Locomotion Theme

Locomotion Theme

Composer Matthias Steinwachs Released 1992-0?-?? Title Origin Game Location

The Locomotion Theme plays to many screens of Kingsoft's game Locomotion. The Amiga version of the game was programmed by its designer, André Wüthrich, so the music may have originated on the Amiga as well. Matthias Steinwachs should be contacted to verify this and to see if the song has an official title.

Composition

The music begins with a nice train track beat before the melody begins.

Games

Locomotion: Kingsoft (AMI)

Locomotion: Kingsoft (AMI)

Arranger Matthias Steinwachs Programmer Armin Sander Released 1992-0?-?? Length 4:18.23 BPM 0:00.00: 81 2:33.76: down 2:48.87: 52 and up 3:13.18: 81 Format OKT Loops Yes

Locomotion Theme plays right away. After you click Start in the game selection or Editor in the main menu, the screen fades out and then the music. It restarts as the respective screen fades in again.

Steinwachs commented circa 2020:

“

I probably scared off some model railroaders with the Brat guitar in the background and everyone else with the popcorn sound, but there you go—I had a pretty free hand there.

„

The filename is FX/Titletune.okt. The LED filter is off. To record one loop plus 10 seconds, the game was started in WinUAE 4.3.0 with Audio filter Emulated (A500).

Locomotion: Kingsoft (C64)

Locomotion: Kingsoft (C64)

Arranger Zsolt Szabó Programmer Andras Molnar Released 1992-0?-?? Length 4:58.78 BPM 167 Format SID Loops Yes

Once "KINGSOFT PRESENTS" has faded in, Locomotion Theme starts. It pauses upon disk access and when the board is seen, and resumes afterwards.

This is more of a remix than a conversion. The used software, Advanced Music Programmer V2.3, does not support tempo changes. However, Szabó made up by composing new transposes and half-time drums. He also composed suspenseful bridges, as if to convey the work of switching tracks to ensure one happy train run after another. There are no sound effects in the music.

The bass constantly switches between two low-pass filters which sound different on every SID chip. To record one loop plus 10 seconds, the game was started in VICE 3.2 with 6581 (ReSID) and a bias of 300, although how close it is to what Szabó arranged on is unconfirmed.

Locomotion: Kingsoft (AST)

Locomotion: Kingsoft (AST)

Arranger Gunnar Gaubatz Programmer Gunnar Gaubatz Released 1992-??-?? Length 4:11.52 BPM 0:00.00: 83 2:29.76: down 2:44.48: 54 and up 3:08.16: 83 Format SNDH Loops Yes

Locomotion Theme plays right away. Once the quiz (after the title picture) has faded out, the music suddenly stops for unknown reasons and the main menu fades in.

The conversion stays true to the Amiga composition. Only the guitar and hi-hats have been replaced by arpeggios between drums.

The filename is FX\LOCO.IMG. To record one loop plus 10 seconds, the game was started in Hatari v2.2.1.

Locomotion (DOS)

Locomotion (DOS)

Arranger Matthias Steinwachs Programmer Ad Lib, Tracy Harton Released 1992-??-?? Length 3:17.84 BPM 0:00.00: 45 and up 0:15.75: 83 2:23.74: down 2:34.57: 52 and up 2:58.36: 83 Format ROL Loops No

After "KINGSOFT PRESENTS A GAME BY PRESTIGE SOFTWAREENTWICKLUNG GmbH", the title picture fades in, then Locomotion Theme plays. Once it ends or you press a key, it's quiet and the picture fades out.

The arrangement changed a bit. The intro now speeds up, tempo changes are supported by chromatic scales, and new backing tracks and chords were composed. The train whistle, as well as a few repetitions near the end, are gone. Steinwachs arranged in AdLib Visual Composer (1.5 or newer) using a mouse. The used OPL2 instruments are Ad Lib's SYNSNR2, BDRUM1, TUBA1, MOOGSYNT, FUZGUIT2, and 14 custom ones.

The game uses AdLib Sound Driver and PlayROL. It accidentally cuts a few tracks, most audibly at 0:09, 0:36, 0:55 and 1:05. Fortunately, a gamer can fix this by entering:

sound b4a2e

before starting the game. To record the only loop, the game was started:

1. as is.
2. with the above fix on a real Pentium 60 MHz with a Sound Blaster 16 CT1740.
   

Links

• gamecheck.guru/musik-locomotion - Composer's review, comments and memories (in German).
• wothke.ch/playmod/?file=MODLAND/Oktalyzer/- unknown/locomotion.okta&tab=scope - Visualization of Amiga arrangement.
• deepsid.com/?file=/GAMES/G-L/Locomotion.sid&tab=visuals&sundry=osc - Visualization of C64 arrangement.