182 lines
8.6 KiB
Text
182 lines
8.6 KiB
Text
---------------------------------------------------------------
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DRO2MIDI - version 1.6 (2013-11-29)
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Written by malvineous@shikadi.net
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Heavily based upon IMF2MIDI written by Guenter Nagler in 1996
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http://www.shikadi.net/utils/
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---------------------------------------------------------------
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// What is it?
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////////////////
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DRO2MIDI converts Adlib music (in .dro, .imf or .raw format) into standard
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MIDI files, so that it can be played or edited in most audio applications, or
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so the notes can be extracted to be played on a real instrument.
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// Features
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/////////////
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* Converts DOSBox .dro captures, id Software .imf songs and Rdos .raw captures
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* Converts OPL frequency changes into MIDI pitchbends
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* Tries to map Adlib instruments to MIDI instruments as best it can, but
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these mappings can be easily added to and changed
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* Instruments can also be mapped to MIDI percussion
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* OPL rhythm-mode percussion is converted (v1.4 adds support for user-defined
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mapping via new syntax in the mapping file)
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* The OPL conversion constant can be changed (see -c option) to more
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accurately convert notes without excessive pitchbend events
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// Usage
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//////////
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Linux: $ dro2midi file.dro file.mid
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Windows: C:\>dro2midi file.dro file.mid
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For a list of the command line options run dro2midi with no parameters or
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see below for more details. For best results, all the .txt data files should
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be in the current directory.
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Instrument mappings between Adlib registers and MIDI instruments are stored in
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inst.txt. This file contains a number of existing mappings, but additional
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mappings can easily be added. During conversion, if an exact match cannot
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be found the mapping with the closest Adlib parameters will be used instead.
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A message will be printed when this happens, along with a line that can be
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copied into inst.txt to provide an exact match. This approximation can have
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the unfortunate side effect of providing some odd conversions, such as
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converting a bass-line into a monotonic drum.
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To get a perfect conversion you may wish to delete all but the first
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"all-zero" instrument in inst.txt, which will cause all instruments to be
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converted as a piano. You can then copy the definitions printed during
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conversion one by one into inst.txt, to assign the best-sounding instrument
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without worring about any default mappings taking over. Alternatively the -i
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option can be used which will disable the closest-match algorithm, and only
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exact matches will be used (again, anything that can't be exactly matched will
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be mapped as a piano.)
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// Command-line options
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/////////////////////////
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-p disables generation of MIDI pitchbends. This results in a single note-on
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when the instrument sounds, but no further pitch change results until the
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note is switched off again. This can also be used to prevent the large number
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of small pitchbends generated when the conversion constant is slightly off (but
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see the -c option, which now provides a better way around this.)
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-a will, if pitchbends are disabled with -p, approximate any pitchbend by
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playing the nearest note to the new pitch at the time. This results in a
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"hammering" of notes during a pitchbend, which while humourous, is probably
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of limited use.
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-r disables the conversion of OPL rhythm mode instruments. As OPL rhythm mode
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conversion is now quite flexible, this option should rarely be needed.
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-i will disable the approximation algorithm which selects similar instruments
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when an exact match cannot be found in the mapping file (insts.txt). This is
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useful when trying to create a perfect map for a single song, as it makes it
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easier to pick out which instruments are being mapped. This option should not
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be used for the final conversion however, as any instruments that haven't been
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precisely mapped will come out (by default) as a grand piano. (This default
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mapping is simply the first entry in insts.txt.)
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-c changes the conversion constant used when converting OPL notes into their
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MIDI equivalents. This is the heart of what DRO2MIDI does. Unfortunately
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depending on which set of documents are available, those writing OPL *players*
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are told the conversion constant is either 49716, or 50000. Thus half the
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games out there use one, and half use the other. The result of using the wrong
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constant in the DRO2MIDI conversion is a tiny difference in pitch when the song
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is played (about 1/17th of a cent.) Most people will be unable to hear the
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difference between these two values, however if the wrong constant is used by
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DRO2MIDI during the conversion into MIDI, the resulting file will contain
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thousands of small pitchbend events, as it tries to approximate the exact OPL
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note played. Using -c to try a different constant should solve this problem.
