Jump to content

LEGO Racers M4A Soundtrack


ZANTHERA
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi everyone, recently I was curious to see if I could rip the music from my own PS1 copy of LEGO Racers and was successful, I have since converted the WAV files into Lossless Apple files and added the titles, album name, artists and artwork for each file. I have provided a link to download the album if there is anyone who wants it.

 

https://mega.nz/#F!H4g1ADxJ!1C0wGlEOootJNI8AhH5Usg

 

They have been put into a somewhat logical order as you would hear them playing the game, the songs that play as an alternative on different tracks are now named.

 

When ripping these files I was very surprised at the quality, it is really good, and something more surprising is the very good but very odd sampling rate, they are all 37800Hz which is not a standard in any of the audio editing programs I have. The M4A files have been converted to the closest sample rate, that being the regular 44100Hz seen on most music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I looked up how to open PS1 discs on a PC and came to a section taking about a program that can open .XAI files which is the file extension the audio files are stored as on the disc, the program is quite old as you can imagine seeing as there would not be much demand for an updated version as the old version works well. The program automatically converted the files into WAV files at their full quality, then I converted them to M4A's to add the info and artwork, for some reason iTunes does not like WAV files and always degrades the quality when I put WAV files directly onto my phone, but since these are Apple lossless files they sound exactly the same as the WAVs.

 

http://www.zophar.net/utilities/psxutil/psxmc.html

 

This was the program I used, it says it is a trial version but I ran into no issues when trying to open all the files. If anyone wants to open their own disc for the files be warned that the audio files are duplicated several times for some reason, there are four race track songs and then the start, win and lose sounds, these are duplicated every four files, so I think they were not very well optimized.

 

I was also able to open the three opening movie files but as we all know they are not particularly good quality at the start of the game so there is no point ripping them as the PC ones are much better quality.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

how does the quality of the PS1 music files compare to the PC ones (assuming we could convert them withouth the static) and the N64 MIDIs  (even tho the other ports' music sounds like recordings of the MIDIs anyway)? edit: oh I just saw the post saying the PC ones were 22k, whoops.

 

Also I thought M4A was lossy?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ringtail said:

how does the quality of the PS1 music files compare to the PC ones (assuming we could convert them withouth the static) and the N64 MIDIs that the other ports' music sounds like MIDI anyway?

 

Also I thought M4A was lossy?

 

No there are two types of M4A, one is normal AAC and the other is Apple Lossless, which is basically just an Apple compatible WAV, none of the quality is lost and the bit rate is great, the files are between 700kbps and 1000kbps where as normal iTunes files are only 256kbps which are normal AAC files with the M4A extension.

 

Apparently the PC audio is much lower quality than the PS1 version for unknown reasons, and the N64 is MIDI audio that is generated as it goes as opposed to playing full pre made tracks like you get from the PS1 version.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did this before but to MP3s. When I tried again a few months ago to make higher quality MP3s, I couldn't get it to work.

I was using a different tool but I'm pretty sure I threw PsxMC at them too....
See here: Link

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Huh, didn't know that.

 

Also looking at this now, the order you have things in is kinda awkward tbh. The circuit intros are all tossed after the race music instead of being more interspersed, and the free play random tunes are just all called random, could at least have called them something like "Castle alternate track 3" and such. I guess they weren't in the PS1 disc but it's missing a few demo and N64 tracks that aren't in the PC/PS1 versions too, btw, not as big a deal with that, but yeah the sorting's a litle messy I guess idk.

 

Edit: none of the tracks have any tags besides artists either. Definitely sounds nicer tho, yeah. As nice as you can make this MIDI hell sound.

 

Edit 2: oh it's just the raw files without any loop editing

 

Edit 3: Wait, the race lost music is the same as the N64 one and not the PC one?

