on YouTube normally. In this case you're free to do whatever you want.

Am I understanding this correctly? Half the MIDIs from the full versions of PCB/IN/PoFV were composed for the SC-88Pro (stages 1-3), and the remaining MIDIs were composed for the SD-80/SD-90/whatever ZUN used at the time?
No, it wouldn't make sense for anyone to do something like that. The entire soundtracks for these three games were composed and recorded on ZUN's new synth, the 88Pro wasn't used at all. The entire soundtrack was then quickly edited into SC-88Pro compatible MIDIs, the first 3 stages out of necessity (for the web trial) and the rest as a bonus. I didn't record the rest of the tracks because they have even less effort put into them than the trial MIDIs.

Quote
Edit: wait the SC-88 version of Eternal Shrine Maiden has the same awesome intro and extra melodies as DiPP's arrange. What. I always thought HRtP's arrange was the original and that DiPP added extra cool stuff for the CD, why is the HRtP version so different?
Well that's right, the DiPP version makes some noticeable changes and additions to the original 88Pro MIDI arrangement. Are you sure you're not actually talking about Eastern Strange Discourse?
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: shockdude on October 02, 2016, 11:10:01 PM
No, it wouldn't make sense for anyone to do something like that. The entire soundtracks for these three games were composed and recorded on ZUN's new synth, the 88Pro wasn't used at all. The entire soundtrack was then quickly edited into SC-88Pro compatible MIDIs, the first 3 stages out of necessity (for the web trial) and the rest as a bonus. I didn't record the rest of the tracks because they have even less effort put into them than the trial MIDIs.
Ah that makes much more sense. Thanks for the info.
Well that's right, the DiPP version makes some noticeable changes and additions to the original 88Pro MIDI arrangement. Are you sure you're not actually talking about Eastern Strange Discourse?
The PC-98 version of Eternal Shrine Maiden is very different from the DiPP/SC-88 versions.
Eternal Shrine Maiden on PC-98 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzOUqOCRXOs)
Eternal Shrine Maiden on Akyu's Untouched Score (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxgC-ZNhfco)
Neither of these versions have the 1-minute-long introduction and additional melodies that the the DiPP (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VWjG8PwPLw) and SC-88 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ThIAMywETg) versions have.

I originally thought the intro was first added in DiPP as an extension of the PC-98 arrange. After reading ZUN's comment (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Highly_Responsive_to_Prayers/Music#Theme_of_Levels_1-4.2C_Hell_Levels_16-19), it's clear that the FM PC-98 version was the original version of the track, and ZUN later rearranged it with the SC-88. The SC-88 version in turn became the basis for the DiPP arrange.

The SC-88 version is awesome. The work you've put into these recordings is incredible, well done.
Title: Re: (!) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DX7.EP on October 03, 2016, 09:27:22 PM
Thanks. The SC-8850 recordings ended up being a little noisier than I expected but that's no big deal.
No problem at all! :)

Now that you mention the 8850 recordings being a tad noisy, I do notice where you're coming from with that (and the 55 recordings also had this too). I guess I'll need to re-review my recording setup and methodology; the way I'm handling it shows itself to be rather muddy, and the -1dB amplification threshold I used (an odd erratum on my part, possibly) may not be helping either. :fail:

Quote
Here's ZUN's SC-8850 stuff if you feel like recording them.
On it, gov'na, alongside a protocol review.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 04, 2016, 04:21:03 AM
I don't think it's too bad (your recordings are much less noisy than some of the stuff I've heard on niconico), but if you want to reduce the noise you can try this:

-Make sure the SC-8850's input volume knob behind the module is set to minimum. This is done by rotating it all the way to the left, pointing to the side opposite of the input/output jacks.
-Disconnect any unused audio cables connected to either the SD-90 and SC-8850, for example anything connected to the SC-8850's inputs.
-Maybe the audio output from the SC-8850 is just louder than the SC-88Pro... If you set the SD-90's input gain knob too low the noise will take over. Using the knobs on the two modules, try decreasing the volume a bit on the 8850 and then increasing the input gain on the SD-90 to compensate.

That's all I can think of besides getting new cables. Hope this helps.

snip
Thanks. I thought you were comparing the 88Pro arrange to the DiPP version... There was nothing hinting that you were talking about the Mystic Square music room/Akyu's Untouched Score version in your post.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: [K]KoaMeow on October 04, 2016, 06:52:55 PM
A little off topic, but now that my interests are piqued about trial versions...

After some googling, I've only managed to find the Trial Version 1.000h (http://coolier.sytes.net:8080/th_up4/index.php?andor=or&sword=4033+4034&mode=ret) with VIVIT being the single playable character.

Was there any mirrors for this? The website seems to be up, but I can't access it for some reason.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 04, 2016, 09:12:15 PM
http://www.mediafire.com/file/rrv5z93qt1o95mh/KIOH1208.LZH

It's almost exactly the same as the final update just like most trial versions released after the full game.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: [K]KoaMeow on October 05, 2016, 12:09:58 AM
thanks a bunch.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DX7.EP on October 07, 2016, 02:44:48 AM
...and here we have ZUN's three MIDIs made specifically for the 8850, at last! I find it interesting how the instrumentation changes between the 88Pro and 8850 versions.

Did a bit of adjustment (basically muting the RCA audio inputs to the 8850, and adjusting the normalisation process slightly to include minute noise reduction and amplification to -0.15dB to be more similar to your recordings' -0.17dB). I still think more could be done to adjust the noise level, but at this point I should get new RCA cables.

