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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [Arcade] midi extract

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

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  • psydub Offline
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [Arcade] midi extract

Post by psydub »

Hello, folks

I am wondering if it is possible to extract midi from the music from the original TMNT arcade [Konami, 1989]

any ideas?

I read some of the threads from the forum and there are so many different tools, i am feeling a bit
overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff going on. i read about vgm2mid , vgz2midi, etc but don't know
where to start?

I found couple of midis from the soundtrack on vgmusic.com, but its not all of them.

So i guess it is possible to do so, but have no idea where to start

some suggestions i saw pointed to extracting vgm from the rom file, and then extracting midi from the
generated vgm file?

is it possible to do it this way, and if so, how can this be done ?

Any help would be appreciated!
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  • Gnome Offline
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Post by Gnome »

If you want to log the vgm, I'm afraid you won't be able to capture the PCM data due to lack of K007232 support at the moment.
These days I mostly maintain old/faulty packs.
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Post by psydub »

Gnome wrote:If you want to log the vgm, I'm afraid you won't be able to capture the PCM data due to lack of K007232 support at the moment.
Thanks for your reply, Gnome!

Can you elaborate a bit on that, as if you're explaining to someone that doesn't have much of a clue what you're talking about?

Best regards !
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Post by Gnome »

OK, I'll try explaining to the best of my ability, someone else might add their part later.

VGM contains logged commands from a sound chip, hence the term "logging" as a synonym to "ripping". When you run an emulator (MAME, for example) and enable the logging option, it logs commands sent to a chip. Then, using a player (in my case it's VGMPlay), you can play your VGM file.

The TMNT arcade has 3 sound chips: OPM (YM2151), the FM synthesis chip, K007232, the PCM sample chip and a uPD chip which is used for the characters' voices (also a sample chip). The current revision of the VGM lacks support for the K007232 chip, meaning you won't be able to log the samples (they are usually reserved for stuff like percussion).

Another problem here is that vgm2mid likely does not support OPM. I haven't ever used the tool myself, so don't take my word for it.
These days I mostly maintain old/faulty packs.
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Post by psydub »

that is something , thanks for clarification!

So, is there any other way of doing it?
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  • ValleyBell Offline
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Post by ValleyBell »

vgm2mid supports the OPM / YM2151. It actually supports all FM chips but YMF271.

I guess your only chance of getting at least partial MIDIs of the songs is to log VGMs of the game using the "MAME VGM mod" and then using vgm2mid on those logs.
You will lose any sort of tempo information though.
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