Converting MP3 to the new ZC music format.

[DarkFlameWolf]

Okay, since DN added a IT or Screamer track music in replacement over midi style, is there a way to convert mp3 to the IT or whatever format ZC uses? I have 50 gigs worth of game mp3s I could use and stuff, but I need to be sure I can convert it. Anyone have a program that's free to do this or maybe fatcatfan or someone similar can program this? I'm planning to go completely this new style of music for my next quest.

[MottZilla]

No without resequencing it or trying to make a it that plays 1 sample, which would be the entire mp3, which would result in HUGE file size.

[DarkFlameWolf]

blarg, so is anyone willing to resequence some mp3s? :-d

[fatcatfan]

Here's something I pulled from a Google.com search


I don't know where it was, but somewhere there was a link in a message a few months ago with a link to Modplug Tracker. You can make mod/xm and s3m-files with it. Also you could convert wav and mid to the mod/xm or s3m files(they sound a bit different though).
So first convert mp3 to wav and then convert it to mod/s3m/xm with Modplug Tracker. Xm works best for converting wav-files and s3m works best to convert mid-files.


Well, everybody agrees that DIV1's heavy PCM is kinda lack for final game file size. As DIV2 will support MOD, and as a lot of people (including me) don't really know what it is, I suggest a Topic only about it...

I've made few researches, and I found this:

- http://www.modarchive.com/software/ where I found the very easy to learn Modplug tracker...

- http://www.modplug.com/index.php3 well, the site is no longer updated, but it has a quite complete FAQ about players, trackers, converters...

[DarkFlameWolf]

O_O
thank you Fatcat!

[DeathLink]

DFW--post links if you get them working so we can dl them! you can never have to much music!!

[Dark Lord]

So, with these tools you can play them on Zelda Classic? I sure hope thats what he meant. O_O Thanks!

[Hermit]

Ok boys and girls, I'll make this as simplistic as possible...

MP3 -> MOD
Do Not, I repeat Do Not do any converting of an mp3 -> wav. Doing this is where your results will gain you nothing but gargantuan file sizes.

Solution: Simple. Load your MP3 file into a player, hit Play, and record it elsewhere with another program at a lower bitrate. Most mp3s have an initial wav bitrate of 44100 stereo. Perhaps re-record it as a wav to 22500 stereo or below (11000 stereo being optimal).

Now that we have our re-recorded and conveniently smaller wav we can now place it in a tracker. Yes, modplug is the most versitile due to it's support for every tracker file in existance. Just start a new file, and load your wav in the "sample" area. While still in the "sample" area of the project, use your keyboard like a piano and start pushing letters until you find the right one that matches what the song sounds like (I'm not going to bother with all the technical jargon and whatnot)... remember what key you pressed =)

Go to the "Pattern" section. Click on the first space in any channel you wish (obviously Channel 1 if it's just 1 wav). Row 0 should be highlighted after the click, press whatever key you played for the song in the "sample" area.

Almost done. Now you've got your song put in there, but there's just 1 more thing to do before saving. We need to add a few blank patterns to the song so that the wav isn't cut short at the end of pattern 0 (which is where you just put your song).
At the top of the "Pattern" section, you'll see a row of white boxes. This is where we tell our song when to play a pattern. We just made pattern 0 so obviously a 0 is in the first box. Right click the second box and "Create New Pattern". Right click the 3rd box and "Create New Pattern".

Now we need to make sure we have enough patterns so that the song will play all the way through. Hit F6 to play the song entirely. If it ever gets cut, then just add another new blank pattern like we did above. If it plays fully, and you still have extra blank patterns, you'll want to delete these. We want just enough patterns so that the song plays fully, nothing more.

Save the file, you're done =)

MIDI -> MOD
If you have no sequencing prowess about you, I wouldn't even bother attempting this. 99% of the time, once a midi is imported into a tracker, it'll require some heavy editing work (both samplewise and sequencingwise). By default, the tracker will simply read the midi as is and designate your soundcards GM soundbanks for the instruments. If you haven't figured it out yet, basic GM soundcard banks suck =)

I'm not going to bother explaining this one unless someone is really interested enough to know because this would pretty much require some tutoring for anyone with little to no sequencing experience.

If you still need help, feel free to PM me or find me in the ZCN chat. I'll be happy to lend a hand when I can =)

[fatcatfan]

Right. dbPowerAmp Music Convertor is nice for changing sample rates. And it does it very quickly in memory - rather than in realtime by re-recording playback.

-=[EDIT]=-
oooooh. Go to http://www.fmod.org/fmoddownload.html and scroll down looking for OGGMod XM converter tool. With it you can compress XM samples with the OGG Vorbis audio codec. Result? Higher quality with smaller file size.

[Dark Lord]

Um, is XM supported in ZC? I am going to go check real quick anyways...

[fatcatfan]

Yeah, IT, XM, MOD, S3M in the latest betas. But I doubt the OGG compressed XMs will work. So that link probably won't help any.

[J.J. Maxx]

Originally posted by Hermit
Solution: Simple. Load your MP3 file into a player, hit Play, and record it elsewhere with another program at a lower bitrate. Most mp3s have an initial wav bitrate of 44100 stereo. Perhaps re-record it as a wav to 22500 stereo or below (11000 stereo being optimal).[/B]

Um, why not just open your MP3 in Winamp and set the output to DiskWriter and set the sample rate. Now just play your song in Winamp and it will output the wav?

[Hermit]

There are multiple ways of re-recording an mp3 into a smaller wav file.

I just gave one basic example. I'm not about to list every known way possible. That's a list that'd take days to complete. :shrug:

Use whatever you want. The point is though, mp3s need to be re-recorded or re-converted in some fashion regardless of how it's done. Otherwise, you'll end up with the 50-80MB wav file, and a 50-80MB MOD file.

[DarkFlameWolf]

well Death link, if I posted links when I got some working, then that would defeat the purpose of having them exclusively for my quest until it was released, now wouldn't it? :)