"Akumajou Densetsu (Castlevania III JP) (FC)" Full Soundtrack [Oscilloscope View]

[@ElysaraCh]

People talk about how the triangle isn't used, but I'd like to point out that instead, this soundtrack is INCREDIBLY busy and nearly every track uses every channel available. It's actually really really impressive - there's almost no time wasted on any voice.

[@hyper_vyolet]

Also the triangle is being used in-game for SFX iirc

[@ElysaraCh]

@@hyper_vyolet Yes, absolutely! Saving a sound channel or two for SFX is an important thing a lot of people don't understand. Having music channels cut out for SFX is annoying as heck. I love seeing things like SNES soundtracks that limit their channels while still sounding amazing - Kirby Super Star and Plok! come to mind, achieving so much with only 5.

[@Asterra2]

@@ElysaraCh Sound channels making room for sound effects is an effective non-issue as long as the music has been composed in a way that the channel(s) being interrupted are nonessential, such as echo accompaniment. It's a complete waste not to use them in at least that capacity. Plok! leaving three channels untouched just for sound effects is such a gobsmacking lost opportunity. Equinox really could have used more voices for its atmospheric soundtrack as well-did the game truly require four channels just for sound effects? Of course not. I suspect the music was largely composed on the Amiga.

[@brunotheodoro1219]

The triangle channel isn't used because the sawtooth channel already does the base/bass pretty well, so they basically didn't use the triangle in the game at all.

[@ElysaraCh]

@@brunotheodoro1219 It's used for sound effects

[@dobrakawanimat]

4:37 I adore the vibratos in this, they're amazing

[@arkan5000]

Aquarius and Riddle have never sounded and looked better, this is a whole new way to appreciate these old tunes

[@squeenixu]

gotta love the Japanese exclusive better soundtrack

[@xdcountry]

watching how the vibrato is generated and seeing each part independently -- so satisfying

[@MarquisLeary34]

Vampire Killer and Bloody Tears usually get all the love, but I swear, it's a crime that Demon Seed and Anxiety don't have more covers.

[@NEStalgia]

I think Aquarius should also get more attention. I even used the NES version as a ringtone :)

[@TheArchitectOfDreams]

21:28 is really neat. It's amazing out you can visually see and hear how each piece comes together and works in harmony.

[@boy6432]

Fucking nice. By far the best classic Castlevania soundtrack.

[@MikaTsukiii]

8:10 my personal favorite

[@camulodunon]

Same here.

[@8bitlover123]

Me too

[@eriks8382]

Clockwork and dead beat for me.

[@kanekitchen]

Mad forest rips so hard, the beginning reminds me of flash man’s music in mega man 2

[@SomeDemoMain]

"Prayer" is really good and I'm sad that there aren't many covers of it. Sure, it's 12 seconds, but it's so damn good.

[@LoveFor298Yen]

I always considered Prayer the intro part of Beginning. Without it, Beginning feels incomplete.

[@noharakun]

I don’t know how I missed his but thank you this is one of my favorite soundtracks and to see it like this blew my mind

[@TakuikaNinja]

This game's sample allocation be like: that fucking laugh >>>>>>>>>>>> barely audible drum samples

[@LZ02-OVERTURE]

I find all the drum samples in the OST to be perfectly fine in the mix.

[@groovingood]

​@@LZ02-OVERTUREyeah

[@Pan_Z]

Favourites are: Beginning 2:46 Mad Forest 8:10 Aquarius 17:21

[@oliverbauschatz]

I actually like nes mad forest better

[@Anuojat]

ITs truly amazing and almost brings tear to my eye how geniusly the team used the limited hardware of this ancient machine to produce suchglorious themes! The way 2 or 3 channels complement and empower each other is so good that it creates the FEEL as if there were more than 8!

[@ViktarTheBarbarian]

This is the best FC soundtrack hands down. No doubt in my mind.

[@omeg5473]

2:46 beginning is goated imo

[@GuyRification]

Top tier soundtrack!

