| Title | Brandish 3: Spirit of Balcan |
|---|---|
| Composer | Falcom Sound Team jdk, Mieko Ishikawa, Atsushi Shirakawa, Naoki Kaneda, Takahiro Tsunashima, Masaru Nakajima, Satoshi Arai |
| System | NEC PC-9801 |
| OS | DOS |
| Sound Chips | OPNA (YM2608) |
| Tracks | 56 |
| Playing time | 2:50:19 |
| Pack author | SOUNDSHOCK |
| Pack version | 1.01 |
| Last Update | 2022-05-02 |
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Computers/NEC/Brandish_3_-_Spirit_of_Balcan_(NEC_PC-9801).zipPack author's comment
I did some special vgm processing on this for higher quality output with emulators, there's two different methods used, both using a custom VGM parser but still being basically done by hand using the split channels from vgmplay in audacity for reference
1. TL mod - removes redundant volume writes. Finds a TL value, then if the previous TL value was louder, within a specified time threshold (most fell within 4-6 samples for this), and within a specified volume threshold, removes previous volume
I've done this a lot and it's a very quick & safe method of cleaning up pops with FM logs. Most drivers will write the full patch as written in the header of the MML or whatever, before quickly adjusting the volume which often leaves 100% volume carriers for a split second
2. TL Jamming - with FM percussion, sometimes it's not just redundant TL writes that cause pops but sudden changes in algorithm and TL. To that end, this method involves finding a keyon, and then jamming the preceding TL and Algorithm writes against that keyon if they fall within a certain time tolerance (15 samples was good enough)
This is much less safe than TL mod and was only applied selectively to drum parts. The biggest downside is that it can stack up to an additional 5 register writes between waits, which I'm concerned might cause problems with hardware. It's also easy to break parts of songs if the time threshold is too long
TL jamming for FM percussion was done on these tracks:
02 LEGEND OF THE LONE WOLVES - FM2 percussion, where present
11 BOILING METAL - FM2 percussion, full track
17 GET INTO DANGER - FM1 all percussion, FM3 / FM4 / FM5 percussion where present
25 LOOK AT MY BODY!! - FM2 percussion, full track
42 MAISOUN FM2 all percussion, full track
43 BURNING DARKESS - FM2 percussion, full track
45 PARANOIA - FM1 percussion, full track
55 MEMORY OF FIGHT - FM1 percussion, full track
I included the files before they were processed. 48 APEIRON-EXOSKELETON- is the most egregious with the constant popping
if this is alright I'll process my previous packs (Brandish 2 and Revival Xanadu) the same way
Logged with Neko Project 21 ver.0.83. Special thanks to the Brandish 2 Renewal Translation project for the in-depth knowledge on the data structure of these Falcom games