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SPC -> IT and SPC -> midi conversions


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#1 Glenn the Great

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Posted 20 August 2003 - 04:02 PM

SPC -> IT Conversion Guide

I figured out how to get my SPCs (SNES music files) to work with Zelda Classic. The following is a guide as to how to go about doing this.

Here is what you'll need:
WinRAR
Open SPC or Open SPC Lite
Modplug Tracker

These programs can easily be found by employing a search engine.

1) Go to www.zophar.net to find the RAR file for the game in which the music file comes from.

2) Open the RAR file with WinRAR and extract the SPC you wish to convert.

3) Make a folder in C: called OpenSPC, and extract the OpenSPC files to it, and copy your SPC into the same folder.

4) Open up a DOS prompt (look for this option in your Start Menu.)

5) If it says C:\Windows\ type "cd.." to go back to C root. Then type "cd OpenSPC".

6) Now type "OPENSPC -i <filename.spc>" (without the greater than and less than symbols.) OpenSPC will start and you will hear the SPC play.

7) Press any key a second or two after you hear the music loop. The program will exit, and you will see an IT file in the OpenSPC folder.

8) In order to make this IT file compatible with Zelda Classic or WinAmp, you must open the file with Modplug Tracker, and then simply save it.

9) Here comes the tricky part. You'll probably want your SPC to loop seamlessly, and if you try to play the IT as it is, it will loop wherever you stopped playing it in OpenSPC. Modplug Tracker can be employed to cut off notes at the end of the file and/or add a GOTO in the event that the song has an intro that doesn't get repeated when the song loops. The following is how to accomplish this.

10) First you must understand the structure of an IT file. Your IT file will be made up of a certain number of "patterns." Patterns are a way of dividing the song into parts. The default pattern length is 200 notes (rows) long. What you need to do is pick the Patterns tab. When you choose to play an IT with Modplug Tracker, you will see the rows rapidly fly by, with the attached notes playing out of the speakers. If you open up the Sequence folder on the lefthand tree, you can see which pattern it is currently on.

11) If the song has no intro, simply figure out where the final note before the loop is, and delete all of the rows after it, and any extraneous patterns.

12) If the song has an intro, find the first pattern with NO intro notes. Remember this number. Then find the correct note on one of the final patterns which when played before the pattern I told you to remember makes the song sound seamless. Double-click on this row, select the Effect tab, select Bxx, and set the slider bar to the number I told you to remember. Then proceed to delete all extraneous rows and patterns.

This process will take some trial and error and a keen ear for notes, but with practice you'll get better at it. If you have a hard time listening out for notes, there is an option available to slow the song down. And there you have it. Just load the IT file into your DMap and don't forget to include it in your ZC folder.

#2 Dart Zaidyer

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Posted 23 August 2005 - 06:52 PM

SPC -> midi Converter

If you're like me, you'll visit VGMusic and look for a midi from an SNES game that you have in mind for one of your DMaps, only to find that it either doesn't exist or hasn't been done right. (repeatedly.) Man! Now what are you going to do for your players who can't or won't use Alt Music?

Well, fret no more! SPC2Midi is a neat little windows app that will read an SNES SPC and translate it to midi with near-perfect accuracy. All you have to do is assign the instruments and tune them up, and in most cases, you're ready to go!

Now, since this is a direct dump, it's obviously not going to get accepted at any of the big sites, including PureZC. Still great for quests, though.

Some music is easier to convert than others. For instance, here I have the Stage 1 tune from Super Castlevania IV. Many instruments in that game are similar to standard midi, so it was easy to do once I figured out what was what. (tip: Checking the "duration" option for an instrument will force it to cut off more accurately and will generally make any song sound better.)

So, try it out! I expect to see some decent midis with this thing.

#3 ShadowTiger

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Posted 23 August 2005 - 07:17 PM

... Have my children! :o

Man, this is something I've been waiting for for ages. Thank you so much! icon_kawaii.gif

... lol, I want to pin this, but where! XD Probably Developers Exchange. Thoughts?

#4 HappyPuppet

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Posted 23 August 2005 - 07:31 PM

The only SNES Midi that I really want that I can't find is the battle with the Dark Lich in Secret of Mana (called "Oracle"). VGMusic has two of them: one is XG which I never use because of compatibility issues, and the other is horribly done. I had found this program, but after converting the SPC, I was never able to get the instruments right.

If anyone else can, it would be very much appreciated.

Topic moved to Developer's Exchange and pinned.

#5 Aaron

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Posted 23 August 2005 - 07:59 PM

QUOTE(BH4 @ Aug 23 2005, 04:17 PM)
... Have my children! :o

SPC2Midi, let me bear your children.

This is uber sweet. Yes, do pin this is developer's exchange if you haven't already. And... PureZC has been getting a lot of great and useful things for ZC lately. Anyone else noticing this? ZC has become very great with all the awesome quest designers and graphic artists :].

