Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Track Name - Truth and Reconciliation Suite [2]
Covering Album - Halo: Combat Evolved
Original Composers - Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori
11 years later (or in the making, however you want to look at it), the stars finally aligned and I managed to bring you the entire Halo: Combat Evolved Original Soundtrack, in 8-bit glory using FamiTracker and no expansions. Just 2 square channels, 1 triangle and 1 noise. Bless my previous soul that thought that it would "hopfully take less than the time to do the Shatter covers (6 months)".
Halo: Combat Evolved holds a very special place in my heart, giving me two very poignant memories when it comes to this game and my teenage years. The first being the 4v4 deathmatch matches we used to play at my friend's house using the system-link capabilities. Naturally, everyone wanted to use the much larger 42" plasma TV rather than the smaller CRT that was used for the other team. I think that the game was far higher fidelity on the smaller screen as plasma screens at that time were relatively new and the games were stretched. I hope that my friend's mother didn't mind us completely taking over the living room as I always felt bad for that but it was a complete blast. The trade-off for using the smaller screen was that you got to take a sneak peak at the enemy team's position, if you were lucky not to get caught. However if we were all playing free-for-all on a single TV, then any attempts would be completely inexcusable and getting killed from a hidden position would be met with shouts of "screen looker!".
The other memory I have is playing co-operative with a friend over the road from my house in his loft. "The Assault on the Control Room" and "Two Betrayals" on legendary difficulty were the two most popular levels we used to choose. It was always special to play as it wasn't very often that we got to play together there - when some hobbies are restricted somewhat, then it makes it even more enjoyable whenever you are able to partake in that activity. There was one level that was brutal where you had to make a crossing over a bridge between two Covenant buildings while attempting to avoid the crossfire from enemy Banshees. They were the main threat as well as enemy Elites, causing your shields to drop in an instant. You did have a small respite though which was lovely - there were sleeping Grunts that you could melee from behind for an instant (and more importantly, silent) kill.
Late 2001 - what a time that was. I don't think I'll ever have another time like that in my lifetime but that's both to be expected historically but also the fact that we're unlikely to see a first-person shooter like this again. Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori did an incredible job on the soundtrack. It takes incredible skill to compose music that flows and fits so perfectly with the gameplay - something that I still aspire to achieve at least once in my lifetime, just once.
I hope that you enjoy my delve into the Xbox era's past, as you listen to my renditions of the 26-track original soundtrack for Halo: Combat Evolved, with some hidden personal twists along the way.
#halo #chiptune #8bit
MY LINKS
- - - - -
https://music.jonherbst.dev
https://x.com/jonponsvids10
soundcloud.com/jonponsvids
Track Name - Truth and Reconciliation Suite [2]
Covering Album - Halo: Combat Evolved
Original Composers - Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori
11 years later (or in the making, however you want to look at it), the stars finally aligned and I managed to bring you the entire Halo: Combat Evolved Original Soundtrack, in 8-bit glory using FamiTracker and no expansions. Just 2 square channels, 1 triangle and 1 noise. Bless my previous soul that thought that it would "hopfully take less than the time to do the Shatter covers (6 months)".
Halo: Combat Evolved holds a very special place in my heart, giving me two very poignant memories when it comes to this game and my teenage years. The first being the 4v4 deathmatch matches we used to play at my friend's house using the system-link capabilities. Naturally, everyone wanted to use the much larger 42" plasma TV rather than the smaller CRT that was used for the other team. I think that the game was far higher fidelity on the smaller screen as plasma screens at that time were relatively new and the games were stretched. I hope that my friend's mother didn't mind us completely taking over the living room as I always felt bad for that but it was a complete blast. The trade-off for using the smaller screen was that you got to take a sneak peak at the enemy team's position, if you were lucky not to get caught. However if we were all playing free-for-all on a single TV, then any attempts would be completely inexcusable and getting killed from a hidden position would be met with shouts of "screen looker!".
