Ambrosia Software Web Board: Cythera music on CD! - Ambrosia Software Web Board

Yes, there is a "however". The story goes is a couple of years ago I was desperately searching google to try and find copies of the music from Cythera. I ran across [post="http://www.cafepress.com/groupeffert.6310482"]this[/post] link - http://www.cafepress...peffert.6310482 . It's a CD by Cythera composer Randy Pringle, and it does indeed contain some of the music that we all know from our favorite game. However, It doesn't contain much of the music, and the songs that it has are not in their original form. It contains four songs if I remember correctly (my copy is packed in storage right now).

1. - The Hourglass - This is the classic "Stairway" peice that plays while you are in Landking Hall. This is what compelled me to buy the CD more than anything else. The song, however, has been changed dramatically, not having the nice instrumentation of the original, and also being given a "pop" beat, makes this sound much more like elevator music than anything else.

2. - Intensely Serene - The Catamarca theme. This is the song that I liked the least in the game. It just sounds like elevator music, and this version isn't any better.

3. - Here's Kurt - Such a strange name. Anyway, this is a so-so variation on the main overworld music. Actually, it's more like a reprise.

I know that there was a track that had the longer, more original version of the overworld theme (probably the best track on the cd), but it doesn't seem to have a preveiw. That's the other thing. The whole CD is very poorly organized and designed. On the page, The Hourglass is listed twice, and it's only on the CD once. The tracks on the page are not in the order that they are listed on the CD back cover, and the previews don't corespond with the order of the CD tracks and the track names. And on the back of the cover, it just has a long list of track names, the last one getting cropped off by the bottom edge. There are actually more track names than actual tracks - if you were to find the track number of "The Hourglass", which i think was 17, and then count down to the seventeenth track name on the list, it wouldn't be The Hourglass. It'd be something else.

Oh, and the rest of the music wasn't very good either.

So, what's the verdict? While it isn't too big of a deal for such a nicely low price, I still can't help but feel a little cheated. Oh well. I'm gonna go ahead and say that this CD is only for the hardcore Cythera fans. Soooo.... of course that all means you'll buy a copy. Can't say I blame you. I did. It's one of those weird things that you as the fan just has to have.

Good luck.

ooshmaster, on Jul 17 2007, 01:23 AM, said:

All "Hardcore" Cythera fans have this: http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/cgi-bin/vftp/sho...tairWay.sit.hqx


I have it on my Itunes library now. It would be nice if all the rest of the music was up too. (In orignal format, no remastering.)

Enjoy!

It's in Cythera Data somewhere... question is, where.

Two Jacks, on Jul 17 2007, 04:29 AM, said:

Or they would if it was the overworld theme.

Two Jacks, on Jul 17 2007, 04:29 AM, said:

This is the first Cythera music I've ever heard. My old computer didn't have enough memory @_@ And my newer one doesn't have Classic, and I have trouble cross-booting.

This post has been edited by Jehezekel: 17 July 2007 - 10:59 AM

Personally, I am reminded of Cythera by Gabriel Fauré's Pavane No. 50. However, for the most part, I had other music playing over Cythera's (though I never quite got the remote to work right!) so I can't say it was an integral part of the experience for me.

I think my dad recorded all the music at some point. I'll have to go ask him where he put it...

Snapz Pro, dude. Solves all your problems.

In any case I enjoy taking the StairWay MIDI into QuickTime and messing with the instruments.

As for the others, yeah, I hate Catamarca's music as well. It seems crazy and awful and loud.

I liked StairWay the most.

You guys are crazy, I love the Catamarca music :D

I don't know, would extracting the songs from Cythera with WireTap be ©opyright infringement?

Opinions might vary. I think you would be pretty safe if you recorded it from a licensed copy for your personal use only (i.e. didn't distribute it). That's not much different from ripping music from a CD you own.

The reason I think the CD is important is that it's the closest thing to an official soundtrack we'll probably ever have. there are other ways to obtain the music, however...

But you actually don't even need Wiretap. I've been doing a similar thing for years to get game music into mp3 format. What you do, is go to Radioshack and purchase a wire with a head phone plug on both ends. Plug one end into your computer's head phone jack, and one into the mic jack. Boot up a recording program - the one I use now is Garageband. Mash record, and then do what ever it is on the computer that produces the sound you want to record. It should go out the head phone jack, and back in through the mic. If you're using Garageband, then export to iTunes. Bing! You now have an mp3 of whatever you recorded. In this way, I was able to get alot of good game music. I haven't done this with Cythera yet, haven't had the time. But what I really want is the midi files.

