Slowing down VGMs to 50Hz without re-ripping.

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blindpainkiller
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Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:45 am
Location: Sweden

Slowing down VGMs to 50Hz without re-ripping.

Post by blindpainkiller »

Hi guys,
Was a while since I was here.
Anyway, I have recently started ripping my favorite Megadrive and Master System soundtracks through Kega Fusion (because of the great YM2612 engine and the good filter) to FLAC, and because I had a PAL system I want some soundtracks "slowed down". For games with sound tests it's no problem, but for those that haven't (e.g. many Master System games) it's more tricky. I can get VGM files into Fusion with the VGM_play tool, bur I can't get them to play in 50Hz.
So, is there any way to slow down the VGM files to 50Hz before sending them to VGM_play without re-ripping them?
Thanks in advance.
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dissident93
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Re: Slowing down VGMs to 50Hz without re-ripping.

Post by dissident93 »

You can slow it down to 50HZ, or even whatever else number you want, with the in_vgm plugin for Winamp.
blindpainkiller
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Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:45 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Slowing down VGMs to 50Hz without re-ripping.

Post by blindpainkiller »

Yes, I know. There are other options as well (foo_gep for foobar2000 for example), but all of these lack Fusion's YM2612 engine and filter, which is the point :).
blindpainkiller
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:45 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Slowing down VGMs to 50Hz without re-ripping.

Post by blindpainkiller »

Exactly. It is certainly not a very nice solution, but since the VGM_Play ROM Builder does not support playing the VGMs in anything other than the recorded rate and that's the only way (that I know of) to get VGMs to play in KEGA Fusion, I must resort to such methods.
ValleyBell
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Post by ValleyBell »

I don't know of any tool that can change the playback rate of a vgm, except for the 60Hz <-> 50Hz conversion of VGMTool. But this conversion is only frame accurate and it doesn't support vgm v1.50.

Either way the only accurate way to play game music in an emulator is to play the game.
Also the vgm player ROM doesn't play the vgm at real 44100 Hz, but at 43400 Hz. (SmartOne made me test that some time ago.)
And the YM2612 of the most recent in_vgm should be as good as the one in Kega Fusion. (I know that some VGMs don't work, but that's actually not a fault in the YM2612 core, but a problem with the way VGMTool does trimming.)
The only remaining reason to use Fusion is it's filter, but I'm sure one of the Winamp DSP plugins can replace that.
blindpainkiller
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:45 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Slowing down VGMs to 50Hz without re-ripping.

Post by blindpainkiller »

Thank you ValleyBell for your answer, I wasn't very hopeful that such a tool existed, but if you never ask you never get an answer :).
Of course, playing the games is the best option and most of my favorite games have sound tests, but not all.
I tested the latest in_vgm (and your VGMPlay too, which I guess uses the same core), and there are still samples where Fusion is superior. The ones that come to mind are the hi-hats in the Streets Of Rage series (listen to "Keep The Groovin'" from SOR1 for example) and even more problematic, the horn at the end of "Supersonic Logo" in Micro Machines '96. The foo_gep plugin for foobar2000 does these better (it uses the Genesis Plus GX core if I recall correctly), but it has other problems (mainly some note dropouts) so I could not use that either.
Kudos to you for VGMPlay btw, a great program (it could be improved, but it is already very good :)).
Yeah, it should certainly be possible to recreate the filter in Fusion, but that's not really my field. It doesn't sound like a pure lowpass filter, rather some kind of lowpass filter combined with an equalizer, but as I said, it's not really my area.
Thanks again for your answer.
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