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The mid2vgm topic

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

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Post by 1983parrothead »

Deflemask seems difficult in importing midi and vgm files.
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Post by pianino »

hi, cool converter, i like the 2612 versión of the midto vgm, but, i dont' understan the cannel 10 spesificasions, says dac, but, no samples yet, this emulator is just for the 2612 fm section, or tthe samples
My favorite sound chip?, YM-2413!
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Post by pianino »

hi, i'm absolutley impressed with your 4 midi convertion tools to make vgm music, i dont want to use a tracker, so as a pro musician that working with digital audio workstations and midi an real time song editing, this 4 tools is exactley that i looking for!.
dont led this Project dye!, keep updateing!.
i have some ideas or suggestions for future releaces.
First, sorry for my verry bad english but i guess that i try the best as i can.
Why not to compile all of your 4 tools in just one software, that can make the conversions in one plase, and no more separatley that shood called, mid2 vgm pro.
here is my ideas.
1: all the 3.5 conversions in one software.
2: multichip support to convert a midi file with 2 or more chips at once
Support for more sound chips based on the vgm 1.70 spesifications.
3: support for ai3-8910, n2a03, and more to come.
4: a pop up menú that the user can sellect in which soundchip want's to process the midi file, and a sellect all button tu make a conversión for only 1 chip.
5: a tiny channel editor that can configure the basic parameters of the midi sequence before exporting as vgm.
6: a preview button for auditioning the results in real time, before converting in to vgm, this led the user doing last minut changes.
7: convert the final results in to vgm, and mp3, you can use the lame encoder for this.
8: the pro versión must be a shareware or donasionwaer to continue of the development.
again, thank you for this programs to convert midi files in to vgm, now i can make chiptunes all the time!, thanks, gracias!
My favorite sound chip?, YM-2413!
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Post by ValleyBell »

Sorry for the late reponse.

midi2vgm 2612 can export DAC sounds. But it only exports the drum sounds that are defined in DAC.ini.
DAC.ini must be in the same folder as midi2vgm.exe. It allows you to set a .wav file* for every possible drum note.
* Those wave files must use no compression (raw PCM) and can be 8/16 bit.
I recommend to always comment out the .ini sections for sounds you don't need right now, because midi2vgm always dumps every sound from DAC.ini into the VGM. (even if they are not used)


About those mid2vgm tools in general: They are effectively dead since 2015. I didn't work on them for years now and I don't plan to do anything with them in the future.
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Post by pianino »

hi there, it's a petty that no longer make updates for this tolos.
but i have 2 questions.
n which line of the ini file can i put the unused samples?.
and, this question is about the mid to smps.
the ym2612 with dac Works well in the convertion, but no psg sounds in the channels 7 to 9.
and, if i make a smps file who acan i convert to vgm?.
My favorite sound chip?, YM-2413!
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Post by ValleyBell »

You don't put unused samples "at a line". Each sample gets a section in the .ini file and you just comment out what you don't need. (Commenting out the "File =" line should be enough to make midi2vgm 2612 skip it.)
How it works should be pretty obvious if you open DAC.ini with notepad.

About mid2smps: MIDI channels 1..6 = FM 1..6, MIDI channels 11..13 = PSG 1..3.
I usually convert them to VGM using SMPSPlay and I posted that in the mid2smps topics as "preview package".
EDIT: Alternatively you just use a disassembly of Sonic 1 (MegaDrive), put your track into the ROM and log that to VGM using an emulator.
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Post by pianino »

thakn you bally, im verry apreciate your commment
My favorite sound chip?, YM-2413!
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Post by pianino »

hi, another estion, is there any way to change samplse dac in midi smps, or not?
My favorite sound chip?, YM-2413!
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Post by pianino »

here is more clare question.
is there a way to change simple data for the mid to smps converter or not?, i found a dac.ini file in it, but referes to bin files and no wav files
My favorite sound chip?, YM-2413!
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Post by ValleyBell »

mid2smps focuses on getting songs into Sonic hacks. Those don't work with WAV files, so SMPSPlay doesn't read them either.
Instead, samples are stored as raw uncompressed 8-bit data, mono. (or in a custom compressed format) That's why they have the .bin extension.

Inserting samples is a 3-step process:
1. save the .wav as raw 8-bit mono data (Sample rate is limited by the parameters defining the speed of the MegaDrive sound code. You shouldn't go higher than 24 KHz.)

2a. [using SMPSPlay] Put your sound at a slot (IDs are usually 81-DF, hexadecimal) by defining (or modifying) the sections of DAC.ini.
Compr = PCM, File = path-of-the-file, Rate = speed-of-sample (smaller value = faster, 1 = fastest)
2b. [using ROM] Install a custom DAC driver in the Sonic hack (MegaPCM is well-documented, there are tutorials on Sonic Retro and SSRG) and install your sample there. Same rules for the pitch apply, i.e. smaller value = faster
General note: You can use the same file for multiple IDs and adjust "rate"/"pitch" for make different frequencies.

3. In mid2smps, use the Mappings Editor in order to assign a MIDI drum note to the sample you just added to DAC.ini/the ROM. You might need to add it to the DAC sound list first.

Post by nitrofurano »

i'm trying to run mid2vgm from wine, i really have no idea how that works...
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Post by pianino »

wine is a ms dos port or a wndows emulator for mac?

VB edit: removed fullquote. There is a "post reply" button, you know.
My favorite sound chip?, YM-2413!
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Post by ValleyBell »

Wine is some sort of emulator* that allows you to run Windows programs on Unix systems. (like Linux and Mac OS X)

* If we're being correct, it's not an emulator. (Wine = "Wine Is Not an Emulator") It just remaps Windows functions to their Unix equivalent. It's a lot faster than actual emulation.


nitrofurano: The mid2vgm tools are all using an actual GUI. You apparently tried to pass the MIDI file name via the commandline, but they are not commandline tools. You're supposed to use the "File" menu to load and save, just like in every usual GUI program.
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Post by LuNiney »

So I'm trying to make Sonic-esque music with the mid2vgm tools, by using both the 2612 and PSG versions (SMPS is too complicated for me)
then merging them with vgmmerge.exe
and the results are pretty good despite the outdated tools, there is just one problem -
The SN76489 is just very slightly slower than the YM2612.
For the most part for short songs there is barely any difference and you can loop it without any problems, but if it's a long song, then eventually it will desync.
I assume it has to do with the clock parameter in the PSG tool, which the default is 3579545 (SMS)
what would be a value that would match the Genesis? (or at least, the same clock as the 2612 version of mid2vgm)

Here's one of the songs (before I trimmed it, which works well enough)
https://u.teknik.io/vXljc.vgm
It loops twice (so I can properly trim it afterwards)
and as you can hear the PSG channels desync after the first loop.
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Post by Tom »

Yeah, it's a known issue, but it's not related to the PSG clock or anything like that.

The tl;dr version is that I made the original version of mid2vgm 2612 (unlike the 2413 and the PSG ones, made by ValleyBell), and I used a different algorithm to calculate the time. The program has been later updated by other people (including ValleyBell himself), but the time algorithm is still the one I used. Sorry about that.

Read more.

Also this. Beware: DO NOT click the mdscene link in the post below the one I just linked, since mdscene links now redirect to bad things. They should probably be mass-replaced via SQL or something.
Also known as nineko.
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