I think that the 8850 - or at least my unit - might be handling noise oddly; in my experience with this module, using USB as the main input source ended up generating lots of noise that was largely absent when using serial or MIDI cables instead, presumably an electronics or wiring issue. (On that note, I use the module in MIDI mode, including for the 8850 demos and these recordings).

EDIT: Link removed amidst recording errors.

Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 07, 2016, 03:45:16 AM
I just realized something important. These SC-8850 MIDIs have multiple program change messages on the same channel during the same MIDI tick, and whatever software and/or hardware ZUN was using back then caused the first program change combo (CC00, CC32, Program Change) to be prioritized. Most modern setups and DAWs will prioritize the last one to appear, so a few instruments are wrong. Here's the changes you'll have to make:

th01_04:
-All good.

th03_05:
-CH02 should be Bass & Lead (CC00: 0 - CC32: 4 - PC: 88) , instead of Tremolo Orch.
-CH03 should be St.Strings 3 (CC00: 18 - CC32: 4 - PC: 49), instead of Piano 1.

th05_21:
-CH02 should be Jazz Gt. (CC00: 0 - CC32: 4 - PC: 27), instead of Dist Square.

Sorry for not realizing this sooner. I only noticed this when I heard the piano in your recording of Reincarnation, that's definitely not intended. :V
The only reason why my recording of Peaceful Romancer isn't affected is because the SC-88Pro processes MIDI slowly, so it ignores the second Program Change combo completely.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DX7.EP on October 07, 2016, 04:10:21 AM
Well now! I'll get to that once I can.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Goomba98 on October 09, 2016, 02:16:31 AM
How expensive is the SC-88Pro, and how hard is it to set one up? I ask because in the distant future I want to make LPs, and when I LP Seihou I want the music to sound right.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 09, 2016, 11:11:57 AM
The 88Pro is fairly cheap by hardware module standards. It's usually 140~ USD, but sometimes you'll see someone selling one for 100~ or even less. These are probably listings by people who don't understand that the SC-88 and SC-88Pro are far from being the same module.

You'll need an USB MIDI interface. No need for something expensive, but avoid super cheap chinese "USB MIDI cables" such as these specific ones:
http://i.imgur.com/8f5slma.jpg - http://i.imgur.com/KcfXYme.jpg
They're unable to send SysEx messages, in other words the music will use the wrong effect settings. They're only ok for western DOS games.

If you buy one from Japan you'll probably need a voltage transformer. Some sellers may offer to include one with your purchase.

For recording, you'll want to use the RCA outputs on the back of the module. Don't use the headphone output for this. For a LP (specially if you plan to talk), a RCA to 3.5mm cable (http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021815&p_id=5597&seq=1&format=2) or adapter connected to your computer's line-in jack will probably be enough. Needless to say the quality wont be as high as my recordings (you'll need a proper USB audio interface and good cables for that), but the noise should be hard to hear over the game's (loud) sound effects.

Setting it up should be as simple as any other computer peripheral. After the first setup, all you'll need to do is turn the module on and it will be ready to use.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Koakuma on October 16, 2016, 07:21:32 AM
The Midis on SoEW aren't an bonus which ZUN made for the game, it are playable ingame, when selecting midi on config screen (when you have an midi device attached on pc-98)
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Drake on October 16, 2016, 08:34:56 AM
...And that's also the case for PCB, IN, and PoFV. That has nothing to do with why they're bonuses.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on October 16, 2016, 08:57:45 AM
Oh hey, I saw Romantique Tp uploaded the tracks of Perfect Cherry Blossom stage 4 off the SC-88Pro on YouTube! I was pleasantly surprised as they sounded quite nice off it. ^^

Curiously, what prompted you to upload those? I know you originally said
[...] but every MIDI after that sounds like it was edited for the 88Pro in just a few minutes, so I think it would be a waste of time.
so knowing that, it was out of left field seeing those uploaded, but certainly not unwelcome because despite their quick edits being true, I still ended up liking what I heard. I might just be really easy to please, but I really cannot help but form a insatiable curiosity for how the rest of the games sound like now. There is just something about the SC-88Pro that gives these songs a magical touch, but I suppose it's up to you.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 16, 2016, 03:58:16 PM
In hindsight, some of the tracks in PCB and IN are among the most popular tracks in the series. Even if they don't sound as good as they could, not posting these will indirectly make the whole project less likely to be found by people searching on YouTube. (It's not everyday that people look for Seihou and PC-98 stuff, even if they care about them)

It also helps that I actually have some subscribers now. Apparently, subscribers watching your video while it's still new greatly increases the chance that it will be recommended to others, in our case random people watching other Touhou videos.

So uh, to those who have subscribed, consider listening to these new PCB and IN recordings. Some people seem to be enjoying them, maybe you will too. :V I'll try to record and upload at least 2 or 3 tracks a day.
Title: Re: (pls help) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 18, 2016, 11:40:06 PM
Just a little heads up to everyone, I talked to Mangekyou (one of the people who had recorded the Seihou 1 soundtrack with the Windows MIDI synthesizer), and while they refused to take their videos down, they did agree to temporarily make their videos private to give my recordings a chance to have their YouTube search rankings improved. If you would like to help make them permanently show up high in search, just search for "seihou shuusou gyoku ost" on youtube, click my playlist and follow these tips (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,18989.msg1286680.html#msg1286680). Basically you just need to listen to a few tracks, and optionally maybe like and/or comment. You'll be helping even if you've listened to these tracks before.

