Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

I think he did a great job at coping the first songs except turtemple. I don’t remeber there being a type of bass gartar there, but the rest is very good.

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I listen to MIDIs with a custom self-made SoundFont bank on a Sound Blaster Live! card. Here is my opinion, especially on the Turtemple soundtrack which seems to be the most criticized file in the archive.

Turtemple : 8/10

Yes, eight. If you listen to this song with a good wavetable synthesis which does not sound too “classy” or “factory-made”, the Blown Bottle sample that annoys everybody here can sound very good. Mine sounds like a real flute while being more “synthy” than a Pan Flute. The problem is that most “factory” wavetables (eg. uncustomized, like when you’ve got your synth) offer a bad Bottle Blow patch which wants to be too realistic, with a weird noise like when you blow in a bottle, giving a pretty unusable sound. The “Roland-ish” MS Synth and most Yamaha synths are the most affected by those kinds of sounds. Using Gravis UltraSound samples, for example, it sounds correct. Anyway, the author of this MIDI file has made an error, IMO. If you look at the original S3M soundtrack, the main instrument used is named “Shaka” which means it is a SHAKUHACHI patch, and, judging from its sound, it comes from one of the most popular Roland synths of the late 80s, either a D-50 or a U-20. So, fatalM4, you should have used a Shakuhachi (MIDI program #77) instead of the Bottle Blow MIDI program (#76) in this MIDI, it would have sounded far much better for most people. Anyway, the rest of the soundtrack is very good and the instruments are well chosen, especially the Power drums.

Nippius : 8/10

The main bass is very good and is the MIDI patch (Synth Bass 2, #39) that reflects best the original S3M soundtrack, but it requires a very fat and strong synth bass sound like in Yamaha’s synths or some Roland wavetable synthesis (except the MS Synth, its second synth bass is awful). But, according to vanBasco’s Karaoke Player, the MIDI patch seems to be mistakenly defined in the MIDI file (on my Live!, it is not recognized as a GS patch, but is replaced with the GM Synth Bass 2), which explains that it can be skipped with non-fully GS-compliant synths. MaliceX, try listening to that MIDI with vanBasco’s (www.vanbasco.com) or other MIDI player which is able to correct MIDI errors. This should fix the problem. Danyjel, I do not agree at all with you regarding the quality of the lead sample. It’s the MIDI program #98 (Crystal), which sounds excellent on most synths (especially Rolands, I think) and is the most appropriate patch if you consider the XMas-style instrument used in the original soundtrack (probably a sound from a Roland D-50, it sounds very close to its famous Fantasia pad). IMO, if fatalM4 used the Fantasia MIDI program (#88) instead of Crystal, it would have sounded very bad on many synths – the Fantasia pad is a mix of mallet and synth strings sounds, which may give a very bad sound in some situations. But I completely agree with you that the final instrument, which is accurate (it’s a Overdriven/Distorted Guitar like in the original), is absolutely out of tune. It should have been at least two octaves lower, and even with that, it is not played with the correct notes. Only for that, an eight instead of a nine or ten for that song.

Orbitus : 9,5/10

Very good MIDI conversion, the patches are the most accurate (Voice Oohs and Bass & Lead, #53 & #87) and sound very good even on the weakest synths (like that one from MS) which use “doo” voices instead of real “ooohs”. But IMO, it should have been one octave lower…

Slugion : 8/10

I do not have a fully GS-compliant synth, so maybe that the lead sample sound correct on appropriate material… but on my Live! synth (and I think that it is like that on a non-GS synth), the main patch is GM #84, which corresponds to Charang, a mix of electric synth guitars and eventually clavinets. And it sounds inaccurate compared to the original soundtrack, which uses a very strange lead synth sound. But, it’s the same problem as Nippius: GS instruments are recognized incorrectly on non-GS material, but it may be a mistake on your MIDIs; usually, on my Live! synth, GS or even XG MIDIs are correcly played if I have GS or XG instruments loaded on my soundcard (which I’ve done to listen to your MIDIs), the instruments are recognized as GS or XG, even if they are replaced by a GM equivalent if I do not have the appropriate instruments in memory. fatalM4, you should look at your MIDIs with a player like vanBasco’s Karaoke Player, and see if it correctly setups the GS instruments on your material.

Dreempipes : 9,75/10

The best MIDI conversion of the archive. All the instruments are well chosen (a non-synthy electric bass like that Picked Bass was the best choice!), the gunshot is very well used as an enhancement of the snare drums, even if you could have skipped its use because you’ve already used Power drums. And, on my soundcard, the third Piano is the most representative of the one used in the original soundtrack: acoustic with a little electric tone. Nearly perfect, with a little and very minor bug: the Gunshot patch is changed to a Piano 1 when the main pianos start, and as soon as the MIDI is switching to Standard drums…

Hope that this very long review will be useful for the author and the people who will listen to those MIDIs.

Introduction:
Hah! Medivo meets the Menu Song, and in a good way.

Song Analysis:
The song does what it promises by bringing Medivo to the Menu Song. And it sounds really good, too. It’s a little empty in some places, but nothing too huge.

Sample Analysis:
The samples are of the original samples from the two songs and seem to work well together.

Final Analysis:
Download this song for the novelty of it. It’s a cute song.

For some strange reason, I can’t hear the bassline of nippius. I’m guessing you used GS, but you forgot to add the GS reset SysEx command.
I really like the gunshots you used layering above the snares in DREEMPIPES.
All instrumentation is good, and fits well with the weight of the MIDI output. All notes are in time, well done!

Danyjel: MIDI is nowhere near dead. MPEG is actually older than MIDI. (MPEG as in MPEG-1 layer 3, or better known as MP3)

No, I don’t like it. I think they could be better. although it’s hard to make it good. Bad instrument choice… But there is no reason to do it. MIDI is dead. Why to do MIDIs when we can do modules by infinitely better sample choice?

Turtemple (4 / 10)
Main sample is suxoring, some deformed flute, which destroys it at all. If there isn’t that main sample, it could be great, normally it could get over 9.

Nippius (5 / 10)
Snares are okay, main background sample too. But lead sample is awful. Quality of it is bad, and it dissapear to whole song. And at the end there plays some unfair sample.

Dreempipes (7 / 10)
Main background sample is good, snares, hihats, beats too, lead sample rulez. Good.

Orbitus (6 / 10)
Nice. Maybe quality of main sample could better.

Sluggion (3 / 10)
Lead sample sux, background sample and snares are good.

They all are really good. They resemble the original ones, and are good in tempo. Same tunes, so some of them sound un edited.
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Nippius and Sluggion have the special stuff. I don’t use a Wavetable, only Windows Media Player Classic. I’m old. Well, anyway, the special GS instruments sound quite good.

You mixed 2 songs togheter, but you can hear the Menu remix more than Medieval. You changed some tunes, and it sounds pretty good.

In some places, it sounds pretty empty.

I think you left some sounds that were in the original one too. They fit. For your first remix, this is very good actually!

And you can use it in your levels!

Jazz Jackrabbit Music Theme. The best game music I’ve ever heard. Ready to another biased review?

So. This is theme music mixed with some basslines and samples (like monk voice) from Medivo. Tempo is original, Rhythm too.

The main thing I like on this piece is total harmony. Harmony with Medivo and Menusong, which gives new music, new melody. That’s great.

Now those worse. Sample quality is just bad, original rhythm does not fit into this.

(+) New nostalgic melody
(+) Great transition
(-) Sample quality
(-) Rhythm

Download it anyway. Especially if you like menusong.