Recording the music of Monkey Island 2

[Esn]

I'm not sure where I should ask this, but my situation is this:

 

I'm planning to make a study of some of the music of "Monkey Island 2" and its use of the iMuse system. I used the "Scumm Revisited 2" program to extract the music tracks from the game (both the Roland MT-32 versions and the AdLib versions), saving them as Format-2 MIDI files, then used the "midi2to0" program to convert the Format-2 MIDI files to Format-0 MIDI files.

 

My hope is to:

 

A) Make a WAV recording of each extracted format-0 MIDI file, emulating a Mt-32 sound and/or an AdLib sound (basically, to get as close as possible to how it was intended to sound)

 

B) Transcribe everything to classical Western music notation (including all the transitions, of which there are ~10 per track because a different one is played depending on when you enter a different location)

 

I'm closer to getting B completed than A. All I need for B is to figure out which voices the MIDI files are calling up, and what those would be on a real Mt-32 or AdLib (because General MIDI was not yet in use back then).

 

For A)... I don't suppose there's any program that will straight-out convert a Mt-32 MIDI file into a WAV file with Mt-32 sounds (or an AdLib MIDI file into a WAV file with AdLib sounds), is there?

 

Thank you for any help.

[s-island]

Why format 0? Format 1 is much easier to edit with its multiple tracks.

 

You can find the default patch list of the MT-32 at the bottom of this file: http://www.queststudios.com/roland/docs/mt32-2.txt

 

The number of the patch changes in the raw MT-32 MIDIs correspond to this list. There are, however, some custom patches embedded in the MIDI files as sysex data that the MT-32 was programmed with on-the-fly as the MIDIs were played back. They're easily identified because they're all 256 bytes.

 

There are some MT-32 emulators out there, but I don't know how accurate they are. They also require the original ROM files from the MT-32 to work, which are illegal to distribute. My suggestion would be to pick up a real MT-32, or preferrably a CM-32L or CM-64 which are later revisions of the MT-32 with minor differences. They also seem to be the models used for composing the soundtrack in the first place.

 

A few years back, I also recorded the entire soundtrack: http://s-island.mixnmojo.com/monkey2.php

I edited the MIDIs, using the original transitions, so they could be played back as separate pieces so you won't find every transition in there.

 

The AdLib MIDIs were converted to whatever format the FM chip on those cards needed when they were played back. I don't know any more about that part. They're all dumbed down versions of the MT-32 MIDIs anyway.

[LogicDeLuxe]

For WAV files, maybe the Special Edition is just what you're locking for. The classic version is basically recorded from an MT-32, separated in stems and transitions ready to be mixed on the fly by the game. Unfortunately, they got some instruments wrong, though.

[s-island]

Some? I'd go further and say they got most of them wrong. Whoever did it transmitted none of the sysex so they also lack part of the percussion.

[Esn]

Why format 0? Format 1 is much easier to edit with its multiple tracks.

Basically, because I couldn't find a "midi2to1" program. Anyway, the tracks (and the instrument/patch information) are gone in format 0, but the channels are still there, so all I need to do to transfer it to Western music notation is open the resulting MIDI files in Finale and select "Channels become Staves".

 

My main problem at the moment is a rather basic one: how can I tell which patches are being called in the original format 2 MIDI files? I used MIDI File Analyser II to open the MIDI files in readable format, but I couldn't find where the patches are listed.

 

You can find the default patch list of the MT-32 at the bottom of this file: http://www.queststudios.com/roland/docs/mt32-2.txt

 

The number of the patch changes in the raw MT-32 MIDIs correspond to this list. There are, however, some custom patches embedded in the MIDI files as sysex data that the MT-32 was programmed with on-the-fly as the MIDIs were played back. They're easily identified because they're all 256 bytes.

Thanks! One of the reasons I'm not yet sure whether to focus on making Mt-32-type WAV recordings or AdLib-type is because of these custom patches, which would be difficult to reproduce without having the original equipment. The other reason is that most players would have heard the AdLib-type music, so an argument could be made that this was the "default" soundtrack for the game.

 

There are some MT-32 emulators out there, but I don't know how accurate they are. They also require the original ROM files from the MT-32 to work, which are illegal to distribute. My suggestion would be to pick up a real MT-32, or preferrably a CM-32L or CM-64 which are later revisions of the MT-32 with minor differences. They also seem to be the models used for composing the soundtrack in the first place.

Actually, I think it was found that the ROM is legal to distribute, according to this history, at least.

 

I've tried a number of MT-32 emulators and Soundfonts.

The ones I've found so far are:

http://www.artworxinn.com/alex/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/munt/ (this seems to be an updated version of the previous one)

 

Instructions for MUNT were in the download zip. MT32_PCM.ROM and MT32_CONTROL.ROM are not provided, but I used the instructions here to get them:

Ok, here's how to create MT32_Control.ROM:

 

1. Download the following file http://www.oldcrows.net/~patchell/mt32/mt32.zip. Extract it.

2. Download WinHex http://www.winhex.com/winhex-e.zip

3. Open WinHex and choose File Manager-> Unify -> Bytewise

Click ok and then choose the MT32A.BIN as first file and MT32B.BIN as second file. Write the output to MT32_Control.ROM."

 

 

 

That's it.

 

I did this, but found the resulting quality of the MT-32 emulation to be a bit iffy. Out of tune, and a bit slow. So proceeded to try a few other things.

 

Installing a soundfont player:

http://www.sygyt.com/en/installing-your-own-soundfont-player

then using a mt-32 soundfont. That worked ok for tuned notes, but percussion was not correct, and Wally theme was missing.

Then tried using 16-mb soundfont from this website:

http://www3.telus.net/anapan8/oldscardemu.htm

Result: not that good

 

Other options:

Shan's Soundfont (136mb) (tried it, but it seems it's too large for my computer)

Silverspring soundfont (32mb)

8mbgm enhanced soundfont (17mb): http://www.bredel.homepage.t-online.de/Soundfonts/Soundfonts-English/soundfonts-english.html

 

That last one seems to work, if I manually adjust everything.

For the Wally theme (channel=patch): 3=60 (f.horns), 1=24 (nylon guitar), 2=33 (fingered bass), 4=46 (harp)

the result is a close approximation of what it actually sounds like when I was playing the game, but not perfect.

 

Here's what it sounds like: Link.

 

I'm also going to try this software:

http://erolfi.wordpress.com/scumm-explorer/

He also mentions a more specific one called "SCUMM Midi Player", but I can't find a download.

 

A few years back, I also recorded the entire soundtrack: http://s-island.mixnmojo.com/monkey2.php

I edited the MIDIs, using the original transitions, so they could be played back as separate pieces so you won't find every transition in there.

Yes, I saw that. I'm trying to record everything from the "Woodtick" section of the game, including every transition.

 

The AdLib MIDIs were converted to whatever format the FM chip on those cards needed when they were played back. I don't know any more about that part. They're all dumbed down versions of the MT-32 MIDIs anyway.

Except for the main theme, which was apparently written in AdLib first then adapted to Mt-32 (or so the notes in the Scumm Revisited 2 program say, anyway). Would some of the people working on Scumm know more about that, since they have to emulate this part?

 

For WAV files, maybe the Special Edition is just what you're locking for. The classic version is basically recorded from an MT-32, separated in stems and transitions ready to be mixed on the fly by the game. Unfortunately, they got some instruments wrong, though.

 

So the special edition includes separate WAV files for all of the transitions, as well?