(The Shuusou Gyoku ZUN arranges playlist could use some love too...!! It's on page 2 of search right now.)
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on October 28, 2016, 07:26:21 PM
And here's the rest of the PCB and IN MIDIs on the SC-88Pro. For those who haven't read this thread before, ZUN made the MIDIs for PCB and IN as a quick bonus, so they may not sound as good as the rest of the MIDIs I've recorded, such as his PC-98 arrangements (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT8dJ8tcWs9P02O049OLKzwp) or the original version of the EoSD soundtrack (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT_Du9fuiiHpGENQWyLPtFoE) (Yes, Touhou 6 was originally going to sound completely different!), but for the most part they don't sound bad. A few of the PCB and IN MIDIs may be based on earlier versions of the WAV tracks.

東方妖々夢 ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom MIDI playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT_bborSjkaQ1NFeEZ_z5t-s)
東方永夜抄 ~ Imperishable Night MIDI playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT8MxYK7JCLpoPEC_tfOaNhr)

Downloads for the MIDI recordings that were missing before will be posted in a few days.


By the way, I added a little thing to my Seihou Shuusou Gyoku (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT8_7wBWFgEZia3FcGqeEqbx) videos. By clicking the white (!) to the top right, the arranged version of the track will open in another tab, or vice versa.
This should make it easier to compare the original in-game versions of the Seihou 1 soundtrack to the arranged versions from ZUN's site.
(http://i.imgur.com/bRq3Af0.png)

This should work even if you're using a phone, unlike YouTube annotations.

(For the guests who hadn't heard about this project before, here's a link back to the first post (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,18989.0.html), where you can find the rest of my recordings of ZUN's MIDIs on the intended hardware.)
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on October 29, 2016, 02:17:55 AM
That was cool of Mangekyou to help out like that; it was quite nice of him wanting to give you the boost.

I think Mangekyou wanted to share the Seihou 1 soundtrack for others since a full upload of the soundtrack, at least when first heard without the SC-88Pro, was not up, but after watching them before this, it was clear they were using Windows 7's default Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth which does not fully support the full set of instruments from Seihou 1, so it was missing instruments; a problem they wouldn't have had with something like Windows XP or 98.

As for the uploads, I'm glad to see they're all up on YouTube; I'm having a great time listening to them right now, so I agree that they don't sound bad, but in fact rather awesome if you ask me. ^^ I look forwards to the coming downloads for them later on in FLAC and AAC.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on November 08, 2016, 05:41:37 PM
I'll be reuploading the WAV version of the Seihou Kioh Gyoku soundtrack. Sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause. The old uploads are just unlisted so your playlists and likes will still work, but please update them when you have the chance.

There was a loud pop at the beginning of each track in the old uploads, but now they're completely gone. This will be the highest quality version of this OST on YouTube for real this time. I will also take the chance to make the video backgrounds a little less fugly (I originally uploaded these after a whole day without sleep, if you were wondering...) and extend the tracks since nobody ever did this before, for some reason.

Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DX7.EP on November 08, 2016, 10:43:17 PM
I got those botched 8850 tracks corrected a bit ago but didn't upload them until now - aiyaiyai, GJ me.

Anyways, here are Reincarnation (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxLHKQnZaGMdSDNkaFpjM0dKa1k) and Peaceful Romancer (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxLHKQnZaGMdTkVzMjZrSm5QMWM). Eastern Strange Discourse (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxLHKQnZaGMdc2Jlb3U2enZtTUE) was already correct so there was no need to fix that one, but I've re-uploaded that anyway. The noise levels are still more than I'd like them to be (despite some process adjustment), but that's something I'll have to address later.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on November 08, 2016, 11:30:35 PM
That's alright. Thanks for taking the time to record these. I'll upload them to YouTube soon, and I'll include these in the zip with the rest of the PCB and IN stuff.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on November 12, 2016, 04:18:43 PM
I've finished uploading the fixed, extended Kioh Gyoku WAV OST and the original SC-8850 versions of Peaceful Romancer, Reincarnation and Eastern Strange Discourse to YouTube.

ZUN's PC-98 MIDI arrangements (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zupUBSl7y-I&list=PLzdQcm51guT8dJ8tcWs9P02O049OLKzwp&index=1)
Seihou Kioh Gyoku WAV OST (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCGu-RL9Iv0&list=PLzdQcm51guT_Ub2mO3nJKhboUUx6D5mR5&index=1)

Also included is ZUN's recording of Reincarnation. This one was mixed with a DAW, and it sounds a bit different from the raw recording by EP.

Downloads will be coming soon.

Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: ccec on November 27, 2016, 04:07:14 PM
Just made an account to thank you!

I sincerely appreciate your efforts. This is a huge contribution to the fanbase considering we now can hear ZUN's music the way it is intended to be heard :D. I will let the YouTube playlist playing on Opera and Tor (with Tor Circuit activated).

Again, much thanks for posting this!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on November 29, 2016, 06:38:06 AM
Thanks a lot but please don't use Tor, YouTube already knows the views from Tor IPs are people trying to abuse the system.
I think just letting the playlists play once every few weeks (one at a time, not a bunch open in different tabs) should be enough, that's normal for music videos anyway.

