SCI Sound Tools

These tools are for people who don't want just simple slap-a-midi-file-in-soundbox-and-put-it-in-your-sci-game procedure. These tools will allow you to produce Adlib and Roland MT-32 soundtracks in your games. They will also allow you to use Digital Sound Effects in your game like Roger Wilco speaking in the SQ3 introduction sequence ("Where am I?") and the sound of the gate closing at the beginning of the KQ1 SCI remake.

Syx2Ins (source included) (ZIP file) [18 KB] - Converts (or rather, pulls instrument patch lists from) a custom MT-32 programmed SYX file to the Cakewalk/Sonar INS instrument list format. Since the MT-32 is a programmable synthesizer the patch lists are usually completely different based on what you're composing. Rather than compose in a sequencer by patch number only (0-127) or by typing out the instrument list by hand (takes a very long time!), now you can get the instrument list straight from any MT-32 SYX file and import it into Cakewalk/Sonar easily and painlessly! Includes source code.

Adlib INSMaker (creates and edits custom Adlib BNK files. Read below)

Sierra MT-32 SysEx Banks (MT-32 sysex dumps from various Sierra games)

SBank 1.06 - Manages SoundBlaster and Adlib instrument files and sound banks. It will translate between .INS, .SBI, InsMaker's .BNK, and Sound Blaster's .IBK files. It will also report instrument names stored in bank files and display musical parameters contained in the instrument definitions.

SCI Sound Tools Pack - For a description of each program and their functions, I've copy and pasted the following from an old post I made on the Mega-Tokyo forums just before the SCI Community website first went down.

AddWav.exe - Ammends a digital WAV file to a sound resource. This will enable you to have digital sounds in your game. This is possible because we know that SQ3 as well as a couple other games had digital audio sounds. You'll need to use either the SNDBLAST.DRV or MTBLAST.DRV drivers for digital sounds to work. Some limitations: the WAV file must be 8-bit mono and the resulting sound resource must be no bigger than 65536 bytes.

Bnk2Pat - Converts the Adlib Instrument Maker INS file format to Sierra's SCI0 patch file format for use in SCI0 games. BNK files must be saved in "Melodic Mode" or it won't sound right in-game. The converter will warn you if the file is not in the right format. You're also limited to 96 total instruments (an SCI0 limitation). See also SBank 1.06

Pat2Bnk - Converts Sierra's SCI0 Adlib instrument patch resources into Adlib Instrument Maker's BNK file format. For use if you want to reuse Adlib instruments from another Sierra SCI0 game.

Syx2Pat - Converts an MT-32 custom instrument SysEx file into Sierra's MT-32 instrument patch resource format for use in SCI0 games. It will also create (with the use of a text file) the 3 text messages that you can have show on your MT-32's LCD display just like Sierra's games did.

SndPrf - SCI Sound Resource Profiler by Ravi I. Usage sndprf <infile>

Note: there's also programs out there that will convert the M32 file format to the SYX format. You can obtain one at the Quest Studios website in the MT-32 Resource Center as well as a database of SysEx files from all of Sierra's games if you want to reuse some instruments you like from your favourite game. There's also a database of tons of other MT-32 instruments not used in Sierra's games that you could use as well. In addition to all this there are some MT-32 librarian program options you can select from as well to make your own instruments (you'll need one if you want to rip instruments out of existing Sierra games and create your own SYX instrument collection).

InsMaker - Adlib Instrument Maker. Creates BNK files of custom Adlib sounds. All BNK files you wish to convert to SCI0's patch format must be saved in "Melodic Mode" in the Options menu and must have no more than a maximum of 96 instruments. This program is best run inside DOSBox as it requires an FM Synth MIDI device which no modern sound card has, nor any modern OS supports.

In addition to these tools, these sound drivers are also available:

SNDBLAST.DRV - This driver allows SCI0 games to have stereo Adlib music (ADL.DRV is mono-only) and digital sound effects, if any are ammended to a sound resource.

MTBLAST.DRV - The same as MT32.DRV except it also supports digital audio-ammended sound resources.

MPUMIDI.DRV - For use when you just want to convert a MIDI to a sound resource quickly with SoundBox and not worry about all that instrument-creation stuff. The difference between this and GM.DRV is this one just chooses the instruments based on what patch number they're using while GM.DRV is for games that have no GM mapped instruments and tries to guess the General MIDI instrument equivalent based on the MT-32 instrument names. Use this driver if you aren't planning on having Adlib or MT-32 support.

GM.DRV - General MIDI driver. Used mainly with official Sierra SCI0 games. This driver guesses the General MIDI instruments by reading the MT-32 instrument names and choosing the closest-resembling General MIDI equivalent with mixed results depending on the game. Use this if you do plan on having Adlib and MT-32 support.

Unfortunately I don't have a GMBLAST.DRV that will allow you to have General MIDI music and digital sounds together for an SCI0 game. So currently the only way you can have digital sounds in your game is to use either MTBLAST.DRV or SNDBLAST.DRV and neither of those support General MIDI. I'm looking for one, though.

You can help keep The Sierra Help Pages alive by helping to defray some of the costs of hosting this site. If it has been of help to you, please consider contributing to help keep it online.

Thank you.

Top