The Samples Used in The Legend of Zelda

[@Hamartia64]

This is like discovering sacred texts

[@BraveAbandon]

Seriously!!

[@alexcastillo3393]

Couldnt agree more, its a revelation

[@cxyyoutube5270]

Sacred texts behind what made Zelda music legendary...thanks for doing this! I've discovered something similar with Pokemon 3D games too

[@NotSoAura_64]

true

[@Dudeman23rd]

Man, they really loved that Distorted Reality album, didn't they?

[@lemonadegaming8165]

Look up thomas game docs He just made an interesting video about that

[@gao1812]

I suppose they also had to stick to as few sources as possible because of copyrights constraints, the more different sources you use the more royalties you have to pay

[@charlesdeichman5115]

@@gao1812 normally yeah, but not with these cd’s.

[@Tazerboy_10]

@@lemonadegaming8165 That's probably what I watched a few days ago... (Is KZbin recommending people the same videos by any chance?)

[@lemonadegaming8165]

@@Tazerboy_10 its probably youtube seeing us watching oot content, and recommending us similar videos

[@II-Day-II]

"A poke in the ear with a sharp stick II" is such a banger name

[@ZeludeRose]

koji kondo making the forest temple music: "this needs some ethnic flavor"

[@Twitch380]

when I was younger I thought it was adult links voice like disembodied or something

[@thanoscock]

@@Twitch380 same

[@flutabecplume6649]

@@Twitch380what a nightmare fuel you have in your head 😵‍💫

[@ObeseChess]

@@Twitch380same!!

[@SirButterlegs]

Shadow Temple too ❤

[@marafolse8347]

It's fascinating to see how much of the signature sound of 90s gaming involved these sample CDs, a thing I didn't even know existed these videos

[@henrique88t]

That Spectrasonics CD must have been the most valuable item in Nintendo music department fro late 90s to early 2000s

[@anonnguyen1387]

I can't believe both zelda and silent hill sampled from the same album. My 2 favorite franchise

[@CrankyRayy]

they both took some inspiration from twin peaks too, particularly majoras mask

[@Kaitou1412Fangirl]

I mean, Majora's Mask definitely has a horror flavor to it, so it's not too far-fetched.

[@Alae9100]

These are not albums, they are sample packs (CDs with a lot of different sounds) made for producers and musicians so they use them in their compositions. That's the easiest way to deal woth copyright too.

[@PrincipeRhoynar]

That's exactly what I thought

[@Weareonenation303]

So the eerie chord from the final day theme in Majora's Mask comes from a sample CD? I honestly didn't expect that.

[@michaeljfan9720]

Yeah! I heard it's also in the theme for Stone Hill in the original version of Spyro The Dragon, and it's even a sound effect in Wind Waker!

[@tomboyjessie1352]

IKR? I was so surprised when I discovered that.

[@kilres14]

The final result in the “last day” theme became a incredibly deep song, sometimes I just can feel the sensation of despair and ending of world through time

[@crystalalumina]

I noticed it's also on the mission start of Devil May Cry 2

[@PepeTheJonkler]

@@michaeljfan9720 Yup, finishing the first boss battle on Dragon Roost had me not even wanting to enter the warp to the entrance cause it is that sound. lol All that nostalgia and the feeling of death conveyed by Majora's Mask had me sitting there feeling some type of way...

[@haunter93til]

This whole thing is nice af but I can't get over those insane African tribal vocals flipped for Forest Temple. That is godlike to the max. And so was that ethereal flip to make Inside the Deku Tree 👏

[@LilKiwi2240]

Here's another fun fact. The music slowed down in the water temple is actually practically the same as the forest temple

[@npc_blob1609]

@@LilKiwi2240 It's not. they use the same sample for the main instruments but beyond that they are entirely different compositions and use the sample differently

[@mg6945]

I had no idea so much of some of my favorite soundtracks ever used samples like this. All from the same couple of packs too. Really makes me appreciate them more too because a good amount are sampled in such a unique way

[@Mr_DPZ]

Quick correction: The first sample played for the Forest Temple is actually in Zero-G's Ethnic Vol. 1, not Ethnic Flavours. Took me a while to find out why I couldn't find that sample in Ethnic Flavours. The one played for the Shadow Temple is in Ethnic Flavours, but the track label is wrong. Either way, great video. Now I can use some of the samples in my own work without having to pay royalties.

