Tim Follin - Time Trax, Title Music (Mega Drive/Genesis)

[Oerg866]

I really want to have that synth bass instrument data...

[OceanLoader]

Many thanks to Kenz (OMAHM) for making me aware of this track. Tim Follin was no lover of game music, but he was supremely talented. This is absolutely the best track I've ever heard from the Genesis / Megadrive. Yes, better than Thunderforce 4 (just about), Streets of Rage, Dynamite Headdy etc

[CoolDudeClem]

I've been a fan of Tim Follin's music for quite some time, but never heard any of his works on the Megadrive/Genesis up untill now, and I must say this just totally blew me away!

[NoMac90]

The OPN and some music designed for it. The good ol' YM2612 received much hate, mostly because of untalented musicians or when music is being "ported" from e.g. SNES to the Genesis. But with such brilliant composers, that amazing FM chip (+ DAC) can produce such awesome sounds!

[Ultramainterzab]

@NoMac90 Yeah, all the masterminds of western gaming where on PC, Amiga, etc. But This, Comix Zone, Earthworm jim, Robocop vs The Terminator and other games prove that Sega was capable of much more.

[pwhiteOO]

I wish this was the soundtrack to more games. wow.

[snipersas]

This is fucking amazing.

[NinjaReviewer]

This was freakin awesome!

[iloveesr]

OMG I never heard music like on the Megadrive before. Such talent.

[PrivateMetalhead]

When I heard the SNES version, I screamed in agony.

[DerZocker]

Damn, those guitar is fuckawesome! Never thought i would hear something that beats TF IV's FM-riffs :D

[saturndual32]

Judging from his amazing work on this track, i wish Tim Follin had gotten to work on the soundtrack of the Megadrives version of Rock and Roll Racing, like he did on the SNES one. I am sure the music would have turned out way better than what we actually got on the Gennys port.

[therangersrule68]

Even though this is recorded from an inferior Mega Drive model 2 it still sounds awesome. I can't imagine what it would sound like from a model 1.

[datajari]

this here is the proof that megadrive could produce great sound

[2Trololo]

@datajari but only in static context, becouse whole mc68000 power is on the wave generation.

[CarlosAyalaCalvo]

De puta madre!

Esto deja al chip de sonido de Snes como una mierda.

[y2k4ever1]

Wow, this should have been released, even if the game was terrible!

[thelivdiv1]

Nearly as good as Yuzo Koshiro!!!

[tatsujincorp]

@thelivdiv1

Lol, he surpassed Yuzo by miles!!

[jacksprat1990]

@tatsujincorp He didn't make the Streets of Rage soundtracks so that automatically makes Yuzo better.

[SuperEnigmation]

@jacksprat1990 Did Yuzo Koshiro make beastin' music on anything other than the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive? :/

[jacksprat1990]

@SuperEnigmation Streets of Rage = Automatic victory.

[SuperEnigmation]

@jacksprat1990 Have you forgotten about Thunder Force IV? Yuzo Koshiro didn't work on that, but that's one of the few that can be worthy to stand up to the SOR soundtrack.

[jacksprat1990]

@SuperEnigmation Haven't forgotten but for me, Streets of Rage has the greatest music on any game ever made.

[SuperEnigmation]

@jacksprat1990 Streets of Rage > every other video game? Are you okay? You sure you're not affected by any harmful substances? Lol. But Streets of Rage is one genre. What about the others?

[jacksprat1990]

@SuperEnigmation I mean music wise. Streets of Rage music wise is better than anything else.

[SuperEnigmation]

@jacksprat1990 Now that's just nonsense xD there are some that match up to SoR, but VERY few in number.

[Pfargtl9001]

@SuperEnigmation He did Super Adventure Island on the SNES. Listen to that sometime.

[LarryBundyJr]

@Pfargtl9001 Yuzo Koshiro did Super Adventure Island?

[ChaosAura15]

@SuperEnigmation One word.

ACTRAISER.

[tubeMonger]

Amazing!

[dmaystre]

Love Tim's sound since ZX-Spectrum "Chronos"

[hewey999]

yet another Follin masterpiece :-)

[soundfx68]

Tim is simply awesome. When I was working on Starsky and Hutch I got in touch with him to do the music after hearing his work on Spiderman on NES, and also being a big fan from C64 / Amiga. The rest is history.

[kalebparham]

@soundfx68 Wait, do you really make video games?

[DaVince21]

Wow. I almost can't believe this is the Megadrive...

[tatsujincorp]

Damn rad tune, Tim at its best!

[MidnightMidna]

That has to be the most realistic guitar synth on a Genesis I've ever heard.

[D000242]

Hey guys, remember when videogame music was much more than some forgettable orchestral background?

[Gamewitzer]

This is what the Mega Drive can do if you have the right software for it. If I remember correctly Tim Follin wrote it from scratch and it was never used in another game. A shame, really.

[Minority119]

for some reason, listening to this song with my eyes closed makes me think of a System Shock cartoon intro

[fabienporay]

Anyone else see a dog with sunglasses in that globe?

[ColtonBrook]

@fabienporay How high are you?

[dumbasspauldentonkin]

@fabienporay Oh god, can't unsee

[pkmnmaster]

@fabienporay I see Rapidash.

[illuminatioracle]

@fabienporay yeah. this game is about going back to the 80s and bringing spuds mckenzie into the 90s.

