User:Neo Te Aika/Audio Production Notes
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This article concerns research of real-world information that may not be sourced in accordance with Halopedia's formal reference/sourcing policies, but is demonstrable with the equipment described. |
Additional Pages
Some of these pages are redlinks that I plan to fill out in the future. Please consider any information posted here may still be under construction.
Music tracks named after their synth patches
Detailed information about each synthesizer
- E-MU E4XT Ultra
- E-MU Proteus
- E-MU Procussion
- E-MU Proteus 2000
- Kurzweil K2500X
- Roland JD-990
- Roland XV-5080
Hardware / Software
Beginning before Halo's production and through to the final Bungie games, various synthesizers, and other audio processors were involved in the audio authored by Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori and additional members of Halo's audio teams.
This information is from either my direct conversations with audio staff, my own independent research directly with equipment, research corroborated with other colleagues in the Halo community,
Where discoveries are our own research, this usually occurs when we find a factory sound identifiable as used in Halo, and therefore accessible to anybody with that same hardware or software.
In the future, audio examples may be posted to show the sound in isolation.
◇ denotes likely, but unconfirmed identifications
◆ denotes positive identifications pending further investigation
◆ denotes repeated confirmed identifications with known and documented sound matches
◆ denotes validation by file metadata, and research from Digsite or other direct confirmation with audio developers.
Audio production map (Music)
| Manufacturer | Model | Notes | Other Games | Halo: CE | Halo 2 | Halo 3 | Halo 3: ODST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-MU | E4XT Ultra | [Note 1] | Oni | ◆ | ◆ | -- | -- |
| E-MU | Procussion | [Note 2] | Myth, Myth II, Septerra Core | ◆ | ◆ | -- | -- |
| E-MU | Proteus | [Note 3] | Myth, Myth II | ◆ | -- | -- | -- |
| E-MU | Proteus 2 | [Note 3] | Myth, Myth II, Riven | ◆ | -- | -- | -- |
| E-MU | Proteus 2000 | [Note 4] | Oni | ◆ | ◆ | ◆[Note 5] | ◆ |
| Kurzweil | K2500X | [Note 6] | Oni | ◆ | ◆ | ◆ | ◇ |
| Roland | JD-990 | -- | -- | ◆ | ◇ | -- | -- |
| Roland | XV-5080 | [Note 7] | Oni | ◆ | ◆ | ◆ | -- |
| Manufacturer | Sample Library | Other Games | Halo: CE | Halo 2 | Halo 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-MU | E4 - Formula 4000 - Hip-Hop Nation | Oni | ◆ | -- | -- |
| E-MU | E4 - Producer Series Vol. 1 | Oni | ◆ | ◆ | -- |
| E-MU | E4 - Producer Series Vol. 2 | Oni | ◆ | ◇ | -- |
| Best Service | Peter Siedlazeck's Advanced Orchestra | -- | ◆ | ◆ | -- |
| Manufacturer | Model | Halo: CE | Halo 2 | Halo 3 | Halo 3: ODST | Halo Reach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native Instruments | FM8 | N/A | -- | ◇ | ◆ | ◆ |
| Native Instruments | Massive | N/A | -- | ◇ | ◇ | ◆ |
| Spectrasonics | Symphony of Voices | N/A | ◆ | ◇ | -- | -- |
| Spectrasonics | Atmosphere | N/A | ◆ | ◇ | -- | -- |
| Spectrasonics | Omnisphere | N/A | -- | ◇ | -- | -- |
| East West Quantum Leap | Stormdrum | N/A | N/A | ◆ | ◆ | ◆ |
| AIR Music Tech | Strike 2 | N/A | N/A | ◆ | ◆ | ◇ |
- ^ Prior to Halo's initial theme composition, Total Audio owned an E-MU E4X, Proteus, Proteus 2, Proteus 3 and Roland JV-880, lost in a fire that occurred January 13, 1999 at Total Audio's studio in Chicago.
- ^ The Procussion has nearly never appeared on any footage of Halo post-Xbox, or mentioned in any interviews with Marty, but its sounds are prevalent throughout the soundtrack of both Halo and Halo 2.
It is possible that the Procussion was used by Mike, who remotely collaborated with Marty from Total Audio's Chicago studio. It is known to have existed in the Bungie studio during Halo 3's production.
Select factory sounds from the Procussion have never officially existed in any form outside of the Procussion including other E-MU products. - ^ Jump up to: a b The original Proteus / Proteus 2 synthesizers were used in the MIDI production of the original Halo theme composed for Halo's Macworld reveal. They were functionally replaced by the Protozoa ROM by the time that Bungie migrated to a Seattle office after being acquired by Microsoft.
