Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Sound effects (thunder, door creak...) (Read 4590 times) previous topic - next topic

Sound effects (thunder, door creak...)

Hi... this is probably an easy thing to do but I still haven't figured it out yet.

I have an onboard Yamaha XG.  On top of the sound effects instruments (gunshot, seashore, etc.) there are others, like thunder, rain, explosions, etc.  (Right now, I need "thunder" and "door".)  Thanks to Fred, I know I have to choose channel 10, set controller 0 to 126, and 32 to 0.

But no matter which instrument I choose, clef or note, it just won't play the SFX.  This would mean my sound card simply doesn't have those sounds, but I have one midi file that plays them.

When I play that midi file normally, it has those SFX.  But when I transpose it to Noteworthy, all sounds play like the telephone ring.  Why will they play in midi but not after the file is opened in NW?  My sound card has no documentation, nor does Yamaha support.  Where does that mysterious door creak hide from .mid to .nwc?

Re: Sound effects (thunder, door creak...)

Reply #1 –
 
I can't know exactly but I guess you should rearrange the bank controllers after importing your midi into NWC. Check if it's set to the values you have mentioned.

Hth
 

Re: Sound effects (thunder, door creak...)

Reply #2 –
Yes. The door creak, scream, dogs barking, stuff like that are in a special FX bank. This is accessed by setting Controller 0 to 64 (this is the only time Cont. 0 is used, normally for XG only Controller 32 is used). It can be on any channel except channel 10.

There's a couple XG "toolbox" files at the Scriptorium. If you play one staff at a time using Shift F5, you can readily tell which banks your particular XG implentation supports. (Note: the onboard XG systems such as DS-XG sometimes don't support all of the banks.)

Re: Sound effects (thunder, door creak...)

Reply #3 –
>>There's a couple XG "toolbox" files at the Scriptorium. If you play one staff at a time using Shift F5, you can readily tell which banks your particular XG implentation supports. (Note: the onboard XG systems such as DS-XG sometimes don't support all of the banks.)<<

I know, I have such a file (written by you, very helpful, BTW, thanks!).  And that's my question.  Since the sounds plays in midi, it means my sound card does support it, right?  How can it play otherwise?  Anyway, Noteworthy imports the "door creak" staff on channel 15, with the "telephone ring" instrument (#124 or 125).  I feel as though I've tried every controller setting and nothing works.  I really wonder where does that mysterious SFX hide!

Re: Sound effects (thunder, door creak...)

Reply #4 –
If you'd like, you can send me the midi and I'll have a look.

Re: Sound effects (thunder, door creak...)

Reply #5 –
>>If you'd like, you can send me the midi and I'll have a look.<<

Damn, that's so nice of you, thanks!  It's in your box.

Re: Sound effects (thunder, door creak...)

Reply #6 –
OK, got the midi and had a look at it. First off, it uses SysEx (System Exclusive) commands at the beginning, one of which apparently specifies GS (not XG!) mode. (Unfortunately I've never delved into the fine points about SysEx, so can't say much more about this.)

The "door creak" effect is in the third track. If you import it into NWC, it'll therefore be the third staff (as you probably know). The instrument assignment is imported correctly, and is patch #125 ("telephone"). In the midi, this track sets Controller 0 to 2. However, NWC apparently does not import bank-select controllers (learn something new every day!)

However, even if the instrument assignment is changed to match the midi, it still doesn't work on my XG system - presumably because the SysEx commands are missing. (NWC does not presently support this.)

But you can get it to work on a true XG system by editing the patch assignment in the third staff. Change it from #125 (telephone ring) to #66 (alto sax), check "Select a patch bank", and set Controller 0 to 64. (Or just copy the assignment from the XG toolbox.) That makes it work on my system (you can go to bar 35 and press Shift-F5 to test it.)

If this still doesn't work on your system, that would tend to indicate that it's not a full XG implementation, but does (at least partly) support GS - if appropriately enabled using SysEx.

Hope this helps.

Re: Sound effects (thunder, door creak...)

Reply #7 –
>>The "door creak" effect is in the third track. If you import it into NWC, it'll therefore be the third staff (as you probably know). The instrument assignment is imported correctly, and is patch #125 ("telephone"). In the midi, this track sets Controller 0 to 2. However, NWC apparently does not import bank-select controllers (learn something new every day!)<<

Okay... Here, it's the fourth track, and controllers are reset to 0.  It's indeed the annoying telephone that comes out.

>>But you can get it to work on a true XG system by editing the patch assignment in the third staff. Change it from #125 (telephone ring) to #66 (alto sax), check "Select a patch bank", and set Controller 0 to 64. (Or just copy the assignment from the XG toolbox.) That makes it work on my system (you can go to bar 35 and press Shift-F5 to test it.)<<

Unfortunately, it doesn't work.  So you're telling me although my soundcard can play that door creak if asked nicely, Noteworthy doesn't because of technical issues I don't understand.  Umm... well, okay, thanks for going through all that trouble.  Guess I'll just pass on the sound effects.  Or add that SysEx thing to the NW wishlist... ;-)

Thanks again

Re: Sound effects (thunder, door creak...)

Reply #8 –
mabye its a simpler thing. did you click the Select a Patch Bank box?

or ive also seen, if you have a separate bank, doing shift F5 from or after the bar with the patch, wont play the sub patch, just the normal one, in your case the telephone, try starting playback from the bar before the instrument patch, or if its at the start, add a bar of rests before it.

Re: Sound effects (thunder, door creak...)

Reply #9 –
>>mabye its a simpler thing. did you click the Select a Patch Bank box?<<

Yes, at first I didn't, but now I double check everytime.

>>or ive also seen, if you have a separate bank, doing shift F5 from or after the bar with the patch, wont play the sub patch, just the normal one, in your case the telephone, try starting playback from the bar before the instrument patch, or if its at the start, add a bar of rests before it.<<

Ah, I didn't know that.  But it doesn't work either.  I've even played the whole song and it just plays the telephone.  And after Fred's suggestions, the alto sax.

Thanks for the help guys, it's really appreciated.