How the Roland JP-8000 shaped the Half-Life Soundtrack(s)

(Hi Knockout!)
The long awaited follow up to my previous video about how the Roland MC-303 was used in Half-Life 1's credits theme ( • How the Half-Life Cred... ). Here, we talk about a popular virtual analog synth, the Roland JP-8000, and how, aside from being a very popular choice in the trance genre, also helped contribute to the Kelly Bailey's work from Half-Life 1, to 2 and the Episodes, all the way to Portal and his VR game Vanishing Realms.
These finds and more have been noted down in the VGM Sound Sources sheet: docs.google.co...
The patches discovered here were 2 years in the making, utilizing the JP-8080, the rackmount version of the JP-8000, and tweaking extensively to match up as close as possible to the BGM. Some of the edits mentioned in the video can be viewed here: imgur.com/a/QR... (keep in mind this is NOT an emulation VST, but is a software editor for the hardware synth; you need a JP-8000/8080 unit in order to use it, but the parameters are listed in these to show how to replicate these sounds as they're shown onto it)

[@therealburneraccount5466]

Correction: 5:34 - the track is actually "Probably Not A Problem", got the title confused with a different track, my bad. UPDATE: For those that have a JP-8000/8080 (I'll be honest, I didn't think initially anyone watching this would have one 😅), you can use the edited patches from the screencaps here: drive.google.com/file/d/1nRi5MoCJDT0ojrEIyuuOkJt2Gu9w5WLX/view?usp=sharing It overwrites these in the user bank: U:62 - Wide Quark Rings U:A46 - HL-303 U:A51 - Resonance Chord U:B54 - Triage U:B56 - Ravenholm U:B85 - Lab Practicle...

[@АлександрВизгунов-ы6б]

I have 2x jp-8000 and 1x 8080, thank you

[@DogeyboyThePieChow]

it says i need access

[@therealburneraccount5466]

@@DogeyboyThePieChow oops, fixed, check now

[@DogeyboyThePieChow]

@@therealburneraccount5466 thx

[@av3nger3]

4:48 sounds like FM modulation. It sounds close to distortion, but it's less harsh on the ears in my experience!

[@thomasmarkovich1587]

So anyways I need a JP-8000.

[@iLikeTheUDK]

The JP-8000 is just a virtual analog synth, an all-digital hardware synth that emulated the sound of a lot of typical analog synths, with pretty much the exact same features a real polyphonic analog synth from 15-18 years before it like the Jupiter-8, the OB-Xa or the Prophet-5 had, plus a few extra features like a supersaw waveform (the _original_ supersaw, probably). There are lots of both hardware and software synths, really analog or virtual analog or even not leaning into the whole analog thing at all, that can get really close if not spot on to these sounds. You just gotta learn to create and edit synth patches/sounds. You really don't need to get some specific digital hardware synth from 27 or 28 years ago that was considered good at catfishing as an analog synth for the time but has been superceded since then, just to get synth sounds like these. You can get synths that sound just as good if not better for much cheaper, some even for free

[@gonzalojavier4238]

​@@iLikeTheUDK Would you know any VST like JP-8000 ?

[@Joshua_Griffin]

JP6k by Native Instruments@@gonzalojavier4238

[@iLikeTheUDK]

​​@@gonzalojavier4238 Just about any virtual analogue synth or even any good subtractive synth I think. But for free you can get Surge XT and Vital. If you can afford it though then maybe you can get a tad bit closer with u-he Zebra 2 and Diva, and a lot of Arturia's software synths, especially Pigments which seems to be the most customisable. Pigments even has a supersaw unison mode iirc. And Cherry Audio make a bunch of software emulations of old analog synths too. I think I even ran into what seems to be a decent VST that tries to emulate the JP-8000 specifically, called the JP6K But honestly just use any big standard synth and add effects and stuff to it where necessary and you're pretty much set. Most of the synths the JP-8000 is trying to evoke all work in a pretty much similar way, and even a lot of modern, more advanced synths are just a more elaborate version of that. The key is to understand what you're hearing and recreate that

[@tossedsaladandscrambledeggs]

Behringer has released a jp8000 clone, it's tiny and less than $100.

