Game:

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (1993)

Duration: 2:04

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This is "Whirlwind", a song from the Sega Genesis game Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master. I tried my best to find the original samples for the drum used on its songs, and I have been able to convince myself that the drums are recorded from a Roland R-8 drum sampler. This game has really low quality drum samples, and it has been my dream to recreate the drums in this game using the original sound quality of the drum sampler.

FLAC: https://mega.nz/file/ER03FTIa#Z8L1moF37XVfvDTWvuf-oXS9b3MPpnBuwqWjc6ZpZJ4

EDIT: A kind person named "severe brain damage" told me that the R-8 allows tuning the drums. I did not know that. So technically, I could have resampled the R-8 to align the tuning with the game's playback samplerate. However, further experiments show that the difference is extremely insignificant (around 55/128 of a semitone) that even if I tuned the samples correctly, the difference is barely audible. I was thinking of fixing the pitch and making a new upload, but I think it's not worth the effort for me, so I apologize. I WILL correctly tune my future R-8 uploads, though :D

ORIGINAL TEXT: The drum samples as played by the Sega Genesis are slightly off in its sampling frequency compared to how a Roland R-8 plays them. I could have resampled the R-8 drums to match the Sega Genesis, but I decided not to in order to preserve the original sound of the R-8.

In the Genesis, the drums are played by the YM2612's DAC channel, but the cymbals and hi-hats are actually played by the SN76489's noise channel. I could have retained the SN76489 channels and included it in the mix as is, but to actually feel the R-8, I decided to replace them with R-8 cymbals and hi-hats, too. I also took some liberty to use as much channels as I need to prevent early cutting of channels, and since the game seems to avoid playing hi-hats while the cymbals are playing to avoid cutting the cymbal, I also completely ignored it and played the hi-hats whenever possible (while also thinking of human limitations--I play the drums, too!)

While I was originally against adding effects in my previous Streets of Rage covers (I thought that I should preserve the sound of the original drum samplers), I realized that using a simple and non-obvious compressor effect to the drums in this track really makes a huge difference, like it was night and day. I decided to keep it on.

* I do not own a Roland R-8. The song uses Roland R-8 samples.

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