Audio: The GBA Music Resource

Child Amnesiac · Jun 29, 2019

I'm here today to provide you some music for your Pokemon GBA ROM hacking endevors.
But first, some background:
Despite it being advertised, I have never seen music here, well i'm here to change that, and seeing how difficult GBA music hacking is I've decided to provide some .s files for you to use in your projects.
These .s files are used with Sappy, a program used for GBA music hacking. However, Sappy can be a pain to set up. So I shall provide a tutorial on how to do just that. Sappy Tut

Contributing:
Here's how you can contribute: post (or send me) your .s files

Contribution Guidelines

Spoiler:

Tips on making your song sound good/looping

Spoiler:

One last thing, expanding the amount of Direct sound instruments
1. Go into a hex editor (I recommend HXD)
2. Search for the hex string "00 C5 94 00" (without quotes)
3. Change the 5 to the true limitation of the games (12 (C in hex) for FR/LG and Emerald and 7 for R/S)

I would recommend doing this, because these files may use a lot of tracks

Now without further ado, the files

Battle themes:

Spoiler:

Overworld themes (Routes, Towns, Ect.):

Spoiler:

Encounter themes:

Spoiler:

Title Screen themes:

Spoiler:

Msc.

Spoiler:

Remember to credit the resource if you use anything, have fun! If you have any questions, feel free to post in this thread, or VM/PM me.

Contributors:
Child Amnesiac
STikER

Child Amnesiac · Jul 3, 2019

Sorry for the double post, but:
2 Chrono Trigger themes have been added! (Lavos Core, Battle 1)
check them out in the "Battle themes" Section!

Megax Rocker · Jul 4, 2019

I wish you luck on your project.

Child Amnesiac · Jul 4, 2019

Megax Rocker said:
I wish you luck on your project.

Thanks! There's 2 new Chrono Trigger themes coming today by the way! (Battle 2, Boss 1) Keep your eyes peeled for them!

STikER · Jul 5, 2019

Wonder why nobody started a thread like this in all those years... By the way, pretty good job at reworking those Chrono Trigger songs!
Also, do you accept any requests? If I provide you a midi, can you rework it to make it work with RSE soundfont?

Child Amnesiac · Jul 5, 2019

STikER said:
Wonder why nobody started a thread like this in all those years... By the way, pretty good job at reworking those Chrono Trigger songs!
Also, do you accept any requests? If I provide you a midi, can you rework it to make it work with RSE soundfont?

I do take requests. VM or email me the MIDI or a link to it and I'll edit it.
Just make sure it's 7 tracks if it is going to be for R/S. If you want more (up to 12), i'll just put it in Fire Red.

RoadToCerulean · Jul 5, 2019

Child Amnesiac said:
Battle themes:

Spoiler:

Trainer Battle
Game: Pokemon G/S/C
Voicegroup: 48ABB0
Original Sequencer: EJNorris
Editor: Child Amnesiac
Base Game: FR/LG
Preview:

Download

Some personal thoughts on your Johto Trainer theme:

Spoiler:

You may compare your remix with mine here:

Spoiler:

Child Amnesiac · Jul 5, 2019

Road_to_Cerulean said:
Some personal thoughts on your Johto Trainer theme:

Spoiler:

1. FRLG-style battle themes rarely use trumpets in the main track. French horns are not very frequent, either. They use organs and overdriven guitars more often.

2. FRLG-style battle themes use square wave (Channel 2) on the bass track and the noise channel (Channel 4) as hi-hats. The drum kit offset is at 0x848A0D0.

You may compare your remix with mine here:

Spoiler:

https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?p=9912547#post9912547. (Song No. 510)

I've tried using overdriven guitar in my tracks as well as distortion guitar, it's loud and sounds not good to me, but I guess I can try experimenting with volume.
As for bass, I have started using Sawtooth as my bass instead of electric piano. (See: The Chrono Trigger/Lufia 2 Remixes)
As for drums, I can't get it to play valid notes most of the time (Maybe because i'm using preexisting midis), and I don't know how to edit the drum track to make it sound good.
I'll try what you suggested out in my songs.

RoadToCerulean · Jul 6, 2019

Child Amnesiac said:
I've tried using overdriven guitar in my tracks as well as distortion guitar, it's loud and sounds not good to me, but I guess I can try experimenting with volume.
As for bass, I have started using Sawtooth as my bass instead of electric piano. (See: The Chrono Trigger/Lufia 2 Remixes)
As for drums, I can't get it to play valid notes most of the time (Maybe because i'm using preexisting midis), and I don't know how to edit the drum track to make it sound good.
I'll try what you suggested out in my songs.

Some tips for you:

Spoiler:

Child Amnesiac · Jul 6, 2019

Road_to_Cerulean said:
Some tips for you:

Spoiler:

1. Mimic the arrangement of the tracks, instruments and note volumes of the original songs (almost all my remixes follow this strategy).

