Sorry to bump this thread, but has anyone heard the remastered tracks for the re-release? It's not just a reprint, but a complete remastering apparently.

Huh what??? Where did you see this?

If that's the case, I need to buy this right away. That is, after hearing some samples to see if it's good.

Yup. According to my friend Harry, who works on my site and CocoeBiz, it's been completely remastered by a certain Kenzi Nagashima. I'm seriously considering buying the soundtrack myself, but given Valkyrie Profile's remastering wasn't all that impressive, I'm a little hesistant before I see reviews.

The remastered version was released by Square Enix under the catalog number SQEX-10068/9 on March 24, 2006. That was the same day as FFTA and FFT were re-released, though I'm pretty certain they weren't remastered.

Interesting...
I planned to buy it one day because I wanted to own the real OST again (I have only CDRs right now).

I split this from the parent thread due to lack of actual music discussion. If the remastered OST is different enough from the DigiCube version, it can have its own thread created in the Album Comments forum. Otherwise, music discussion can go back into the parent thread.

Anyway, if nobody has this, I'd be willing to buy and rip it FOR SCIENCE. And since I never got around to buying the DigiCube version.

Well, I might buy it, just looking for MP3s to see if I'll like the music first...

Curiosity piqued, but as everyone else has noted, I'd like to hear some samples first. It's surprisingly easy to ruin otherwise good music in the conversion, especially when it's not the original composer doing the remastering.

I've got the re-print and so far I haven't noticed any major sound quality differences between the Digicube version and the re-print, but maybe if I'll compare them both directly (I have the Digicube version in lossless) it'll be more obvious.

Is this it?. The original one is out of print, and this one has a release date of March 24th 2006, so I'd assume it is. Nothing looks very out of the ordinary about it, except that Sakimoto's two remixes from the original release have been removed from the track listing.

The two remixes were done by the two of the three sound engineers (Takeharu Ishimoto (2-30), Hirosato Noda (2-31)

Hidenori Iwasaki Sound Engineered the Opening Movie Music

Thanks for splitting the thread, Kaleb.

Here are some samples:

http://videoff7.free.fr/SSCX_111_Sanctum.mp3 (original version)
http://videoff7.free.fr/SQEX_111_Sanctum.mp3 (remastered version)

Ahhh, very nice. So, it's exactly as the definition of remastered is :) The tone on the remastered version is much warmer, and you can hear the lead line a lot more clearly.

I want to hear what the remastered Wyvern and Tieger and Neesa sound like.

No problem, and thanks for the samples. :)

Anyway, about the remastered version, while it does have a more refined quality, the vocals seem to have taken on a warbling effect as a result. That side-effect has negated the appeal of the remastering for me.

I'd have to hear how other tracks fare.

I've uploaded the OST to sendspace for anyone wishing to listen to it (LAME 3.97a -V 2 --vbr-new).

Disc 1
Disc 2

Thanks! I hear it's good, but wanted to hear the music first. Rented the game at one point, but it wasn't the correct game when I got it home. As a result, I have never played the game or have listened to the music...

If it's good, I'll buy a copy! ;)

Thanks for the upload, Iassic. Just last night I was thinking I should listen to this soundtrack again sometime (last time I tried it was a few years ago, and I hated it, but I've now become so fond of the FF XII OST, I'm thinking I should give the VS OST another chance).

Eh... some of the songs sound better, but a great many of them sound stiff and artificial. There's no reverb and it seems like an attempt was made to make it easier to hear each individual instrument. But to me, this was to the the detriment of the whole. It just doesn't sound natural. It sounds like in-game MIDI.

And what's with the abrupt transition in Truth? It's buttery smooth in the original.

Great; I'm going to download this beauty right now =)

Wow, this is definately a different approach to things. I love some of the subtle intricacies exposed by lifting the reverb a bit and EQing things differently. It's true that some things sound a bit more artificial ... <compnerd> However, you can tell what's going on a lot better in some sections and makes for a more succesful attempt at decyphering what's going on compositionsally ;) </compnerd>

The main thing detrimental that I noticed is that the opening has far too much high end, sounds like it's coming off a cheap TV rather than a professional mix. But I don't usually listen to that track anyways.

Thanks for the upload lassic :)

I never had any trouble deciphering any of the compositions. And the sounds of some of my favorite songs were completely changed. Take Rosencrantz for example. It's almost a completely different song!

Overall, I like the original mix more.

Ugh, always get this message: "no slot available!"

While I'll disagree that it sounds like a different song, I will agree that I like the original mix more on the majority of tracks, if only for the atmosphere/'verb.

Well, that was a little bit of hyperbole on my part, but you know what I mean.

I think I just pinned down what bothers me about it. The original had a distinct echo and faded effect, making the final product sound almost like the music had been put through a concert hall sound filter. This new one, while it does make the samples more sharp & distinct, and turns up the treble quite a bit, seems to have lost some of the overall presentation of the original. It seems less...theatric as a result.

In that way, I feel it's like the Valkyrie Profile re-release. It looks like they'll be giving the same kind of treatment to all of their re-releases.

Yes. In the original, many of the songs sounded like they really could have been played by an orchestra, especially tracks like Wyvern and Ifrit, but now, they just sound empty and lifeless, and it's much more obvious that the music is made up of sampled instruments.