[@yoshimitsu1977]

This is the best song ever. I bought the an fc and they cartridge just for this.

[@skylinefever]

It is kind of a disappointment that the NES didn't support additional audio chips.

[@raelik777]

You can modify the NES to enable those lines to the cartridge slot, so that you can use a Famicom adapter to play games with extra audio hardware on an NES.

[@raelik777]

@Arnold101Knight Not sure what you mean by that: www.retrofixes.com/2014/05/open-hidden-sound-channels-in-nes.html

[@BottomOfTheDumpsterFire]

God, I would have killed for a N163 external audio DAC that plugged into the expansion port with its own 1KB of RAM for samples.

[@Pan_Z]

The NES can't support audio chips? I thought the problem was Nintendo didn't allow publishers to manufacturer their own cartridges in America. All carts were licensed and produced by Nintendo, who didn't use the VCR6 chip (the soundchip the Famicom version of Castlevania III used).

[@RWL2012]

@@Pan_Z I don't think the cartridge slot on the NES has the expansion audio lines connected.

[@educateyourself3872]

Does anyone know what the effect is on the upper right square waves @2:22 is called and how to achieve it with a tracker? Thanks

[@theallknowingsause8940]

It's called a sweep You can do it in famitracker by assigning the effect to "1--" or "2--" and use the extra 2 assignable numbers for sweep speed

[@paulblart7378]

7:28 count bleck's theme from super paper mario I love that game and now I can't unhear it

[@jorgitoislamico4224]

I've never heard that song but just from seeing the "Count" behind the name I can see how they're related

[@tallikx]

It's interesting to note that 'Riddle' plays in its entirety in the JP version. In the US one, it was cropped for some reason, which makes it sound a little irritating on such a noticeably shorter loop.

[@razi_man]

HOLY SHIT! 4 SQUARE WAVES!? No wonder this sounds so good! Also, huh, didn't know sawtooth waves could be used for low bass notes like triangle waves. (Yes, I know you could technically use any waveform for low bass notes, but some waveforms like square waves don't sound very good, some waveforms like triangle waves are just better sounding.)

[@ruby_R53]

this is vrc6 lol, the original nes' 2a03 can only output 2 square waves, a triangle wave, a noise channel and a dpcm. now, vrc6 adds 2 more square waves and a sawtooth. the triangle isn't used in akumajou densetsu 'cos the bass notes are so low the triangle can't reproduce them.

[@Catpuccino_1]

@@ruby_R53The 2a03's triangle can actually produce lower notes than the VRC6's sawtooth can, it's just that the dull and muffled sound (as well as much more low frequencies) that the triangle produces makes it harder to hear the really low notes compared to the sawtooth, which has a harsher sound and much more high frequencies. My guess as to why they didn't include it in the soundtrack is because they knew in advance that they were going to make a second version for western markets and saved a channel to help fill in what was missing from the original.

[@ruby_R53]

@@Catpuccino_1 yeah, i mentioned that in another comment.

[@kylemsguy_]

@@Catpuccino_1 I kind of wish the expansion port on the NES had some sort of use (though apparently it's covered with plastic, requiring a mod to expose it). The audio expansion pins were on that port.

[@LZ02-OVERTURE]

I know this is old but saw waves are actually the standard for synthesizers when doing bass. In regular music synths you tend to have a saw doing the bass but if you need extra low end you use a sine wave sub instead, they never use the triangle. That was moreso just a compromise on game systems since they didn't have a sine wave or a good saw.

[@LaskyLabs]

OH YES

[@ruby_R53]

666th like lol i really like those oscilloscope view of music, i find these pretty satisfying to watch and listen! i'd love if kyle did this whole soundtrack with his improved chips, though. i'd love to listen to beginning with a pure and screaming sawtooth!

[@NEStalgia]

Maybe Niko did it

[@ruby_R53]

@@NEStalgia niko? who're they?

[@louiei.1552]

Was always dissapointed konami never made use of the triangle wave in this OST, it's sound is one of the most unique things about the 2A03 chip.

