SPC topic

I'm not really sure of anything yet, but why not move the 44 40 that's in red one to the right, and the 26 41 one to the left, so they match up like all the other channel pointers?

Also, a good tip when trying to isolate a problem or a stray note like that one at the start is to mute the channels one by one with the F5-F12 keys, until you can isolate what channel it is that's causing it, then investigate that channel's hex etc. It sure sounds like a duplicate note of the very first note to me, possibly in another channel?

I would try to isolate it first like that, and still if no luck, B6 the track off little by little until that note is gone and you find out what it is that's causing it. In this case, it's something right at the start of the track, so I would B6 there.

Well it is almost done: my first SPC composition.

Some notes sound butchered but the acoustic guitar sound alright I think. I haven't added the 3rd channel because it wasn't really synchronized and made the song sound worse but maybe I'll put a bassline that follow the melody instead... I would like feedbacks/comments/suggestions so I can improve this song before releasing a patch.

So should I keep it like that or is there something missing?

SPC composition: Cecil's town (1st version)

You can hear the 3rd channel in the original and it make the song even more relaxing. It sounds a bit like an angelic voice. If FFVI had such an instrument I would use it but I haven't found something that sound close to that. I still love the original more than my composition but I don't think I've done a bad job either...

Secret of Evermore Soundtrack - Cecil's Town (original)

Very good job, Madsiur - it sounds great! I would definitely try and add that 3rd channel, the more the merrier! This song really needs it though, the Chorus instrument should suffice, I think? Also, it sounds like the composer makes the chorus notes fade in and out with the volume, so maybe try to add that effect in. I think I've seen it in the music tutorial.

How does the midi look, is there a lot of harmony going on within the angelic voice track? As we know, all harmonizing notes must be placed on other tracks, so then you would need a couple more channels for the chorus. The song sounds beautiful with it, but without it, it really gets watered down. I'd also recommend slowing the tempo down just a tiny bit bit, about 5-10 or so, just to mirror the original song which sounds slower to me.

Keep it up, it's a very nice song and you're doing a fine job! Congrats!

That's pretty damn good. Definitely needs the chorus, but even still as is it is good. The only suggestion I'd pass along is to increase the reverb to around 22 to 25 (F2 22 or F2 25).

Cannot wait to hear the Chrono Trigger songs you have planned.

Thanks for your input Nattak!

Also, it sounds like the composer makes the chorus notes fade in and out with the volume, so maybe try to add that effect in. I think I've seen it in the music tutorial.

Yeah I already started working on the third channel this afternoon. The problem is the notes of the chorus are not fade in/out long enough, the whole thing sound not synchronized. I was wondering how to make longer fade in/out for a note and I tried multiple things but not the volume lol.
And the chorus instrument is the only decent candidate for that job. I tried almost all the instruments. I even ripped all the sounds samples from SOE to have the same sample as the original but I had no luck it wasn't there...

How does the midi look, is there a lot of harmony going on within the angelic voice track? As we know, all harmonizing notes must be placed on other tracks, so then you would need a couple more channels for the chorus. The song sounds beautiful with it, but without it, it really gets watered down. I'd also recommend slowing the tempo down just a tiny bit bit, about 5-10 or so, just to mirror the original song which sounds slower to me.

Sorry but by harmonizing notes do you mean notes from the same midi channel that plays at the same time? There was one note that was overlapping another one for 1/4 measure in one of the two first channel but I simply cutted the note of 1/4 measure. I don't even see the difference.

As for the chorus they are all 1/2 measure and no note overlap another one in the same channel. Most of the time they are separated by 1/2 measure rests. It's all a matter of fanding in and out the notes properly I think. It's true that without the chorus the song seems a bit incomplete. And I did slow down the song because the 3rd channel sound not synchronized if the song is fast. I still have some work in front of me but it's nice to see that what was noise and notes at first start to be a complete song.

Here'S an updated version of Cecil's Town with the chorus. It's the best I can do for now. Some notes of the chorus could have a higher volume, especially the first four, but I kept increasing the volume of each fade in (yes there is one custom fade in and one custom fade out for each note) but the sound of the chorus doesn't increase. It might has something to do with the speed of the fade in/out. I lowered everything else a bit so we can hear the chorus a bit more.

Anyway there is still some minor tweaks to do and I would have loved to use the SOE or SOM chorus sample but FF3usME doesn't want to replace the instrument after I edited the sample to the good lenght and tone. There is something wrong with the way the tracker that I used I use to tweak the sample save the sample as a .wav.

Here it is in SPC format: FFVI -Cecil's town (2nd version)

Here's an SPC plug-in for winamp: download

edit: download link updated

Here's two songs I hacked in recently via my newly found music hacking skill that is MML:
(Macro Music Language.) It's popular with the Japanese hacking community.

VIDEO:
FFVI Music Hack: Alefgard (a DQFFIV Remix) & Cave from 7th Saga

SPCs:
Alefgard: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?axmm7tj31cjsyhj
Cave: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?7sstu2g4cchn4li

The overworld music is originally from a midi remix done by 'Squall' on vgmusic, and is a mix of both the overworld musics of the original Dragon Quest, and of course FFIV. Or more like DQ overworld done in FFIV style.

The cave music is a random one I did from a game called 7th Saga, called just that: Cave.

There's issues though that need to be fixed - you'll hear that the sound effects get messed up and turn into fire-spell-sounding sounds during battle in the cave. And that one 'swoosh' sound right before a battle on the overworld is muffled and screwed up. @#$%!!

It's like I'm not getting the stereo effect needed that usually fixes these conflicts.

For some reason the sound effects are clashing with the song channels really bad, not sure how to fix it really. I've tried many things including trying the other tracks on channel 7 (the one that does the 'swoosh' sound before battle), and messing with the pre-channel pointer bytes. While one of the bytes changed brought back the swoosh sound correctly, it totally messed up the song. I've also tried to put 3-4 channel pointers to the channel to max out the stereo effect.