The other memory I have is playing co-operative with a friend over the road from my house in his loft. "The Assault on the Control Room" and "Two Betrayals" on legendary difficulty were the two most popular levels we used to choose. It was always special to play as it wasn't very often that we got to play together there - when some hobbies are restricted somewhat, then it makes it even more enjoyable whenever you are able to partake in that activity. There was one level that was brutal where you had to make a crossing over a bridge between two Covenant buildings while attempting to avoid the crossfire from enemy Banshees. They were the main threat as well as enemy Elites, causing your shields to drop in an instant. You did have a small respite though which was lovely - there were sleeping Grunts that you could melee from behind for an instant (and more importantly, silent) kill.
Late 2001 - what a time that was. I don't think I'll ever have another time like that in my lifetime but that's both to be expected historically but also the fact that we're unlikely to see a first-person shooter like this again. Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori did an incredible job on the soundtrack. It takes incredible skill to compose music that flows and fits so perfectly with the gameplay - something that I still aspire to achieve at least once in my lifetime, just once.
I hope that you enjoy my delve into the Xbox era's past, as you listen to my renditions of the 26-track original soundtrack for Halo: Combat Evolved, with some hidden personal twists along the way.
#halo #chiptune #8bit
MY LINKS
- - - - -
https://music.jonherbst.dev
https://x.com/jonponsvids10
soundcloud.com/jonponsvids
![Super Smash Bros. Melee - Mother [Earthbound] (LMMS)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/l5lKylgk8Wo/mqdefault.jpg "Super Smash Bros. Melee - Mother [Earthbound] (LMMS)
There is just something about the stock sounds in LMMS, mainly the instruments created with ZynAddSubFX, that is so incredibly satisfying when it comes to attempting to match that from the Nintendo Gamecube era. Maybe the developers are just secret fans of the console. When it comes to translating the strings and choir sections, I did surprisingly well when attempting to balance and mix what I had to offer.
It was much of the same as when I initially covered the Hyrule Temple track from Super Smash Bros. Melee previously. Those piano synths alongside the choir and strings section breakdown were particularly pleasing on the ear.
Fighting in Onett was always fun and a good memory of mine. Playing as Kirby, the cars were always a bit of a pain but getting to use that down-B a lot more than made up for it. I think the only other characters that really suited my playstyle were Captain Falcon and Ganondorf in the end. It was handy that Kirby was my main as my friends both preferred playing Link and Samus respectively anyway so there were never any mirror matches!
Hope you enjoy this one. Some of the piano chords were tough but I think that I ended up putting my own little spin on things where I could. Let me know what you think in the comments below as always!
All the best.
#lmms #smashbros #electronicmusic
MY LINKS
- - - - -
Email:
admin@jonherbst.dev
Website:
https://music.jonherbst.dev
Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/jonponsvids
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/jonponsvids10")
![Akumajou Densetsu [Castlevania III, JP] - Beginning (FamiTracker FDS)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pIjf7II8mKE/mqdefault.jpg "Akumajou Densetsu [Castlevania III, JP] - Beginning (FamiTracker FDS)
Ive finally had the chance to work on something from the Akumajou Densetsu series, also known as Castlevania III outside of Japan and immediately made a beeline for the headline track in the entire OST, that fittingly being Beginning.
In the same way that Simons Theme is a cornerstone of another game in the series, I feel that this encapsulates the feelings that I get when watching gameplay videos from the game. Theres something about the first track from 2D platformers that just seems to hit different, the other one springing to mind being Strike the Earth from Shovel Knight.
Getting back to this, I wanted to use a different expansion chip as an exercise to see whether I could integrate the sounds from the other NES versions to replicate something similar with the FDS expansion, ultimately attempting to get something more akin to what you would find on the GameBoy. I went with some square bass so I could utilise a modified sine wave as the main portion of the lead sections.
Im glad that this one turned out how it did and tried to maximise each channel where I could. I tend to stray away from using the DPCM channel for samples these days as they tend to skew the output for me quite a lot and dull the other sections so its fun trying to get around that limitation.
Hope you enjoy this one. Let me know what you think in the comments below!
All the best.
#famitracker #8bit #chiptune
MY LINKS
- - - - -
Email:
admin@jonherbst.dev
Website:
https://music.jonherbst.dev
Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/jonponsvids
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/jonponsvids10")