[@piggosalternateaccount4917]

You have no fucking idea how I've dreamt of someone making a video series like this

[@cobgod1415]

I definitely have an idea. I've been totally in awe of this game's soundtrack for 5 years and I've always wanted someone to find where all those weird sounds came from

[@purrspctiv]

There’s SO much more to go over, too. Findings happen all the time

[@cobgod1415]

​​@@purrspctivI really hope this channel can go over how the ambient non-musical sounds in Vague Voices, Space Ocean and Hurricane Strings were made, if that's even possible

[@Dukeybookey]

Get in the back of the line long named monkey, i thought of it first…

[@elgentidwell9407]

agreed, and i'd absolutely adore a series dedicated to dissecting the game's actual sound effects too!

[@willysegura6216]

thumbnail goes HARD AF

[@Whomobile]

I love break downs of music and sound like this, well done!

[@InfinityHell666]

I think we need a video like this for Chris Jensen's Blue Shift and Opposing Force Soundtracks, What instrument did he use and recreated samples(if this is possible).

[@m4ssee]

I've watched literally tens of hours of HL content on KZbin but this video is the best. I've always admired Kelly Bailey's work on the HL soundtracks and it's so cool to finally get a closer look at his work.

[@davemaverick8438]

Dude Ive been waiting for decades about any info on synths which were used in Half Life 1 and 2 there are lots of samples from 90s soundpacks like Cuckooland Ghost in the machine but Kelly Bailey is a genius and interviews with him and how he did soundtrack dont exist anywhere, Thanks so much for this

[@purrspctiv]

Definitely at the VGM Sound Sources sheet in the description, it has tons of other Half-Life music sources too! These ones only scratch the surface.

[@Atakan_Demir_A.K.D]

A gigantic thank you from me too, please keep going - these are diamond!!!

[@ohfkgsofyes]

stunned how actually easy self-esteem fund was, while still sounding great

[@AppaBoy]

i love this type of content, ive been following vgm sound source hunting from afar for years now and its cool to see half life 2s synths

[@NikolayZubkov]

I bought JP-8000 almost a decade ago and my only suspicion was "Electro Gulls" patch. I mean wow, I never payed attention more thoroughly.

[@pumpernickelherbert]

Great video, really happy to see someone doing a deep dive into Kelly Baileys gear. Always wanted to know what Self Esteem Fund was made on, your patches there sound great.

[@S1nwar]

i listen to the hl1 soundtrack every day as chill music. the atmosphere is incredible

[@nickolassucharew840]

Early Idm like Selected Ambient works, incunabula, artificial intelligence 1 and 2, electro soma, etc always reminded me just a little bit of Half life and red faction. Deus ex a little bit too. Love it

[@amburdo6206]

Genuinely awesome video. Please make more!

[@HOUCEMATE]

This is so niche I love it, so glad people are out there making stuff like this

[@Isaacfess]

Love videos like this! So awesome to see how these tracks were made.

[@tingabric9671]

Fantastic video. Keep em coming.

[@therealburneraccount5466]

we ain't done yet!

[@lascha2nd199]

5:34 I believe this is "Probably Not A Problem" OST and not "Particle Ghost" OST?

[@therealburneraccount5466]

You're right, oops!

[@ivanovcho]

30 years later I stil play thi game love it forever 😭❤

[@caingamin2]

Ive always wanted to make this kind of music and most musicians act like magitians and kept it secret as well as a lack of public information, thank you for changing that!

[@gummycubez]

7:24 Can't believe Gordon freeman is technically Blast Processed.

[@yoNikma]

WOW, i love you and everyone who reverse engineered this! thanks

[@MichaelRWave]

Excellent video as always!

[@marioe.4400]

1:46 - Reminds me of the Kane & Lynch: Dead Men track 'Training Ambience'...

[@Cxdyy]

Thank you so much for this info!

[@chocofrolik834]

6:25 Would you happen to know how to replicate this so called 'shimmer reverb' effect? I've been trying to compose a Portal style ambient track with that style of synthy airy pad and just can't get it to sound any good.

[@therealburneraccount5466]

There's a VST you can use called ValhallaShimmer, which is meant to replicate the general effect. How it's done is that each echo of the signal is processed at a slightly higher rate, causing a sort of pitchbend effect on the tail (think pitch delay + a large reverb)

[@chocofrolik834]

@@therealburneraccount5466 Just tried that, it's pretty close! Its almost too... smooth? In Self Esteem Fund it seems very noisy and airy, which i cant get with Valhalla. Any recommendations?

