The recent addition of OoT3D to the Nintendo Music app has left some puzzled, and is an interesting case. With Skyward Sword having two entries on release, Wii and Switch HD, the addition of OoT3D seems odd as it both used an update slot, and came 8 months after the original OoT.
The difference here is unlike Skyward Sword’s two entries, the OoT3D soundtrack is actually a little bit different from the original. TLDR: I prefer the N64 OST, as it’s more complete and higher quality where it matters.
The in-game music was rebuilt for the 3DS version using its middleware sound engine, which works very similar to the Wii’s. It’s one of the handful of 3DS game soundtracks to be sequenced. It shares the same instrument sources as the 64 game, but sometimes uses higher quality recordings of them. The 3DS version initially had new arrangements made for it, but while it was around 50% done Koji Kondo had told Mahito Yokota to keep it faithful to the N64 sound.
The 3DS version has a CD release, NTDO-17233. As with many soundtracks in Nintendo Music, this CD version is the one used. It misses out on a fair amount of tracks, containing 51 while the N64’s has 82. As far as I can tell, the important ones are here at least. I noticed hyrule field was shorter and was arranged differently past the intro in 3D. It does however contain a new track, “End Credits 2”. This is the only streamed track in-game, and was performed by a live orchestra. The CD/NM release of this track is higher quality than in-game, though the rest of the sequenced music seems to be something like a recording of the in-game versions, maybe through the SDK’s sound player tools.
The largest immediate difference between the 64 and 3D OSTs is the reverb. The 64 OST was a studio mix, and used an external reverb that was relatively high quality. It’s subtle, sounds good, and sits nicely in the mix. The 3DS OST uses the middleware engine’s reverb, as it does in game, which frankly doesn’t sound very good. It’s also relatively loud in the mix, loud enough to negatively impact it in my opinion.
Another downside in the 3D version is aliasing. The N64 onward actually had good sample interpolation, which means you don’t hear much ringing and artifacts from samples when they’re pitched lower than the system’s sample rate. The 3DS version has moderate ringing in some bass instruments. Since the 3DS uses the same kind of interpolation as the N64, this is likely a difference in the pitch of the sample relative to its own sample rate. Bad cases can have ringing even with good interpolation.
One thing 3D gets right is mixing. Many bass sounds in the N64 were hard panned, while the 3DS version makes them more centered. This goes for many other instruments too, the panning is more sensible overall. There’s an abundance of various mixing and articulation differences between the two versions, similar to things I’ve pointed out in some of my videos. If there’s any major that I haven’t mentioned here, feel free to let me know.
Everything considered, I prefer the N64 version. The mixing improvements are important and appreciated in the 3D version, but don’t outweigh how dark and unfavorable the reverb makes it sound. The instrument articulation in the N64 OST also just sounds nicer, even if it’s not as accurate to the in-game version. I do appreciate this new addition for the sake of completeness, but I probably could’ve thought of 500 other soundtracks I’d rather have seen first.
Thanks for reading. Let me know if you like this style of written content. I first thought to do it to justify having a twitter, but I’ll always post them here too if I do more.
Dublincalif
The recent addition of OoT3D to the Nintendo Music app has left some puzzled, and is an interesting case. With Skyward Sword having two entries on release, Wii and Switch HD, the addition of OoT3D seems odd as it both used an update slot, and came 8 months after the original OoT.
The difference here is unlike Skyward Sword’s two entries, the OoT3D soundtrack is actually a little bit different from the original. TLDR: I prefer the N64 OST, as it’s more complete and higher quality where it matters.
The in-game music was rebuilt for the 3DS version using its middleware sound engine, which works very similar to the Wii’s. It’s one of the handful of 3DS game soundtracks to be sequenced. It shares the same instrument sources as the 64 game, but sometimes uses higher quality recordings of them. The 3DS version initially had new arrangements made for it, but while it was around 50% done Koji Kondo had told Mahito Yokota to keep it faithful to the N64 sound.
The 3DS version has a CD release, NTDO-17233. As with many soundtracks in Nintendo Music, this CD version is the one used. It misses out on a fair amount of tracks, containing 51 while the N64’s has 82. As far as I can tell, the important ones are here at least. I noticed hyrule field was shorter and was arranged differently past the intro in 3D. It does however contain a new track, “End Credits 2”. This is the only streamed track in-game, and was performed by a live orchestra. The CD/NM release of this track is higher quality than in-game, though the rest of the sequenced music seems to be something like a recording of the in-game versions, maybe through the SDK’s sound player tools.
The largest immediate difference between the 64 and 3D OSTs is the reverb. The 64 OST was a studio mix, and used an external reverb that was relatively high quality. It’s subtle, sounds good, and sits nicely in the mix. The 3DS OST uses the middleware engine’s reverb, as it does in game, which frankly doesn’t sound very good. It’s also relatively loud in the mix, loud enough to negatively impact it in my opinion.
Another downside in the 3D version is aliasing. The N64 onward actually had good sample interpolation, which means you don’t hear much ringing and artifacts from samples when they’re pitched lower than the system’s sample rate. The 3DS version has moderate ringing in some bass instruments. Since the 3DS uses the same kind of interpolation as the N64, this is likely a difference in the pitch of the sample relative to its own sample rate. Bad cases can have ringing even with good interpolation.
One thing 3D gets right is mixing. Many bass sounds in the N64 were hard panned, while the 3DS version makes them more centered. This goes for many other instruments too, the panning is more sensible overall. There’s an abundance of various mixing and articulation differences between the two versions, similar to things I’ve pointed out in some of my videos. If there’s any major that I haven’t mentioned here, feel free to let me know.
Everything considered, I prefer the N64 version. The mixing improvements are important and appreciated in the 3D version, but don’t outweigh how dark and unfavorable the reverb makes it sound. The instrument articulation in the N64 OST also just sounds nicer, even if it’s not as accurate to the in-game version. I do appreciate this new addition for the sake of completeness, but I probably could’ve thought of 500 other soundtracks I’d rather have seen first.
Thanks for reading. Let me know if you like this style of written content. I first thought to do it to justify having a twitter, but I’ll always post them here too if I do more.
Image from @NintendoAmerica on twitter.
4 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 85