Wipeout XL/2097: The Making of an Iconic PlayStation Soundtrack [video](youtube.com)
youtube.com
Wipeout XL/2097: The Making of an Iconic PlayStation Soundtrack [video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nwWpQJFGp8
11 comments
Sometime in the mid 90s young me came across a PlayStation demo kiosk at Best Buy that happened to be demoing Wipeout. When I started playing, the soundtrack "Messij" started.
I don't ever remember a song giving me goosebumps that way when I listened to that track for the first time.
I don't ever remember a song giving me goosebumps that way when I listened to that track for the first time.
It sure sounded like the future. FYI CoLD SToRAGE released a remastered version of the WipeOut tracks on bandcamp earlier this year.
I've been looking forward to this documentary by noclip. As I'm in the U.S., this soundtrack introduced me to so much UK dance music. It sounded otherwordly. I first discovered Underworld through this soundtrack, who remain one of my favorite music projects to date.
The PS1 disc had all of the audio as CD tracks as well, and as such, this game spent more time in my car's CD player than it did in my actual game console.
The PS1 disc had all of the audio as CD tracks as well, and as such, this game spent more time in my car's CD player than it did in my actual game console.
Can you even put music tracks on a ps1 game without them being CD audio tracks? I thought that was integral to how playing them back worked.
Just throw them in .wav with/out compression (ADPCM for example?).
Or use some module formats.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Sound_Format
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module_file
Or use some module formats.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Sound_Format
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module_file
Is there any additional processing overhead to doing that? I think you can have the console play CD tracks, or subsets of tracks basically for free, which is why most games did that.
> Is there any additional processing overhead to doing that?
TOtally depends on the requirements and hardware.
> CD tracks, or subsets of tracks basically for free
Yes, if you don't need to access the CD in this time[0,1]
Overall:
- having a compression would limit the number of reads (~half for ADPCM for example), for the expense of the quality and the need of the bigger buffers and some of CPU power. PS1 had only 2MB of the main RAM and a CPU with a whopping 33MHz; though it's SPU had the support for ADPCM and had additional 512KB of memory, I doubt there was a way to load a part of a file from a CD-ROM to the SPU without traveling through the CPU first, so it's not very feasible on PS1 but became totally fine on PCs of the era ie any 486 with 50+MHz, or even less if you are okay with a lower quality[2].
- using mod/xm requires just a little bit of pre-reading, but requires both the memory and CPU to produce the sound; you can use the hardware to perform the re/sampling to lower the demand on the CPU, but despite what GUS fanboys said, it's... not that much, at least for the PCs when GUS became a feasible card. But if you are extremely limited on the CPU and you do have a hardware sampler then this is the way.
- until 2000[3] the Red Book was the only way to consistently provide a, well, CD quality soundtrack (musictrack?) on the plethora of users PC configurations.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40653912
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28699834
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLHjzZl2QQk
Quite amusingly, DOS version is downsampled because a common PC didn't have any graphic (or in this case video) accelerators, so it needed to process both the sound and video on the CPU; while CD-i version is running on an anemic 15.5MHz it had the proper, ahem, GPU so it could have a much better sound quality, you can compare them:
Thaa's Secret
https://youtu.be/RLHjzZl2QQk?t=367
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLjKjNp5N_Q&t=246s
[3] originally I wrote 1997, because Quake II, and Half-Life came out in '98 (well, technically), but looks like even in 2000 there were some titles which still preferred it this way.
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_games_that_use_Red...
EDIT:
> or subsets of tracks basically for free
Not that free. Positioning the head takes time (and we are talking 1x/2x drives - up to a second or two!) and if you don't want to abruptly stop the playback and then suddenly start blasting from the mid... well you don't have any controls over that. You can only prepare for that while mastering the soundtrack and inserting the pauses (with fade-out/fade-ins!) where applicable.
TOtally depends on the requirements and hardware.
