Shmuppy FM Sound FX!

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Sat Dec 04, 2010 4:52 am

I was bored tonight and wanted to do something creative, so I made some shmuppy sound effects in RADTracker, which is a Yamaha OPL2 synth (the FM that was used on Sound Blasters and in stuff like Heavy Barrel and assorted Toaplan arcade machines).. see what you think! Feel free to use them (but would be cool if some credit were given if you use them in a game

)

http://www.gorenfeld.net/lou/LouisG-FM-SFX-1.zip

Post by **Dave_K.** » Sat Dec 04, 2010 7:14 am

Damn, these are sweet Louis! I'll have to talk to you about a shmup project I'd like to work on.

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Sat Dec 04, 2010 10:25 pm

Thanks! Hey, would anyone be interested in free FM sound effect routines? Like, a softsynth that you can stick into any SDL/whatever application to make these kinds of sounds?

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 11:15 am

I'd be interested, especially if it were able to do game music instruments as well (though that's me being optimistic, I so badly want a Batrider-style FM plugin for Mixcraft 5 and have no clue where to look).

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 5:06 pm

BPzeBanshee wrote:I'd be interested, especially if it were able to do game music instruments as well (though that's me being optimistic, I so badly want a Batrider-style FM plugin for Mixcraft 5 and have no clue where to look).

If you mean VSTs for Mixcraft, there's always VOPM.. that emulates the ym2151 found in the X68000 and is also very close to the Genesis (or any FM plugin if you don't go all out with its features). For live music playing in a game, there's always Adplug-- it's a collection of routines that play pretty much every OPL2-based music format.

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Mon Dec 06, 2010 6:40 am

louisg wrote:
BPzeBanshee wrote:I'd be interested, especially if it were able to do game music instruments as well (though that's me being optimistic, I so badly want a Batrider-style FM plugin for Mixcraft 5 and have no clue where to look).
If you mean VSTs for Mixcraft, there's always VOPM.. that emulates the ym2151 found in the X68000 and is also very close to the Genesis (or any FM plugin if you don't go all out with its features). For live music playing in a game, there's always Adplug-- it's a collection of routines that play pretty much every OPL2-based music format.

I'm not that pro for making sound routines in games, but thanks for the VOPM suggestion, I'll have to check it out. Since I did my game music remixes of Knights of Legend and A Ray Of Hope I've been curious to see if there is any game-instrument-related guitars that are better fitting than what's in MX5.

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:35 pm

I know this is a pretty old thread; but please make more of these! I've been finding them very useful lately.

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 4:09 pm

Rozyrg wrote:I know this is a pretty old thread; but please make more of these! I've been finding them very useful lately.

I've been way too busy with various projects after work lately, but I could give it a shot if it's something I can do very quickly. Let me know what kind of sounds you need and I'll see if maybe I could do a couple.

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:23 am

If you're still doing any of this stuff and have time, more explosion effects please! Badly needed here!

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:36 am

BPzeBanshee wrote:If you're still doing any of this stuff and have time, more explosion effects please! Badly needed here!

I'm actually doing some tonight! Sorry, it's a year late.. still need 'em?

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 4:37 am

OK! I put some more up. It has 4 new explosion sounds, 3 washy gun sounds suitable for a shmup (retrigger it), and a few others.

http://extentofthejam.com/LouisG-FM-SFX-2.zip

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 8:28 am

Hooray!

I had a go with your VST plugin too which is pretty excellent, have you got any recommended settings for MD-style instruments other than the presets in there? I had a bit of trouble trying to get any decent FM drum sounds from it without it sounding like an African village transmitting over AM.

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:15 pm

BPzeBanshee wrote:Hooray!

I had a go with your VST plugin too which is pretty excellent, have you got any recommended settings for MD-style instruments other than the presets in there? I had a bit of trouble trying to get any decent FM drum sounds from it without it sounding like an African village transmitting over AM.

Oh, VOPM by Sam? Yeah, FM drums are tricky, and many Genesis games use samples for those. But here's what you do: Use the algorithm with a parallel FM pair (algorithm #4). One of these is going to produce noise (like a bad FM snare) and one is going to produce tone + click (the body of the snare). So set M1 and C1 to max, and turn C1's volume down just a bit (it will be softer than the tone+click pair). Then make sure C1 decays. Turn up the feedback all the way (FL on the left-most side of the screen). Make sure M2 is cranked up but decays almost instantly to nothing. And make sure C1 decays at the same speed as the noise pair. That should do it. You'll want to play with the noise pair a bit-- if you turn M1 down a little, it'll get softer/scrapier. It's all about mixing the two. Remember, the noise is surprisingly quietly mixed to be convincing. A lot of Genesis games also do a note slide.

BTW for the sound effect packs, I used RADTracker. IMO, doing good snares is actually easier on the SoundBlader's Yamaha OPL2 chip (multiple waveforms) than on the Genesis'.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:38 pm

louisg wrote:OK! I put some more up. It has 4 new explosion sounds, 3 washy gun sounds suitable for a shmup (retrigger it), and a few others.

http://extentofthejam.com/LouisG-FM-SFX-2.zip

I got dibs on the bonus sound effect. >_>

null1024 · Post by **null1024** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 6:38 pm

louisg wrote: BTW for the sound effect packs, I used RADTracker. IMO, doing good snares is actually easier on the SoundBlader's Yamaha OPL2 chip (multiple waveforms) than on the Genesis'.

