The Incredible Machine (TIM) 1992 music format

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Levellass
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The Incredible Machine (TIM) 1992 music format

Post by Levellass »

Just fishing for information here, but recently been poking around Sierra's The Incredible Machine and I am curious about the music format. A few people have told me it's MIDI but looking at one of the files simply titled 'music' ( https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3940020/MUSIC ) it seems to be more like a module format, maybe adlib?

Does anyone have any clues? The question is eating at me.

Also, just to be sure this is the game I'm talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plb3eweivDE
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thehackercat
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Post by thehackercat »

That file doesn't appear to be in MIDI format, and the music in the video doesn't sound like any MIDI synth I've heard. I'm especially getting an FM-synth vibe from those basslines. I've never played The Incredible Machine before; was there an option to select an output for music (ex. Adlib/Soundblaster/MIDI) like Duke3D had? That might reveal a little about the music formatting.

There's still the possibility that it IS a set of MIDI instructions, but compressed somehow to fit in the game installation?
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

Information on other TIM games talks about a midi-like format: http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=SCI

The file looks like it contains mod samples, like you'd see in an s3m file, what could be some sort of track data and wave data as well. (It doesn't sound like anything converted to wave format though.)

It's all very confusing.
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Post by kvee »

That's AdLib. I actually know Zedek (who uploaded the video) and he is a FM soundchip enthusiast, so that makes sense.

Also if the game supports standard MIDI output, it might be possible to capture it with some MIDI + DOSBox magic!
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Post by MoffD »

I actually want this music bad (probably listened to it too much) If there's an easy way to extract it I'd be one very happy dopefish. :dopekeen

Also: Hi Hackercat! How's life?
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

Figures as much, it bears a very passing resemblance to the PSM format. But I have no idea where to go from there. (Turns out something I thought was the game music is actually from a cracking ring a friend of mine was part of, they sent me a message that i totally didn't see until just now.)
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Post by Batteryman »

Levellass wrote:Figures as much, it bears a very passing resemblance to the PSM format. But I have no idea where to go from there. (Turns out something I thought was the game music is actually from a cracking ring a friend of mine was part of, they sent me a message that i totally didn't see until just now.)
I might take a look at it , if so i will post it if i manage to do some convertions
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The Incredible Machine AdLib RIP

Post by Batteryman »

Here is The Incredible Machine music converted to IMF format, same format as used in many Apogee games.

You can use adplug for winamp to play your OPL/AdLib tunes
https://goo.gl/ay6lMB
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Re: The Incredible Machine AdLib RIP

Post by Batteryman »

Also i can say TIM has Midi and AdLib.

It uses 2 modes of MIDI you can use MT32 or Sound Canvas
And 2 types of Synthesis music FM or PC Speaker,
but PC Speaker only plays two tunes if i'm correct.

If you use Soundblaster settings on TIM it use digitized audio for a few effect and FM for the music
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Re: The Incredible Machine AdLib RIP

Post by Batteryman »

Batteryman wrote:Here is The Incredible Machine music converted to IMF format, same format as used in many Apogee games.

You can use adplug for winamp to play your OPL/AdLib tunes
https://goo.gl/ay6lMB

Update : Added more tracks

https://goo.gl/sn9pR4
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Re: The Incredible Machine AdLib RIP

Post by MoffD »

Batteryman wrote:
Batteryman wrote:Here is The Incredible Machine music converted to IMF format, same format as used in many Apogee games.

You can use adplug for winamp to play your OPL/AdLib tunes
https://goo.gl/ay6lMB

Update : Added more tracks

https://goo.gl/sn9pR4
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Re: The Incredible Machine AdLib RIP

Post by Batteryman »

MoffD wrote:
You Sir or Madam, are a hero. Many thanks and have some Tranya.
Thank you
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Post by Levellass »

Remarkable, remarkable. So do you have any details on the specifics? Might be nice to add them to the modding wiki. My (limited) explorations didn't find anything that looked like midi files so I'm curious how things are arranged.
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Details

Post by Batteryman »

Levellass wrote:Remarkable, remarkable. So do you have any details on the specifics? Might be nice to add them to the modding wiki. My (limited) explorations didn't find anything that looked like midi files so I'm curious how things are arranged.
Well actually, the first time i actually figured it out whas when i visit the Sierra music site a long time ago, where you could actually download thise midis.

They where mt32 midis with sysex config nicely packed inside a zip.
I did had a mt32 back in the day to test them, and as they stated they really show the uniqeness of the mt32 capabilities.

Later about the same day i released the IMF files, i whas thinkering with the setup file, INSTALL.COM , witch have 3 music setups, PC speaker, Roland MT32, Soundblaster and Soundcanvas.

I know how the PC speaker works, and the Soundblaster settings is playing the music in OPL format hence way i could record them in the first place. And later converted them to imf with a tool DRO2IMF.

The soundblaster settings also have a few digitized audio.
But the MT32 settings is using sound fx from the Midi bank.

This is something i could conform with BASSMIDI driver, running it with the windows gm soundfont , converted to sf2 , And while running the game in dosbox i could clearly hear the sound fx coming from the soundbank. so its using midi instruments for the sfx as well.

There is something i also suspect when running TIM in MT32, and that its supposed to reprogram your MT32 to GM mode. im not 100% sure, but im pretty sure, since how the instruments lines up so nicely.

And the last Sound Canvas mode didnt do anything..
Maybe i should hook up my real SC-88 pro to test it .
I know the 88 pro have MT32 instrument patches as well. but not the SC-55 as far as i know. or maybe it had.
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

Interesting. So do you know where they're stored in the game? The executable perhaps? I have very limited expertise in tracking down MIDI files.
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