Help Thread: Music & Audio

[Spherical Ice]

Music & Audio Help Thread

This thread is for any questions related to music insertion and any other audio-related problems that may arise when hacking. Post here with your problem, embedding lengthier excerpts of code and whatnot in [SPOILER]spoiler tags[/SPOILER] for readability. Be sure to clearly and thoroughly describe your problem, including what ROM(s) the problem relates to and what exactly you are stuck with. This is NOT an music request thread, and problems must pertain to ROM hacking!

Thread rules

Do not demand for answers to your questions!

People to not have to answer your questions, they do it because they want to! Not only are those posts annoying, they also are completely pointless! If such a post is found, it will probably be deleted.

This is NOT a music request thread!

This needs reiterating: this thread is not for asking people to compose or insert music for you.

When answering, quote the post with the question.

This is here to simply keep organization. It is much easier to read the thread when you have both the question and the answer. The users quoted will also get a notification so they will know their question has been replied to.

 

[Danny0317]

Okay, so as some of you know, there is one flaw with the Emerald HGSS music patch, and that's the note that keeps playing in the titlescreen. When people play my hack, they tell me of it, and I don't know how to fix it, or even replicate it in my computer, and when it rarely does happen, saving and resetting fixes it, at least for me. But anyways, might anyone know the cause of that, and if putting no music in the titlescreen will fix it? Or would it even be worth it going as far as to skip the titlescreen in general to avoid the bug?

 

[Sefuree]

Okay, so as some of you know, there is one flaw with the Emerald HGSS music patch, and that's the note that keeps playing in the titlescreen. When people play my hack, they tell me of it, and I don't know how to fix it, or even replicate it in my computer, and when it rarely does happen, saving and resetting fixes it, at least for me. But anyways, might anyone know the cause of that, and if putting no music in the titlescreen will fix it? Or would it even be worth it going as far as to skip the titlescreen in general to avoid the bug?

Hi, I am using the FR version and there is nothing wrong with it!

You would have more luck posting this in the HGSS music patch thread: http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=308411

Or even PM the guy who made it!

 

[Danny0317]

Hi, I am using the FR version and there is nothing wrong with it!

You would have more luck posting this in the HGSS music patch thread: http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=308411

Or even PM the guy who made it!

I know where the thread is, and I mentioned that it happens with the Emerald version. In the thread they said that as of now there's no fix to it, so that's why I'm asking here.

 

[Sefuree]

I know where the thread is, and I mentioned that it happens with the Emerald version. In the thread they said that as of now there's no fix to it, so that's why I'm asking here.

Sorry, i did not see that part! My bad.

 

[Danno]

Hey guys, trying to insert custom sound effects ( these in Sappy http://www.pokecommunity.com/archive/index.php/t-209508.html ) over what's already in Firered. I know how to import a sample for high quality cries, but I can't seem to get the custom sound effects to replace the sounds in Sappy. I'm testing the 5th sound in Sappy (the clink sound for menus and text), and replacing it with a sound from the Zelda Oracle games. I tried using the manual offset I imported the sample over in the edit voicegroup box for the sound effect in Address 1 to no avail:

...as the sound wasn't really replaced, it was the same as before.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Spherical Ice]

Hey guys, trying to insert custom sound effects ( these in Sappy http://www.pokecommunity.com/archive/index.php/t-209508.html ) over what's already in Firered. I know how to import a sample for high quality cries, but I can't seem to get the custom sound effects to replace the sounds in Sappy. I'm testing the 5th sound in Sappy (the clink sound for menus and text), and replacing it with a sound from the Zelda Oracle games. I tried using the manual offset I imported the sample over in the edit voicegroup box for the sound effect in Address 1 to no avail:

...as the sound wasn't really replaced, it was the same as before.

Anyone have any ideas?

Have you tried manually repointing every pointer to the original sound to your new one?

I'm moving this to the (unstickied) Music Help Thread, by the way.

 

[Danno]

Have you tried manually repointing every pointer to the original sound to your new one?

I'm moving this to the (unstickied) Music Help Thread, by the way.

I'm probably the furthest from an expert at hex editing lol. I can follow directions and learn routines to repeat processes, but as far as manually finding the offsets pointers in hex, I wouldn't even know where to begin. It would make for a nice tutorial though for sure

 

[Danno]

I'm probably the furthest from an expert at hex editing lol. I can follow directions and learn routines to repeat processes, but as far as manually finding the offsets pointers in hex, I wouldn't even know where to begin. It would make for a nice tutorial though for sure

Sorry for the doublepost, but I've figured this out... Hopefully I can throw together a tutorial for this soon.

 

[esperance]

Sorry for the doublepost, but I've figured this out... Hopefully I can throw together a tutorial for this soon.