> CD tracks, or subsets of tracks basically for free
Yes, if you don't need to access the CD in this time[0,1]
Overall:
- having a compression would limit the number of reads (~half for ADPCM for example), for the expense of the quality and the need of the bigger buffers and some of CPU power. PS1 had only 2MB of the main RAM and a CPU with a whopping 33MHz; though it's SPU had the support for ADPCM and had additional 512KB of memory, I doubt there was a way to load a part of a file from a CD-ROM to the SPU without traveling through the CPU first, so it's not very feasible on PS1 but became totally fine on PCs of the era ie any 486 with 50+MHz, or even less if you are okay with a lower quality[2].
- using mod/xm requires just a little bit of pre-reading, but requires both the memory and CPU to produce the sound; you can use the hardware to perform the re/sampling to lower the demand on the CPU, but despite what GUS fanboys said, it's... not that much, at least for the PCs when GUS became a feasible card. But if you are extremely limited on the CPU and you do have a hardware sampler then this is the way.
- until 2000[3] the Red Book was the only way to consistently provide a, well, CD quality soundtrack (musictrack?) on the plethora of users PC configurations.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40653912
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28699834
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLHjzZl2QQk
Quite amusingly, DOS version is downsampled because a common PC didn't have any graphic (or in this case video) accelerators, so it needed to process both the sound and video on the CPU; while CD-i version is running on an anemic 15.5MHz it had the proper, ahem, GPU so it could have a much better sound quality, you can compare them:
Thaa's Secret
https://youtu.be/RLHjzZl2QQk?t=367
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLjKjNp5N_Q&t=246s
[3] originally I wrote 1997, because Quake II, and Half-Life came out in '98 (well, technically), but looks like even in 2000 there were some titles which still preferred it this way.
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_games_that_use_Red...
EDIT:
> or subsets of tracks basically for free
Not that free. Positioning the head takes time (and we are talking 1x/2x drives - up to a second or two!) and if you don't want to abruptly stop the playback and then suddenly start blasting from the mid... well you don't have any controls over that. You can only prepare for that while mastering the soundtrack and inserting the pauses (with fade-out/fade-ins!) where applicable.
Not to mention the amazing design work of the designers republic: https://www.thedesignersrepublic.com/wipeout
I have yet to see this, but I feel a strong need to praise noclip for pushing out absolutely stellar video game related documentaries!
I recently started Gustavo Pezzi's PSX programming course and he teaches how to code a simplified version of Wip3out for the Playstation. Is anyone else taking that class???
As mentioned in the video: “The PlayStation WipEout games are irreplaceable and unrepeatable and I think that’s what makes them so special. You just kind of had to be there.”
I was fortunate enough to be studying in the UK at the time it was released, and I couldn’t agree more with the previous statement :-)
I was fortunate enough to be studying in the UK at the time it was released, and I couldn’t agree more with the previous statement :-)
Not related to the soundtrack, but has anyone else experienced Wipeout with the NeGcon controller? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeGcon
It worked so well for Wipeout...
It worked so well for Wipeout...
Wasn’t the real iconic soundtrack just a song from FSOL ? I mean nothing wipeout related at first …
I would say Fluke's "Atom Bomb" and "Firestarter" by The Prodigy are at least as big as FSOL's "We Have Explosive" which I assume you're referring to?
"Atom Bomb" is much more closely associated with the game, whereas I'd guess many people know "Firestarter" without ever seeing or playing Wipeout games, leaving "We Have Explosive" probably somewhere in the middle.
"Atom Bomb" is much more closely associated with the game, whereas I'd guess many people know "Firestarter" without ever seeing or playing Wipeout games, leaving "We Have Explosive" probably somewhere in the middle.
The video for Atom Bomb is all Wipeout footage with extra live/cg added on. It's a great track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHMzCpy0fXc
And don't forget "Loops of Fury" from the Chemicals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHMzCpy0fXc
And don't forget "Loops of Fury" from the Chemicals.
Loops of fury is a banger… this whole time was great for music!
Some tracks were pre-existing, like those from FSOL, others were specifically written/edited/remixed for the game.
It's more than that. We Have Explosive by FSOL was indeed a highlight. But so was Firestarter by Prodigy, which was huge. Underworld was known for doing Born Slippy, huge hit from the Trainspotting soundtrack. Chemical Brothers were huge too.