Edit hell: oh "Lose Circuit" is the PC race lost music and also it plays SUPER FAST HERE HOLY s***, also I think "random 7" is missing its first few seconds?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well like I said some of the unnamed tracks play on more than one race track, I did originally name them things like 'Desert Adventure Dragway2' but that was wrong when one played on more than one track and I wasn't going to sit there for hours trying to listen and see what tracks they were and were not on.

 

As for the order, all of the race track main themes are in circuit order and then all the boss intros are in order, I didn't put them in between like the game because, Johnny Thunder, Baron Von Barron and Gypsy Moth's tracks are all just mirrors of the first, so it didn't make sense to put the first three bosses at the beginning of the circuit sings and then have the other three just sat on the end.

 

The first four songs are in such an order as you would play the game, you get the menu then you build a car, test it and then start a circuit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, ZANTHERA said:

As for the order, all of the race track main themes are in circuit order and then all the boss intros are in order, I didn't put them in between like the game because, Johnny Thunder, Baron Von Barron and Gypsy Moth's tracks are all just mirrors of the first, so it didn't make sense to put the first three bosses at the beginning of the circuit sings and then have the other three just sat on the end.

I would've done it with the first two tracks of each boss's circuit and then a couple of the appropriate randomized tracks, not exactly the order you'd hear it in-game but better organized for a soundtrack. Also I added a bunch of edits to that post while you were replying sorry, basically some stuff is a mess partially because the PS1 soundtrack is a little weird compared to the PC one I'm used to and I'm bothered that I never once thought of looking at it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I double checked both those tracks you said were a bit funny but they play normally, these files were not edited in any way and should loop perfectly, the fast sounding 'Lose Circuit' is how it plays on PS1.

 

The files were extracted to WAV, saved as M4A Lossless and given the right names, there were no cuts made to the waveforms.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, ZANTHERA said:

I double checked both those tracks you said were a bit funny but they play normally

yeah I wasn't blaming you for that, more the fault of whoever put the PS1 audio in the game

 

5 minutes ago, ZANTHERA said:

these files were not edited in any way and loop perfectly

I more meant that if it were me I'd have done some editing to make them loop and fade instead of putting the raw files in the soundtrack. idk.

 

5 minutes ago, ZANTHERA said:

the fast sounding 'Lose Circuit' is how it plays on PS1.

well looks like someone really screwed up some stuff with this game's audio.

 

also on all that note, is it okay with you if i do some editing on the tracks and tagging and add some of the missing tracks I mentioned (once i figure out how to work with N64 music that is)?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

lol username
14 minutes ago, ZANTHERA said:

 

Well like I said some of the unnamed tracks play on more than one race track, I did originally name them things like 'Desert Adventure Dragway2' but that was wrong when one played on more than one track and I wasn't going to sit there for hours trying to listen and see what tracks they were and were not on.

 

IIRC the places they play is determined by the themes of the tracks, at least on PC - Pirates, Adventurers, Castle, and Space. (And Rocket Racer Run is its own thing.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, mumboking said:

Those "Random" tracks have names. I just used the filename.
This is my old rip of the PS1 soundtrack:

 

 

When I ripped them the files names went from STR007 to STR142 with the race start, win and lose songs repeating multiple times through the list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, ZANTHERA said:

When I ripped them their file names were STRXXX so I had no idea what they were called, the X's represnet numbers.

Ah right... You can listen to the PC version to find the original filenames, or just name them how I did.

I just listened to that "Lose Circuit". That definitely seems too fast. My rip plays at normal speed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Ringtail said:

yeah I wasn't blaming you for that, more the fault of whoever put the PS1 audio in the game

 

I more meant that if it were me I'd have done some editing to make them loop and fade instead of putting the raw files in the soundtrack. idk.

 

well looks like someone really screwed up some stuff with this game's audio.

 

also on all that note, is it okay with you if i do some editing on the tracks and tagging and add some of the missing tracks I mentioned (once i figure out how to work with N64 music that is)?

 

Yea sure, change them up however you like, I am aware there are different tracks for the different formats but I only had my PS1 disk to work with. 