If your IP changes often, I think it helps if you clear your cookies before watching the videos again. I would use a browser other than the one you normally use for this. Avoid Incognito/Private mode.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: ccec on December 04, 2016, 01:37:21 AM
Thanks for the advice. I will let the playlists playing every weekend or so on another browser that I don't use too often and not in Private Mode. Besides that, I already liked some of the videos and subscribed to your channel. Keep up the good work!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: jaffa225man on January 01, 2017, 07:24:24 AM
DX7_EP, I don't know what noise you're hearing so I'm probably not the best person to judge, but your recordings sound great to me.  To compare them, because I recently became an SC-8850 owner, I went through the same process with mine.  Using USB generated noise, but I hear none otherwise.  Here's my output with a standard midi cable and with standard RCA cables directly into my (USB) sound card: Eastern Strange Discourse (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uObEBH_jRHeW93SFFPSjliU28/view?usp=sharing), Reincarnation (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uObEBH_jRHc1NpenFWTTBFMVU/view?usp=sharing), and Peaceful Romancer (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2uObEBH_jRHRHN4Y2RLYkphaWM/view?usp=sharing).

If need be, I could use a direct box, but I doubt the impedance of the SC-8850 is higher than a standard line output.  I'm not sure about that though, as the much older modules I own, are.

DX7_EP, you did a great job already (thanks!), so this post is probably unnecessary.  I just wanted to try it for myself.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DX7.EP on January 03, 2017, 04:49:56 PM
*snip!*
Congratulations on your new module! :toot:

I took a listen at your recordings compared to mine, and indeed I can't really tell much of a difference, nor is there much audible noise at all. Maybe my complaints were founded on how "muddy" the module sometimes feels, but I think that has more to do with the samples and onboard EQ settings, and not so much the impedence of the audio outputs. But for most listeners the levels present in either of our recordings shouldn't be much of a problem.

Thanks for the recording cross-comparison!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: jaffa225man on January 05, 2017, 09:00:19 AM
*snip*
Well said!  I agree wholeheartedly.  It does sound a bit "muddy" for some of the high-volume, many-instruments-mixed moments, but from experience with other compositions being cleaner, I believe that's just naturally caused with these and similar files; any recordings of them on a true SC-8850 would probably sound this way.  And yes, an impedance mismatch would, as I understand it, just cause the high frequencies to be inaccurate, not the moments of slight "muddiness" we're talking about.

Thanks for your thoughts, and again for your quality recordings!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on January 21, 2017, 09:04:31 PM
Just letting everyone know that I'm still alive and that downloads for the rest of the tracks will be posted eventually.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on January 22, 2017, 11:36:49 PM
Thank you muchly for the update. ^^

Out of curiosity, how is your channel housing SC-88Pro uploads doing on YouTube? Do any need a boost in views still?
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on January 24, 2017, 11:18:19 PM
I'm getting about 700~ daily views which isn't too bad I guess (I was getting 1000-2000 views back when I was actively uploading).

Any help is still welcome. I suppose it helps show YouTube that people care about these videos even though I've not uploaded in a while.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Kaze on January 25, 2017, 10:38:26 AM
Your work on this has been the best thing I've come across in Touhou music for a long while. I truly appreciate and enjoy what you're doing, and I look forward to your future work! I'll keep the YouTube views/listens coming.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Goomba98 on January 29, 2017, 11:25:42 PM
Why is it that some of SatoR'lyeh's extensions of the Seihou 1 OST sound like your proper recordings and others don't?
Title: Thief.
Post by: Romantique Tp on January 30, 2017, 04:25:43 PM
SatoR'lyeh never asked for permission to post these on his channel, and he's actively hurting the discoverability of this project by neither linking to my thread/channel or simply crediting me for the recordings. It's really disappointing to see people doing this. Please don't give this thief views.

What he claims to be the Seihou Shuusou Gyoku OST is actually the arrangements ZUN posted on his site (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT9sNJnRGMMqsCGW6Tb4lnt-). Some of these sound very different from the originals (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT8_7wBWFgEZia3FcGqeEqbx).
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: WishMakers on January 30, 2017, 06:16:03 PM
Romantique, just a question, and it may be a dumb one...but have you ever asked for this guy to take down the ones in question?  Or better yet make use of YouTube's flagging system?
I think you would have tried this already, I just wanted to make sure.
YouTube is full of people who try to take and reupload videos, so unfortunately I can't say this is the first time I've seen this.  It makes me sad to see this because your project had so much time put into it, I'd hate to see it go to waste because of another channel stealing views.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Goomba98 on February 01, 2017, 02:06:53 AM
Hm. I was thinking of extending the original versions myself, but the response you gave me made that sound like a bad idea... so, since I like song extensions, maybe you yourself ould extend them?
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on February 01, 2017, 06:18:25 AM
I personally don't care much for extensions myself since I'd rather listen to a song's starts and stops on loop since extensions often leave out the opening and closing bits that make up the song (and sometimes the charm); plus, it's not hard to make an extension with Audacity which I would be doing for my owned songs if I cared enough.

Ultimately, that's not my call to make since it is mainly up to Romantique to decide, but all I hope people know is that uploading a double of every song already uploaded right now with a longer time is asking a lot, and especially since deciding on a time, managing the song loops, extra upload time, and getting those videos views like the rest already up is still a lot to ask for.