[@pessimysterio]

@@chocofrolik834 ValhallaShimmer is one option, but there are other shimmer reverb plugins around such as Eventide's ShimmerVerb or the free Solaris by Adam Szabo. Really it's a matter of experimenting with them, changing the pitch shift, feedback amount, filter, decay, etc, and seeing what you get.

[@missepicmandy]

Omfg 😮😮. But I have the jp 8000 in software format. Damn incredible

[@IndieLambda]

Am I the only one who the second one reminds of Half Life Alyx? Right at the start, that transitions into the aaa sound.

[@endymcgufin4570]

Can you do something similar for portal 2? I always wanted to know what was used to make those saw synths

[@therealburneraccount5466]

I can try at some point! Mike Morasky had used really almost exclusively VSTis for his soundtrack work, most notably things from Native Instruments like Absynth, FM8, Pro-53, Massive, as well as Plogue Chipsounds particularly in Portal 2, the VSTs are much easier to get and compile together from them I would say

[@PebsBeans]

the iconic synth from Portal 2 is from the Pro-53 kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4fGl6qqZaaFY80

[@endymcgufin4570]

@@PebsBeans many thanks

[@-.MICHAEL.-]

Eon Trap is a masterpiece

[@dwartbg1]

Wait so are you playing the tracks in these videos? You mean that you managed to recreate them 1:1 and found the exact patches and effects Kelly used or am I not getting it?

[@therealburneraccount5466]

yes, at least for the patches, I'm comparing those recreations to how Kelly utilized them in the soundtrack, I am not smart enough to recreate the entire ost lol

[@JaKeelJyba]

Lovely video.

[@MrGamingTurkiye]

I dont understand any of the music terms or this video but istill watched it👍

[@piggosalternateaccount4917]

What a perfect video

[@streetystuff]

Love this!

[@dex7378]

awesome video

[@kekethetoad]

Reason #2719 why I wish I bought a JP-8000 instead of an SH-201 back in the day.

[@srmsklmnt]

why i watched this video and why i liked this video

[@Mr.SystemError]

Because its great.

[@srmsklmnt]

@@Mr.SystemError i think so

[@bikeman1431]

5:40 correction: that is not particle ghost

[@cuddleslapine]

I need this thumbnail image

[@ГОСПОДИНН]

wow!

[@carnalslut]

this is insanely good, thank you

[@FriendIy_Person]

crzy

[@randydarklight]

And hand on heart: the Half Life soundtrack was not good. Now we know why.

[@randydarklight]

@relay_music I assume you are someone who likes Yamaha AN1x sounds with those horrible digital filters. Yeah, that's right shite.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

If you think about it, the Half-Life CD is 66% a music album with Kelly Bailey's composition. One man's work occupies 2/3rds of the entire release media of a 20+ people game studio.

[@therealburneraccount5466]

That's true! The original release of the game used CDDA track indexes to play back the music, data-wise the OST is the biggest chunk. This can be said about a lot of video games at the time

[@cdfactory]

So it’s literally the “my soundtrack came with a video game” joke, crazy

[@simontist]

Yep, these old canes you could put the CD-ROM in a regular CD player. The first track (the game data) wasn't listenable but you could listen to the others.

[@RichterOvertime]

It's really cool to see what all these weird noises and synths I could never describe in words actually are and where they come from. Thank you for this!

[@therealburneraccount5466]

No prob, glad to finally get this out there, and there's more parts coming too! We've made major strides since then, major strides

[@superpacman256]

I honestly thought some of these were just edited instrument samples

[@z4pp820]

sound design is an awesome thing to understand, would highly recommend looking into it a little

[@gordonintheflesh]

good evening

[@Hazarone]

NO WAY RICHTER OVERTIME

[@onehand77]

Spot on! Wow, thanks for putting this together. I love the JP-8000, AND Half-Life!

[@narki86]

As someone who loved trance music and video games as a kid that damn synth basically makes up my entire childhoods soundscapes

[@av3nger3]

I thought it might be the JP-8080. Looks like I was basically right! That rich, insane super saw sound

[@toivojarvinen]

as a musician myself, half-life soundtracks has a very big influence on me. thank you for digging deep into the topic, you are doing god's work.

