Non-Working MDX files

[cawley1]

Guys,
I am confused about MDX files in general - hear me out...

I have the V4 HDD image running on my X68000 XVI, and am using the MMDSP player to play the awesome music files, but I have a number I cannot get to work. Typically a couple of these are favourites!

So, pretty much any 'Magical Sound Shower' from the Out Run folder does not work - but 'Splash Wave' and 'Passing Breeze' are fine. I also cannot get Midnight Resistance levels 1 or 2 working from the Data East folder! I have tried these on the PC under the XM6_TypeG emulator, and they do the same thing!

I had a friend in Japan translate the message that appears at the bottom of the player - It says 'MMDSP: MADRU track buffer is not enough' on Magical Sound Shower. I am not sure of the specific error for Midnight Resistance, but it could be 'MMDSP: cannot load PCM data', or the same as Magical Sound Shower (I also got this error with an MSX2 Pop'n Twinbee file).

Is there a setting I can change, or something else? Do I need to load something else to make these work?

Also, my other question - are these files 'rips' from X68000 games, and indeed Arcade games, or are they translations? Some music that is not native to an X68000 game (the two working Out Run tracks, for instance, sound absolutely perfect, almost too good to have been recreated by someone, and not ripped.

Any ideas on the above?
Thanks,
Paul

[neko68k]

Edit !Start.bat in the Music folder and change MADRV.X line to add -m512 -p1024 at the end. These increase the size of the pattern and ADPCM buffers. I don't know what your Popn Twinbee song is but that takes care of Outrun and Midnight Resistance and a whole bunch of other songs.

[edit]
I didn't answer your other question. Some of them are by ear and with samples recorded on cassette tape in the arcade. Some of them are not but I'm not certain of the methods.

[Pinwizkid]

Also, my other question - are these files 'rips' from X68000 games, and indeed Arcade games, or are they translations? Some music that is not native to an X68000 game (the two working Out Run tracks, for instance, sound absolutely perfect, almost too good to have been recreated by someone, and not ripped.

Since the X68K uses the exact same YM2151 soundchip as most arcade games from 1986 to 1993, many MDX files sound almost identical to the arcade versions. I remember reading somewhere that MDX music conversion was kind of an underground hobbyist scene in Japan for X68K/MDX enthusiasts. I'm almost certain many MDX files were created using the exact code from the game's rom (especially from Mega Drive games that sound spot on perfect). Others however do sound recreated from scratch. It is pretty incredible how many MDX files exist in that archive...

[cawley1]

Hi,
Firstly, editing the !Start.bat has done the trick - many thanks neko68k, maybe the file in the master image should be edited so they work from the off!

Interesting how these MDX file have come to be, and the lack of clear knowledge surrounding it. From my own tests (well, based on my 40 year old ears!) it sounds like lots of the mid-80's arcade game music (Arkaniod, Wonderboy in Monster Land etc.) have to be rips - they are just too good to have been re-sequenced. The same for the Mega Drive music, as you said Pinwizkid, they again are too good. Anything that's an X68000 title would also be a rip, I guess.

Obviously anything Famicom would have been re-sequenced (and Super Famicom), Not so sure about some of the later arcade games. TMNT sounds a bit off, and obviously anything like Ridge Racer would be too new.

As the Mega Drive uses a YM2612, and the X68000 has a YM2151, are these Yamaha chips related that closely?

All interesting stuff!
Thanks,
Paul

[Pinwizkid]

Yes, the YM2151 and YM2612 are nearly identical. The YM2151 has 2 additional channels, so it's capable of a slightly deeper music, but they are both 4 operator FM synth chips from Yamaha so individual patches on each chip will sound the same.

[vanpeebles]

I was just trying these this morning after setting myself up with an emulator, and Magical Sound Shower was one of the first ones I tried (didn't work)too! 

[vanpeebles]

I can recommend the legendary Daddy Mulk, and Stage two of Gun Frontier(my fave saturn shooter).