I would not give those kinds of videos my view personally since my main method of getting the videos uploaded now parts of their views is by using the playlist and letting the songs play in the background, and that's less practical with extended uploads depending on the amount extended, so I'm at least glad there is still progress going towards the Touhou SC-88 uploads now.

I think for now what I care most about is those additional downloads, but that's just me; I don't know if anyone here feels the same way. =/
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Yoshi Gym on February 16, 2017, 11:46:10 PM
Are there full FLAC files of 妖々夢 and 永夜抄 ?
I want tracks that aren't in trial version.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Drake on February 17, 2017, 07:21:57 AM
Please read the thread.
Title: (!) SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: Romantique Tp on June 05, 2017, 03:14:25 AM
Sorry for taking so long, I got distracted by a million other things and didn't realize that so much time had passed.
Here's everything that was previously missing from the big .zip downloads. This includes the second half of the TH07 and TH08 music and EP's recordings of the 3 MIDIs made by ZUN for the SC-8850.

FLAC update: Google Drive (https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0Bz7SbTnE6dVUUVlvMUpfQmxOZUU&export=download) | Mega (https://mega.nz/#!l9tyWAIC!_qwylD5GtgNKVUT9rAfNxnZvvuIdr1Yo1NhdSRzLnII)

AAC update: Google Drive (https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0Bz7SbTnE6dVUSk1FYjRueGFtMW8&export=download) | Mega (https://mega.nz/#!AsVmlRbK!p2-74eihIuU-P3rUQgYoRdSTZ7AI7zphhplJOgSXoHE)

I've also updated the full .zips in the first post (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,18989.0.html) with the missing files.


Yesterday I got confirmation that the MIDI music in the C60 trial version of Kioh Gyoku is the same as the final version. Since there's nothing left to record, this project is now 100% complete.

Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: WishMakers on June 05, 2017, 01:25:10 PM
Thank you so much for all that you've done on this project!  I'm sure a lot of other people thank you too.  You've put so much effort and work into it, I'm glad it's not going to waste at all.  Hearing the MIDIs of SoEW and EoSD especially have been a pleasure to hear and reinvented those tracks in ways I would have never thought possible.  Good luck with your future work!
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard.
Post by: DeityDiz93 on June 05, 2017, 06:23:28 PM
This has really come a long way, and I'm beyond overjoyed to hear this project has reached 100% completion now. I've just finished listening to the new tracks, too, and ending off on the final song really brought me chills knowing I've now listened to each of these tracks in the highest of quality we could hope to ask for. While this is definitely not the last time I'll chat about this project, these are my thought overall now that this has finished:

Since this project kicked off, I've been sharing this project as much as I can with as many people as possible, and while it's not as big yet on YouTube, which I hope it will in time, almost 30,000 reads makes me very happy this forum post has gotten out there. Your efforts here have honestly have been the highlight of the entire forum to me as a Touhou (but specifically a ZUN) music enthusiast, so your hard work getting this to people I will appreciate for as long as I listen to Touhou music, really, thank you a billion times over so very much!!

I cannot thank you enough, truly, doing this has only made me more thankful to be a Touhou Project fan, and the wait was well worth it, so no need to apologize at all since, after all, you only got confirmation about the trial yesterday in your time. ^^

I hope to share this forum post and various other posts about this with as many people who are interested in ZUN's music now more than ever, especially now that you've reached the end. Originally, I didn't think that much when ZUN talked about the SC-88Pro in his music comments, but now I see what he meant by
Quote
But then again, if you don't listen to it with an 88 Pro, it's pointless. (;_; (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Mystic_Square/Music#Stage_3_theme)
more than ever; it is well worth the listen with the SC-88Pro sounds, so that's easily why I'm beyond thankful to you, Romantique_Tp, for taking a crazy amount of time and energy getting this out there without any errors or mistakes; I will never stop being thankful for savvy nature regarding the SC-88Pro itself and even just audio in general. What you have brought the Touhou community is phenomenal, and every track you've spent time with; even down the edit you put on the arranged Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly ~ Ancients to cut down on the high-pitched noise in the original track, is well appreciated and fantastic!

It's funny to me how I originally thought I had heard all of what ZUN had to offer, but it's clear that this project can show a whole new side of ZUN's music to everyone, and I'm sure ZUN has plenty of unreleased music we might never hear stored away or even deleted, but I've mostly been fine with what music has come out despite this possibility. ^^;

If I had anything else to say in parting thoughts about this project overall, it's that I feel kind of silly for getting so hopeful for the C60 trial version of Kioh Gyoku music because on one hand it would have been cool if there was something unique to them, but I'm alright with the fact that we no longer have to worry about that when it might have not have surfaced. At this point, the only things I wonder about is if the Japanese audience will be able to get access to hear these at some point with the same kind of information about this music as you've shared (I also wonder about the idea of these appearing on something like Niconico at some point), but, in light of getting stuff out there, I hope to see the rest of ZUN comments on some of these music pieces on the Wiki that are still untranslated to get translated, but I'm hopeful they will get translated in time.

This all said, I will continue to support you and continue to share this work with all who are unfamiliar with it, but just know that I will never forget the time you spent on this. Thanks again for everything you've brought us, and I give to you my best regards; besides, it's the least I can do and say for receiving such a stellar selection of music. ^^
Title: Seihou Kioh Gyoku C60 trial version
Post by: Romantique Tp on June 07, 2017, 09:26:09 PM
Thanks guys.

