22 replies to this topic

[Guitar]

As part of my preparation for finally getting the sound sorted properly in Project Amber I have written a sound tool.

 

It supports NEC 7759, and OKI 6376 sounds at the moment (regardless of tech)

 

You may need to install some .ocx files if it says they are missing, they are standard component files available as part of the VB6 runtime if you need them.

 

You will also need bass.dll installed, if you have installed Project Amber already then it has already been installed. Available here http://www.un4seen.com/

 

I have included the source code, it is Visual Basic 6.

 

It supports upto 4MB total ROM size, and can also tell when the sound ROMs are backwards (OKI Only), It also supports OKI Dual Banking.

 

 

Attached Files

•  Screenshot.png   23.48KB   34 downloads
•  Sound Tool.zip   774.39KB   30 downloads

[pilky]

nice thx guitar ..

[Guitar]

Having got to grips with sound buffers I've been playing with the YMZ280B chip to add sound for How Big's Your Rock.

 

Well I got a bit carried away...

 

The OKI and NEC chips are non tech specific, if it used that chip then the sound ROMs will load.

 

The YMZ chip has a different ROM table depending on the tech/manufacturer.

 

This tool supports YMZ Sampled Sound for Scorpion 2, Scorpion 4, Scorpion 5, and 2 Types of Epoch ROM.

 

Scorp2 supports all 2 ROMs I know use it.

Scorp4/5 has occasional issues with the auto detection, I will post a fix soon.

Epoch has 3 styles of ROM use, this supports 2 of them, the newest games tend to be the ones that dont load. I would say around 75% of available sound ROMs are supported.

 

Also It now supports 8 Channels, Stereo effect creation (Maygay M1 used this but sounds good on many techs) with adjustable delay, Echo effect creation with adjustable delay/depth.

 

The echo effect was used by the OKI chip accross 2 channels, though this supports it across 8 just because I was playing around.

 

Now I have rolling buffers working I can put all this into amber along with the synth sound.

 

Enjoy

Attached Files

•  Sound Tool 2.zip   118KB   21 downloads
•  Screenshot.png   316.93KB   15 downloads

Edited by Guitar, 19 December 2012 - 02:34 AM.

[andy-1]

Thanks for the update Guitar

[gemini17]

Many thanks for the update.

 

So do we unzip and load this straight into Amber?

 

Jay

[Guitar]

Many thanks for the update.

 

So do we unzip and load this straight into Amber?

 

Jay

 

No, its a standalone tool for listening to samples in the sound ROMs.

 

I was having major trouble working out how sound works in an emulation envioronment so I made the tool to help me understand what's going on with rolling sound buffers etc.

 

Now I have a pretty good handle on it I will be using what I have written here to enable the 3 sound chips in the emulator. The rolling buffers are essential to getting synth sound working properly.

 

Expect to be able to play amber with full sound support in the near future.

[Johnnyafc]

Cool Homers Meltdown sounds work, saves me playing my machine to hear them 

[cardie]

Cool Homers Meltdown sounds work, saves me playing my machine to hear them 

Where did you come across them, couldnt find them?

[Johnnyafc]

Where did you come across them, couldnt find them?

Inner Circle or suttin

Attached Files

•  hm.zip   887.47KB   11 downloads

[Guitar]

Indeed, I was / am expecting it by Christmas........

Good progress

bj

Well all the old sound has been ripped out of Amber and the new sound being put in.

 

The NEC chip currently is working 100% for Scorp 2 and all non serial MPU4 games.

Serial MPU4 and Maygay M1 NEC support will go in tomorrow.

 

The YMZ chip is progressing nicely and am about halfway through writing the hookups for Scorp 2.

 

The OKI Chip isn't attached to anything yet, but will be looked at in due course, hopefully tomorrow.

 

The AY8910 Synth Chip is written but needs refinement, however I have a pretty good handle on where I was going wrong now, so I expect that to be working 100% by Xmas day.

 

The YM2413, well um, yeah don't expect it by Christmas. New Year is a maybe, but not by Christmas day.

 

The YM2413 chip is available from MFME source code but uses a couple of weird C functions that I don't 100% know how to convert to VB yet. Once the others are in and working, I will sort out the YM chip.

 

But 4/5 aint bad. I have a few tidy ups to do around the emu,. just general error catching and making some functions do what they should. Other than that it should be ready for Christmas day release.

 

The docs will follow shortly after (and they will do I promise) along with the inevitable other bug fixes.

 

As far as techs go, Mpu4, Scorp1/2,M1ab are running 100%, MPU3 is a bit iffy, but only really about 4 days old in terms of how long I have spent on it. System83 Is a definate runner for Cops and Robbers, other ROMs I haven't tested yet, with the way Sys83 works it might run them all, or I may need to setup several lines differently per machine. The option is there in the hardware for every game to be different, but they probably used the same or similar setups for all just for simplicity in workshopping.

 

Either way between now and end of January I am confident all 6 techs will be running, with sound, and fully documented tools with a Christmas Day release regardless of what state the emu is in by then, with follow ups every few days till I get it running just so.

[Mavroz]

Thanks for the .ocx file to make the sound tools run mate. 

[Mavroz]

Ps Any chance of a "Save" button to save a sample from the roms in a specific format?

[prizeguy2005]

Cant get it to work for some reason saying file missing tried downloading VB6

[Guitar]

Ps Any chance of a "Save" button to save a sample from the roms in a specific format?

If you look in the export folder in the same folder as the tool, you will see a load of wav files. As far as other formats go, maybe one day in the future.

Cant get it to work for some reason saying file missing tried downloading VB6

Which file doe sit say is missing?

[prizeguy2005]

thanks guitar says component MSFLXGRD.OLX or one of its components not registered

[Guitar]

thanks guitar says component MSFLXGRD.OLX or one of its components not registered

See post #30 of this thread http://www.fruit-emu...sources/page-2.

[prizeguy2005]

thanks guitar will check

[Daryl]

Excellent stuff Nick mate... I have been looking forward to the updated emulator, and by the read of your latest update, you have been extremely busy to get it ready for Christmas Day.

 

Congratulations mate... The emulator has worked perfectly on all my computers so far... I don't expect this update to make an difference either.

 

If only some people would read what to do more when there is a release eh?!