#6 Mr. Z

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Posted 24 August 2005 - 11:58 AM

Works good, but Anvil Studio keeps telling me they're wrong files. So I can't open them to change the instruments. X_X


Edit: Well whadda y'know, you can edit the instruments in the program itself too :O
Let's just hope they do work in Zquest ;p

#7 skateboarder11

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Posted 24 August 2005 - 05:08 PM

Ah, SPC2MIDI.

smwedit is very good at MIDI conversions. They nearly sound like the real game. If you have trouble with a particular midi, just ask him on AIM. icon_razz.gif

#8 Kite

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Posted 25 August 2005 - 09:55 AM

I have never been able to find a good midi version of the dungeon music from BS Zelda.

http://www.zcworld.n...f/labyrinth.mid

I managed to get this by using SPC2Midi. It's not the best thing in the world and could still use some tweaking... so if anyone wants to do that, it'd be very helpful.

I've not been able to get anything else from my collection to sound good. Granted I can open them all in SPC2Midi, finding instruments is problematic. You have to have a good ear and know what all of the instruments sound like. icon_shrug.gif

#9 link3505

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Posted 25 August 2005 - 12:17 PM

this is pretty neat, but for some reason, it saves files that are a bit bigger every time, like, one time I'll save, and it will only play twelve seconds, while another time it will play twenty seconds. it's strange. plus, it would be MUCH easier to be able to open with Anvil Studio. oh well, if I REALLY need an MIDI from an SPC, I'll use that

#10 Nicholas Steel

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Posted 07 May 2006 - 03:46 AM

i've heard/used a program called spc2midi and this wasnt it... it was windows and it does what you described this one did... this may however be the same thing and just a newer version of it.

edit: this is what i used ages and ages ago (many years ago) http://gigo.retrogam...d.html#spc2midi

edit: how did you get release 3? http://www.vanitstud...id=14&Itemid=26 i can only find release 2.

edit: zophar's domain is wrong... clicking the spc2midi link takes you to gigo's site but the english download on zophars site is v3 of vanitstudios.

Edited by franpa, 07 May 2006 - 04:03 AM.


#11 Guest_Casey Reece (Guest)

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Posted 18 June 2006 - 12:43 PM

O.K. This is too scary...

I'm scouring the Internet looking for a program that can convert SPC2MIDI files so that I can (and this is absolutely true) open the Dark Lich song (from Secret of Mana) in Anvil Studios.

I nearly crapped myself when I found this thread. I mean, this is just too perfect.

I'm on the search on several forums for a program (I don't care how many hoops I have to jump through, or file transfers (from SPC to something to something else to something else to MIDI) I have to complete) that will do this for me.

I need to know if anybody here has found a method of getting good SPC rips (with all the instrumentation in tact) into MIDI format (that could be read by a program like Anvil Studios). I hoping somebody has. I'm really crossing my fingers.

Why am I searching for this elusive program you ask? Well, I'm part of a community called "powertabs." (www.powertabs.net - if we're not allowed to link, just delete the link from the post, it's O.K.). There is a phenominal community dedicated to creating guitar tablature for all our favourite video game tunes (Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy series, Zelda, Mario, you name it). There are some incredibly talented people who can decode the songs by ear alone, but possessing no such skill myself, I am hoping to find a program that will rip the songs directly from the games into a composer program (Anvil Studios) that will allow me to see the notation. Now, while Anvil Studios works for some files in some games, it does not work for Secret of Mana. And that is the one game that is severly lacking in tabs at the moment. More than that though, it is one of my favourite games of all time (alongside the soundtrack). The Dark Lich song just has to get tabbed. And I want to be the man that does it.

So if anybody here has any updates, tips, info, anything at all that could help, I would really appreciate it. Also, I'll be updating the thread if I find anything on my own. Let's work together to make the dream of having quality MIDI rips of SPC songs possible. icon_smile.gif

#12 Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder

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Posted 26 April 2007 - 08:07 AM

Well, if I understand you right... You want to edit songs from video games, making them so they are ''played'' with guitars? You could go onto www.vgmusic.com and get the MIDI's you want there... then open them in Anvil Studio and edit the instruments... I have made some pretty damn cool stuff this way... But the songs on vgmusic are made by others originaly... And I don't know if your forum aproves that...

#13 RyanBlazeheart

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Posted 28 May 2008 - 08:17 PM

The only thing that makes it hard to make a MIDI with this program and trying to make it sound like the actual song is that everything starts with the Acoustic Piano for instruments and Acoustic Bass Drum for percussion and you have to change them both to your liking. I managed to make a much better Zeal Palace theme then any of them on VGMusic.com with it, but it took so long to make it sound right. It lasts over 12 minutes! icon_eek.gif Weird huh? I'm gonna try and make some decent Chrono Trigger MIDI's for my quest with it.

Edited by Blackdrake1, 28 May 2008 - 08:18 PM.


#14 Christian

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Posted 23 May 2009 - 08:37 AM

Look what i made using this SPC2MIDI converter =)

Final Fantasy IV - Prologue Theme

This Converter ROCKS!

#15 Sheik

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Posted 23 May 2009 - 09:04 AM

QUOTE(Christian @ May 23 2009, 03:37 PM) View Post

Look what i made using this SPC2MIDI converter =)

Final Fantasy IV - Prologue Theme

This Converter ROCKS!


Sounds nice =). You can make all MIDIs for OoSecrets if you like : D.


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