Funhouse Classic Fairground Organ Edition!

Finally it is done! Here is my version of "Funhouse", which always needed (at least in my mind) a vintage musical accompaniment rooted in the grand old fairground organ tradition as opposed to the rather bland and doodling original music score  (albeit it boasts a catchy main theme!).

I've always loved those big and impressive fairground and carnival organs with all their pipes, bells, drums and whistles, and I could sit in front of them and listen for hours to the great songs of yesteryear, 19th and early 20th century melodies that will never lose their charm.

So I dug deep in my musical memory and came up with quite a number of old songs and melodies that most of you will probably know - and hopefully find suitable for the carnival / sideshow theme of "Funhouse".

I chose the best versions of said songs from my collection (most of them VERY old recordings!), carefully edited them, even digitally correcting the occasional wrong note.

Here are the melodies I used:

Multiball Restart: "Entrance of the Gladiators"

End Mode: "Give my Regards to Broadway"

Before Multiball: "The Ice Skater"

Midnight: "The Blue Danube"

Lock 11:45: "Battle Hymn of the Republic"

Main Theme: "Over the Waves"

Frenzy: "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"

Rudy Sleeping: "Meet me in St. Louis, Louie"

Quick Multiball: "San Francisco"

Before launching ball: "You're a Grand Old Flag"

Funhouse Theme: "It's a long way to Tipperary"

Left launch ball: "Take me out to the ball game"

11:45 Theme: "Music, Music, Music"

Jackpot Highscore Theme: "Dixie"

Superdog: "Ta Ra Ra Boom Dee Ay"

Regarding Rudy's lines and callouts, I decided to use speech AI to completely redo all of it so now Rudy sounds maybe a little more like a Pennywise impersonator… J For the sound effects, like the explosions and his yawns, I could use free high-def effects. What I couldn't reproduce was his frenzied laughing and also the cryptic "Zooooom!" callout - wherever that one ever appears in the game.

Some of his lines I left untouched, but for many I took the liberty of giving him new words, including a number of movie quotes which IMHO fit his sideshow character (I hope you like them and of course you'll find out where they're all from). 🙂

What really remains a mystery to me is one line Rudy says after a really good game with a very high score: "Way to go!" - which I cannot find in the list of audio tracks in the folder! Where is this line stored?!

As a Virtual (and real!) pinball fan for decades, I just wanted to try the altsound possibilities once, and I thought "Funhouse" would fit like a glove. What really gave me a little headache was to balance the volumes of the music versus Rudy's speech. I did the best I could, I wouldn't call it perfect but I want to offer it to you. Call it an experiment, if you will, here's my take on Rudy. I hope you'll enjoy it!