Definitive Guide to the Original UO Music

Discussion in 'Guides' started by Nightwolf, Apr 10, 2017.

  1. Nightwolf

    Nightwolf Active Member
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    Definitive Ultima Online Music Guide
    Source: Information and original files provided by the Ultima Digital Music Archive
    All Credit goes to them!
    http://dor-lomin.com/archive/ultima/musicarchive/uo/
    Description

    What this is,
    • The truest representation of Ultima Online's music (the closest you'll get to what the original composers Joe Basquez, Kirk Winterrowd intended)
    • An unaltered MP3 conversion directly from original MIDIs on a retail Ultima Online disc
    • MP3s were digitally recorded from a Roland SCC-1, the most advanced General MIDI synthesizer available at the time Ultima Online's music was composed
    • This is certainly the playback device preferred by the original composers
    • The audio detail provided by the Roland SCC-1 is comparable to going from 480p to 4K

    What this is NOT,
    • A remaster, remix, or reimagining
    • A conversion using the poor quality Windows' default MIDI sound module (a commonly seen conversion)
    • A conversion that you personally might prefer using your favorite consumer soundcard (Sound Blaster, Adlib, etc)

    Doesn't the UOR Installer come with this music?
    • No, the music in the UOR installer comes from an unverified conversion that contains either post-processing that has altered the original music or was converted using a custom MIDI sound canvas

    Sit back, turn up the volume, and enjoy! (experience may be enhanced while playing a Naturalist)

    Download
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/rb1y8n3xviwdsr9/UORMusic.zip?dl=0 (67.57 MB)

    Installation Instructions

    [​IMG]







    Last edited: Apr 5, 2019
    Heilzen, eherruh, dissident and 12 others like this.
  2. Alex Caember

    Alex Caember Well-Known Member

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    The original UO music was amazing to me, even back when I first heard it in 1997. Stones remains one of my all-time favorites!

    Thanks for sharing this :)
    Goon Kyle likes this.
  3. Awen

    Awen Active Member

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    Same for me !

    Thanks Nightwolf
  4. Xainlich

    Xainlich New Member

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    I know I'm a bit late to the party here, but these are incredible. Thank you!

    I noticed there are music tracks with names that suggest the game was to have a larger soundtrack—e.g., dungeon2 and dungeon9. Any information on this? Does the game reference other tracks that are not present in the music folder? It would be cool to bring in music from elsewhere to fill in if that's the case.
  5. Steady Mobbin

    Steady Mobbin Well-Known Member

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    Whoa, where has this thread been all my life!?!?

    Thanks!
    r3ckon3r likes this.
  6. r3ckon3r

    r3ckon3r Well-Known Member

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    Wow, this should be pinned!
    Steady Mobbin likes this.
  7. r3ckon3r

    r3ckon3r Well-Known Member

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    Forgot how epic Jhelom, Linelle, Ocllo (Wind - forgot it carried the same music), forest sound with the original MIDIs
    PaddyOBrien and Steady Mobbin like this.
  8. Steady Mobbin

    Steady Mobbin Well-Known Member

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    I wonder why they felt the need to remove all these?
  9. Buga

    Buga Well-Known Member

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    I knew about of these files but never bothered to test them, now I'm glad I saw this post :D sounds awesome. God bless Roland SCC-1!

    What happened to Magincia song? It is a totally different track.

    Edit: Just found that Wind also doesn't match, well it sounds exactly as Ocllo in the UOR Package. You can still do separate download directly from the webpage that seems to have the right track for Wind, http://dor-lomin.com/archive/ultima/musicarchive/uo/mp3/wind.mp3

    Edit2: Skara don't have music, skarabrae.mp3 should be skarabra.mp3 renamed it and now works.
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2019
    Leopold likes this.
  10. Leopold

    Leopold Well-Known Member
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    Wow this is awesome! I just found it from @Steady Mobbin 's signature in another thread. Thanks! I had downloaded the MIDI Files from my old 1997 UO CDROM and tried to do the conversion myself. It didn't sound right. Time to start playing with the original music. But I have to wonder, there was an alternative set on the CDROM that had more "8 bit" sounding versions, and I think that is what I remember from way back then. The website Buga linked to seems to suggest that the "beeping and bonking" is the exact same MIDI files but done through an inferior MIDI music generator?
  11. Buga

    Buga Well-Known Member

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    Hey Leopold,

    I also have the original midi files but they don't sound very well on modern audio cards (or chips) that's why those guys at: http://dor-lomin.com/archive/ultima/musicarchive/uo/ (the link is in the first thread) reproduced the sounds with a Roland audio card that is the most appropriate device to play those tracks and converted them to mp3 so you can play on any current audio chip and it will sound more or less the same as it was back then!

    The mp3 files that comes with the UOR package were converted from midi to mp3 too, I guess, but they do not sound very well compared to the files on that webpage.

    About the files I have, they came with the original 5.0.8.3 client and has two folders inside music named as 512k, 4MB, both have the same 26 midi files, but size varies, it is 1.15 MB vs 4.58 MB. I guess 4MB folder has better quality music.

    If you browse that webpage there is a bunch more info about all this.
    Last edited: May 14, 2019
  12. Khari

    Khari Member

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    Thank you so much for this! It is the first thing I looked up when I started playing again a few days ago. The original music holds such fond memories and feelings of nostalgia.
    Steady Mobbin likes this.
  13. Hydrox

    Hydrox Well-Known Member
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  14. PaddyOBrien

    PaddyOBrien Well-Known Member

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    Anyone know what triggers the "forest_a.mp3" track? In the past, it would somehow trigger when you'd be actually in the forest but I've never been able to get it to trigger in UOR, along with the tavern tracks.
    Leopold likes this.
  15. Steady Mobbin

    Steady Mobbin Well-Known Member

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    I think the new classic client addresses these things. @Quick , is this true?
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  16. PaddyOBrien

    PaddyOBrien Well-Known Member

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    I don't think it does yet, the tavern music doesn't play nor does the forest music. it was looping the last track that was played
  17. Quick

    Quick Well-Known Member
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    Tavern music needs to be a server update. The client will play it, but it's the server not sending it when you're in a tavern.
    PaddyOBrien likes this.
  18. PaddyOBrien

    PaddyOBrien Well-Known Member

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    Same thing with the forest theme? That was one of my favorites
  19. guhhhhh

    guhhhhh Active Member
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    I'm using the launcher and for some reason I never get music. Am I doing something wrong? Really missing having the backdrop.
  20. Meliph

    Meliph Member
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    Iirc a lot of the original dev team, including LB himself, are all SCAdians ( society for creative anachronisms, a medieval recreation group) and iolo stormbow is a real life professional arbalest ( makes crossbows), stones was written in memorium to his wife.
    Theres also a LOT of crossover from SCA activities and UO...for example..Youd be suprised at how similair leather armor in game is to the most commonly made leather armor back in the 90s, right down to the knee and elbow cops (cups).aside from the leather headgear its entirely list legal for sca combat and the leather cap lools a LOT like a typical underpadding for helms...heck that group led me to both UO and real life blacksmithing as a trade! I digress...Iolo is a really nice fella and makes wonderful crossbows :) And "Stones" is hauntingly beautiful.
    Buga and TheNomad like this.

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