[@PooSheet-sl7zi]

1:57 Lab Practicum, absolutely ambient masterpiece

[@ruzgar1372]

3:48 Hardest transition ever

[@HelicopterDown]

Amazing video, this soundtrack was so perfect for Half Life. The JP-8000 was great at producing such dystopian, cold, and futuristic sounds and I don't think Half Life would've had the same atmosphere without it.

[@mvoproject]

Oh! Such a cool video. And here I hear one of my fav default programs. The JP8000 (8080) is not only the trance-synth - it can do way more then just feed you with a dozens of the s-saw stabs! I made some of the nice 60-70s sci-fi modulative pulsing and wind-like effects/noises, atmospheric soundscapes. It's a real sound design machine if you know how to use it properly. Hold the 300th heart from me ;)

[@OhRaez]

As if the JP-8000 couldn't go any higher in price, this releases and now we're gonna have another price crisis on our hands 😂

[@thespiritofdjordja]

I bought this thing 8 years ago when everyone was crazy about analog. Good decision.

[@OhRaez]

@thespiritofdjordja I bet. Great market timing there lol. It's one of the most legendary synths of all time. Still dreaming to own and use one, one day

[@bs_blackscout]

As a fellow Trance enthusiast, this is amazing.

[@LtSprinkulz]

Well now I know what I need to steal in order to make some decent Half-Life fan music. I feel like a lot of people miss the atmosphere, and I suppose this is the reason why.

[@cathodestingray]

You should definitely check out the Hazardous Environments music kit that Kelly made for CS, if you haven't yet. I've always wondered what he used for creating such ambiences, this is golden.

[@vibaj16]

Is that just Hazardous Environments from Half-Life and Half-Life 2? (and the start of every Valve game)

[@АлександрВизгунов-ы6б]

Were the original sounds on the jp-8000, I'm shocked, but how did you even find out about it and think of such a thing? Of course, I've always liked the music from this game, and I love trance from the late 90s and early 2000s..

[@therealburneraccount5466]

JP-8000 and similar synths can be twiddled like crazy, it only really took finding a similar sounding patch on the synth and then editing it from there. Names I listed in the video are all the original patches

[@therealburneraccount5466]

Finding out about it though, oddly enough, was because of Tommy Tallarico. My friend PessiMysterio (who I mentioned before in the last video) had noticed Tommy had used the Electro Gulls patch @ 2:09 in something he had made, and someone on discord knew his synth gear which included the JP-8000, from there was easy to spot leading me to buy the synth and check it more in depth, this was a while before it got popular on youtube so there weren't as many videos on it as there are now. As an added bit of trivia: the patch is also part of the Performance "Entropy", which is used in the PS2 Startup just before the "piano slam" sound

[@АлександрВизгунов-ы6б]

@@therealburneraccount5466 This sound was used in trance track Trance Unity - Dream

[@Group-935]

A couple things this video has shown me is... One; I need that synth. Two; I really need to listen to the Half-Life 1/2 soundtrack.

[@Midi-olo-gist6758]

Wow thanks for this video. I was thinking about selling mine, but after listening and watching this. Never!! What was I thinking. Thanks a bunch 😊 Happy New Year.

[@jess648]

half life 3 won’t be the same without Kelly Bailey

[@MagikLamo]

PLEASE MAKE MORE LIKE THESE its so cool as audio engineer and half-life fan combo!!!!

[@lineriderrulz]

I try with music, boy do I try, but it's really eye-opening to find out that most of these sounds that I'd always assumed were super complex and processed FM synth patches or using advanced and rare forms of synthesis or some such, are actually just JP-8000 patches. It's also fun trying to guess which track each patch is from before you play it in context!

[@Novous]

Oh my gosh, I would DIE for a version of this for the Thief 1/2, System Shock 2 (Eric Brosius, husband of Terri Brosius the voice of Shodan)

[@pex3]

Please, PLEASE do this for Deus Ex/Unreal Tournament. I'm begging.

[@markbrown9216]

This is incredible. Makes me want someone to do a deep dive on the OG Deus Ex soundtrack!

[@digitalbeat666]

I get similar with Imposcar 2 Vst plugin. It is not the tool it is music creation

[@mbnqpl]

I'm so freakin sad I've sold my jp8k years ago :(((

[@FrequencyFilthy]

Man I’m just as interested in the half life sound effects. I mean those are just so awesome. Nice video!

[@Optimus97]

A lot of HL2 sounds came from Hollywood Edge sound libraries, but some other of them really do peak my interest

[@Slawek361]

VST have that presets too?