Edit: I just loaded one of the songs (Wyvern) into Cool Edit and it has quite a few clipped sections. (Or sections that are close to clipping). That is bad mastering, folks! I guess they really tried to maximize the loudness of this one. The original Wyvern doesn't have any clipped sections. Some of them come very close, but the shape of the waveform is still preserved.

Edit 2: On further inspection, there isn't any actual clipping in this song, but the overall loudness is greater than the original, and quite a few sections push it right to the limit. (As far as you can possibly go without getting a flat peak.).

Oh wow, the difference in Wyvern is even more offensive than in Rosencrantz. Sure you have to turn it up a bit more to get the full effect, but it's definately a lot more atmospheric and conductive to the samples being used. If it were a live orchestral sound, I'd say tone it down, but given the nature of the medium I definately appreciate the large space it's presented in.

The next track, LeaMonde Town Center, has a ton of audible defects in the sound, and the bass isn't nearly as punchy when it comes in. The piano also benefits from the long reverb trails, giving it that otherworldly feel I loved about it.

(On a side note I find this all a bit ironic, since the most prevailant comment on my senior recital's recorded pieces was "you use too much reverb" when this is clearly a case of when a large 'verby sound aids the sound rather than hinders it)

Holy crap, this remastering is absolutely terrible!!!
Basically they ditched all the reverb and now all the synthesized instruments sound completely flat. Yikess and I was going to buy this... Damn! :(

EDIT: OMG at Wyvern! :lol: What's this??

Haw! There is clipping in that one, I saw my peak indicator light up. I wouldn't be surprised if there are many more in other songs. It isn't as bad as some pop music I've seen, but still, it's bad form to have done it at all, in my opinion. (Edit: Oh no they didn't. Truth is completely manlged! And the best part of the song too. The rest of the song doesn't sound too good either. The ethereal quality is completely lost.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...amek/Clipp.gif

The original has two clipped samples in the whole song. For the remastered version, the clipping indicator was lighting up like a christmas tree.

For those of you who haven't downloaded the new album yet, just listen to this "After and Before" clip. Terrible, ne?

I wonder if that includes the VP Arranged Album that was just reissued? ;)

I'm surprised at how utterly *bad* the synth sounds in the remastered version. I'm not saying it sounded great in the original but the reverb did a good job of masking it.

I can't say it sounds bad to my ears, but would defintely buy the original version over the remastered if it was available. That said, it isn't, so... :D

This whole situation stinks. I wish I could get back the 30 bucks I spent ordering the reprint. The worse part is that I don't have the original to fall back on. I was never able to acquire a copy before it went out of print. I've tried a few times to get it secondhand and have failed. At this point I'll give anything for one. The Wyvern link isn't working for me, but if it's as butchered as everyone says, then maybe I'll have to take a hammer to my SQEX copy when it gets here... Urgh. I hate anticipating the arrival of something bad.

I'm just dissapointed
This does the Original no justice :(

Yup...another disappointed guy here!
Like I said earlier, I bought the reprint and I've just compared it to the original Digicube print and the sound sounds much more "muffled" to me then the "clear quality" Digicube version.

Thank god...I at least have the Digicube one in lossless quality!
(in case I'll never be able to find it for a reasonable price)

I have just listened through the mp3s of my original digicube version.
Vagrant Story was the first VGM CD I bought - and this reprint is, well not aweful, but it lacks the flair if the original. I was okay with Valkyrie Profile's reprint, and I could tell there was a slight difference in the sound, and it was okay. I just hope that other reprints aren't the same

I wonder what the final fantasy tactics reprint is like?

Btw, thanks lassic for uploading it :)

I'm downloading this anyway ~

The Vagrant Story OST is the ONLY VGM ost I've ever paid for, and I'm glad I own something so awesome.

Call me tin-eared, but I simply can't hear much of a difference between the remastered and original tracks. It might just be my crappy speakers, or perhaps you have to be a genuine audiophile to percieve it.

In any case, the pirated copy of VS that I have will do for now :)

Tin-eared? Deaf is more like it! ;) Although perhaps it could be your crappy speakers. The newer tracks have significantly less reverb and different loudness levels than the old ones, and the instruments have been equalized differently. Using my Shure IEMs, or even my Grados, I can hear the difference easily, and I'm certainly no audiophile. Hell, I don't even own an amplifier. ;)

Oh goodness... This is horrible. So harsh and unrefined. I'm phenomenally glad I didn't buy the re-release to hear this remastered crap.

Well, I guess that answers my question very well. Thanks for the feedback and MP3s. Ehrm... Carry on, I guess. :)

I can hear the difference just in the Sanctum before and after tracks posted there, and I'm not sure I like the difference either.

Sendspace is not giving me any open slots, but from what you guys are saying, I think I'll quit trying. They obviously cut a lot of corners resampling this. This is why my enthusiasm was so checked, considering it wasn't Sakimoto rearranging this.

Sanctum: what's with those echo's in the remastered version??? They sound too long.

It's just a reprint. There is no re-mastering engineer listed in the insert credits, though coincidentally Kenzi Nagashima was responsible for the recording and mixing of the first 6 and last 2 tracks of the soundtrack.

Well, if you consider that I'm using notebook computer speakers with no headphones, it all falls into place.

I burned a few of the tracks that people were complaining about to a CD and popped in the stereo, and the difference was a lot more apparent then. Definitely for the worse, too; the reverb was the score's saving grace.