[@mtunayucer]

Yeah, interesting thing is that mmc5 (US release’s mapper) has two square wave generators, like vrc6. But lacks the sawtooth. It was possible to just port the sawtooth to triangle and use mmc5’s two squ wave generators.

[@forple8930]

@@mtunayucer But then you'd have to mod the NES by connecting two pins on the expansion port with a 10k resistor, as the audio in goes to the expansion port for whatever reason, which is also a stupid move on Nintendo's part, as they could have included that resistor in the expansion port covers.

[@mtunayucer]

Blue Mario thats why famicom exists i guess :D original plan was that some sort of famicom disk system was supposed to be released for nes, that’d plug into the bottom expansion port. However it never came into fruition. The audio in line was routed to the expansion port for that reason.

[@forple8930]

@@mtunayucer If they were smart though, they could design it so the input of the cartridge didn't get fed to the port, but rather branched off internally to the sound mixer.

[@makmal5768]

@@forple8930 Yeah I always thought in my mind why didn't they make such an official/3rd party expansion pak for additional audio? That would make significant changes of development and experience in NES games since 80's, and would be the one and only expansion that ever released on the system.

[@MixerVM]

This doesn't use the triangle wave at all?

[@rigid_atoms]

Yeah, it doesn't.

[@Panchyishere]

Why would you use a triangle bass when you have the punchy saw bass instead

[@screamcollector]

@@Panchyishere triangle lead tho... 🤤

[@kqzo]

@@Panchyishere heavier drums tho

[@ruby_R53]

@@Panchyishere also, the bass notes used in here are also so low the triangle can't reproduce, and even if it could, it'd be barely audible.

[@nichow]

Boy Pressure is so much less grating with the extra sound channels.

[@S1LLY_AYELEN_ORL]

2:46

[@infinitecanadian]

Are the pulse waves on the VRC6 inverse?

[@ruby_R53]

no, they just have a different period compared to the 2a03.

[@Catpuccino_1]

@@ruby_R53 Pulse width?

[@ruby_R53]

@@Catpuccino_1 yeah.

[@ruby_R53]

4 months later, just realized how stupid i am. i misunderstood what you meant, sorry. the pulse waves on the vrc6 are actually inverse, the vrc6 can only do 6.25% to 50% pulse, with 6.25% steps to make it have 8 usable duty cycles. so for example, what looks like a 75% pulse on the vrc6 pulse channel's actually a 25% one.

[@infinitecanadian]

@@ruby_R53 Ah, I see. You're not stupid.

[@Asterra2]

Even though this is a fairly legendary Famicom soundtrack, I'm glad they went cheap on the US release and were forced to redo it all for the regular NES sound chip. Because frankly, the bass from the NES's triangle channel is way, _way_ better than the ear-scratching super-sawtooth they used for bass here. Anyway, somebody on KZbin combined the two versions and the result is better than either by itself.

[@NEStalgia]

Lol, can you send the video link?

[@Asterra2]

@@NEStalgia kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6isgmakd79netk

[@IanAlexanderGriffiths]

I actually adore the sawtooth bass 😬 i feel like it often provides its own important rhythmical energy to the composition, and i kinda felt it got lost on the triangle version..

[@jorgitoislamico4224]

The sawtooth is way better, it almost sounds like a cello

[@Asterra2]

@@IanAlexanderGriffiths To me, it sounds a bit like a typical SID patch (C64), including the curious lack of actual bass-a manifestation of devoting too much of the waveform to higher frequencies. Makes sense, too: The shape of the sawtooth is very SID-esque. Not a true sawtooth. More like a saw that's been rendered as 4-bit audio. Triangle, at the *very* least, steps in to provide that missing bass.

[@janku7896]

stream

[@WarVDineTV]

Triangle wave = Kick Drum and nothing else

[@WarVDineMusic]

There isn't a triangle track in this video at all though . . .

[@uzziel524]

Sounds like scc