Here's what I know about the C60 trial version of Kioh Gyoku (稀翁玉).
All of this info comes from @ronronmilk96 (https://twitter.com/ronronmilk96), who knows a lot about ZUN/Ponchi (pbg)-era Amusement Makers and owns an impressive collection.
My japanese isn't perfect, but I'll try to translate some of the info posted by him. (See the post below for images)

-Nearly all of the character art is different, including the character portraits, battle cut-ins, title screen and ending.
-The ending shows a picture of VIVIT holding a small cactus while wearing a sleeveless shirt. (Cacti are an important energy source in the Seihou world)
-3 stages, but no character win quotes and only one background set in a grassland.
-Differences in VIVIT's sprite.
-No music comments by ZUN.
-The music is in WAV, but they're just SC-88Pro recordings of the MIDI files included with the final version.
This confirms that the WAV music in the final version are arrangements, while the MIDIs played on the 88Pro are indeed the original versions.

-The music from the C60 trial version: (YouTube Playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzdQcm51guT9l8jvA2LE6LLG8_K8c1No6))

(http://i.imgur.com/3QR02X0.jpg)

-It seems that at this point Kioh Gyoku was considered the third game in the Seihou series. Shuusou Gyoku (秋霜玉) and the unreleased PC-98 STG prototype (Neo Gian) shown at 1998 Hatoyama Matsuri are considered separate games. ZUN composed Fly Above Hatoyama at Night (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxZ0PQY0zTE) (夜の鳩山を飛ぶ) for that prototype, since it originally had no music.
The Windows prototype of Shuusou Gyoku was also referred to as Neo Gian. It included "Plastic Space (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXpe2RzOyp4)", "Frontal Attack" and "Inventive City (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijTMUcryVWI)".
Title: Kioh Gyoku C60 images
Post by: Romantique Tp on June 08, 2017, 04:43:50 PM
Here's a few images, again thanks to @ronronmilk96 (https://twitter.com/ronronmilk96).
The C60 trial version of Kioh Gyoku is super rare. As far as we know, these images are being posted to the internet for the first time ever today.

-Title screen
(http://i.imgur.com/q4XGKEN.jpg)

-The playable characters, VIVIT, Gates, Mei and Mai (Click to expand)
(http://i.imgur.com/HKCD2RSm.jpg) (http://i.imgur.com/HKCD2RS.jpg)(http://i.imgur.com/Tafjvfkm.jpg) (http://i.imgur.com/Tafjvfk.jpg)(http://i.imgur.com/bj5DffAm.jpg) (http://i.imgur.com/bj5DffA.jpg)

-The ending picture
(http://i.imgur.com/Q16LJUs.jpg)
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard. (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: Drake on June 09, 2017, 02:27:28 AM
vivit please that is not how you hold a cactus
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard. (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: DeityDiz93 on June 09, 2017, 12:03:47 PM
I see Frontal Attack remains the ever elusive musical track it is. I hope the track surfaces at least one of these days, but thank goodness we have something else that has been elusive surface, the C60 trial version images are really neat, so thank you so much for sharing them! Kind of a pivotal piece of Seihou's history for sure. ^^

I wonder what the ending text says exactly, or if the artwork could be ripped from the game's files to show the most minor differences between the trial and final game exactly without the interface/text boxes obstructing it, but eh, passing thought really that I myself am not too concerned about since I'm very thankful to ronronmilk for their help in not only sharing the vital information on the C60 trial version, but bringing these images our way as a neat referecne, it's awesome to be one of the first few people to see something never before seen like this. Truly, this makes me wonder how long until people make fan art of Vivit's exclusive ending picture here, but sadly Seihou fan art is as scarce as it comes, so probably not for a while unless someone really cares about being the first to draw it. ^^;

Just a little heads up to everyone, I talked to Mangekyou (one of the people who had recorded the Seihou 1 soundtrack with the Windows MIDI synthesizer), and while they refused to take their videos down, they did agree to temporarily make their videos private to give my recordings a chance to have their YouTube search rankings improved.
Taking a look back, I see that Mangekyou has unprivated his Seihou music uploads, but as I said before, it's to a fault with the Windows 7 default Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. As someone who has heard Seihou 1's MIDI soundtrack with the GS Wavetable Synth on Windows XP, it's frankly unbearable to listen to his videos because it's missing bloody instruments everywhere, bleh.

What I will ask is this: Have you asked Mangekyou, besides at one point getting him to take down/private his videos, encouraged him to link the SC-88Pro videos you uploaded, as well as the thread? It's probably ideal to do on his part as apposed to others freaking uploading music from this thread without crediting, 'tis a jerk move to be sure. I think the efforts of this thread should never go unnoticed, which is why I am aiming to promote this project as much as I can, so could you ask him about this since his videos are back up?

Believe it or not, back in the day had plans to do exactly what this thread attempted to do and bring this MIDI music to the rest of the Touhou community myself, only one thing, I was using the GS Synth to do it since I had no idea about the SC-88Pro. I did start my plan though, which was cut short when my laptop with Windows XP died, stopping any hopes I had of doing this myself, and this was somewhere back in 2012 or so; however, I had at least recorded a few tracks, but was never completed before my laptop gave out, and the reality is I was using Stereo Mix and recording with Audacity in .mp3 at not the best quality settings, so kinda wasted effort in a way even if I know better now.

