Whats your opinion about these Super Mario 64 soundfont covers?

[PolyStation2004]

Recently YouTube has been recommending me these recreations/covers of classic rock albums. I don't know if it's just showing up for me, or why they're only doing it now. What I do know is that it started as a shitpost until people noticed that the songs sounded really cool in this instrumentation, this trend has been increasing with covers of songs by the Beatles, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Metallica and other artists.

Some songs really sound like they're straight out of Super Mario 64.

[PolyStation2004]

[Jernemies]

I used to love playing around with soundfonts and midi files, and it's cool seeing a (re)surgence of that kind of stuff. Probably the biggest limitation is not actually the soundfont, but the terrible midi transcriptions that plague the internet. I found most of these rock/metal albums interesting novelties, but boy, I was not prepared for Casiopea to be covered like this:

Especially Midnight Rendezvous' beginning at 9:00 sounds like it was specifically made for the soundfont. Probably not surprising that it lends itself well for jazz fusion, considering the electric piano is like THE mario 64 soundfont sound, and the sampled 70s-80s kind of synthesizer sound is part of Japanese Jazz Fusion DNA

[Troisnyx]

At 5/28/23 06:18 PM, Leavesz wrote: They're probably just downloading midi files of popular radio songs and replacing the instruments with those of the sm64 soundfont for views; nothing interesting to me.

This tbh. It's more of a novelty rather than a display of skill. "What if it sounded like this," without reinventing the wheel.

[wobwobrob]

I feel like their arrangement could be better!

I think the most successful of these types of covers require a deep understanding of the console's MIDI sound strengths, and a deep understanding of what makes the song you are covering special.

I absolutely adore this Louis Cole remix I stumbled across last week which illustrates my point better than I ever could!

[Guidodinho]

Those really sound like a midi file with instruments replaced. I do like to listen to some creative cover with game soundfonts. But like these ones really quickly sound stale and repetitive when done like that.

But if done right, like with a bit more tweeking on the track, to have the notes kinda sound more expressive. And then its fun for me to listen to.

[switzrr]

I'm more partial to this one

[BroSkullEmoji]

It's like when bands do metal covers of pop or memeable songs, on paper it shouldn't work but it somehow does and it's quite addictive.

Like the around the fur, and justice for all, and toxicity covers in SM64 soundfont were epic.

[aapiarts]

I don't really like them. Might be because I'm not the biggest fan of old songs or the SM64 soundfont. I do like this one though. Peaches in Pizza Tower soundfont.

https://youtu.be/wH8j10-LLpA

[Anonymous-Frog]

At 6/1/23 05:39 AM, wobwobrob wrote: I feel like their arrangement could be better!

I think the most successful of these types of covers require a deep understanding of the console's MIDI sound strengths, and a deep understanding of what makes the song you are covering special.

I absolutely adore this Louis Cole remix I stumbled across last week which illustrates my point better than I ever could!

It's a great cover, but he cheated with the NES portion.

Literally everyone who claims to make NES covers will always use some form of sound expansion which only works on the Japanese Famicom.

Notably, the VRC6 chip, which was only ever used by Konami in 3 Japan-only games (notably Castlevania 3, which released overseas without it). It adds 3 extra wave channels to the Famicom's 5 audio channels (2 squarewaves, 1 triangle, 1 noise, and 1 underrated sample channel).

Sure it might sound better, but that's not what most gamers grew up listening to.

[Maxfilm]

Its a great form of entertainment :)

similar to ai covers

I like to listen to these songs while I work on my school stuf

[wobwobrob]

At 6/2/23 03:17 AM, Anonymous-Frog wrote:

At 6/1/23 05:39 AM, wobwobrob wrote: I feel like their arrangement could be better!

I think the most successful of these types of covers require a deep understanding of the console's MIDI sound strengths, and a deep understanding of what makes the song you are covering special.

I absolutely adore this Louis Cole remix I stumbled across last week which illustrates my point better than I ever could!

It's a great cover, but he cheated with the NES portion.

Literally everyone who claims to make NES covers will always use some form of sound expansion which only works on the Japanese Famicom.
Notably, the VRC6 chip, which was only ever used by Konami in 3 Japan-only games (notably Castlevania 3, which released overseas without it). It adds 3 extra wave channels to the Famicom's 5 audio channels (2 squarewaves, 1 triangle, 1 noise, and 1 underrated sample channel).

