Oh No More Lemmings MIDI Music

[Minim]

OK everyone, I suppose it's time to reveal one of my secret talents not-related to Lemmings.

I think I mentioned somewhere in the forum that I am a talented music composer. As well as that I can also play by ear, and have perfect pitch. So here's a proof of what I was able to do.

I've had a lot of free time this week, so as well as doing new challenges I've spent this time period mostly on remaking the Oh No More Lemmings music tracks using a MIDI format. I used Sibelius - my personal favourite music-composing program - to achieve this task, and have completed all six songs. I hope this is OK to upload this collection of songs, provided that it doesn't infringe copyright (Well, at the moment I only know the basics about copyright, so I thought I'd ask). Also, if I do upload them, I don't really know if there's any space where you could play these tunes whilst doing a lemmings level, apart from the old Windows Lemmings, which I know supports MIDI music only.

Interestingly, I decided to change the key of three of the six songs, because I like a bit of variety, not just F# Major (Examples of Pop records with this key being Better in Time/Collide by Leona Lewis and Believe by Cher), which is heard on all but the 3rd and 4th songs. Anyway, here's the download to my remixes. I'm sure you will at least love to hear my MIDI songs!

BTW, I've updated some of my songs. These can be found here.

[namida]

Pretty sure uploading them would be fine. DragonsLover already did MIDIs of ONML (his ones were the ones used in Lemmings Plus II - did you notice the difference between that and the ONML Lemmix player?), but always good to hear more versions of it!

Anyway, MIDIs can be used with Lemmix (either custom players compiled from source, or CustLemmix or Flexi), though only indirectly - they must be converted to a MOD-based format first. This can be done simply by opening the MIDI in OpenMPT then saving it as a midi, though there are some extra steps that can be taken to improve the result:
1) Set the tempo to 125 before opening it in OpenMPT, then once it's open, change it back. I have no idea why this makes a difference, but it's very noticable. (Compare the original LPDOS to the Neo version; the former was done before I knew of this trick.)
2) You may want to add pattern breaks / position jumps to get it looping more nicely.
3) Often, the volume won't turn out exactly the same and may need tweaking.

Cheapo also supports MIDI (directly), but no one really uses that anymore; probably the only features it offers that neither Lemmix nor Lemmini (let alone NeoLemmix and SuperLemmini) are inverted gravity and vertical scrolling, and it's missing a whole bunch of far more significant ones.

[Minim]

I didn't realise that the songs from LPII were actually MIDI files done by someone else. I clearly thought those were the DOS remixes of those tunes. (I definitely remember the swing beat of the 4th, - which in my opinion is worse by a country mile compared to the catchy Amiga version - and the slower tempo of the 2nd)

In my songs, I mixed and matched the two versions, using the DOS 2nd and the Amiga 4th.

3) Often, the volume won't turn out exactly the same and may need tweaking.

OK, before I upload I'll increase the volume of all channels (most of them are set to around 100, rather than 127, the maximum). Once I've done that, I'll get uploading.

[Minim]

OK. Updated thread to say they're ready to be downloaded.

[namida]

3) Often, the volume won't turn out exactly the same and may need tweaking.

OK, before I upload I'll increase the volume of all channels (most of them are set to around 100, rather than 127, the maximum). Once I've done that, I'll get uploading.

I meant when converting them to MOD / IT; and in that case, this step is best done after making it a MOD file, but before saving the "final" result.

[namida]

Tune1: Nicely done; I noticed later on it somewhat deviates from the original slightly, but I definitely like it! It does sound like the main melody needs to be a bit louder relative to the rest though. This is pretty much my favorite tune from the DOS games, so I might be a bit overly-picky on this one.
Tune2: This one, it might be just me, but a lot of the notes sound off-key in the first half. In the second half, I can't really make out much of the main melody.
Tune3: Definitely a lot of freedom taken on this one too, and once again, it works out very nicely. I actually don't like this track originally (in either DOS or Amiga versions), but your one is very good! Almost sounds like it has a country music spin to it, in a way.
Tune4: The first bit is a bit too silent; needs a bit more backing I reckon? There again, it is based off the Amiga version, which itself is also like that.
Tune5: This one sounds like a mix of the two versions, pretty interesting! In the part that'd be the first part in the Amiga version, it sounds like you cut off the longer notes too soon and use silence where the note should be extended more. Also, I think you cut the intro a bit shorter than it should be? It kind of sounds strange cutting off after just one repetition of it instead of two. That being said, this track is overall very well done!
Tune6: This one sounds fairly familiar to the original on DOS, nicely done.