There are others who have done what I did; however, the user Clockorkzone (https://www.youtube.com/user/Clockorkzone/videos) has uploaded a lot of the arranged Seihou 1 arranged versions on his channel as well as a few of the in-game tracks using default Windows MIDI synthesizer from XP, so there's that; however, he's never finished uploading all of them so it's incomplete as well (the channel seems completely inactive too). I'd honestly would have preferred back in the day to see a full series of uploads like I tried to set out and do, so that's why I'm very thankful for this thread.

Personal opinion wise? I don't think the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth version sounds too bad at all, but you could argue that it wouldn't be that different to use something like SoMiRe (https://solmire.com/) or even VirtualMIDISynth (http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth) to listen to the music, but honestly the matter with alternate soundfonts can be such a can of worms that it's not really something I'd think worth sharing on YouTube because then you'd have probably hundreds of different versions of the MIDI songs in that case, I'm only showcasing the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth here because I find it unlikely that people who bought Seihou 1 back in the day would have their own personal SC-88Pro when they listened to the music, t'was probably with the the default GS Wavetable Synth, if that makes any sense.

I suppose the point of me posting this is to ask this: Is it an issue at this point for those who uploaded/will upload the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth versions to YouTube> Even if it's on the grounds that it's what you hear by default? Ultimately I'm not going to go out of my way to get another Windows XP and do what I originally set out to do, so I wouldn't really expect me to do this since I favor this project, but you never know if someone else might get the same original idea as I and didn't know about this thread in advance.

If you ask me, it's not completely unwelcome as long as it's not the more limited version of the default GS Wavetable like in Mangekyou's Seihou music uploads where it's missing instruments everywhere, but also, I'm a firm believer that the ideal situation for these uploaders to link the SC-88Pro version in the description given it is "the way they were intended to be heard."
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: Lebon14 on June 09, 2017, 04:01:51 PM
For those that cares about bit-depth, like I do, I uploaded all of 24-bit FLAC onto MEGA.
Click here to download (https://mega.nz/#!DJV03a7a!DbOyQdhuAznyBAN-FVlDNfPCEMEDcN6R00FujThvYBA)

24-bit creates a more natural sound wave; it's especially important when transfering vinyl, analogue formats and in music production (fidelity of sound).
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: shockdude on June 14, 2017, 01:48:00 AM
SiIvagunner uploaded one of your SC-88 rips on their channel, just a heads up (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phgeht8pCf4). Their upload sounds higher quality than your upload for some reason, but I can't put my finger on it.

lol, well done. Is there a story behind this rip?
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: WishMakers on June 14, 2017, 02:05:40 AM
Quote
SiIvagunner uploaded one of your SC-88 rips on their channel, just a heads up. Their upload sounds higher quality than your upload for some reason, but I can't put my finger on it.

They did a (MIDI version) before but I believe it had the Windows default MIDI instruments so this might be important?  Knowing a few of the members on the team (including Sylvysprit), odds are one of them has a SC-88 or SC-88Pro themselves, so I don't think it's an issue.
It is a fairly good video however, if you like that sort of video.  Personally I do.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: Drake on June 14, 2017, 02:45:16 AM
Obligatory mention if you watch that the video go open the actual recording in the recommended videos so Youtube gets more people to see it
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: Yoshi Gym on August 24, 2017, 11:50:21 AM
Thank you so much for completing this project!!!!

I found one problem...
I downloaded completed version of FLAC from the top site, but it didn't have added tracks from th08.
It contained all other files, such as th07.
Please check if it is updated.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: Romantique Tp on August 26, 2017, 06:48:25 PM
I guess I forgot to reply to a few posts here.

I downloaded the FLAC pack to check and everything is in there.
You may be thinking of the th09 folder, which does indeed have no new files. This is because ZUN never made MIDI versions of the tracks exclusive to the final game.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: ITZAH on January 15, 2018, 08:31:54 PM
Thanks! 
I need some help, i'm creating my game and the music aswell using fl studio.
I want to buy a sd-90 but where do i start? i can't find information on internet about how to set it up on my pc with fl studio and start using it.
All i have is an audio interface scarlett solo and my akai mpk mini. That's all.
I'dont pretend to create music 100%  zun's style, just take some cool instruments and mix them in fl studio with others vst
Thanks!
 
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: Romantique Tp on January 17, 2018, 11:16:52 AM
All you have to do is install the drivers and it will show up in your DAW as a MIDI output. Windows 10 doesn't have official Edirol SD-90 drivers, so you'll have to use Windows 7 or 8 to guarantee that it will work at full performance.
You'll have to use the SD-90 as your primary audio interface, because your Scarlett Solo doesn't have the required audio inputs to record a synthesizer. The SD-90 will have worse latency and worse guitar/mic recording quality than the Scarlett.

Buying an old hardware module is a big investment with minimal return. For about the same price, you could buy Steinberg's Absolute 3 or NI Komplete 11, or a DAW that comes with good stock sounds like Cubase Pro. All of these will have sounds used by hundreds of well known video game musicians and will be both faster and easier to use than a module. Both Cubase and Absolute 3 come with sounds from recent professional Yamaha keyboards.

It makes very little sense for a newbie to get a hardware module. It makes even less sense if you're only interested in a few sounds. I strongly recommend buying something that's guaranteed to be useful in the future instead. All of the sound packages I mentioned above are constantly being updated with new sounds and can easily be resold for a decent amount of money if you ever need it.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: Romantique Tp on March 22, 2018, 03:13:04 PM
pbg has posted the first video ever of the 1999 Seihou Shuusou Gyoku prototype.