[@fyr8513]

one called african 29-6 in particular

[@OdinComposer]

Are these sample cds possible to get anywhere?

[@Mr_DPZ]

@@OdinComposer Ethnic Flavours can be digitally purchased from Zero-G's website, but if you want to find Ethnic Vol. 1 you're going to have to do some digging.

[@Lucax97]

Not sure about the no royalties part

[@austinhawthorne6310]

Distorted reality is such a creepy sample pack, so freaky. It’s strange to me that they would use it as often as they did, in what is supposed to be a kids game.

[@shaobues]

i appreciate kids media that isnt afraid to get scary

[@JordanX767]

@@shaobues Right? The scariness kind of humbles you in a way.

[@cube4547]

No one ever said it was a kids game. The developers just wanted to make an artistic piece of media as requested by the company. For marketability reasons they had to cut a bunch of stuff to make it appropriate for children and the game was marketed as such because that's where the money is. The end.

[@princeapoopoo5787]

iirc the Spyro series also sampled from the Distorted Reality pack! Fun for the whole family!

[@NuiYabuko]

How is Zelda a kids game? Ever seen an actual kids game? Something that's also suitable for kids doesn't make it something only for kids.

[@FinleyGomez]

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen icl

[@hiimaly4780]

Right!

[@vinesthemonkey]

why would you lie about it

[@trigantrax2274]

Man this just reminds me how good twilight princess was. So dark and such a paradigm shift from the preceding games. I wish they should have done more with the dark themes

[@1gnore_me.]

proof that the early rappers and 90s video game composers had more in common than you would think sampling is not lazy, it is art

[@tribemaster101]

nope, its lazy

[@MachinaOwl]

@@tribemaster101 I guess Koji Kondo was just so much lazier than you are, right?

[@tribemaster101]

@@MachinaOwl yes, your musician boyfriend is lazy for using samples.

[@kristoffersonsilverfox3923]

​@@tribemaster101 You go ahead and make your own versions of zelda soundtracks if you are so much cooler. Maybe do Silent Hill while you're at it?

[@Mari_Izu]

Don't feed the troll

[@CH-uk1il]

I was playing through Star Fox Adventures, and I realized that Iceland 1 was probably used in it. Specifically the Krazoa Shrines. Spyro 1 also used it for Stone Hills.

[@littlenoodlepie7096]

Most likely, that’s a nice catch bro

[@xcreenplay7264]

man watching this in 2024 makes miss my childhood and blessed to know where these samples came from.

[@matthewbuckley7757]

Those chants used for the forest temple were also used for the title card of an episode of Ren and Stimpy called Superstitous Stimpy

[@Echo81Rumple83]

Yeah, I recognized it in its normal version.

[@hippyhobo6285]

it seems everyone in the 90s and early 2000s were using Zero G and Best Service stuff. truly iconic sounds.

[@kurokyoto6221]

so every piece of zelda music is essentially a fever dream?

[@lemmingscanfly5]

The series can be a fever dream at times.

[@NibirBaishnab]

How does that make sense?

[@lemmingscanfly5]

@@NibirBaishnaboverlapping distorted reality?

[@aquadavie2]

10 years later I'm starting to get weird dreams about the music from these games

[@justaguy2182]

It’s always nice to learn about the creative process behind video games, especially iconic ones.

[@hinkage]

I can understand why an artist using samples may seem lazy to some--and I tend to agree when beats/rhythms are sampled and the songs sound similar as a result. But hearing these originals after many years of only ever hearing their edited/remixed versions, it adds more intrigue to it all, in a way. It brings back a feeling you hardly ever experience as an adult--the feeling that your whole world just got a lot bigger. I've seen this video before, and sure it was cool, but it never quite resonated within me as it did today. I wonder why. Maybe it's just a renewed appreciation after playing TotK. I know I'm late to the party here, but I'm glad to still have that feeling about things.

