The Curse Of Monkey Island MIDI music

[AndywinXp]

Okay, guys, this is just an exercise for me, but could be interesting for you, maybe:

I had this idea to resequence some of the tracks in CMI (mostly the ones with live players - top quality ones, including Michael Land himself on bass - since the orchestral pieces are just made up by good samples), to see what it's like to hear them in MIDI form.

I tried to capture every single note (man, even the errors, when possible), even with the limitations of General Midi (for instance, timbales have a great variety of sounds, even though they are just two pieces of drums, and General Midi has only got two sounds for them, high and low).

So far, here's what I've done:

Stan's theme:

Download! (click here)

Download VST Version, to see the similarities with the original one, just for fun

Wally's theme:

Download! (click here)


Work in progress:

- Main theme (!):
Okay, well, this is a really difficult one, there's a great variety of instruments and hidden elements, so far I've sorted out drums, percussions (shaker and timbales).
Next thing I'm going to do is:
sort out electric bass, two guitar tracks (lead and rhythm) and two tracks of electric organ, so that I have the rhythm section done and I can sort out marimba (sounds almost identical to the one on SOMI, to me), steel drums, flutes, penny whistles, and a truckload of things I don't know I can reproduce with GM instruments, but I'll do my best.

What I'd like to do next:

- Cannon's theme in Part 1

- The Intro! (even harder than the main theme)


Let me know what you think, your opinion on this is really important!

[Jake]

Hey, nice! I think the Highland Productions guys did a midi arrangement of the Voodoo Lady's theme from CMI back in the day. Ah, looking now, they actually did a few! Their aims with their arrangements are probably different from yours, even if the projects are similar.

[AndywinXp]

Thanks Jake!

Yes, I know HighLand Productions did this kind of stuff, and they did some great work but my aim is also to try (and I hope to succeed) to have a better result than their one

Back then, when they released those MIDIs, I thought they were awesome, but as the time progressed, I felt that most of those files sounded "empty" to me;
let's consider Wally's theme, for instance: by making a comparison between their MIDI and the original digital audio, there are a lot of instruments, percussions or single notes missing (rhythm organ, proper drums, most of the percussions).

Of course their aim was to offer an arrangement, not a 1:1 conversion, and they perfectly succeeded in their aim. On the other hand I want to offer a 1:1 conversion, and in the while I can improve my hearing :P

You'll have to excuse me for eventual weird sentences, I'm not english :P

EDIT: Ok I've noticed, Wally's theme MIDI I've always heard on fan games is not by HighLand Productions, but what I said is still valid for their work
And the one you were referring to, the swamp, is by Peter Silk

EDIT 2: A little preview of the rhythm section! http://www.mediafire.com/?xbtcqzgx7a19b9j (Drums + Percussions + Bass)
Bass still needs polishing, such as slides and bendings