You can hear Frontal Attack for the first time, which was previously a lost track by ZUN.
https://twitter.com/pbghogehoge/status/976805892556447744

YouTube upload for anyone without a Nicovideo account:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIPsX5kBVLc
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: DeityDiz93 on March 23, 2018, 11:55:21 AM
Dreams can come true.

I didn't think I'd live to see the day where something like this came to be, I had worries that there would no longer be a prototype build of the game. Glad to be proven oh so wrong, I just hope there is more to come beyond this, and that this fabled build of the game isn't left exclusively locked away forever. The gameplay while largely unrefined was still very cool to witness as Seihou 1 is a game with very interesting history, and it nice to know pbg was, even if eventually, willing to share a part of that with us.

While I really did love the Frontal Attack piece so much so that I was physically affected, alas as you said in the description, it's not too clear, and even beyond that we aren't hearing the full thing. I don't know if pbg has any plans to release more regarding this, but I'm incredibly thankful we finally got the confirmation that it's a real, wholesomely unique track. Very cool to know that there are unique variants to Plastic Space and Inventive City also not heard before, so with any hope, I hope that if the music were to be released, we'd get each and every track.

While the inner subconscious desire in me is reaching for the MIDI files and longing for another Seihou game, I am seriously very thankful to pbg for doing this already. I hope that we get to hear more from them as I'd love to hear what they have to say. Thank you also for the port from Niconico to YouTube. If there is any more important details that come to light, I'd love to hear them as well if there is anything more important to know.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: Sedrife on March 23, 2018, 08:57:00 PM
Informative Posting from pbg's twitter thread

"I found this while I was cleaning out my hard drives.  I first thought I'll post it during April Fool's Day, but since I'll be busy around that time, I decided to post it earlier."
https://twitter.com/pbghogehoge/status/976806807224987649

"At the stage of Shuusou Gyoku Prototype, there were not even a hint of "M" of Maid, it was a shooting game with cactus as the main playable character.  During PC-98 days, I was making a game with cactus  as a main character (I think it was titled NeoGian), so Shuusou Gyoku is really a product of many developer's desires meshed up together."
https://twitter.com/pbghogehoge/status/976812767016509441

"There are no backstory to the Shuusou Gyoku Prototype, but you are bleeding when grazing.  Although Ms. Maid doesn't have any of that. (Not that it matters)
https://twitter.com/pbghogehoge/status/976824231534014472

Q: (tl;dr) there are songs called "Untitled" listed on the Prototype.  Are these composed by ZUN as well?
A: Unfortunately no, it was composed by another member.  It was planned to be Stage 3 music, but when we moved to the next phase of the development of Shuusou Gyoku, we threw it out the window. 

https://twitter.com/Unknown_S/status/976823058261467137
https://twitter.com/pbghogehoge/status/976825002652676097

Q: (tl;dr) Just to confirm again, is "Frontal Attack" composed by ZUN?
A: Yes, that's right.  Other than just music, he supported us in various different ways. I'm truly thankful.

https://twitter.com/sn62482641/status/976817181659836416
https://twitter.com/pbghogehoge/status/976817912215302144

Q: (tl;dr) Can you share the Music Room of Shuusou Gyoku Prototype separately?
A: I cannot share just the Music Room separately by itself.  I will also not distribute the prototype.  Please consider again my reasons for uploading this video in the description. 
https://twitter.com/gondayu/status/976970403049435136
https://twitter.com/pbghogehoge/status/976985117875830786
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: WishMakers on March 24, 2018, 01:07:02 AM
Quote
Q: (tl;dr) Can you share the Music Room of Shuusou Gyoku Prototype separately?
A: I cannot share just the Music Room separately by itself.  I will also not distribute the prototype.  Please consider again my reasons for uploading this video in the description. 

That's unfortunate.  He has his reasons, I'm sure, but it's still sad that we won't get to hear Frontal Attack in its original quality.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: Drake on March 24, 2018, 02:04:26 AM
The note in the video description is that they couldn't record using the SC-88Pro because its power supply died. They also might not be able to extract the midi file? Dunno.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: crimson1117 on September 02, 2018, 09:56:47 PM
I wonder if those Story of Eastern Wonderland mmd files converted to rcp files then midi files?
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: Whinette on August 19, 2019, 03:18:15 PM
I've discovered this topic recently and finished listing to most of it.
I want to express my gratitude. Thank you.
Title: Re: SC-88Pro: ZUN's MIDIs the way they were intended to be heard (100% COMPLETE)
Post by: ITZAH on October 19, 2019, 12:39:47 AM
wow... it's been almost two years since i posted here. As i said i'm (still) creating my game and i had to focus in the development, now aftetr 2 years i'm finally ready to start with the music, i'm really newbie but now i own my sd-90 :D i have been learning the last weeks how to create music, and i can't be more grateful to you romantique tp and the community for all your contributions, to be honest i didn?t realised all the hard work and time you have put here because i was very newbie to undestand it at that time, so thank you!
Now i'm using the SD with some vst to create my music. I'm also downloading touhou midis to study and practice with the sd 90, is there a recomended midis for the touhou +10 games that you can recommend me? or a list of the sd90 instruments used in TH? thanks