You're right that there aren't a lot of original tracks in the soundtrack. Basically just the ones by CoLD SToRAGE. But even those are top tier.
It was the highest caliber a soundtrack had been yet.
You're right that there aren't a lot of original tracks in the soundtrack. Basically just the ones by CoLD SToRAGE. But even those are top tier.
It was the highest caliber a soundtrack had been yet.
I'd say that it's easier to count the pre-existing tracks:
...only 2 out of 11 were available before the game as they were early 1996 releases
- The Prodigy "Firestarter (Instrumental)"
- The Chemical Brothers "Loops of Fury"
...maybe a third depending on your view of The Chemical Brothers track.
The game was released late 1996.
...as far as I am aware:
- FSOL "We Have Explosive" (was released as a single in 1997, the year after the game)
- FSOL "Landmass" (wasn't available anywhere else)
- Fluke "V6" (not released elsewhere, though there's a higher fidelity release on the Wipeout Soundtrack CD)
- Fluke "Atom Bomb" (the game version is quite different than the single/chart version that released after the game)
- The Chemical Brothers "Dust Up Beats" (a totally different version than the one previously released on vinyl in 1994) https://forum.thechembase.com/index.php?topic=309.0
- Photek "The Third Sequence" (did eventually get a vinyl release after the 2097 soundtrack)
- Underworld's "Tin There" (the full length version of this was released on the Pearl's Girl single shortly after the game release)
- Cold Storage "Canada" (written for the game)
- Cold Storage "Body in Motion" (written for the game)
...only 2 out of 11 were available before the game as they were early 1996 releases
- The Prodigy "Firestarter (Instrumental)"
- The Chemical Brothers "Loops of Fury"
...maybe a third depending on your view of The Chemical Brothers track.
The game was released late 1996.
...as far as I am aware:
- FSOL "We Have Explosive" (was released as a single in 1997, the year after the game)
- FSOL "Landmass" (wasn't available anywhere else)
- Fluke "V6" (not released elsewhere, though there's a higher fidelity release on the Wipeout Soundtrack CD)
- Fluke "Atom Bomb" (the game version is quite different than the single/chart version that released after the game)
- The Chemical Brothers "Dust Up Beats" (a totally different version than the one previously released on vinyl in 1994) https://forum.thechembase.com/index.php?topic=309.0
- Photek "The Third Sequence" (did eventually get a vinyl release after the 2097 soundtrack)
- Underworld's "Tin There" (the full length version of this was released on the Pearl's Girl single shortly after the game release)
- Cold Storage "Canada" (written for the game)
- Cold Storage "Body in Motion" (written for the game)
Now release a PC version
[deleted]
The game came out in Christmas 1996, which was the year most people started shifting from the 16-bit era. There had been several games that looked really good (Ridge Racer, Wipeout), but this was the holiday where heavy hitters like Tekken 2 and Wipeout 2(097) would come out.
Playstation had been developing an edgier, more grown-up image in their marketing, in opposition to Nintendo's perceived younger audience. Wipeout was the answer to F-Zero and Mario Kart. Very fast racing, item power-ups.
Sony went above and beyond in making the console look cool, with PS1 booths demoing Wipeout 2097 at the Ministry of Sound (super trendy club in London). They somehow managed to land most of the hot electronic / techno artists of the day. The Prodigy's Firestarter was blasting all over the radios, but The Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Fluke, Underworld (of Born Slippy fame) and more were all there.
This game showcased 3D in a way that the competition couldn't (the Saturn port looked much more basic, and Nintendo had nothing to show yet). But the soundtrack really sold the whole deal. "Sony is here to give you kick ass, high tech, trendy games".
Really impressive to see a product deliver on every front.
The game would go to be a system seller, but also inspire lots of teens who had grown up on Nintendo, to explore electronic music, modern design aesthetic (inspired by the work of The Designers Republic), and developers, who would go on and develop games such as BallisticNG.
(PS: I'm obviously a fan, and it inspired me on my own game design and electronic music journey back then!)