Realism in tracked music

"Realism" was the 1990s PC-scene word for modules that try to sound like a recording of real instruments or a commercial production — large, carefully sampled instruments instead of the few-kilobyte waveforms of a chiptune. In September–November 1996 traxweekly ran it as a debate (#70–#73, then Behemoth's reply in #76); the positions are still the practical map of what samples can and cannot do (sources: s-tw070-realism-debate, s-tw076-realism-in-mods).

The positions#

(sources: s-tw070-realism-debate, s-tw076-realism-in-mods)

The technical facts underneath#

• Sample rate is not the problem. Behemoth argued that a 22 kHz sample chops a continuous wave into pieces; brn corrected him: a 44.1 kHz sample's Nyquist frequency is 22,050 Hz, above what the ear can follow, so "the DIGITAL NATURE of samples does NOT make it lose any information" — the wiki follows brn. Rates in one line: 8 kHz telephone, 16–22 kHz radio, 22 kHz the typical module sample, 44.1 kHz CD, 48 kHz DAT; most 1996 S3Ms still used 8-bit 22 kHz samples (source: s-tw070-realism-debate). Recording quality is a chain question — see recording-samples (source: s-tw066-sound-recording).
• Memory and file size are. Variation in tone, attack, dynamics and vibrato needs many samples ("50 megs" for a Mozart violin concerto, per Human); sound cards of the day held 1–8 MB; Behemoth's modules were already ~2.5 MB (sources: s-tw070-realism-debate, s-tw076-realism-in-mods).
• What actually works is multisampling articulations, or sampling whole phrases and jumping between them — Necros's "The Grey Note" is "almost a huge wav file chopped up into ten pieces" (Psibelius), built from sax passages selected with sample offsets and an echo channel to hide the seams (sources: s-tw070-realism-debate, s-tw084-perfect-samples-the-piano). See multisampling and sample-offset.

In tracker terms#

• Realistic solo instruments: a multisample instrument with several samples per octave plus articulation samples (multisampling); phrase samples and Oxx (sample-offset); NNAs so releases overlap (new-note-actions); reverb tails as looped envelopes (instrument-envelopes); offline reverb and compression to place instruments in a room (reverb-and-compression).
• Realistic ensembles: the same, plus a file-size budget for the listener's hardware — the reason the scene's other aesthetic, chip-samples and the 20-minute-chip-compo, was thriving at the same time.
• Style first: a synth-based style with sampled synths is already "real" (Raphael, #71); an acoustic style with one static sample per instrument is the case everyone in the debate agreed sounds bad (source: s-tw070-realism-debate).

Before and after the debate#

• 1995, Necros: his synth-only tunes were called "video game music" by friends, and the quest for "real" sound ran into instruments that are "DAMN HARD" to sample convincingly — bowed strings, distorted electric guitars, accordions and harmonicas, trumpets, cornets and trombones; loops and riffs were his workaround (source: s-tw009-samples-lameness-preconceptions; see multisampling).
• 1995, the interviews. nemesis (March): "I try for professional sounding more than realistic … much more like MIDI rather than a module" (source: s-tw004-interview-nemesis). ryan-cramer (April): "I don't enjoy tracked music that tries to sound like recorded music, although it's always impressive"; he prefers "stuff you wouldn't generally hear on your CD player" (source: s-tw007-interview-ryan-cramer). perisoft (May) describes his Arbitrary as "a realistic song somewhat in a standard basehead style" (source: s-tw011-interview-perisoft). populus (June) likes "realistic sounding tunes" within his equipment's limits (source: s-tw016-interview-populus). jase (August): "I'm into realism now so I use some of Necros' stuff as inspiration" (source: s-tw022-interview-jase). mesonyx (September): welcome the technology, "BUT! If people are recording the original music into ONE big sample, that's bad. Coz that's not original" (source: s-tw028-faces-in-the-crowd-mesonyx). Guitars, October: smeghead — a decent guitar sound needs "1000k of pre-made guitar riffs"; master-of-darkness — guitars in modules are looped samples fit only for chords, "other than big-jim" (source: s-tw029-faces-in-the-crowd-smeghead). zalt (December): the presample wave started by "stargazer (I think) … in asm94 with walkaway" had become boring, "not so much technique"; realism is welcome "if it sounds real, and isn't presampled"; 1 MB modules are "like listening to a .wav"; sampled guitar chords are fine only as a minor ingredient, and "neato chordloops" over "awkward bass, drums and leads" are not (source: s-tw040-interview-zalt; see sample-looping).
• 1996, before the debate. The earliest flat anti-realism statement, Shawn (January): "This weird need to try to create 'real' music… they're forgetting about writing GOOD music"; do not copy Necros's acoustic guitar or the pan flute of "Ascent of the Cloud Eagle" (source: s-tw041-interview-shawnm). acidfrog: samples in trackers "will never be up to par with MIDI due to the lack of memory on the PC" (source: s-tw044-interview-acidfrog). injekted: "with good samples, you can make stuff that sounds like real vinyl"; subhuman: bad samples are scene techno's main problem (source: s-tw054-interview-injekted-and-subhuman). vegas (June): tracked music will come "damn close" to live music with "high quality samples, good reverb and panning effects in trackers, and talented trackers"; the tracked jazz of Necros and Spyder was already "pretty damn close" (source: s-tw062-interview-vegas). liam-the-lemming (August): "realism in tracked music is more predominant now than ever… which can only be a good thing"; a planned vocal tune would need a 1.5 MB party limit (source: s-tw066-interview-liam-the-lemming).
• 1997, Khyron: for ambient, "working with real gear is MUCH more suitable than tracking" — a 1 MB GUS against 18 MB of K2000 samples (source: s-tw111-interview-khyron).
• 1997, Zinc: panned mono samples "sound shallow and fake" next to true stereo pairs — the mono/stereo question is "one of the main reasons why tracked music still doesn't sound as real as studio work" (source: s-tw094-stereo-samples-in-impulse-tracker; the recipe is on stereo-panning). His studio rules add: blend a real instrument or two, sample short riffs "rather than track every note", and record room tone or vinyl crackle for ambience (source: s-tw096-studio-tracking-tips).

Contradictions recorded#

Behemoth's "continuous wave" argument (#71) versus brn's Nyquist argument (#72) — resolved in brn's favour above. Necros both demonstrates a realistic sax (#70) and calls realism "outside the scope of the format" (#73): possible, but not the point (source: s-tw070-realism-debate).

Related#

chiptune · chip-samples · multisampling · sample-offset · instrument-design · recording-samples · reverb-and-compression · sample-ripping · necros · traxweekly · the-grey-note · nemesis · shawnm · zalt

Sources#

s-tw070-realism-debate · s-tw076-realism-in-mods · s-tw084-perfect-samples-the-piano · s-tw066-sound-recording · s-tw009-samples-lameness-preconceptions · s-tw094-stereo-samples-in-impulse-tracker · s-tw096-studio-tracking-tips · s-tw004-interview-nemesis · s-tw007-interview-ryan-cramer · s-tw011-interview-perisoft · s-tw028-faces-in-the-crowd-mesonyx · s-tw022-interview-jase · s-tw016-interview-populus · s-tw029-faces-in-the-crowd-smeghead · s-tw040-interview-zalt · s-tw041-interview-shawnm · s-tw044-interview-acidfrog · s-tw054-interview-injekted-and-subhuman · s-tw062-interview-vegas · s-tw066-interview-liam-the-lemming · s-tw111-interview-khyron