Speaking of Garageband, has anyone tried importing the "Stairway" midi into Garageband? I did, and it didn't work. I've done this before, importing midis into Garageband and then exporting them to iTunes is a great way to get good quality versions of music that is in midi format. Generally I HATE quicktime midi, but the songs in Cythera aren't so bad, the instruments they used were among the better sounding ones. But still, I wanted to hear what it sounded with more realistic midi, but when I plugged the midi in, only one software instrument came up (pop flute), and there wasn't any notes, just a short loop with no actual notes in it. Anyone else tried this with any success?

"In any case I enjoy taking the StairWay MIDI into QuickTime and messing with the instruments."
How do you do this?

This post has been edited by ooshmaster: 25 July 2007 - 12:14 AM

Is anyone willing to go through Cyther and get nall the music and post it up on the add-ons page, like Stairway was? I'm sure myself and others would greatly appreciate it.

As I said, I think you're on sketchy legal ground if you do something like that. You probably wouldn't get in trouble, but I suspect Ambrosia wouldn't want to host the music, since they don't hold the rights to it themselves.

Just use Snapz Pro, and if you haven't registered it, there's no watermark to put on an audio file, right? But you should register it, it's a great program.

You don't need WireTap and the others.

If you put it on the add-ons page and it's infringing legal stuff wouldn't it not appear?

Yeah but I rember Andrew once posting up all the music from all the ASW games (up to the current date of the post). The file always got corrupted when I tried to download it so I don't know if it really had Cythera music on it or not. Still Stairway is up on the downloads page, so they didn't take it down for some reason, and almost all the msuic (I think) you can access in the demo version of the game. I quess I don't really need the music off the downloads page. (Wiretap here I come!)

My computers music that they play is choppy so all I hear is dit dit dit dit dot. Anyway there is a way to play your music on the game (This item isn't in Slayer's Guide last time I looked) It's called a strange device. It's in the room right befor you enter Alarics room in the desk.

Actually, the Strange Device is on Slayer's guide - it's for opening doors. You're thinking of the Strange Rod.

And it sounds like the reason the music is choppy for you is because you're running Cythera on Classic. Classic does that for me too. That's why I play on an older computer.

Buzzzzy, on Jul 28 2007, 03:25 PM, said:

Snapz has always given me trouble with recording audio, Wiretap seems more designed for this purpose.

If you IMA-compress it it works.

Anyhoo, the music is MIDI, and MIDI in Classic==duh dit duh duh duh dih dih...

Harry does this as well.

Above the Cythera music I would really like to get all the Ferazel music over to my iTunes library. Only problem is that there all in some weird format that my G5 can't understand. Is this also Midi? Also in order to get music from Cythera or Ferazel (I guess) I need wiretap for classic wich I can't find on the utillities page.

No, it's AIFF with Ferazel's Wand's creator code (which tells what Classic application to open them, nowadays it's mostly extinct and replaced by extensions (like .aiff and .txt), but is still used by Classic and partially Mac OS X). Drag them onto QuickTime or onto iTunes. I already have them.

This post has been edited by Buzzzzy: 04 August 2007 - 06:46 PM

Personally, I'd just use wiretap or one of the other utilitys to get the music. It's easier that way.

Ooshmaster, very nice find.

BreadWorldMercy453, on Jul 23 2007, 06:16 PM, said:

Aside from the first thirty seconds, I'd say the Catamarca music is fine.

Two Jacks, on Jul 30 2007, 10:55 PM, said:

Firstly, if it's Ferazel's music you need, download the ASW package. It includes all Ferazel tracks in mp3 format.

However, it it's Cythera that you need, use wiretap. You don't need wiretap for classic; just download the OS X version. Open it in OS X and launch Cythera. The wiretap window will float above all other windows including fullscreen apps, so you can record the Cythera tracks at any time during the game.

Umm, one problem unless you're using Sheepshaver Cythera's music will be all dut-dut and funky.

Ferazel's music is in the Ferazel folder in AIFF format, you can just drag it into iTunes.

This post has been edited by Buzzzzy: 06 August 2007 - 03:40 PM