Truth right here, FM drums on OPL2 are pretty easy.
It's a shame making other instruments is a pain on the OPL2, bleh. Leads and the like get that AdLib twang to it.

also, I <3 RADTracker

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:39 pm

null1024 wrote:Truth right here, FM drums on OPL2 are pretty easy.
It's a shame making other instruments is a pain on the OPL2, bleh. Leads and the like get that AdLib twang to it.

also, I <3 RADTracker

I dunno, easy might be the wrong word. I never saw a PC DOS game that had good Adlib drums, including bassdrum which is really one of the simplest things to not screw up (people forget to do a pitch slide). It's easiER though since you can get more varied noise textures than off a Genesis, assuming you want to use 2 channels for drums. I guess on a Genesis, you could probably do the same if you use up an entire channel just for the noise.

Actually, I feel like other instruments on OPL2 are pretty easy. Brass isn't hard, it'll do good marimbas, vibes, harps, organs, basses (including slap bass! there's a trick)... and you can get weird synth leads going with the multiple waveforms. Pads and strings are a little trickier. The important thing that people forget is to remember to layer (just like with any other synth!).

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 3:06 am

louisg wrote: Oh, VOPM by Sam? Yeah, FM drums are tricky, and many Genesis games use samples for those. But here's what you do: Use the algorithm with a parallel FM pair (algorithm #4). One of these is going to produce noise (like a bad FM snare) and one is going to produce tone + click (the body of the snare). So set M1 and C1 to max, and turn C1's volume down just a bit (it will be softer than the tone+click pair). Then make sure C1 decays. Turn up the feedback all the way (FL on the left-most side of the screen). Make sure M2 is cranked up but decays almost instantly to nothing. And make sure C1 decays at the same speed as the noise pair. That should do it. You'll want to play with the noise pair a bit-- if you turn M1 down a little, it'll get softer/scrapier. It's all about mixing the two. Remember, the noise is surprisingly quietly mixed to be convincing. A lot of Genesis games also do a note slide.

BTW for the sound effect packs, I used RADTracker. IMO, doing good snares is actually easier on the SoundBlader's Yamaha OPL2 chip (multiple waveforms) than on the Genesis'.

Actually I was trying Digits which I believe you were promoting in some other thread (maybe I'm mistaken?). Last time I tried VOPM it was a damn pain to get anything to come out of it so I ragequit. Maybe I should give it another go knowing what you've said though.....

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 4:22 pm

BPzeBanshee wrote:Actually I was trying Digits which I believe you were promoting in some other thread (maybe I'm mistaken?). Last time I tried VOPM it was a damn pain to get anything to come out of it so I ragequit. Maybe I should give it another go knowing what you've said though.....

Oh yeah! Digits is mine. It's not really FM, but it'll produce a lot of FMmy twangs. You can kiiiiinda do drums with it, but it's not great for that.

I'd say OPL2 is a much better introduction to FM than VOPM. Yamaha's 4+ operator FM synths were cryptic and unfriendly. But I wrote a guide that might help: http://www.gorenfeld.net/lou/VOPM.pdf

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 2:23 pm

That VOPM guide does help a bit of understand how it works. I'm interested to try this OPL2 though: from what I looked up I guess the OPL2 is just the actual chip and I've gotta find some kind of VST plugin that emulates it to be able to try some proper FM drums with Mixcraft then?

railslave · Post by **railslave** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:01 pm

BPzeBanshee wrote:That VOPM guide does help a bit of understand how it works. I'm interested to try this OPL2 though: from what I looked up I guess the OPL2 is just the actual chip and I've gotta find some kind of VST plugin that emulates it to be able to try some proper FM drums with Mixcraft then?

id hunt the charity /thrift shops high and lo and look for stuff like this.. ( programmable synths in alot of the pss range)

Its authenticly from the era at least and its FM ,its all i use..(i have a pss 580, cost £15

)))

failing that , you can program sounds( if your a complete genius), with this http://devster.monkeeh.com/sega/basiega ... _full.html (good luck with that ) i belive that goes right down to assembler

To save you a bit of hunting , this is the command set for the psg channel (from that compiler)