[@macdonald715]

listen to Xtal by Aphex Twin he took a singing lady and made his own pad with that

[@cxyyoutube5270]

Distorted Reality was the secret to making darker themed soundtracks and themes in MM and TP...

[@Thekinggamelon]

0:28 When you hear enigmatic in his original state, it's distorted, but when you give some touch, it magically becomes a melody! Wow, no wonder why Kondo's work on the Zelda series was genius.

[@davidkapral]

It sounds like that’s because the original track is literally just going up and down the harmonic series (the different pitches created naturally by/in/through a tube based upon its physics) and the finished product is in equal temperament.

[@DiskSystems]

There's nothing distorted about the original state of the song and it's still a melody.

[@jessielyrek3851]

How the heck do the fans even find some of this stuff! I love this community just for their dedication to preserve history (and for being fellow fans of a great game)

[@Mari_Izu]

Probably people that also work with sound design and checking sample discs found something that "Hey! That played in OoT".

[@Zeah_01]

As ghenetto said. Sometimes producers look for older sounds and download 90's samplepacks and eventually find out the game's samples out of pure luck or coincidence.

[@mattwolf7698]

I've heard the same stock sound effects appear in other media and always found it fascinating, some people take it farther and actually dig through sound libraries to find their origins. Some people who work in audio engineering also grew up playing these games.

[@jasonkyleadams7577]

The G-Saviour game and soundtrack from 1999 I think used the Iceland 1 sample from the Distorted Reality 1 album.

[@TheFriendlyInvader]

As someone who operates tangential to the space, once you see/hear a technique or sample, and are actively using it yourself or have tried to demo it you really start seeing it everywhere. Like it becomes blatantly obvious that "oh this came from this sample" or "oh they're using this rendering technique rather than this one"

[@kevin42135]

4:52 This sample was also used in the soundtrack for the computer animation odyssey, The Gate to the Mind's Eye, by Thomas Dolby.

[@subzerocatalyst]

also used in terraria (the eerie theme specifically)

[@ils4844]

WE FUCKING LOVE THE MINDS EYE

[@SlyHikari03]

Nice

[@AlfredoAVA]

That ominous synth chord from the End of the World in Majora's Mask has stuck with me ever since I first heard it. Can't really explain why, but hearing it's standalone origin as a mere sample called "ICELAND 1" completely takes it out of context and gives it an odd new feel for me.

[@NicolaAcoust]

don´t worry dude, that Zelda track owes way more to Jean Michel-Jarre and 70's synth music that to the Distorted Reality album.the sample only fills the treble portion of the harmony... it could be anything else. perhaps if other sounds or instruments or samples were used the track wouldn´t have endend that good, but the difference wouldn´t be totally huge.

[@ItsSplatDryBones]

Fun fact: the DANGER sample from Distorted Reality is also used for the Grotto ambience, albeit slowed.

[@Jonpoo1]

Poke in the Ear With a Sharp Stick II… A classic album but nothing can live up to the first.

[@tannera.3359]

Holy shit. Bro I can watch videos like this non-stop. Keep'em comin'.

[@ledusko]

People thought daft punk were king in sample, but I think Koji Kondo is the god

[@djjimbo7432]

This honestly more impressive to me than if these were from scratch. It's so interesting to see the creativity when your limited by hardware and have to rely on samples for a lot of the soundtrack. The ambience all sounds so cohesive in each game. No dungeon music ever feels out of place.

[@EclipseProductionsCompany]

I don't know much about how audio is processed on the 64, but I'd imagine that they could just have easily inserted audio they had made from scratch. I see know issue with using samples. But as a producer and audio engineer, I think it would take up the exact same amount of space as long as the same file format, sample rate, and bitrate were used in the end. I do know that the 64 didn't have a dedicated soundchip, so audio ate up performance that would otherwise go to gameplay/graphical performance.

[@brandongunn77]

What a splendidly specific sense of sounds.

[@TheCFD_Dude]

These sounds helped give OoT, MM, WW and TP it's iconic, otherwordly yet familiar feeling music. Truly, Koji Kondo was ahead in his craft of making great music in gaming.

