EverQuest Vinyl Are Back!

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Accendo, Nov 18, 2021.

  1. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh

    That's all I'm saying. Someone who is not likely experienced with mix or master engineering saying 'this is a remaster', can't necessarily be taken as "they followed webster's dictionary definition of remaster without a single deviation from mechanically reproducing the original".


    Right on man. As I said, I haven't even heard it. I appreciate you pointing out the details.
  2. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh


    Pro (as in paid for more than 40 years) musician here. I have way too much gear from back in the day to current (waiting for a new 8 track interface to be delivered today). I record and mix engineer for many years now. Trying to build my mastering chops, but I would still send out for that.

    I simply brought it up because you seemed enamored of the midi tracks.

    It's quite trivial to drop those midi's into your DAW and remix. Plenty of free plugins to re-voice it. *edit* Because you are aware midi has 16 channels and each instrument is on it's own channel right? **

    Extracting files from EQ has been a thing for many many years. But aren't those midi files loose anyway?

    Was just thinking if it is something people were interested in they could play around with the files on their own computer. As there is nothing against that, and no way they can stop you besides.

    Oh well. One more thing I don't have to contribute.
    KermittheFroglok likes this.
  3. Qelil Augur

    You are mixing terms there. The issue was the original soundtrack isn't the original soundtrack. It is a new recording of EverQuest music.

    Forget remastered or not, remixing and the rest of it. It was never the point. How many times must I repeat myself?

    You've never heard it. I provided a link to hear for yourself what I was saying.
  4. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh


    mmmkay.

    I really wasn't that interested in the vinyl. I didn't listen, or I would have known right away.

    You mentioned the mp3s (EDIT meant to say MIDIs!) as opposed to the vinyl and it got my mind to thinking about remixing them.

    And I'm sorry, but I stand by saying you were incorrect. Anybody but a mastering engineer that uses the term 'remaster' is going to have a broader usage of the word. Fact is, when you create a new recording you're going to have to (or at least really should) master that new recording. Some people who don't understand the terms are going to call that a 'remaster' and consumers will pretty much accept that.

    You making the distinction about exactly what the vinyl is, is perfectly fine, and I understand what you're saying.
    KermittheFroglok likes this.
  5. Qelil Augur

    Not exactly but I am not going to discuss how to take the music out of the game. Go look for yourself.

    I am aware that the general midi standard is 16 channels. This does not mean 16 tracks and therefore 16 instruments. You can have many more tracks than 16 depending on the software you use. Instruments are not limited by channels. Go read more about midi for more info if you like.

    I'm done. I made the same point more times that I should have already and went down more than one rabbit hole as well along the way. The horse is long dead so I won't be beating it anymore.
    MasterMagnus likes this.
  6. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh


    So interesting! That was a blast.

    They are indeed loose. Not in the format you might initially think.

    Researching a player that could open them and export as midi was easy. And drop them in the DAW

    Befallen is my favorite so far! Over 100 'tracks' (never more than 16 playing at a time) comprising the different song sections and patch changes. Slapped the CollaB3 plugin I just downloaded on there, Oatmeal, Nubile. Amazing :D
  7. KermittheFroglok Augur


    1) No, this thread is actually supposed to be about the vinyl. The community manager announced that we can finally get the vinyl again. You started complaining about the tracks for an album that's been out for a over a year (if not closer to two?) being what you want.

    2) No, you're missing the point entirely to extent you've inverted the logic. The point is it's a waste of money to use the vinyl medium to essentially print synthesized midis. It'd be like expecting there to be a market of people that would pay hundreds for pixelated prints of Apogee characters on canvas (I picked Apogee as they have a similar retro audience size to EQ) . It's commons sense to vinyl listeners that the original tracks would have almost (if not outright) ZERO audio benefit to being on vinyl.



    No Quelil, you are factually incorrect and mis-defining something & MasterMagnus is spot on. You clearly do not know anything about vinyl, audio, remixes, compression, etc.


    For example, what MasterMagnus is describing would be fairly easy to do with the files in the game directory given EQ's audio is almost entirely .MP3 &.WAV files created by running midis through synthesizers ages ago. There are plethora of tools that would let you export either audio format into a midi you could work with.

    After that you just have to run it through a better system to get a better synthetized sound from. This would be something trivial you'd see done as part of a high school or undergraduate college homework assignment.


    1) As others have pointed out you can already listen to the soundtrack via YouTube by DBG's own YouTube channel.

    2) There's nothing to "extract". The specific audio files you probably want want aren't even hidden they're in the parent directory & already in .mp3 format right next two the UI config/hot bar config files Devs have pointed us to if we want to saves back ups of of them.
    MasterMagnus likes this.
  8. KermittheFroglok Augur

    The real point is the instrumental versions of the EQ soundtrack are back on vinyl which is good for the audio nerds who don't want to pay hundreds on ebay for them. I really have to give DBG props for rereleasing these in this format ontop of the nice work with the tracks.
    MasterMagnus and Qelil like this.
  9. Derd Augur

    Everquest has sounds? Weird lol
    Yinla likes this.
  10. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    Once again not available in Europe....

    Once COVID restrictions are lifted will it be rereleased?
  11. Kronotowin Elder

    Wish they would have released more designs again on the vinyl.
  12. Iven Antonius Bayle

    Vinyl is about the worst possible marketing concept for an EQ soundtrack record and the creator must had been on serious drugs when he had the idea for it. o_O First of all about nobody used vinyl records in 1999 anymore and EverQuest always was a digital product including all its music formats. Today vinyl records are only something for hoarders that also have hoareded father's or grandpa's record player. Bad sound, large size, heavy weight, and does underly serious physical wastage when being used. A compact disc in a luxury case would had been a so much better choice that not only a few hoarders would buy and could listen to.