2. For the battle themes, remember the timbres of these pitches (FR only). Bold pitches are the most common. Pitches not included in this list either don't exist in FR drum kit or are never used in battle themes:

Code:

[B]C1: Bass drum;[/B] [B]C#1 & D1: Snare drum (D1 is louder);[/B] [B]D#1: Hand clap;[/B] [B]E1: Acoustic snare drum;[/B] [B]F1 & G1 & A1 & B1 & C2 & D2: Tom drums;[/B] [B]C#2 & E2 & G2 & A2 & B2: Cymbals;[/B] F2: Ride bell; F#2: Tambourine; G#2: Cow bell; [B]C3: Reverse cymbal;[/B] C#3 & D3 & D#3 & E3: Congas. (Barely used) G#4 & A4 & A#4: Triangles; B4: Jingle bell. (Barely used)

3. As for the hi-hats (not included in FR drum kit), move them to separate tracks and:

Transpose all F#1 (closed hi-hats) notes to C5 and apply the instrument patch 127 (Noise, ADSR = 0-1-6-0 or 0-1-6-1)

Transpose all A#1 (open hi-hats) notes to G5 and apply the instrument patch 126 (Noise, ADSR = 0-2-6-0)

What.

RoadToCerulean · Jul 6, 2019

Child Amnesiac said:
What.

If you want to make your remixes sound "good". That's based on my personal experience.

Child Amnesiac · Jul 6, 2019

Road_to_Cerulean said:
If you want to make your remixes sound "good". That's based on my personal experience.

Yeah I know. But I didn't understand a word of what you suggested to me.

RoadToCerulean · Jul 6, 2019

Child Amnesiac said:
Yeah I know. But I didn't understand a word of what you suggested to me.

1. For Tip 1, I can't explain it in a detailed way. In order to understand it, thoroughly study the vanilla midis ripped from the ROM. Think why the composers arranged the tracks in this way.

2. For Tip 2, you said you could't get the drums to play valid notes most of the time. That's because the drum pitches of the midi don't always fit the drums provided by the ROM. You should edit the drums in your midi according to the list I summed up above.

Child Amnesiac · Jul 6, 2019

Road_to_Cerulean said:
1. For Tip 1, I can't explain it in a detailed way. In order to understand it, thoroughly study the vanilla midis ripped from the ROM. Think why the composers arranged the tracks in this way.

2. For Tip 2, you said you could't get the drums to play valid notes most of the time. That's because the drum pitches of the midi don't always fit the drums provided by the ROM. You should edit the drums in your midi according to the list I summed up above.

For 1: I use preexisting MIDIS that I get for VGmusic.com, (See: the "Original Sequencer" field) IE, I can't choose how much I have to work with (Also I heard the MIDI has to be under 100 MB so)
For 2: I don't know how to edit notes in Anvil Studio, so i'm kinda dead on that front. (I use timpani for my drum tracks, and they sound fine)

STikER · Jul 7, 2019

Okay, not long ago I made a request, but eventually I managed to make it work myself! So, here it is:

Zinnia Battle Theme
Game: Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Voicegroup: 6A8CBC
Original Sequencer: paterDM
Editor: STikER
Base Game: Emerald
Preview:

Download

Child Amnesiac · Jul 7, 2019

STikER said:
Okay, not long ago I made a request, but eventually I managed to make it work myself! So, here it is:

Zinnia Battle Theme
Game: Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Voicegroup: 6A8CBC
Original Sequencer: paterDM
Editor: STikER
Base Game: Emerald
Preview:

Download

Sweet, i'll add it to the collection

Blackforest · Jul 9, 2019

Would somebody kind enough to make or share Field of Hopes and Dreams by Toby Fox?
I am really terrible at MIDIs.

Also, can somebody teach me how to cook these .s into a ROM that has been patched with Lukee's Music Patch?
I did try to use the universal all-instrument patch but when i cooked the .s into my ROM using the all-instrument voicegroups.
Some part of the musics screeches.

Child Amnesiac · Jul 11, 2019

Zhang Jiafu said:
Would somebody kind enough to make or share Field of Hopes and Dreams by Toby Fox?
I am really terrible at MIDIs.

Also, can somebody teach me how to cook these .s into a ROM that has been patched with Lukee's Music Patch?
I did try to use the universal all-instrument patch but when i cooked the .s into my ROM using the all-instrument voicegroups.
Some part of the musics screeches.

I don't know what to tell you on the music patches.
But, I can make a remix of Field of hopes and dreams using a preexisting midi.
To cook a .s file, you put the offset of the voicegroup your using into the "voicegroup offset" box, and a free space offset into the "base destination offset" box.

Blackforest · Jul 12, 2019

Child Amnesiac said:
I don't know what to tell you on the music patches.
But, I can make a remix of Field of hopes and dreams using a preexisting midi.
To cook a .s file, you put the offset of the voicegroup your using into the "voicegroup offset" box, and a free space offset into the "base destination offset" box.

Is there a way to create a new voicegroup?
Or reverse engineer the music patch and identify its voicegroups then create a .s file using the identified voicegroup?
Any way to insert a new music into a music patched ROM. Please, i really love Toby Fox's musics and i am willing to learn music hacks.

Child Amnesiac · Jul 12, 2019

Zhang Jiafu said:
Is there a way to create a new voicegroup?
Or reverse engineer the music patch and identify its voicegroups then create a .s file using the identified voicegroup?
Any way to insert a new music into a music patched ROM. Please, i really love Toby Fox's musics and i am willing to learn music hacks.

I'm sorry man, I'm not an expert on GBA music.
Maybe you can ask on the ROM hacking help sub forum, there might be someone there who can help.

Audio: The GBA Music Resource

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