[@MatrixEvolution17]

2:54 God I love this one so much. Has such an ethereal and otherworldly feeling

[@mothvile]

Idk how to explain it but this is one of my favorite videos on KZbin

[@cesarcesar]

I wonder if someone once played OOT and when they entered Deku Tree for the first went like "heeey... I made this !"

[@cesarcesar]

Well, It didn't take me long to find out that the distorted reality 1 was made by one guy, Eric Persing and that this samples CD has been used everywhere for the past 25 years so it's more than probable that it never happened.

[@KOOPAS1234]

3:36 I'm certain that this sample was used in the Frank Henenlotter film Brain Damage in a scene where Brian experiences a weird hallucination.

[@mcmoblin5358]

Holy shit this is so COOL! Some of my favorite sounds were pulled from these sample packs! This is AMAZING!

[@kabukimanindahouse]

the reverse question is, why aren't the samplees more famous

[@TheFriendlyInvader]

It's because the need for samples kind of died with the N64 for the most part. They needed to sample as they relied on midi soundfonts due to cartridge size limitations, whereas everything after this could just use 44.1kHz (CD) audio directly rather than relying on soundfont creation. You may be wondering why this is relevant especially given their presence in later games: well if you can bake them out to direct audio files, you get far more creative control over what the sample and track as a whole over all the channels sounds like. Basically you're no longer limited to what the hardware itself can manage in terms of transforms, as much as you are limited by your workstation's DAW. Which ends up making it extremely difficult to isolate these sounds compared to before, as they literally blend into the rest of the track versus just being an isolated PCM or part of the soundfont, AND they can become far more unique from the source.

[@kabukimanindahouse]

@@TheFriendlyInvader twilight princess was full of samples from the same cd's too

[@BixbiteBungo]

The fact it was used up to the later 2000's kinda surprised me

[@stuart792]

Merci pour l'archive c'est toujours intéressant de comprendre la construction d’œuvres aussi marquantes que celles-ci.

[@agitohd]

2:55 Holy crap. Russia’s main TV channel ORT (Now Channel One) used this in their announcement ident in 2001-2002 if I recall it correctly.

[@eazy-cheez-e8033]

This is why I loved the Ocarina of Time/Majoras Mask/Windwaker OSTs because they used Samples to produce the sounds and yes it was simple for today standards but those sounds are what made the soundtracks so iconic and catchy. I honestly wish they used these sample packs for the new ones compared to the modern orchestral sounds you hear in the modern Zelda games. Not to mention the dungeon musics in the original 3D games sounded scary asf for a kids game lol I mean even the graphics looked creepy

[@vj7248]

the samples that gave me legit nightmares

[@k7gendo]

i was looking for the sample used in inverted stone towers theme for awhile. going thru distorted reality 1 is insane bc so much is recognizable

[@Zeah_01]

3:50 Bruh I love that metal bar coming out of nowhere XD

[@xXMaoKittyCatXx]

Sounds amazing! Koji kondo did an amazing job

[@TheBreakingBenny]

You left out the Fire Temple tune from versions prior to *1.2,* the one which used *Best Service Voice Spectral Volume 1, Track 76.*

[@shaobues]

i feel like a lot of fans dont know about that first one

[@jonazWC]

@@shaobues I disagree, I think that’s actually the best known usage of samples in OoT

[@goodguyguan3412]

We get it, you watched a video one time about the Islamic chants, who cares.

[@TheBreakingBenny]

@@goodguyguan3412 For completion's sake. Got a problem with that?

[@arakano]

@@goodguyguan3412 I do.

[@lexzeyfercronus]

Thats why zelda's n64 years were so unique,the sampling and music direction were so damn unique and trippy compared to what came before and after,except for TP,that ost was very memorable and weird too

[@linkthehylian]

The sample used for Ikana Valley accurately represents the vibe of that whole area so well.

[@cabbage72]

You're telling me the forest temple isn't link's voice....