    For the future I would like to see digital flac file samples that got recorded by using an original roland sound card. Stuff like this got done with midi music from old games like Might and Magic III and the difference to the Adlib and Soundblaster 16bit sound that most EQ players used in 1999 and the years before is immense.
  13. Qelil Augur

    The original release a year or so ago sold out within 24 hours as I recall. So regardless of how you may feel about the format, the limited production run was a success.

    Vinyl has actually made quite a comeback and never died to begin with. Bad sound is simply not correct at all. There are many audiophiles who argue that analog sound is superior and refer to the sound produced by a vinyl record on a decent sound system as being warm. This has to do with the way a turntable, magnetic cartridge and needle affect it slightly.

    It is false that nobody was playing vinyl records in 1999. People most certainly were and still do. It's fine if you prefer a different format but I don't think you need to bash an existing format you aren't very familiar with. The fact is, people who love high quality sound often (not always, not even in the majority) do frequently buy vinyl records. There is a big market now for 180 GM remasters of many classic releases. Vinyl records sell very well today. To see this for yourself, have a look on Amazon at the wealth of releases available now on vinyl and the consumer responses to them which vary more depending on the quality of the pressing or remaster than anything else. You can find a lot of vinyl fans right there.

    It's true all that said that both vinyl and CDs are far less popular today than mp3 and AAC compressed formats which are lossy. Those you can rightly criticize as being lacking compared to lossless. FLAC is not a leading format by any means although one could argue it ought to replace lossy digital media at this point. One could argue that all day long but so far it has not happened. I do think lossless digital will be the standard with time but even that is not purely lossless as something is always lost with sampling no matter how fast it is. Can the average listen even hear that? No but then we live in a world where the average music listener is using some pretty crappy gear to play it so no wonder mp3 and AAC files are still so popular. You get what you pay for as always.

    Edit: I forgot to add that I really like your idea for releasing the music in it's original form from a Roland sourced recording. That would be an ideal way to hear this music in all its nostalgic glory but I think we might be in a minority in having a preference for that.
    Nennius likes this.
  14. Iven Antonius Bayle

    Limited production does fit to limited access. How much more successfull another audio format would had been ?! Roughly only a few percent of the EQ fans have constant access to a record player. Let's assume 3% (also for canada and the USA). Limited to canadian and US residents only. Let's assume they have a share of 1/3 of the world market. It might be even much less. Now do the math: 3% of 33,33~% = 1% of the worldwide EQ fans/players would be POSSIBLE customers. Great !

    I agree but I had not written that nobody did. It is nice to see that Vinyl has a comeback. However in 1999 I had exactly two vinyl records and not a record player at all. Many years before 1999, about in 1992, CDs got introduced in my region in big style and nearly all the records vanished within just a few years from the shops. Since then its a niche market and the comeback has alot to do with nostalgia and will perish in just a few decades for sure.

    I am very familiar with Vinyl and know about the positive aspects and arguments. On the other side I also know about the negative aspects by own experiences. This is why I am bashing Vinyl as the negative aspects are bigger than the positive ones just by logic not by a personal colored view. If vinyl would the that nice it would still be around in big numbers on the mass market. But compact discs have wiped them away in a very short amount of time back in the days for good reasons.

    You surprise me but maybe its just a misconception by myself. Audiophile people actually use flac alot. If not the flac format, what else ? Sure the wav format is even better but has about a doubled file size without offering much more audio quality.
  15. Qelil Augur

    Yes, it was a limited release on purpose and it was successful. However, it was also available in mp3 format on Amazon and still is. I believe somebody here mentioned buying it on iTunes as well. So it was available in other formats and I suppose those sold some amount as well but I would have no way of knowing how much. Only the vinyl was a limited release which shouldn't bother anybody not wanting the music in that format while pleasing those who did and still do for this year's release.

    I am not sure how you can be very familiar with how vinyl can sound and yet not appreciate that it sounds so good people with sound systems costing 10's of thousands of dollars prefer it. These people are neither stupid nor deaf. It does sound excellent. I enjoy listening to both vinyl and CDs personally and have a sizeable collection of each media type. Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs releases both formats. If you are not familiar with MFSL recordings they have been around for a very long time serving a niche market willing to pay for their standards of quality. They are selling record albums today from the original source tapes which play at 45 RPM (see their site for reasons) for one hundred bucks a pop. They sell too. So you can't tell me there are not serious vinyl afficionados out there because there are. I am one of them but again, I also appreciate a good CD and spent for a quality DAC to get the best out of them. Lastly for convenience I do have a fair collection of music I burned from my own sources to Apple's lossless format. There is no degradation in sound with either Apple's lossless or FLAC vs WAV because the musical data itself is not reduced in any way like with a lossy format such as mp3. WAV is simply an uncompressed lossless format and the other two are compressed lossless formats. We're talking about different kinds of compression there. One actually cuts out musical data while with the others the lossless file is compressed and expanded for playback with no data loss at all. So there is no audible difference between the three, just storage size differences.

    When I said FLAC is not a leading format I didn't say it isn't high quality. It is however it is not more popular than lesser formats. Again, look at the leading sellers of digital audio music files such as Apple's iTunes, Amazon Music, etc. and you won't FLAC there. Then again, lossless streaming is the future anyway so none of this matters really. Publishers for a very long time have dreamed of the day when they would have complete control over their IP and that is just where we're going. We will be renting everything and owning nothing. So grab the collector's LPs while you can folks! Own a bit of audio history! :)