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The default constant is 49716, and "-c alt" will change the constant to 50000.
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It is possible to specify an arbitrary constant like "-c 49999" however this
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should be unnecessary unless the same nonstandard constant was used wherever
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the song was originally played. Note that no error checking is performed here,
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so out of range values could easily crash the program (not that that's a major
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problem though...) After conversion the number of pitchbend events is
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displayed at the end of the output, so it will be obvious when the correct
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constant is in use as this number will be significantly smaller than with
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any other constant.
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-v disables the volume detection. Normally DRO2MIDI will take the OPL
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carrier's "Level" amount and translate it to a MIDI note velocity. This will
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result in the output MIDI file more accurately matching the loud and quiet
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parts of the OPL song. Some songs (e.g. Stunts) somehow manage to work with
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these volume levels set to zero, which results in very quiet MIDI files (there
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is an internal limit as to how quiet a note can sound to prevent it being lost
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entirely.) If your output MIDI file is much too quiet, this option will cause
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all notes to be played at maximum velocity.
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-s instructs dro2midi to write all detected instruments to a .sbi file. This
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is a 52 byte binary instrument format for OPL chips created by Creative Labs.
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It is supported by applications written to work with the OPL, such as Ad Lib
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Tracker 2.
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// inst.txt
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/////////////
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The instrument mappings are stored in inst.txt, in a format like this:
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NO 07-12/4F-00/F2-F2/60-72/08/00-00: patch=15 # Tubular bells
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These lines are printed automatically when an unknown instrument is encounted.
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All you will need to do is copy and paste the line into insts.txt and choose
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a MIDI instrument for it. The file itself is read in from the current
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directory during conversion, so if you run DRO2MIDI in another folder remember
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to copy the file across too or your mappings won't be used.
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The first two characters indicate what type of instrument it is. The
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hexadecimal numbers that follow are the Adlib register values for that
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instrument. "patch=15" assigns MIDI instrument #15 for this Adlib instrument.
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For percussion, "drum=35" could be used instead. Anything after a # symbol is
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treated as a comment. See the comments at the top of the file for more
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detailed information.
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The instrument names (and values to supply to the patch= parameter) are stored
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in patch.txt, and the drum names (and numbers) in drum.txt. You may find
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these files helpful to reference when selecting instruments for conversion.
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(These two files are read in from the current directory during conversion to
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allow the display of instrument names in status messages instead of just
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numbers.)
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Note that the parser for insts.txt file is quick and dirty, so it's easy to
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get a syntax error - for example, an otherwise blank line with a single space
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on it will cause an error (so if you get an error about a blank line, make
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sure it really is blank!)
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// License
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////////////
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DRO2MIDI was based on IMF2MIDI by Guenter Nagler. DRO2MIDI is released under
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the GPL license, except where it is incompatible with IMF2MIDI's original
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license, in which case IMF2MIDI's license takes precedence.
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---- Begin IMF2MIDI license ----
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IMF2MIDI (c) 1996 was created by Guenter Nagler.
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IMF2MIDI is free and may be used as you wish with this one exception:
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You may NOT charge any fee or derive any profit for distribution
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of IMF2MIDI. Thus, you may NOT sell or bundle IMF2MIDI with any
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product in a retail environment (shareware disk distribution, CD-ROM,
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etc.) without permission of the author.
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You may give IMF2MIDI to your friends, upload it to a BBS, or ftp it to
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another internet site, as long as you don't charge anything for it.
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---- End IMF2MIDI license ----
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// Contact
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////////////
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Source code is available at http://www.shikadi.net/utils/
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You can e-mail me at malvineous@shikadi.net
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