[illuminatioracle]

fuck this is like streets of rage calibur music

[SNESosT]

Tim I don't who the fuck you are but dam (sniff).....you can sure as hell make some tunes.

[GrandDizzy]

Tim, we love you!

[null1023]

This track is jawdropping amazing.

Notably because it does decent FM guitars, unlike every other Genesis song EVER.

[Desmaad]

Would you mind submitting a rip to Project 2612?

[varoennauraa]

WTF!!!???!!! I just two minutes ago stumbled across Tim Follin and immdiately became a huge fan. What is this!!?!? Not only is he great composer, but he also totally rocks Mega Drive!!! Are you sure he uses Yamaha YM2612? Awesome!

[worId]

@varoennauraa If you like his mega drive stuff check out his NES stuff...

[varoennauraa]

@worId

I'm checking them already :) Along with c64 and Amiga. Also I didn't know, that he also made some of my favorite Snes tunes too!!! Crazy stuff!!!

[tatsujincorp]

@varoennauraa

LOL, about the best post in yuotube ever :D

[Garloz]

I'm surprised to learn that time trax was not released. I read a review of it in Gamepro back in the day. This Time Trax game is based on a TV show right?

Awesome music.

[TehPogo]

@Garloz There was a version released for the SNES. The music's nowhere as good as the Megadrive version though.

[PopMusicKiller]

Is this Sega CD, or is it the actual FM? I'm impressed either way.

[fitzwarine09]

This music should have been in one of the Phantasy Star titles.

[illDiology]

Are you sure this is coming from a 2612 chip? I don't think you can do the filter effects heard here on such a chip.

[porcorosso81]

@illDiology

FM synthesis is additive synthesis, which means increasing the total level of an operator increases the modulation and adds harmonics to the final waveform. If you do the opposite, decreasing the total level of an operator you remove dynamics, which can be used to simulate a filter. This is one of the very few FM tunes which do this.

And yes, this is coming from the YM2612.

[BringBackMy90s]

nice music,

but its not the usual time trax theme from the series i see

[SSJDevin]

Has Follin ever done any other Genesis games?

[TronDevlin]

@SSJDevin

He did Spiderman/Xmen Arcades revenge, Thats the only one I know of. But the SNES music sounds closer to this.

[MysticArksRevenge]

@SSJDevin Well, most of Geoff and Tim Follin's work is re-arranged for the Sega Genesis using the Sound Images sound driver.

[inphanta]

A cracking tune as always. I too always wondered what Follin would sound like on the Mega Drive. Now I know! :)

[Jreddd]

Wow, I had always wondered what Tim Follin would sound like on a Genesis/Mega Drive. Now I know. and he exceeds my expectations yet again. He's amazing.

[porcorosso81]

This is a f*cking awesome tune! Tim could handle EVERY sound chip known in existance, from the miserable Spectrum beeper to the Commodore 64 SID, NES APU, SNES SPC700 and the YM2612 of the Genesis.

This tune does something quite rare: it emulates analogue filters by dynamically de- and increasing the total level of the voice operators of a particular instrument.

[TheSickness055]

@porcorosso81 wat.

[porcorosso81]

@TheSickness055

Google "FM Synthesis" if you haven't got a clue what I said. You might also Google for a Windows Tool called "TFM Music Maker" which allows you to create FM instruments and compose FM tunes which are 100% compatible with the Mega Drive sound chip.

Or, if you have some more money, purchase a Yamaha DX9,DX21,DX27 or DX100 synthesizer, which use the very same FM synthesis used in the Mega Drive/Genesis. Some MD/Genesis tunes even use the factory patches from these synths.

[ToastyW33N]

@porcorosso81

Hey fuck you, the Spectrum beeper isn't miserable.

[porcorosso81]

@ToastyW33N

I shall fuck myself for calling the most primitive way of generating sound miserable? Well, it's probably better than having your head squashed between two bricks, Mr. Gumby.

[kinkinkijkinalt]

@porcorosso81 NES APU? No, NES was 2A03 and a couple addable expansion chips which went right on the game carts, which included VRC6, VRC7 and the almighty N106, known for it's limitations being screwed off by everyone.

[porcorosso81]

@kinkinkijkinalt

You can call it both 2A03 or APU. 2A03 is actually the whole chip, which also includes the 6502 CPU core and a DMA engine which transfers local data into the on-chip PPU sprite ram. Did I mention that I also used to code on the NES?

[kinkinkijkinalt]

@porcorosso81 Hey, I just read threads on the FT forums and learn from that. Any of my misinformations are just missing things on there.

[jennaven]

@porcorosso81 He never touched the FamiCom expansions? That makes me sad panda.

[52ofem]

@porcorosso81 that doesn't sound rare, i've heard that done on the batman and robin genesis soundtrack, and the vectorman soundtrack, and the pulseman soundtrack

[AisuSeijin]

If the game was never released, how'd you obtain the music? Is there a beta version somewhere, or did Time Follin release the track on a website or special CD of some sort?

I'd like to know more information about this, because this is some pretty awesome Genesis music! I also happen to like Time Trax, so it works out. =P

[AisuSeijin]

I meant to type Tim Follin, but was thinking "time" at the same time. My apologies.

[aryinc]

it's defnitly possible to create awesome genesis music.this is prove and so did some other composers deliver qualitty.but hey follin is among the best.

[codeman38]

Tim Follin had released the track for download on his web site at one point. The download link seems to no longer work, alas.