Sure it might sound better, but that's not what most gamers grew up listening to.

This is true, but as a generation 40 years into the future, we must surely be allowed to make these improvements? We have the technology!

The Shovel Knight OST is amazing, but if was a broken 4-5 track affair it wouldn't be nearly as good - especially when playing the game with all sound effects playing as well.

We shouldn't make things crapper out of tradition. We should make greater things inspired by tradition.

The Furnace tracker they use to make these remixes is also fantastic - I highly recommend it.

[Anonymous-Frog]

At 6/2/23 04:56 AM, wobwobrob wrote:

At 6/2/23 03:17 AM, Anonymous-Frog wrote:

At 6/1/23 05:39 AM, wobwobrob wrote: I feel like their arrangement could be better!

I think the most successful of these types of covers require a deep understanding of the console's MIDI sound strengths, and a deep understanding of what makes the song you are covering special.

I absolutely adore this Louis Cole remix I stumbled across last week which illustrates my point better than I ever could!

It's a great cover, but he cheated with the NES portion.

Literally everyone who claims to make NES covers will always use some form of sound expansion which only works on the Japanese Famicom.
Notably, the VRC6 chip, which was only ever used by Konami in 3 Japan-only games (notably Castlevania 3, which released overseas without it). It adds 3 extra wave channels to the Famicom's 5 audio channels (2 squarewaves, 1 triangle, 1 noise, and 1 underrated sample channel).

Sure it might sound better, but that's not what most gamers grew up listening to.

This is true, but as a generation 40 years into the future, we must surely be allowed to make these improvements? We have the technology!

The Shovel Knight OST is amazing, but if was a broken 4-5 track affair it wouldn't be nearly as good - especially when playing the game with all sound effects playing as well.

We shouldn't make things crapper out of tradition. We should make greater things inspired by tradition.

The Furnace tracker they use to make these remixes is also fantastic - I highly recommend it.

I'll have you know that I did Britney Spears' Toxic on Commodore 64 using Furnace. I can tell you it's great and I may use it sprinkled in amongst my regular tracks.

Fun fact: The Commodore 64 computer only has 3 channels, yet there's plenty of game soundtracks that push those limits hard and sound amazing.

Examples: Bionic Commando, Ghouls n Ghosts, the Last Ninja trilogy, Robocop 3, look at anyone who posted oscilloscope views of those soundtracks on YouTube

NES also has its fair share of limit pushers, See: "Pictionary NES theme" or anything else by Tim Follin.

[wobwobrob]

At 6/2/23 11:52 AM, Anonymous-Frog wrote:

At 6/2/23 04:56 AM, wobwobrob wrote:

At 6/2/23 03:17 AM, Anonymous-Frog wrote:

NES also has its fair share of limit pushers, See: "Pictionary NES theme" or anything else by Tim Follin.

Oh my god this is awesome!

[DerangedKnite]

Going to tell a very dark secret

I'm actually involved in this and only did it for the sake of contributing some favorite songs of mine...

Speaking of which people still make these? Thought the thing died since early may.

[Maxwellian1]

Honestly, a lot of them are pretty great.

[BlueKnightSkeleton]

Idk d00d

[Collision1444]

well, lets me know that some sm64 players got my taste too, and shows the oddity that's the sm64 fandom, Jaja, love hearing how they do the songs and all, see how faithful they are to both the game & the album.

would love to see sm64 do Strange Days, especially I Can't See Your Face In My Mind, jaja

[TestSubjectQWTD]

At 5/28/23 05:44 PM, Jernemies wrote: I used to love playing around with soundfonts and midi files, and it's cool seeing a (re)surgence of that kind of stuff. Probably the biggest limitation is not actually the soundfont, but the terrible midi transcriptions that plague the internet. I found most of these rock/metal albums interesting novelties, but boy, I was not prepared for Casiopea to be covered like this:

Especially Midnight Rendezvous' beginning at 9:00 sounds like it was specifically made for the soundfont. Probably not surprising that it lends itself well for jazz fusion, considering the electric piano is like THE mario 64 soundfont sound, and the sampled 70s-80s kind of synthesizer sound is part of Japanese Jazz Fusion DNA

I swear I tried lol

[FalenDemo5]

I like this cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNG_wICdOgc

[C0LAF3TI5H]

Megadeth and Metallica hit so different