[@therealburneraccount5466]

It's an editor for the hardware, you need the actual synth to use it. I included those screencaps to show how to replicate it. Unfortunately there's no accurate emulation of the JP-8000 yet, the closest there is is a Reaktor plugin called Chro-8080

[@wulfffo]

@@therealburneraccount5466 Thought that the JP6K VST was also decently accurate, any thoughts on that?

[@u-ask]

the yamaha an1x is anothe physical synth that is very similar to the jp8000 (but sometimes cheaper if ones get lucky), it would be cool if someone make a an1x version of the presets@@therealburneraccount5466

[@InternetDude-E6]

Is it just me or does JP-303 Sound like Combine Harvester?

[@beyond_xen]

This is just so cool

[@milesrotaru]

I've noticed he uses a lot of loops from old EastWest packs as well. (Stuff you can now find in the 25th Anniversary Collection)

[@hans.rs24]

Just wanted to ser if some one has half life sounds made on Synth and found this gem! Thanks so much

[@LimitlessPotential12]

HOLY fucking SHIT you are a real one. AMAZING video

[@-.MICHAEL.-]

I want to liten more of that sound, but I can't find something similar

[@shomit1487]

Such a niche but interesting topic, glad to see it covered

[@FHB512]

I understand now. Half-Life 3 is real.

[@El-Burrito]

I have Vanishing Realms and I had no idea about the connection to Half Life

[@Aejixmusic]

I love how dystopian and sci-fi it sounds

[@citrusui]

As a fellow member of the Video Game Music & Other Instrument Sources server, hello

[@Mulligun007]

HL 2 i just a profanation of HL 1

[@MRTUNA]

subbed,

[@cafeandoorquillas]

Brane scan is >>>>>

[@xeptau]

I love how it just got intense at 4:28

[@skum73]

What an amazing video this and the other Half life videos are. Thank you so much for this. I would love to see you do this with other classic games such as Wipeout, Aliens vs predator and kingpin.

[@beyond_xen]

6:14 😴 💙

[@dysliexasukcs5338]

This video inspired me to sell my Korg MS-20 Mini and get a JP-8000! Still waiting for it to come in the mail

[@Ziyoblader]

Keep it out of hot rooms the AC unit let you plug the cord into can get hot if life Dawn to Long like hours the keys are also known what does sticky hot glue issue that the weights are glued to of some sort when I was reading it up that also plugged the JD 800 so the cooler the environment the better I don't think you need to put it out into the garage but just have your normal house temperature cooler than hotter

[@cmdess]

The JP8000 was one of the best looking virtual analog synths. Sound-wise it didn't deliver the goods.

[@melo459]

Never mind the roland jp-8000 was his favourite. I thought every sound was created originally

[@dingo-gorditas]

wait wtf? the DX7 is used in HL2?

[@therealburneraccount5466]

It turns out it wasn't the DX7 particularly, will be explained in the next video

[@JH-lo9ut]

Man, playing that game back in the day was such a cool immersive experience. I don't think I gave the music that much thought other than as a part of the overall experience. I clearly remember when you transitioned into a new phaae of the game and the musical score would change. When there were action sequences, the tempo would rise, and then calm down afterwards. It was never in your face though... We found the graphics, and more so the smoothness of the HL-engine just jaw-droppingly good. Looking at the graphics now, it's laughable. But the music and sound landscapes on the other hand, are still top notch.

[@YoutubeUser2013lol]

I have always wanted somebody to make a video like this, thank you.

[@AynsleyGreen]

Roland's more recent System 8 is basically a JP-8000 if you turn the Condition knob to - 99

[@benjaminzarkhin1293]

I've listened to Kelly's soundtracks for literal decades by now, and it's so, SO satisfying to recognize these synths and samples from these long forgotten instruments. People keep telling me I've got a good musical ear, but I just don't know what to play or what to come up with, but these videos satisfy that crumb of musical potential in me.

[@SplotchTheCatThing]

I know it was never big enough to get this treatment, but I'd really love someday to see a deep dive like this on the OST from Descent 3... Jerry Berlongieri's sound is so wonderfully strange and I only have the barest guesses for little parts of how it might have been done.

[@MuffinTM]

im curious to know a bit of how they made hazardous environments, or even some of the sfx like the healing sound.