Beneath a Steel Sky Audio Restoration Project

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joostp
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Beneath a Steel Sky Audio Restoration Project

Post by joostp »

As you may have deducted from the thread title, the goal of this endeavour is to create a superior version of BASS by replacing the audio used in the retail game with much higher quality samples taken from the original studio DATs (I currently have these in my possession).

Currently the people undertaking this task are LavosSpawn and myself, possibly with help from others in the future.
We both worked on the BASS engine in ScummVM and are very big fans of the game, so rest assured we are motivated and know what we are doing. :P

Updates and progress regarding this project will be posted in this very thread.


Current status/Last update on page 7
Last edited by joostp on Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:43 am, edited 4 times in total.
Laurens
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Post by Laurens »

I might have access to a DAT player, in Utrecht. I probably won't be in the position to send it to you. It's from an office next to mine, and I think the guys working there won't mind if we used it. So perhaps you can come to utrecht, digitize it, and then take it home with you again.

I've emailed him, and once I get a reply, I'll let you know here.

Cheers!

L.
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joostp
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Post by joostp »

That might work too, depending on the available equipment.
Thanks!
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JamesWoodcock
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Post by JamesWoodcock »

It is great to see such projects to enhance old classics.

I wish you every success with this restoration :)
cappuchok
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Post by cappuchok »

glidem wrote:It is great to see such projects to enhance old classics.

I wish you every success with this restoration :)
Wasn't there a similar project aimed at Simon the Sorcerer? Oh yes, it was mentioned here. Any news on that?

Anyway, this seems like a good idea.
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joostp
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Post by joostp »

cappuchok wrote:Wasn't there a similar project aimed at Simon the Sorcerer? Oh yes, it was mentioned here. Any news on that?
We have no affiliation with that project.
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Post by SimSaw »

Yes, of course. Thanks to remeber my project. Unfortunately, I just have got the German Simon 2 DATs and one of them was missing. Need to ask the studio for the others.

I could maybe also help lending a DAT player. The advantage of using my one would be that it is directly reading the bits and bytes from the disk because it's a build-in device for the PC. You get the data of the DATs most exactly that way. With a normal DAT player you need to adjust volume correct and then still it's not 100% original signal. Disadvantage: Some build-in work with ASPI card and the DAT streamer and you need Windows under 2000 to be compatible with my software I'll also send you.

Because the equipment was very expensive I would demand 110 € which you would send me which you get back as soon as my device returns. I know this is a really trust thing and sounds not so good to you, but since I payed this price for the DAT streamer with ASPI card I think it's only fair.

Another solution: Why not ask Revolution to allow you to send the DATs to me? You can tell them that I also worked and hopefully will work on such a project as StS 2 DATs for Adventure Soft again.
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Post by LogicDeLuxe »

SimSaw wrote:The advantage of using my one would be that it is directly reading the bits and bytes from the disk because it's a build-in device for the PC.
If that's the case, does that mean, reading the DDS tapes (on which the English recordings from Simon2 are on, iIrc) is just a matter of the right software? Maybe someone here knows something about that format and can help with that.
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Post by SimSaw »

Just for information: The DDS tapes didn't contain the Simon 2 files of English version, it was from the German, so if I could have used it I wouldn't need DAT 4 now. DDS is completely different format than DAT. For DDS restoring you need the exact software that wrote it (a retired member told me they used a macintosh version of Retrospect).

Well, we seem to come off the topic. I'd be happy to help you. Please get me in contact with Revolution. Or maybe why not copying the DAT tapes and sending the copies to me? So we would have wav files most near to the original.
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Post by BassiB »

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joostp
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Post by joostp »

SimSaw wrote:I could maybe also help lending a DAT player. The advantage of using my one would be that it is directly reading the bits and bytes from the disk because it's a build-in device for the PC. You get the data of the DATs most exactly that way. With a normal DAT player you need to adjust volume correct and then still it's not 100% original signal. Disadvantage: Some build-in work with ASPI card and the DAT streamer and you need Windows under 2000 to be compatible with my software I'll also send you.
Hmmm, that's interesting. What brand and model is this?

I just did some research and apparently some DDS tape drives can have their firmware flashed to support DATs (I guess this is what you're using as well).
Among them is the Sony SDT-9000, which seems quite common, so I'm going to start looking for one of those.
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Post by SimSaw »

Exactly. I got a streamer from Seagate with firmware. Before it could only store from DDS-2 tapes. I hope you can afford to buy one. If not there's still my solution. But I'd prefer if you sent me copies that were copied in a double decker.
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joostp
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Post by joostp »

SimSaw wrote:But I'd prefer if you sent me copies that were copied in a double decker.
How would I make a copy without a DAT drive?
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Post by sev »

joostp wrote:How would I make a copy without a DAT drive?
Simsaw :lol: :lol: :lol: :roll:


Eugene
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Post by SimSaw »

Hey, no reason to laugh! I thought joostp should go to his friend to make copies of the DATs, that's all.
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