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  • Joined: 09 Sep 2019
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Open VGM files in editor
Post Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:24 am
Hi!

Im new to the world of VGM music. I havent really understood from the information ive googled if its possible to open VGM files for editing/studying. Or is it only possible to play them?
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Post Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:08 am
They are a binary format. You can convert to text using VGMTool to see the data but it's not editable or informative.
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  • Joined: 25 Dec 2005
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Post Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:18 pm
Spend some time fiddling with Mod2psg2, it's a very good tracker.

Editing and playing in low speed makes possible to study melodies of all games, and you can also begin making your own.
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 2:10 am
I waited for a few days but now I have to wonder, how much interest would there be for a pure vgm editor? I have a few ideas on how I could make one, and I'm often bored enough so I could actually do that, but first I want to know how useful it would be. Not very much, I guess.
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 6:31 am
Well, I’ve hand edited VGM files a handful of times and managed OK with a hex editor - but then I ought to, it’s sort of my format. I don’t think you could usefully make any music this way.
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  • Joined: 01 Aug 2012
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Post Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 10:18 pm
you can actually convert the binary vgm files into hexdumps and edit them as text, and then convert bath them to vgm files back again

what i used to do was editing these hexdumps in an ide like geany, and in the same directory having a makefile that calls a bash script that converts it back to a binary vgm and plays it, this might help on the iteration process as you just need to press shift+f9 there

but when editing vgm files this way you are actually editing registers and their values, and time delay values between them, which might be not as "comfortable" as using a tracker or pianoroll interface
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  • Joined: 01 Aug 2012
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Post Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 6:14 pm
i think there are some great news about this topic - Furnace is becoming an amazing tracker, very worth trying: https://github.com/tildearrow/furnace (supports both sn76489 and ym2413, among a quite large bunch of chips, around of half supported from vgm 1.71, and also some chips still unsupported from that, like "konami bubble" (a pre-scc waveform chip with 2 channels), atari tia, atari mikey, amiga, sid, etc. )

i made this sdlBasic script that converts .vgm files (sn76489) into furnace clipboard format in a txt file - https://pastebin.com/raw/WBARwm4a - you need to copy pattern by pattern, and set the speed 1/1 in the play control - the noise frequency is still very far from accurate, and i didn't start ym2413 yet
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