[Minim]

Thanks for the helpful feedback! I also notice that my songs play twice on the recording, rather than once like the Original game. Never mind; it doesn't make that much difference anyway.

Fortunately my mixer can fix Tune1. Initially I made the xylophone louder, but I'll make the main melody slightly louder too (although I believed I had the perfect volume, I won't put it on max though)
Tune2: I'm pretty sure I nailed the first part, but the second I part I'll definitely try harder. Maybe the key is too low as well, so I'll set it back to normal and hopefully the notes that I hit on the first part would make sense
Tune4: I'll put another instrument in and try harder. BTW this was the one I struggled with the most. Maybe I'll take a look at DL's version to help me out, if I can find it that is...
Tune5: I did cut the intro a little bit, but I thought it would be a nice change. However, I'll have another look at it and try to make the long notes longer.

[LJLPM]

Nice performance! Actually, listening to your tunes made me add the music support for my Android Lemmings-clone game.
So, atm, for my test purpose, I've added your music in the game, and it sounds just perfect!

I'll return to the audio part later (in order to select/add the actual tunes that will be included in the game), but, now, for my audio tests, I really enjoy listening to your music! Good job!

[Simon]

Very nice!

Copyright and patents are hopelessly muddy and convoluted, and it differs per country. I suggest the pragmatic approach: Don't avoid infringing, but very much avoid lawyers' action. I don't think anyone will run after you for the files.

For software, there is clean room design, by which a intellectual-monopoly-hasslefree clone is written without looking at the source. I don't believe this technique translates 1-1 to music, for there have been lawsuits against very short copied samples.

-- Simon

[Minim]

Copyright and patents are hopelessly muddy and convoluted, and it differs per country. I suggest the pragmatic approach: Don't avoid infringing, but very much avoid lawyers' action. I don't think anyone will run after you for the files.

For software, there is clean room design, by which a intellectual-monopoly-hasslefree clone is written without looking at the source. I don't believe this technique translates 1-1 to music, for there have been lawsuits against very short copied samples.

OK, Thanks for the summary. I have created these music tracks from scratch, although I think I'll change a few details on them before reuploading, especially the copyright status, as all that is written so far is "Copyright 2014". I just wonder should I delete the download and/or get copyright permission from DMA before reuploading? (It's such a long time ago since these tunes were made, like you said, I don't know if anyone would notice this though)

Anyway, thanks a lot for the positive comments! Keep 'em coming!

[Simon]

especially the copyright status, as all that is written so far is "Copyright 2014".

You can add more text if you want, but copyright 2014 is correct, since it's your work.

I just wonder should I delete the download and/or get copyright permission from DMA before reuploading? (It's such a long time ago since these tunes were made, like you said, I don't know if anyone would notice this though)

Sensible usually, but for this, I wouldn't get permission. Sony is the copyright holder, they're more likely to cease & desist you at least game clone developers without looking at it than grant permission.

-- Simon

[Minim]

especially the copyright status, as all that is written so far is "Copyright 2014".

You can add more text if you want, but copyright 2014 is correct, since it's your work.

I just wonder should I delete the download and/or get copyright permission from DMA before reuploading? (It's such a long time ago since these tunes were made, like you said, I don't know if anyone would notice this though)

Sensible usually, but for this, I wouldn't get permission. Sony is the copyright holder, they're more likely to cease & desist you at least game clone developers without looking at it than grant permission.

-- Simon

Thanks for helping me out here. I know what to do and totally understand the situation now.
Soon, I will be reuploading some of the music files as per namida's comments, under v2 to differentiate them from the previous version so that either version can be acceptable.

[mobius]

very well done  I particularly love 4, partly because that's only ONML song I actually really enjoy. I've always thought the others were bland. But I love what you did with that one and the rest of these.

Have you made any MIDI music of your own writing like this? I'd love to hear it

[Minim]

Thanks mobius. I have actually made quite a few bits of MIDI music within the past year but for today my main focus is on ONML.

OK, I am just about ready to release V2 for four of the six songs, which are for 1, 2, 4 and 5. Songs 3 and 6 are absolutely fine so they don't need an update. I put up a separate download because some of us may say the older version of one or two of these songs is better.