Got my two-disc Castlevania Minuet/Cross OST today, and so far having only listened to the first disc, I have to say I'm once again disappointed with the audio quality (compared to the rip that's been floating around for years). How is this possible? How is it that Some Dude With An Emulator produces a crystal-clear soundtrack for the game, while the professionally-pressed set I paid 4000 yen for sounds like it was recorded from the other side of a wall?  Normally I replace my gamerip with the rip of the OST once I get it, but I don't think that's happening this time.  Bleh.

Is it that bad? It it perhaps a case, like with the Mario The Music (or whatever it's called, has SMB1-3. SMB2US, etc) they released the disc in mono?

Goddammit, with that and Lufia not repeating, maybe I should have just saved the $88...

-Joshua

No, it appears to be stereo, or at least so Winamp says.  It's just really shitty stereo.  The whole thing sounds muddy and far away.

On the bright side, I've now listened to the second disc (the Castlevania DS/Cross of the Blue Moon soundtrack), and it sounds beautiful.  I dunno what it is about GBA soundtracks that Konami just can't get right, but apparently they do a lot better with the DS.

I'm sure they could have made it sound better if they wanted to, but were trying to make it just like how it sounds on GBA for authenticity.  If they improved the sound quality, it would basically become an arrange album, hence Riviera.

Maybe I wasn't clear. I'm not talking about SYNTH quality, I'm talking about RECORDING quality.  Both the official soundtrack and the gamerip from 2003 are recordings of the same music, but the gamerip blows the OST out of the water.

We made the gamerip from the Dungeon straight from the GBA headphone port. How they could screw that up is beyond me.

Yeah, my AoS rip (#gamemp3s at the time) was also recorded direct from the GBA's headphone jack, so I dunno how Konami ended up messing that up.  I'm glad to hear they didn't botch DoS though, as it's the better of the two soundtracks IMO

-Mike

I received it yesterday, too, and I agree that the AOS disc sounds rather muffled and distant, although I'd take this official release over a game rip any day.  The arranged track from AOS is pretty awesome, and the sound quality is top-notch, but I wish it ran about 8 minutes in length instead of just 3 1/2. 

Of course I enjoyed the DOS OST immensely, but I am completely disappointed with the arranged track from DOS.  The sound quality of the arranged track was actually much worse than that of the OST!  Rather ironic, isn't it?  It's a pretty bland arrangement, too, so I didn't really mind the short length of that track.  Overall, I'm very excited about this set, and I'm grateful to the powers that be for making it happen.

P.S. The packaging and artwork are amazing.  The jewel case is slightly larger than standard (seemingly due to the thickness of the booklet and accompanying fold-out poster), about the same size as the Castlevania IV 2-CD set and the MIDI POWER PRO CDs, so if the case gets cracked or broken you're stuck with it because it'd be next-to-impossible to find an adequate replacement (the "flaps" of the rear tray insert are wider than standard and won't fit in a standard jewel case).

Don't listen to him, he must be on crack or something. I found the arranged DOS track to be excellent, and it sounded very much to me to be in the same style as the AOS arranged track (which was also very good). I would wager that it's the same arranger behind both pieces. The AOS track just stands out a lot more because it's original version has much shittier synth.

Overall, I agree with what's been said about the sound quality of the recording of the AOS music: really freaking horrible (although still not quite as horrible as the official recording of Circle of the Moon on one of the previous CDs). But when I think of the overall compositional quality of the AOS soundtrack, I don't really think any amount of better synth or even live instrumentation would have saved it's poor ass: there's very little on the first disc that I will return to.

The DOS score, on the other hand, is really beautiful. This could just be the best original score in the CV series since Castlevania 64 (not so strange: same head composer). Almost all of the stage themes are impeccably crafted with beautiful composition progressions. The synth sounds far better than you could have hoped to get from any GBA game (I haven't yet played a DS game, so the synth was a pleasant surprise to my ears). The only offender (synth-wise) is track 12 ("Bloody Spirit of Fighting", sounds like a boss-theme). Holy crap, is that distant, weak buzzing supposed to be guitars...? Just horrible! Composition-wise, it's pretty OK.

Anyway, I'm satisfied with this release, even if IMO they could have just as well dropped the first disc. Thinking of that "Dance Hall" theme just makes me cringe.

Hey, I love the Dance Hall music...

I don't love that I don't have it yet, but I guess they rest of you payed extra for faster shipping...

-Joshua

Heh, that's different opinions for you. I know many people like it, but I just can't stand the Aria of Sorrow score, it's Yamane's low point, IMO. I like the first stage theme, the last stage theme, and the clock tower theme, but that's about it, really.

Dawn of Sorrow's music, on the other hand, is great. Maybe not the complete revival of Castlevania music-quality I've always hoped for, but still a much needed revitalization of a stagnating series.

Yeah, I'm digging your rip more than this official soundtrack. This release...sounds fuzzy. Maybe they recorded it directly from the GBA using a tape recorder. The voice overs on the arranged tracks are a bit odd, though.

The DoS cd, on the other hand sounds good. Different sound engineer, perhaps?

Well I got this today. I thought people were exaggerating, but damn...Konami should be ASHAMED at releasing such a horrible disc in this day an age :-(

-Joshua

The Konami Game Music Collection Volume 1 featuring Haunted Castle had by far better sound quality, and it was released in 1988...

C'mon Konami...

Why is that the recent Castlevania games have music themed titles?

Alright, I've listened to this and I have to agree... the first disc sounds awful. The music isn't all that great to begin with but how did they get away with releasing such a muddy recording?

The second disc is awesome. It makes me want to play the game even more. This might be the best Castlevania music in like... well, forever.