[@scantyer]

ikr :(

[@438marcus]

I thought it was forever

[@dekugh64]

I TOUGHT IT WAS! Always thought it was like a se sort of reference of how the childhood days were gone

[@shaobues]

@@dekugh64 i think it sounds enough like it that you can take it like that, there was at least one developer who thought the same thing

[@UndertakerU2ber]

It’s interesting to see how the voice that bled into the sample warped people’s perception of the game’s world. Personally, I thought the voice represented ghosts that were haunting the temple, but I guess the human mind can invent all sorts of different interpretations of what the sound is.

[@PropheticAnomaly]

6:35 No wonder this track always reminded me of Silent Hill 2!

[@Sethglover99]

1:12 this also is used the astral observatory

[@JacobKinsley]

This video hits different at 11 PM

[@Yanis2]

5:13 if I'm not mistaken this is also the sample used in Phantom Hourglass for the ghost ship's theme in the sea

[@CrossiGacha]

Is that so?

[@Yanis2]

@@CrossiGacha I'm 80% sure kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWOUfmh_d9uVpas , if it's not then it must come from the same source

[@CrossiGacha]

@@Yanis2 yep! 100%

[@KUIJEN8659]

I swear I heard the iceland sample in windwaker with the warp thing at the end of a temple, could also be a wii zelda game but pretty sure it was windwaker

[@gilamasan]

I did too. It was in fact used.

[@prodxenon]

I hope you find the weird vocal sample used in city in the sky in twilight princess

[@nintendogurkan9055]

It's from Zero-G Ethnic, the same library used for the Forest Temple sound

[@UncleNuggets]

It’s called UGANDAFEMAL3 on the same album as the previous commenter stated. It’s shortly after the Forest Temple sample if you watch the first video that comes up of the album on KZbin.

[@Jummkopf]

This is the best video I've seen in awhile. Really glad it was recommended.

[@Azarel410]

Never imagined zelda games used samples for their songs... now I love it even more as a huge fan of Silent Hill soundtrack

[@trulyinfamous]

I had spent quite a lot of time looking through 90's sample CDs when I was making my recent album (90's styled DnB made in a tracker) and I have started recognizing some samples in video game sountracks from the PlayStation and N64. I think most people don't realize just how important those sample packs are to some of their favorite soundtracks. Just look at silent hill for example. It's loaded with stuff from sample packs and it's a masterpiece of VGM.

[@Lucax97]

I always felt these Zelda games sounded eerily like Silent Hill. I've loved discovering these samples!

[@aeroblu2002]

I had no idea Zero G was so popular. Even an obscure game like Klonoa used it at one point.

[@SlyHikari03]

Same. Also Wahoo

[@jcong000]

2:00 this is also used in Animal forest on the N64 when you find an item!

[@Zeru64_]

Daft Punk: We make the best samples. Koji Kondo: Hold my Spectrosonics Distorted Realy 1 album...

[@JoshShuman]

This man is like the Daft Punk of video game composing, interesting.

[@gilamasan]

Not quite. This amount of sampling is normal for video game OSTs, and the composters still wrote the melodies themselves.

[@voodsood]

Really interesting, well done. I always like learning about stuff like this. I wonder if reconstructing these songs with the original samples would be possible, to make them higher quality. Also, wasn't SYN_Fantasia3 -L (at about 1:10) also used in the Astral Observatory theme in Majora's Mask?

[@tannera.3359]

100% correct imo. Sounds just like it.

[@xerxes8014]

It might've actually been a direct sample from the Roland D-50 which is where the Fantasia sound originates

[@marinellovragovic1207]

@@xerxes8014 This. Kondo had one of these during the development period of both games.

[@marx8542]

Sounds like it

[@Concon12316]

i think it's also used a lot in mario galaxy for menu buttons

[@PepeTheJonkler]

If Guardians made the sound from 5:52, we probably would have had a lot more heart attacks than normal from Breath of the Wild. That super dissonant piano riff against that abrasive "powering-on" tone would be nightmare-fuel.

[@Crestfallen_Warrior]

That last sound is used in the goron mines, too, in Twilight Princess.

