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Hi Folks - NAMCO C532 Question !

Technical discussion about the VGM format, and all the software you need to handle VGM files.

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Hi Folks - NAMCO C532 Question !

Post by garthknight »

Hi So here I am trying to extract samples from my NAMCO System 12 ROM's - specifically the 'Wave' labelled ROM file but it seems when using Audacity and importing the RAW DATA it always ends up heavily distorted ?

I have successfully ripped from other MAME ROMS with no issues, and Its definitely the correct file as you can hear the actual samples however as I stated they clip like crazy and it seems it's 'within' the actual file.

I was hoping someone could chime in and offer a complete noob some help, I've tried almost every import setting i can think of but no luck yet

Basically I'm trying to extract the orchestral sample library that's used in the Game.

Thanks in advance !

Post by garthknight »

Settings are - unsigned 8 bit > little endian > 44100
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Post by ctr »

The sound format is a custom mulaw algorithm only used by the C352 chip. The VGMPlay source code has a function which generates the conversion tables used to convert mulaw data to PCM. Here is a quick and dirty program that converts the mulaw-encoded ROMs to 16-bit PCM (command line only).

Post by garthknight »

ctr wrote:The sound format is a custom mulawalgorithm only used by the C352 chip. The VGMPlay source code has a function which generates the conversion tables used to convert mulaw data to PCM. Here is a quick and dirty program that converts the mulaw-encoded ROMs to 16-bit PCM (command line only).

Thanks so much that makes sense - Now if i could only get that DOS app to run on WIN 8.1 ! arggh
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Post by drdevil »

The program is not a DOS program. Use Command Prompt to run the program.
I'm HarmoDevil. Formerly Dr Devil, but I still use the drdevil username here.

Check out my Soundcloud.

I might get back to VGM ripping someday.

Post by garthknight »

drdevil wrote:The program is not a DOS program. Use Command Prompt to run the program.
Ok, so using Command prompt I get ...
Mulaw.exe
usage & File & destination file ?


Scratching my head please help
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Post by ctr »

easy way: make sure the program and your sample roms (you can also use an uncompressed VGM file) is in the same directory, then shift-right click the explorer window and select "Open command window here". In there you run the program by entering the command:

Code: Select all

mulaw <name of sample rom> <name of output file>

Post by garthknight »

ctr wrote:easy way: make sure the program and your sample roms (you can also use an uncompressed VGM file) is in the same directory, then shift-right click the explorer window and select "Open command window here". In there you run the program by entering the command:

Code: Select all

mulaw <name of sample rom> <name of output file>
Hi ctr , listen thnaks for your help ...

However bearing in mind I'm an obvious newbie (Beyond newbie in fact!) I assume it should look exactly like this...

mulaw <soc1wav0.2> <soc1wacpcm>

Names are not important for the files just now but I am including the < > ?

because it stated 'could not open soc1wav0.2' which is the rom file that has the samples

Post by garthknight »

Ok so I managed to get mulaw.exe to output but the file is only 1kb ? I thought it would convert to a PCM Wav file ?

Post by garthknight »

All sorted now thanks to ctr !

I was wondering about the 'Verb' ROMS in the Namco Rom packs - Would this be Reverb settings ? or the Reverb itself I wonder,

I wonder if it would be possible to create an Impulse response file in wav from the Verb ROMS' ?
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Post by ctr »

The other sound roms contain the sound CPU program code and data (music sequences, etc).

Post by garthknight »

Hi , again much respect & thanks to ctr and Valley bell for their help on this.

A wee query now about CPS2 roms, I sometimes notice when I am writing a track using , for example Street-fighter Alpha 3 Samples (Drums/Guitar /Bass etc) They lack some top end from 10Khz and above , whereas when i listen to the VGM in Winamp using in_vgm the overall sound is much brighter (In a good way) and all that nice top end (treble/presence) is back.
Is there any reason for this or am I doing something terribly wrong ? or perhaps it's the nature of simply extracting samples directly from the ROMS?
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Post by musicalman »

Hi all,
Sorry to bump the thread, this is my first post here and not sure if that's encouraged or not. However I was looking for the utility mentioned here to extract c352 samples. The link is down. Can it be reuploaded? Thanks.
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Post by ctr »

Sorry for the delay, it is now reuploaded here, with source code.
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