Author Topic: Sound Resource Converter and/or MIDI Exporter?  (Read 6183 times)

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Offline MusicallyInspired

Sound Resource Converter and/or MIDI Exporter?
« on: May 06, 2019, 12:47:10 AM »
I may look into this myself (though I think I'm out of my depth), but what are the chances of getting a Sound format converter between SCI0-SCI10 to SCI11? Or even SCI32? I'm checking the documentation on Sound formats from the SCI wiki and ScummVM's SCI wiki.

If not, how about the ability to export a Sound to MIDI? SCI Viewer exports to MIDI but only with one of the selected sound device's flagged channels. Combining them all in something like Anvil Studio or Cakewalk is possible but it is a lot of work.

I can't remember if I asked for something like this before or not but I feel like I have so apologies if so.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2019, 12:50:57 AM by MusicallyInspired »


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Offline NewRisingSun

Re: Sound Resource Converter and/or MIDI Exporter?
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2019, 08:19:42 AM »
It is not clear what exactly are you asking for. You mentioned "SCI0-SCI10" to SCI11, which seems wrong because SCI11 and SCI32 use the exact same format for sound resources as SCI1. The only format difference is between SCI0 and everything afterwards.

To convert from SCI0 to SCI1+, you need to convert back to Standard MIDI Files first, then from those Standard MIDI Files to SCI1's sound resource format using Sierra's original SMF.EXE utility, which I assume has made the rounds by now. I have written utilities a long time ago that convert from SCI0 and SCI1+ sound resources to Standard MIDI, converting all or merely selected devices, and optionally translating reverb controllers to MT-32 sysex messages, as MT32.DRV would do. I have sent them to Spikey previously, and can send them to you, but ONLY if you state that this is what you want. Note that these convertersion utilities have been written a long time ago and therefore only exist as DOS .COM files.

Offline MusicallyInspired

Re: Sound Resource Converter and/or MIDI Exporter?
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2019, 10:21:13 AM »
It is not clear what exactly are you asking for. You mentioned "SCI0-SCI10" to SCI11, which seems wrong because SCI11 and SCI32 use the exact same format for sound resources as SCI1. The only format difference is between SCI0 and everything afterwards.

My memory must be faulty then because I thought I remembered interchanging sound files between SCI0 and SCI1 games without an issue but ran into problems with SCI1.1. I'm assuming the SCI0 format is also used by/compatible with SCI01.

Quote
To convert from SCI0 to SCI1+, you need to convert back to Standard MIDI Files first, then from those Standard MIDI Files to SCI1's sound resource format using Sierra's original SMF.EXE utility, which I assume has made the rounds by now. I have written utilities a long time ago that convert from SCI0 and SCI1+ sound resources to Standard MIDI, converting all or merely selected devices, and optionally translating reverb controllers to MT-32 sysex messages, as MT32.DRV would do. I have sent them to Spikey previously, and can send them to you, but ONLY if you state that this is what you want. Note that these convertersion utilities have been written a long time ago and therefore only exist as DOS .COM files.

This would be exactly what I'm looking for, yes. COM files are fine. DOSBox is readily available. Though it'd be nice to have this feature built into SCI Companion itself just for the sake of convenience.
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Offline EricOakford

Re: Sound Resource Converter and/or MIDI Exporter?
« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2019, 08:45:04 PM »
My memory must be faulty then because I thought I remembered interchanging sound files between SCI0 and SCI1 games without an issue but ran into problems with SCI1.1. I'm assuming the SCI0 format is also used by/compatible with SCI01.

If by SCI01 you mean QFG2 or Seasoned Professional, those games actually use the newer SCI1 sound format, if SCI Resource Viewer is right. The DOS version of KQ1SCI does still use the older SCI0 sound format, though that was upgraded to the SCI1 format for the Amiga version.
« Last Edit: August 07, 2019, 09:41:14 PM by EricOakford »
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Offline Collector

Re: Sound Resource Converter and/or MIDI Exporter?
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2019, 06:29:05 PM »
DOSBox is readily available. Though it'd be nice to have this feature built into SCI Companion itself just for the sake of convenience.

A Win32 build would be good enough. Remember that Companion has a sort of "plug-in" system where it can call a third party tool from Companion itself. My NSIS Publisher and SEQTool GUI are two such. From the plugin folder readme:

Quote
Install plugins here by placing them in a subfolder.

SCI Companion will scan for .exe files and list them in the plugins menu.

If invoked from SCI Companion, the executable will be passed the path to the game folder as command line argument

e.g.:

Plugins
    \Myplugin
           \Myplugin.exe
    \Anotherplugin
           \Anotherplguin.exe
           \somefile.dll
           \stuff

Even if it was just a command line tool a frontend for it called by Companion would be easy enough to write.
« Last Edit: August 08, 2019, 06:30:47 PM by Collector »
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Offline NewRisingSun

Re: Sound Resource Converter and/or MIDI Exporter?
« Reply #5 on: August 08, 2019, 07:39:16 PM »
It is a DOS .COM file written in x86 assembly language a long time ago, only updated to fix a bug here and there. There is no such thing as a "Win32 build" for that, short of a complete rewrite.  :P

SND2MID.COM converts from Sierra sound resource format to Standard MIDI File format. Syntax is: "snd2mid  devices   files". "Devices" can be "*" for all, or "a" for AdLib, "m" for Roland MT-32, "h" for "General MIDI", "s" for "PC Speaker", "t" for "Tandy", and so on. More than one letter is possible, and "files" can be more than one file. Example "snd2mid am *.snd" converts all .snd files, extracting only tracks for devices AdLib and Roland MT-32. The track names of the resulting Standard MIDI File have device lists in brackets that are needed by Sierra's SMF.EXE for re-conversion. Reverb controllers that MT32.DRV translates into System Exclusive Messages are kept as they are, and all other events are untouched. This makes it possible to later convert the Standard MIDI Files back to Sierra sound resource format.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2021, 10:18:26 AM by NewRisingSun »

Offline MusicallyInspired

Re: Sound Resource Converter and/or MIDI Exporter?
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2019, 12:02:02 AM »
Many thanks!
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