[@SlyHikari03]

These are really cool finds. Glad my laptop has almost all of its storage space filled with sample packs.

[@gilamasan]

That sounds cool. If you haven't already, so back them up on an external hard drive. I learned the necessity of that the hard way.

[@SlyHikari03]

@@gilamasan right. Should probably do that... Ps. Found the sample from City in the Sky. It’s from Ethnic 1, (same CD as the flute from forest temple) and the file path is “Partition C -> AFRICAFEMALE -> UGANDA LOOP”.

[@OdinComposer]

Well well look who's here

[@SlyHikari03]

@@OdinComposer ayy

[@katblackwell]

This is super interesting. Thank you so much for the upload!

[@lupper]

6:20 this one blew my mind 🤯 crazy how alot of these songs i've known and loved are sometimes made almost completely from samples!

[@michaelrhudak]

A little bit of reverb can take you a long way.

[@MomBonX]

Seeing and hearing how this came together is sick.

[@Cinder896]

Its fun to listen to the cd they sampled from then try to guess what part of the game its from

[@zedla230799]

Great video dude. I didn't expect that they would have use that much honestly

[@YoutubeUser2013lol]

5:52 heard in Halo 2 - The Last Spartan or the halo 2 trailer theme

[@_UH0H]

A lot of work went into this. Respect!

[@DelasVC]

This is absolutely crazy man..

[@dezzyDdawg]

Wow! Such a cool video. As both a sampler and Zelda enthusiast, this is quite a treat!

[@j0hnthe5th]

This is incredibly cool, I hope there's enough info out there for you to keep making these. I'll be sure to pass on any info I find

[@hibbiea8841]

You forgot the Cascading 001 from Spectrasonics Bizarre Guitar for the Spirit Temple!!!

[@elenariverarodriguez8492]

What is It, Hibbie A

[@Nathen58]

wonderful historical content, thanks for what you do

[@jessiebeck8891]

4:14 SpongeBob's Dream Abominable Snowman episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog.

[@slackstarfish8133]

This game had so much atmosphere

[@raven-a]

This "Fantasya" was a very known "instrument" (patch or sample) in older 90s keyboards like the MS-20 though

[@aeoaoe]

Twilight's second sample sounds like another ambient sample called iirc "daybreak" which is used in silent hill 2 ost

[@AdelAlmas]

A few errors in places but at least you put the effort. I would love to see more videos like this one.

[@gilamasan]

I'd be willing to address any mistakes if I were to make another video on Zelda samples. What errors did you see?

[@AdelAlmas]

@@gilamasan Tha sample "Hal_Ahh F2" Is not from "Classical Choir" but rather "Hallelujah". All samples from Both New World Order Journeys are from the Sounds Good release. The PowerFX release is missing some samples, mainly the Dark beast ganon tribal drum loop you showcased has extra percussion added whereas the one used does not.

[@gilamasan]

@@AdelAlmas Thanks. I'll be sure to make a revised version at some point. I've found more samples I hadn't included before, so It'll be more than just corrections.

[@mtndewprettygud6416]

This was awesome thank you. I had no idea I have a third of these samples in my pc. This is so cool!!

[@hidicproductions4849]

It's amazing what they created out of these cheap sounds. It's not about how expensive something is. It's about the skill someone possess, to create something great out of everything.

[@yoyleb1711]

great sample disks honestly! so creative from the get-go

[@rodrigomelgarejo2490]

1:50 the hell itself

[@annamay1327]

I live for content like this!

[@RatRat93]

the sounds of the older zelda games always give me an uneasy feeling. But i like it.

[@a.m.theshinyjohtohunter4287]

Thank you so much!!! I've wanted to see a video like this for a while!

[@MaxLebled]

Really cool to hear all the original components. Thanks for this video

[@JacobKinsley]

5:33 unintentional cadence of hyrule reference

[@Officialalmate]

Original vaporwave

[@Coolio_Ash]

you are actually blowing my mind right now

[@WayFinder42]

The sheer creativity of some people. I dabble in making music and I often hear samples and sounds and have no idea what to do with them. Meanwhile other people make absolute bangers out of seemingly random stuff.