- ^ The Proteus 2000 used in the Halo games included the factory Composer ROM and Protozoa, a ROM containing all sounds from the Proteus 1, 2 and 3, and a fourth exclusive bank of new sounds that only accessible with this ROM.
- ^ Can be seen in Halo 3 ViDocs.
- ^ Marty's K2500X included the Piano, Contemporary and Orchestral ROM expansions. The sounds can also be replicated on a K2600 with the same ROM objects installed, and all K2600 models include the Piano ROM built-in.
- ^ A second XV-5080 was used in Halo CE: Anniversary's production to reproduce the "Terminate" patch as appearing on Devils... Monsters....
- ^ Hardware sample libraries refer to sound libraries that would have been loaded into the E-MU E4XT Ultra.
Alternative substitutes for reproducing Halo sounds
- Some E-MU based sounds can be replicated using the E-MU Proteus VX or Emulator X3 software, albeit with sonic discrepancies that notably alter their sound without further advanced modification.
- Kurzweil K2500 sounds can "load" on a K2000, PC3K, PC4 or K2700 with significant sonic discrepancies that deem them to be unsuitable for accurate music reproductions.
- A K2600 series synthesizer can load most K2500 with negligible sonic differences.
- (The Digitech FX processor is not present on K2600 units, and programs that relied on it will automatically be converted to use the K2600's KDFX processor instead, with reasonably close effect parameters)
- A K2600 series synthesizer can load most K2500 with negligible sonic differences.
- Roland XV-5080 sounds can be reasonably reproduced with the Roland Cloud VST plugins. These VSTs are based on the XV-5080 emulation from the Roland Integra 7 synthesizer however, and are not complete accurate.
- (The real Roland XV-5080 included partial backwards compatibility with Roland JD-990 programs, this additional functionality was not fully retained with the Integra-7 and subsequently is partially unavailable in the VST plugins.)
- Roland JD-990 sounds are difficult to reproduce without the original hardware, myself and/or other contributors are still needing to obtain one to continue researching those sounds, but some partial alternatives do exist:
- Roland Cloud Concerto's Anthology 1993 sample library has sampled recordings of the factory JD-990 sounds, though contains substantial noise in the samples, and does not include any drum/percussive sounds.
- Some material within the JD-990 and XV-5080 originate from Roland's internal master recording archives, known to share occasional audio content in common with that found in libraries authored for Roland's S series samplers (S-50, W-30, S-770, etc).
Audio production map (Audio I/O and Computer Hardware)
| Manufacturer | Hardware | Halo: CE | Halo 2 | Halo 3 | Halo 3: ODST | Halo Reach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | Power Macintosh G3 (1999) | ◆ | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Apple | Power Macintosh G4 (2001) | ◆ | ◆ | -- | -- | -- |
| Apple | PowerBook G4 (TiBook)(2001) | -- | ◆[Note 1] | -- | -- | -- |
| Digidesign (now Avid Technology) | 888/24 (1998) | ◆ | ◆ | -- | -- | -- |
| Digidesign (now Avid Technology) | 1622 I/O (2001) | ◆ | ◇ | -- | -- | -- |
| Mark of the Unicorn | 828 (2001) | ◆ | ◇ | -- | -- | -- |
| Mackie | HUI (2001) | ◆ | ◆ | ◆ | -- | -- |
| Shure | KSM44 (2001) | ◆ | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Manufacturer | Software | Halo: CE | Halo 2 | Halo 3 | Halo 3: ODST | Halo Reach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | Final Cut Pro | -- | ◆ | -- | -- | -- |
| Berkley Integrated Audio Software | Peak | v2.02 (1998-1999) | v3.1 (2003), v4 (2004) | -- | -- | -- |
| Opcode Systems | Studio Vision Pro | v4 (1999) | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Mark of the Unicorn | Digital Performer | v3.x | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Digidesign (now Avid Technology) | Pro Tools | v4.x (1999), v5.3.2 | v6.1.2 | ◆ | ◆ | ◆ |
| Waves Audio | Gold Plugin Suite | (1999-2001) | v4.09 | ◆[Note 1] | ◆[Note 1] | ◆[Note 1] |
| Propellerhead | Reason | -- | v2.x[Note 2] | -- | -- | -- |
- ^ Jump up to: a b c The presets for Waves dynamics and EQ processors exist in the files for both the Xbox 360 and MCC versions of Halo 3, ODST and Reach. These include the audio processing parameters for distant gunfire and explosions, and the radio communication filter.
- ^ Used in audio production by C. Paul.
Archived videos
These videos were originally uploaded to Marty's YouTube channel, and I had downloaded them for study while researching Halo's audio production.
External links
- https://odysseyaudio.org/spreadsheet (Odyssey Audio Spreadsheet)