Retrowynn
Offline
Denver, Colorado

I'm searching for a VGM player I had a while back and can't locate it on the internet. It not only plays songs ripped from SEGA games, it has a GUI displaying each instrument's sound chip data in real time, identifying which instrument is playing during which section and on which channel by displaying the specific numerical values of each parameter. The GUI was black with large bright blue pixel font. I think the developer was asian, all the writing wasn't in english. Could someone please help me locate it? It's the only player I've ever found with such specific real time data.

Good news, it's the MDPlayer!     https://github.com/kuma4649/MDPlayer

Bad news, can't figure out how to make it work.

Last edited by Retrowynn (Sep 1, 2019 1:03 pm)

martin_demsky
Offline
Bratislava, Slovakia

https://github.com/kuma4649/MDPlayer/re … 01/bin.zip

Here is executable, i use sometimes rymcast player because i can mute every channel to hear what is going on, but this is better player smile

Retrowynn
Offline
Denver, Colorado

Thanks very much! I tried the executable, but it won't open because it says one of the dependencies is missing. Am I supposed to add it to another folder? I really appreciate the help, thankyou smile

EDIT Idk Maybe it just won't work on my computer for some reason. Anywho, thanks for mentioning rymcast. I downloaded it and found a workaround... rymcast > deflemask > vopm. lol it's alot of work, but I'm not copying the values, I'm just referencing them to match the vopm instruments to the sound of the instruments from the song. (because sometimes there's multiple similar instruments with slightly different values and it's difficult to tell the difference by ear). How can I post an image?

Last edited by Retrowynn (Sep 1, 2019 1:50 pm)

martin_demsky
Offline
Bratislava, Slovakia

Maybe you must install those Microsoft Visual C++ redist packages to Windows, or .NET frameworks, on my notebook it starts without problems, by the way app eat 40 % of CPU, huge!

You want to extract instruments from vgm/vgz file?
https://www.alyjameslab.com/download.html

Here is tool VGM to TFI, but someone also published large number of extracts with thousands of sounds, which can bo loaded into Deflemask for example.

For images you can use imgur.com as i did.

Last edited by martin_demsky (Sep 1, 2019 2:03 pm)

Retrowynn
Offline
Denver, Colorado

Yea maybe .NET or C++ redist... it worked before on my computer a long time ago... I've spent hours downloading and trying different NETs and Visual Studio packages... I'm not sure what the issue is. The work around I added to my previous response works well enough. And it's cool to be able to mute channels so quickly with rymcast.

Retrowynn
Offline
Denver, Colorado

Cool, cool. Thanks for link, no worries. I got vgm2opm and vgm2pre, which converts vgm to like every format. and then tfi2opm to make custom opm for vopm vst. so many acronyms lol. the vgm player was just to listen to the instruments and then match the adsr values to the tfi or opm visually instead of audibly.

vgm2pre is awesome for converting...
https://vgmrips.net/wiki/Vgm2pre

it doesn't convert to opm though so i use vgm2opm from the link located here...
https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopi … p;start=90

and then tfi2opm
https://github.com/raphaelgoulart/tfi2opm

thanks for your help, rymcast is an awesome new addition to the digital chip signal chain!

https://imgur.com/cOxHE0M

Last edited by Retrowynn (Sep 1, 2019 2:17 pm)

martin_demsky
Offline
Bratislava, Slovakia

I tried that VOPM, and now i see this VSTi cant import TFI, so according to your screen you have little bit complicated workaround smile. In my case that VOPM dont work, and 64-bit version crashes DAW, but i dont need it. At KVR page of VOPM it is information about Yamaha YM2151 chip emulation, so i dont know it if exactly same as in Sega Genesis' YM2612, probably not, but that other VSTi Genny is very good to my ears when compared to Deflemask.

Retrowynn
Offline
Denver, Colorado

I agree, Genny is awesome! Especially because it has the SN76489 chip too. You're correct, the Yamaha chips are different, but when I did an A/B comparison, I thought Genny and VOPM sound the same. I just chose VOPM because it works better in my DAW.

And yea, my work around is complicated haha The main reason is to extract individual instruments and put them all in one OPM file to load in VOPM. Then all instruments from different games are combined in a single patch and no other file loading is required. Plus when I have too many sounds to choose from, I spend a lot of time searching, so I prefer less options. 20 Vst, 20 drum samples, 20 instruments. I try to keep it simple smile

Deflemask is just an extra method to view the files exported from rymcast. The normal chain is just VGM to TFI with VGM2pre and then all TFI combined to one OPM with TFI2OPM. As far as trackers go, my preferred sound is Shiru's VGM Music Maker.

https://battleofthebits.org/lyceum/View … sic+Maker/

Last edited by Retrowynn (Sep 1, 2019 3:49 pm)

martin_demsky
Offline
Bratislava, Slovakia

Hey Retrowynn, can you help me with something?

https://youtu.be/RQ--Dy0nUSU
i like this game and soundtrack, it can be also played with MAME emulator, and at 21:40 is underwater level where is cool instruments...

https://vgmrips.net/packs/pack/darius-arcade
here is also soundtrack as vgz files, where is also The Sea track, so i downloaded this file, but vgm2tfi cant extract instruments because it is not Genesis music, rymcast player crashes, but mdplayer can play it, so i am wondering if there is a way to import this file into something, i have also tried to save from vgz file (which is zip compressed vgm file, total commander can go inside that) vgm original, but nothing happened. Also, Genny VSTi claims to import also vgm file, but i dont know how.

It is nothing complicated to recreate these instruments, first is probably first algorithm with operators in serial settings and with some vibrato and feedback, but i like to look at original...

Last edited by martin_demsky (Sep 4, 2019 1:38 pm)

Retrowynn
Offline
Denver, Colorado

Unfortunately, I haven't had any luck ripping the instruments from Darius - The Sea Track. The chip is a YM2203 (OPN).

VGM2PRE only works with YM2612 (OPN2) and YM2151 (OPM).

GENNY is 2612 and VOPM is 2151. Because the chips have similar parameters, some instruments work in both programs. However I haven't found a program to rip instruments from the arcade chip - YM2203. Sorry, man.

It's possible to copy values from MDPLAYER to GENNY, however it's difficult because GENNY doesn't have numbers for all the parameters.

https://imgur.com/glUpttf

VOPM is easier because it's possible to copy exact numerical values from MDPLAYER to VOPM.

https://imgur.com/xlafipN

I remember the VOPM VST wasn't working previously, maybe give it another try... There are both 32 and 64 Bit versions of VOPM.

http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?pl … mp;id=1066

Furthermore, to convert a VGZ to VGM, just rename the file type from "vgz" to "vgm.gz" and extract the file like normal. I use WINRAR. VGM players like MDPLAYER and VGMPLAY will play many different kinds of chips, so it's easy to listen any VGM, however extracting the instruments is more challenging because it depends on whether a program is compatible with the specific chip used in the VGM. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Good luck!

Last edited by Retrowynn (Sep 5, 2019 4:34 am)

martin_demsky
Offline
Bratislava, Slovakia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3sx1l8sldA

Hi Retrowynn, i am trying to contact author of this Bamboo tracker, maybe he can implement importing instruments from this vgm file, so we will see, i am also surprised they mentioned TFM music maker. Cheers!