 

When I open the tracks with a program called Wavepad Sound Editor, the program I used to save them to M4A from WAV and edit audio in general, I can adjust the speed and pitch and if I just set the percentage to 100, which is no change, it will loop the track for me, also if you set the track to repeat on an iPod or phone it will too repeat the track without a gap, just like it does in the game.

 

16 minutes ago, mumboking said:

Ah right... You can listen to the PC version to find the original filenames, or just name them how I did.

I just listened to that "Lose Circuit". That definitely seems too fast. My rip plays at normal speed.

 

It plays that quick on my PS1 when I play the game, it's how i've always heard it, strange seeing as it's just a normal PAL version of the game. I did just lose a race on the PC version and it is indeed the lose race song but it is much slower.

 

Is there a way to gain access to the music files for the PC version? I have the JAM file of my game fully extracted but cannot open any of the files within.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, ZANTHERA said:

Is there a way to gain access to the music files for the PC version? I have the JAM file of my game fully extracted but cannot open any of the files within.

You gotta just replace the menu music with whatever file you wanna listen to, there's no definite way to extract the audio properly as far as we know. The files can be replaced with new music exported to the same format, which can be reverse-converted, but for some reason the original files convert with static that the game doesn't pick up, and whatever it used to remove that static doesn't affect new music that gets added.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Ringtail said:

You gotta just replace the menu music with whatever file you wanna listen to, there's no definite way to extract the audio properly as far as we know. The files can be replaced with new music exported to the same format, which can be reverse-converted, but for some reason the original files convert with static that the game doesn't pick up, and whatever it used to remove that static doesn't affect new music that gets added.

 

Where is the menu music located? is all the music in the same file?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

grappigegovert

Actually they can be converted without any problems/static with this tool: :)

which is kind of just a wrapper that de-interleaves the stereo channels and feeds it into SoX, an audio converter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fluffy Cupcake

Nice rips, even though the rips don't really seem to differ from another non-PS1 rip already out there:

Left_Track.png

 

That's two left audio tracks of the menu song there, the bottom one being your rip. I guess it's kinda cool to say that we now also have the PS1 ripped too if anything. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

lol username
38 minutes ago, Xiron said:

Nice rips, even though the rips don't really seem to differ from another non-PS1 rip already out there:

Left_Track.png

 

That's two left audio tracks of the menu song there, the bottom one being your rip. I guess it's kinda cool to say that we now also have the PS1 ripped too if anything. :)

 

It's a matter of quality, looking at waveforms isn't gonna tell you much...

 

10 hours ago, grappigegovert said:

Much better than the 22050Hz ones in the PC version.

 

7 hours ago, ZANTHERA said:

Apparently the PC audio is much lower quality than the PS1 version for unknown reasons, and the N64 is MIDI audio that is generated as it goes as opposed to playing full pre made tracks like you get from the PS1 version.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, Xiron said:

I guess it's kinda cool to say that we now also have the PS1 ripped too if anything. :)

Are you forgetting about my rip? :'( You even posted on it and made some metadata alterations.
Mine was only 128kbps MP3 files though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fluffy Cupcake

It's hard to keep track with so many rips floating around. I know there is a readme in the folder crediting you Ringtail and I, though I didn't know where or which rip that was from.

 

54 minutes ago, Terrev said:

It's a matter of quality, looking at waveforms isn't gonna tell you much...

I listened to them both and I couldn't really tell much of a difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Xiron said:

It's hard to keep track with so many rips floating around. I know there is a readme in the folder crediting you Ringtail and I, though I didn't know where or which rip that was from.

 

I listened to them both and I couldn't really tell much of a difference.

I never worked on any Racers rips until what I'm doing just now so idk what that's about.

 

and I definitely hear a difference, the PC music sounds muddier to me. Same as with IXS's 22k PS2 music vs 44k PC music (why did they lower the quality for that on the console that can handle bigger discs lmao)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.