Difference between revisions of "Sound Routine (NES Driver)"

Revision as of 00:04, 15 December 2015

Sound Routine 4 Gou (サウンドルーチン４ごう) (English: Sound Routine) is the sound driver used by several composers at Advance Communication Company. It was used to create music and sound effects for the NES for at least 13 games. It was also used in one Famicom Disk System game, but the FDS expansion channel was not implemented. The name comes from the credits of Circus Caper (NES) as サウンドルーチン４ごう (Sound Routine Version 4), indicating there were at least four revisions of the sound driver . The program's source code has not been released, but can probably be reverse engineered from the various games it was used in.

Michiharu Hasuya is assumed to have programmed the sound driver because the similarities the driver has to his earlier sound driver that he used at Tecmo and Vic Tokai. According to Hasuya, he had to write his music in assembly, so it is assumed that is how the driver is used.

Release History

The first known game developed by Advance Communication to use the driver was Patlabor The Mobile Police for the Famicom Disk System. From the sounds of it, the driver was Hasuya's engine that he used at Tecmo and Vic Tokai. In the later games from around 1988+, the instruments became more unique, as they had tremolo and vibrato added to them. Besides that, the most notable difference is that the triangle channel usually plays in octaves, the lower octave being played one frame before the square and noise channels play a note.

There are two versions of the sound driver; one tuned at approximately 449.2 Hz and the other tuned at approximately 440.4 Hz.

Games

Note: Games with a "?" represent unconfirmed games that may or may not use the sound engine.

Technical

It is unknown what native formats were used to store the music, but, like all NES games, the machine code can be logged to NSF. The driver doesn't appear to have the ability to use the DPCM channel of the RP2A03.

Frequency Registers

(Note: While most of the engine's games use these frequency registers, there are a few games such as Ys III which have a different frequency set.)

Old Version

B-7 = 0E
A#7 = 0F
A-7 = 10
G#7 = 11
G-7 = 12
F#7 = 13
F-7 = 14
E-7 = 15
D#7 = 16
D-7 = 18
C#7 = 19
C-7 = 1A
B-6 = 1C
A#6 = 1D
A-6 = 1F
G#6 = 21
G-6 = 23
F#6 = 25
F-6 = 27
E-6 = 29
D#6 = 2C
D-6 = 2F
C#6 = 31
C-6 = 34
B-5 = 37
A#5 = 3B
A-5 = 3E
G#5 = 42
G-5 = 46
F#5 = 4A
F-5 = 4E
E-5 = 53
D#5 = 58
D-5 = 5D
C#5 = 63
C-5 = 69
B-4 = 6F
A#4 = 75
A-4 = 7C
G#4 = 84
G-4 = 8C
F#4 = 94
F-4 = 9D
E-4 = A6
D#4 = B0
D-4 = BA
C#4 = C5
C-4 = D1
B-3 = DD
A#3 = EB
A-3 = F9
G#3 = 107
G-3 = 117
F#3 = 128
F-3 = 139
E-3 = 14C
D#3 = 160
D-3 = 174
C#3 = 18B
C-3 = 1A2
B-2 = 1BB
A#2 = 1D5
A-2 = 1F1
G#2 = 20F
G-2 = 22E
F#2 = 24F
F-2 = 272
E-2 = 298
D#2 = 2BF
D-2 = 2E9
C#2 = 315
C-2 = 344
B-1 = 376
A#1 = 3AB
A-1 = 3E2
G#1 = 41D
G-1 = 45C
F#1 = 49E
F-1 = 4E5
E-1 = 52F
D#1 = 57E
D-1 = 5D2
C#1 = 62A
C-1 = 688
B-0 = 6EC
A#0 = 755
A-0 = 7C5
G#0 = 83B
G-0 = 8B8
F#0 = 93D
F-0 = 9CA
E-0 = A5E
D#0 = AFC
D-0 = BA4
C#0 = C55
C-0 = D10

New Version

B-7 = 0E
A#7 = 0F
A-7 = 10
G#7 = 11
G-7 = 12
F#7 = 13
F-7 = 14
E-7 = 15
D#7 = 16
D-7 = 18
C#7 = 19
C-7 = 1A
B-6 = 1C
A#6 = 1D
A-6 = 1F
G#6 = 21
G-6 = 23
F#6 = 25
F-6 = 27
E-6 = 2A
D#6 = 2C
D-6 = 2F
C#6 = 32
C-6 = 35
B-5 = 38
A#5 = 3B
A-5 = 3F
G#5 = 43
G-5 = 47
F#5 = 4B
F-5 = 4F
E-5 = 54
D#5 = 59
D-5 = 5F
C#5 = 64
C-5 = 6A
B-4 = 71
A#4 = 78
A-4 = 7F
G#4 = 86
G-4 = 8E
F#4 = 97
F-4 = A0
E-4 = A9
D#4 = B3
D-4 = BE
C#4 = CA
C-4 = D6
B-3 = E2
A#3 = F0
A-3 = FE
G#3 = 10D
G-3 = 11E
F#3 = 12F
F-3 = 141
E-3 = 154
D#3 = 168
D-3 = 17E
C#3 = 194
C-3 = 1AC
B-2 = 1C6
A#2 = 1E1
A-2 = 1FD
G#2 = 21C
G-2 = 23C
F#2 = 25E
F-2 = 282
E-2 = 2A9
D#2 = 2D1
D-2 = 2FC
C#2 = 329
C-2 = 359
B-1 = 38C
A#1 = 3C2
A-1 = 3FB
G#1 = 439
G-1 = 479
F#1 = 4BC
F-1 = 504
E-1 = 54E
D#1 = 59E
D-1 = 5F5
C#1 = 64E
C-1 = 6AF
B-0 = 6EC
A#0 = 755
A-0 = 7C5
G#0 = 83B
G-0 = 8B8
F#0 = 93D
F-0 = 9CA
E-0 = A5E
D#0 = AFC
D-0 = BA4
C#0 = C55
C-0 = D10

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