Command_PSG:
Syntax: Psg <Channel>, <Data>
Description: Plays a frequency, or changes noise parameters for a PSG sound channel. <Channel> is the channel, ranging from 0 to 3. Channels 0 to 2 are the tone channels, and channel 3 is the noise generator. <Data> is a 10-bit frequency for a tone channel. If the channel is the noise generator, then <Data> has these parameters:
Noise Generator
MSB: 0 0 0 0 0 FB NF1 NF0 :LSB
FB Noise type
0 Periodic (like low-frequency tone)
1 White (hiss)
NF1 NF0 Noise Generator Clock Source
0 0 Clock/2 [Higher pitch, "less coarse"]
0 1 Clock/4
1 0 Clock/8 [Lower pitch, "more coarse"]
1 1 Tone Generator #3
Notes to Frequency to PSG Conversion Table
Note PSG Hertz Note PSG Hertz
A 3 7 110.00 B 5 798 493.88
A# 3 64 116.54 C 6 810 523.25
B 3 118 123.47 C# 6 822 554.37
C 4 169 130.81 D 6 834 587.33
C# 4 217 138.59 D# 6 844 622.25
D 4 262 146.83 E 6 854 659.26
D# 4 305 155.56 F 6 864 698.46
E 4 345 164.81 F# 6 873 739.99
F 4 383 174.61 G 6 881 783.99
F# 4 419 184.99 G# 6 889 830.61
G 4 453 195.99 A 6 897 880.00
G# 4 485 207.65 A# 6 904 932.32
A 4 516 220.00 B 6 911 987.77
A# 4 544 233.08 C 7 917 1046.5
B 4 571 246.94 C# 7 923 1108.7
C 5 596 261.63 D 7 929 1174.7
C# 5 620 277.18 D# 7 934 1244.5
D 5 643 293.66 E 7 939 1318.5
D# 5 664 311.13 F 7 944 1396.9
E 5 685 329.63 F# 7 948 1480.0
F 5 704 349.23 G 7 953 1568.0
F# 5 722 369.99 G# 7 957 1661.2
G 5 739 391.99 A 7 960 1760.0
G# 5 755 415.31 A# 7 964 1864.7
A 5 770 440.00 B 7 967 1975.5
A# 5 784 466.16 C 8 971 2093.0
Middle C = 261.63Hz = C 5

sorry for the wall of text, just save you finding it if you decide to experiment with that stuff

Just found this forum, looks kind of interesting http://soundshock.se/phpBB2/ all about FM

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:54 am

Crikey, that looks complicated.

I already have a keyboard although it's pretty stock standard stuff with only MIDI sample things, and I've not really found much use for it. Will keep these in mind though!

n0rtygames · Post by **n0rtygames** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 3:56 pm

I actually recognise that powerup sound as my menu switch - in fact I used to use something that sounded identical until I changed for a new sound.

I can't remember where I got it - probably generated using sfxr.

You should google sfxr - useful little tool

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 5:45 am

I swear by sfxr as a useful tool for simple sound effects. The explosions in the new GMOSSE along with almost all of the other sound effects are completely made in it with some modifying in Audacity.

railslave · Post by **railslave** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:14 pm

http://wonthelp.info/2612/ym2612-vst-release-v-0-9/

very cool , check the video out

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 3:10 am

Holy fuck that stuff sounds amazing!

From what I gather in the video the guy's gotten MIDIs of MD music arrangements and attempted to recreate how they originally sounded. Naturally the Sonic ones are closest (apparently most of the attempts on making soundfonts etc use the Sonic tracks, they're good but I liked Crue Ball myself). Not sure why anyone would want to use Gens if it really has Genesis Plus GX's sound core as an option as the latter is most accurate.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:16 am

As an aside, you can hear the original versions of the Sonic 1 and 2 soundtracks on this.

http://vgmdb.net/album/26814

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:49 am

If I were gonna do sound fx from another sound chip, what should I tackle? Master System/Game Gear? Lo-fi sampler (like SNES)?

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 6:15 am

How different is the Master System from the MD? I assume it uses some kind of similar variant of the chip?

railslave · Post by **railslave** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 8:56 am

BPzeBanshee wrote:How different is the Master System from the MD? I assume it uses some kind of similar variant of the chip?

Dunno, but this site has alot on this stuff , good reading

http://soundshock.se/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... 0f8b6310ae (a bit half way down that page)

PSS-170 + PSS-270 = YM2143 (the chip from master system's fm expander + NES VRC7)

PSS 460-470 = YM3812 (opl2!) The 560 and 570 also probably have this chip, if I remember correctly the only difference in these models is the drum section, the 460-470's had FM drums, The 560-570 have PCM.

Megadrive is YM2612, aka OPN2

If you see anything like this, GRAB IT!! (PSS brand ) This may be the closest to both.

Ive got one

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:12 pm

BPzeBanshee wrote:How different is the Master System from the MD? I assume it uses some kind of similar variant of the chip?

I'm assuming you mean the Japanese Master System since the US/Europe one just used a 3-voice beeper like the Game Gear.

It's not quite a similar FM chip to the MD-- it's closer to OPL2. I actually believe it's an OPL1. It's some really weak variant where apparently it's mostly presets, and you can only have one customized sound at a time. Because of that, it makes a lot more sense for keyboards than for a full-blown sound chip. In fact, it may be the exact same chip in the Portasound.

BTW, dunno if I mentioned it, but one of the PortaSounds was my first FM synth! I traded an obsolete 486 chip for it, and I did a few Impulse Tracker modules using some patches I did with the thing. You could do some cool stuff too where you move the sliders for the envelopes after triggering a note-- it'd cause unpredictable results.

shmups.system11.org

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