[Mr Lange]

Alright then I'll try to work with those. Thanks for the advice.

[ValleyBell]

I used the Sonic One Music Editor to create ymx-files.
It's voice preview feature is nice and comes with some instrument libs, but it has some bugs I had to learn about. (e.g. the button "Add to Bank" below the "Voices to Import"-list copies an empty instrument)

[Eduardo Knuckles]

HOLY CRAP!! What the hell is this tool?? I think I'm inside a illusion. This is FUCKING, FUCKING GREAT. Finally my times working with XM files are gone. This is absolutely perfect!

[Mr Lange]

Every time I use this tool, it seems to corrupt the rom. When loading via emulator, I get nothing but a red screen. (if I remember right, that's a problem with the checksum..?) I know my rom is clean. I even tried using just the example files, and it still does this.

[ValleyBell]

You can circumvent this if you make a save state at the Sega logo of a clean rom and load it with the modified rom.
For some reason, the AutoFix Checksums feature of Kega Fusion doesn't work for me with Fusion 3.63. The checksum fix of Gens/GS r7 works, so I recommend to use this emulator.

[Mr Lange]

I am using Gens Rerecording, but that makes sense. I didn't even consider a savestate. Thanks, I'll try that later.

[ICEknight]

I keep reading all those "now I can finally stop using the XM format". Is there anything about it that MIDIs do better?

I remember XMs being quite easy to make and edit with programs like ModPlug Tracker, and they can do a lot of things MIDIs can't. So what's the deal?

[nineko]

Is there anything about it that MIDIs do better?

No, it's just that there are a lot of MIDI fanboys around, even though the XM format is a much better choice when it comes to convert something to smps due to the whole lot of significant similarities between them (at least in my opinion). Back in the day it would have been easy for me to focus on a MIDI to smps converter since I know the MIDI specifications quite well, but in the end I decided to focus on XM conversion not because of a lack of skill on my side, but as a deliberate choice, which I don't regret.
The one thing in which MIDI files are similar to smps is how pitch bends are handled, since XM files handle pitch bends in a completely different way (ironically, the Cube sound driver handles pitch bends (and vibrato) in the exact same way, meaning that XM to Cube conversions would be almost flawless), but this is something we didn't know back then. The lack of volume control in my XM to smps converters instead *is* due to my lazyness, since I didn't feel like working out a formula to turn a 0..64 linear range into a 127..0 logarithmic range, something I later did for my MIDI to vgm converter, when I wrote a formula to turn a 0..127 linear range into that same 127..0 logarithmic range, although with TmEE's help.

All in all I am still skeptical about a MIDI to smps converter, but in an attempt to be positive I decided to help, as I said, by writing a powerful 2612 instrument editor for ValleyBell, which I sent him a few days ago.

[ICEknight]

Oh, I see... Have you guys considered joining forces to make a more general MD music app that combined both worlds? That would be badass.

[Herm the Germ]

I'unno, personally, I could never figure out the XM2/3/4SMPS well enough to produce anything that sound even remotely like the intended melody. This on the other hand seems to work quite flawlessly, just needs the ability to move data in the ROM so we don't overwrite everything else. :B
Still, awesome job thus far. Pacing through Green Hill Zone with "Showtime (Original Mix)" playing is quite a different, invigorating experience to me. : D

[Mr Lange]

I'm happy to report I got a song working. It sounds nice, granted I didn't polish it much. I don't know how much I could get it to do though, in terms of effects and whatnot. Any word on that? I can say that no matter how hard I tried and all the steps I took, xm2/3/4smps never worked for me at all. After replacing the right files and compiling the rom, the sound would permanently turn silent in the game whenever the song was supposed to start. At least with this tool I can have some fun with Sonic 1.

This post has been edited by Mr Lange: 03 June 2011 - 12:48 AM

[Tanks]

I was messing with it the other day. I couldn't get SOME to work with my edited Sonic 1 ROM so I just messed with some of the other ymx files lying around. I guess I'll have to wait for ninenko's instrument changer to be implemented.

[nineko]

I guess I'll have to wait for ninenko's instrument changer to be implemented.

Just to clarify, you shouldn't be expecting any release from me at this point, as I sent my source code to ValleyBell, who is improving it as we speak. I don't know if I should spoil this just yet, but 18 hours ago he replied to my email with a private beta of the improved editor, and everything was perfect aside for a couple of very minor things, so I wouldn't be surprised if the release will be soon, but don't take my word for it.

[ValleyBell]

I just updated the tool. It now includes the new instrument editor.
Link is on the first page (or here).

I haven't yet startet to change the layout of mid2smps, I just updated the tool to properly support the new gyb instrument files. (ymx files are still supported btw)

Notes to the instrument editor:
- SMPS doesn't support the SSG-EG, so leave it disabled until you want to play with it
- The "Transpose" field describes how much the instrument is transposed. (so if it plays an octave higher than it should, change the value to 12, not -12)
That may be the exact opposite of what you might expect.
- There's no real readme (yet), just a list with keys for the preview button.

Have fun!

[nineko]

Glad to see this released, I hope that now people can stop complaining about YMX files

A note about the new instrument format: I decided to call it "GYB" upon a suggestion by Sik, which stands for "Genesis YM2612 Bank". It can contain 255 "melodic" instruments, which have to be mapped to the 128 General Midi instruments, and 255 "drum" instruments, which have to be mapped to the [less than] 128 General Midi drums. The drum bank isn't used yet as far as I know, but it might be used in some future applications (e.g. for FM drums or something), just don't use it for now and focus on the melodic instruments. Note that this is another attempt to turn page and stop calling them "voices" when they should be called "instruments". Once you assign an FM instrument (e.g. "That piano from Sonic 3") to a GM instrument (e.g. "Bright Acoustic Piano"), that FM instrument will be used in the conversion every time that GM instrument is used in the MIDI (at least, this is the intended behaviour, I've yet to test the converter itself because I am on my laptop right now and I have no hacking tools whatsoever here, so I'll just guess that ValleyBell did it right ).

Another small note is that the editor will automatically "fix" any register bytes which are in a wrong range right now, by setting unused bits to 0 (e.g. there are some instruments which use a TL of $80 when it should really be $00 since the TL is a 7-bit number). This doesn't change the sound of the instruments in any way, it just make them more standard. This is to say that you shouldn't be surprised if you import an instrument and you see different bytes than the ones you've been used to.

I am a bit surprised that you decided to use the transposition value backwards, but as long as that's made clear I am ok with it. And I am glad to see that you gave mid2smps the icon I designed for you (the Sonic head over the MIDI logo)