Just in case Meowth never gets around to posting it, I'll post a real quick explanation. The sound effects the game plays are actually really short songs. They can all be found at the start of the M4A song table (indexes less than 256), and are in the same M4A format as the rest of the music/sfx.

So if you want to replace a sound effect, you need a .midi converted to a .s, which can then be assembled with a music editor, because like I said, you're actually inserting a really short song. If you want custom instruments for said sound effect, that is when you import a sample for use in an voicegroup editor.

This is actually pretty useful, because samples can only have one track (channel), while using this method allows for sound effects that use multiple tracks and instruments.

 

[Danno]

Just in case Meowth never gets around to posting it, I'll post a real quick explanation. The sound effects the game plays are actually really short songs. They can all be found at the start of the M4A song table (indexes less than 256), and are in the same M4A format as the rest of the music/sfx.

So if you want to replace a sound effect, you need a .midi converted to a .s, which can then be assembled with a music editor, because like I said, you're actually inserting a really short song. If you want custom instruments for said sound effect, that is when you import a sample for use in an voicegroup editor.

This is actually pretty useful, because samples can only have one track (channel), while using this method allows for sound effects that use multiple tracks and instruments.

I made the tutorial, you can find it here:
http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=346172

 

[snuffysam]

I'm using Sappy 2006 to stick some music into my FireRed hack, but no matter what .s file or track that I'm replacing I use, clicking "Assemble that ugly thing!" crashes the program with no error message (besides the standard "has encountered an error" thing). What's going on?

 

[NewDenverCity]

I don't know what's going on, but look up Sappy Mod 17, it's better in that it hasn't crashed on me once.

 

[snuffysam]

I don't know what's going on, but look up Sappy Mod 17, it's better in that it hasn't crashed on me once.

It works! Thanks!

 

[snuffysam]

So in Sappy (Fire Red) there's two tracks called "Gary's Theme" and "Gary's Theme (bis)". I assume, based on how they sound, that the first is when Gary comes in and the second is when he leaves. So I have my .s files for my new rival enter and leave themes, and I assemble my enter theme into the first track. Now, when listening to the second track, it plays like a weirdly slowed down version of what the original was. So are the tracks connected? And if so, is this also the case for all the other tracks like this (like Battle 5 (+1))?

Furthermore, when I tried to assemble my leave theme into the second track, the second track played my song as I expected, but the first now crashes Sappy (and VBA) any time I try to play it. How do I change both themes?

 

[xGal]

So in Sappy (Fire Red) there's two tracks called "Gary's Theme" and "Gary's Theme (bis)". I assume, based on how they sound, that the first is when Gary comes in and the second is when he leaves. So I have my .s files for my new rival enter and leave themes, and I assemble my enter theme into the first track. Now, when listening to the second track, it plays like a weirdly slowed down version of what the original was. So are the tracks connected? And if so, is this also the case for all the other tracks like this (like Battle 5 (+1))?

Furthermore, when I tried to assemble my leave theme into the second track, the second track played my song as I expected, but the first now crashes Sappy (and VBA) any time I try to play it. How do I change both themes?

It happens because the data of the new song you assembled in the place of the first theme is bigger than the original one. Remember, always repoint when you assemble a new song.

 

[Splash]

So I'm clueless to music hacking so I have questions:
1. How can you change the cries of the expanded pokemon? I dont know the cry offsets since it wasnt stated by G3HS or maybe I'm just not looking for it so any guides will be appreciated.

2. Is there any good tutorial for music hacking?

3. What are the do's and don't's?

 

[GoGoJJTech]

So I'm clueless to music hacking so I have questions:
1. How can you change the cries of the expanded pokemon? I dont know the cry offsets since it wasnt stated by G3HS or maybe I'm just not looking for it so any guides will be appreciated.

2. Is there any good tutorial for music hacking?

3. What are the do's and don't's?

The cry tables in FR are at:

CryTable           = 0xA6F8D0(+C for #2)
SecondaryCryTable  = 0xA71280(+C for #2)

You have to repoint them first, then edit them as normal.
Cry tables are just tables of DirectSound instruments that are pointing to compressed instruments (these instruments being the cries).

 

[C me]

My inserted music sounds quiter than the default music. Is there a way to make it louder?

Same think with cries too.

 

[GoGoJJTech]

My inserted music sounds quiter than the default music. Is there a way to make it louder?

Same think with cries too.

That can be a number of things.
One, it can be that your song itself uses really low volume levels.
Two, it can be that your instruments and cries are actually a lower output sound (Which is something your .wavs or whatever determine)
There can be more, but those are the only two that would make sense from the info you gave me.