Alright, considering that they started to appear more and more,
can somebody please explain to me what does custom soundtrack entails?

They are not rips, nor OSTs (they wouldn't be "custom" if they were) so what are they?

Lol, well basically the "custom" means someone created it themselves. Like you said most of the time soundtracks are ripped or get official releases. These soundtracks are custom-made by individuals.

Yes, I can understand that...
Maybe I should've phrased it better:

Are they created from scratch, or do they use some parts of the original music?
How much (how many songs) of the original music do custom soundtracks cover?

And most importantly:
How faithful are the custom soundtracks to their respective games' music?

Are they created from scratch, or do they use some parts of the original music?

Well I certainly cant speak for everyone that creates them, but all mine use audio files directly from the games such as a rip (and in general most custom soundtracks do.) To answer you question, yes, the music comes from the game itself.

How much (how many songs) of the original music do custom soundtracks cover?

Well even some of the best original soundtracks that are released commercially don't contain all the music within the game, so this is a misleading question. But generally your looking at anywhere from 14-25 tracks for custom soundtracks. At least thats how much mine average. Could be more could be less, and most of the music covers the majority of the game.


How faithful are the custom soundtracks to their respective games' music?

I would say they are very faithful, however, this all depends on what type of music is within the rip. Sometimes as many know, rips can be very repetitive, often containing the same tracks two or three times. Now you can make a decent soundtrack out of that with the proper mixing, but again, it all depends on the rip.

Also I should note CrazyFox that most custom soundtracks are made because of the fact that the respective game has gotten no official release. Me personally I would much rather listen to a "custom" soundtrack, or something that resembles and official release then listen to 150 tracks. Custom soundtracks are meant to take rips to games and create a more enjoyable listening experience. Hope this answers your queries.

Thanks a lot for the explanation.

I've noticed that you upload a lot of those, may I ask you to upload the rips if you have them?
I prefer them to OSTs or the custom soundtracks (no offense).

None taken, I know people have different preferences when it comes to rips and soundtracks, etc. Actually the majority of the "custom" scores I've uploaded have come from the rips that are already on this site, other soundtracks I've gotten the music of youtube. . .