FMDrive VST / YM2612 + Extended Vsti (Some News!)

For anything related to sound (YM2612, PSG, Z80, PCM...)

Moderator: BigEvilCorporation

Aly James
Very interested
Posts: 74
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:34 pm
Location: FRANCE
Contact:

FMDrive VST / YM2612 + Extended Vsti (Some News!)

Post by Aly James » Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:48 am

EDIT:
FMDRIVE is a VST SYNTH based on the SEGA GENESIS/MEGADRIVE FM sound chip it contains a ton of features that makes it easier to program than before and covers every particularity of the chip like:
PCM, SSG EG, Special & CSM mode, Optional Model 1 distortion (ladder effect) and even some circuit bending options...
You can import and export .tfi preset, dumps from emulators and even some compatible HOOT dumped voices (PC88 and compatible X68000...)
Every registers are automatable in your DAW of choice via MIDI and the output can be converted into a VGM file.

Last but not least the FM audio process itself can be optionally turned into "HD Mode", finer envelope resolution at any rates.

HD mode can also run at a higher sampling rate than the real chip pushing the limits of the aliasing, improving audio quality.

SOUNDCLOUD CHANNEL:
https://soundcloud.com/alyjameslab/sets/fmdrive-vsti

PREVIEW
http://youtu.be/wU4COz6Gc4U

UPDATE
http://youtu.be/Hdlj8Vjof6c

QUICK AUDIO COMPARISONS
http://youtu.be/8Mk26qRBwjQ
http://youtu.be/8qAkbtnzinI

GET IT @ www.alyjameslab.com
Image

ORDER OPEN ON APRIL 14 2013
Fact is that the Megadrive had a very characteristic and cool sound, much cooler than Nintendo's :)

I grew up playing some great games on the genesis.
So, I thought the Genesis/Megadrive also deserves that kind of attention and its own VST Instrument.
You may think, the YM2612 chip is basically another 4 Operator YAMAHA FM synth but there is more...
DAC, SSG Envelopes and Special operating MODES (CSM).
On top of that the Megadrive had a distinctive distorted sound, more or less present, depending on revision models.
FMDRIVE is suitable for chip music and SEGA nostalgic pleasure and also a powerful FM tool for modern music production.
Check the manual (free download) and see by yourself!
Take your chance, even the legendary Yuzo Koshiro is using it :)

For complete Megadrive sound emulation SPSG VST take cares of the PSG chip!

ABOUT FMDRIVE 2612 VST

This emulation uses a totally new core that I started from scratch a few months ago and was almost fine tuned by ear
so minors differences with the hardware could appears sometimes. (improved in 1.23.)
The goal was on one hand to reproduce the hardware distortion (ladder effect) of the YM2612 and supporting all the particular features of the chip
and on the other hand to expand further the original capabilities and create an optional high resolution processing mode for perfect sound quality.
Also added software lfos...

I have tested the not well known CSM "illegal mode" usage, designing custom roms to investigate further
and finally include a way in FMDrive VST to use it musically.

You can design a vast range of sound on top of 33000 instruments presets already available from Games Roms.
Go further with extended controls, and even midi control a real sega genesis with a special hardware add on interface
GENMDM designed by Little Scale that will receive the MIDI from FMDrive.

DONATION start at 12 $ (10€) and PACKAGE will INCLUDE

FMDRIVE 2612 Standalone with nice BIG SIZE GUI 1296 x 787
FMDRIVE 2612 Vsti with nice BIG SIZE GUI 1296 x 787

VGM2TFI 2.0 with GUI (extract tfi patches from vgm with "corrected DT parameters" and create a folder with the name of the vgm)
HUGE FULL SET OF TFI PATCHES (round 33000!) from game roms etc...
AND A BUNCH OF TOOLS... :)

_____________________________________________________


There is already some vids on youtube, made during the development process.
however the actual version got quite some changes, improvements and better accuracy.
for example some fun with the CSM mode...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1OUGzeD ... LXug3hdhnA :)
I will make a proper post when it is out and add some high res pictures if there is some interest.
++ AJ
Last edited by Aly James on Wed Mar 19, 2014 6:02 am, edited 10 times in total.

neologix
Very interested
Posts: 122
Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 5:19 pm
Location: New York, NY, USA
Contact:

Post by neologix » Mon Apr 01, 2013 4:55 pm

It's finally being released! ^_____^

Welcome to these forums, guy, and I hope the FMDRIVE becomes successful for you :)

Aly James
Very interested
Posts: 74
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:34 pm
Location: FRANCE
Contact:

Post by Aly James » Tue Apr 02, 2013 10:13 am

neologix wrote:It's finally being released! ^_____^

Welcome to these forums, guy, and I hope the FMDRIVE becomes successful for you :)
Thanks :) , I just wanted to add another tool for the SEGA MEGADRIVE/GENESIS lovers and also extend the instrument to a broader audience.
If there is any interest I may add support for the SN76489 in a future release..in a different vst besides.

Any news regarding the YM2612 REGISTERS to MIDI CC vgm2midi thing ?
Last edited by Aly James on Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

neologix
Very interested
Posts: 122
Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 5:19 pm
Location: New York, NY, USA
Contact:

Post by neologix » Tue Apr 02, 2013 4:54 pm

Aly James wrote: Any news regarding the YM2612 REGISTERS to MIDI CC vgm2midi thing ?
ValleyBell is open to it, but I haven't been in touch with him for a bit. Once I get in touch with him again I'll ask him if we can get a version to try that includes the events.

letoulousain
Interested
Posts: 42
Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:32 pm
Location: toulouse

Post by letoulousain » Wed Apr 03, 2013 1:45 am

Very Nice. :D
thanks to Stef SGDK

bastien
Very interested
Posts: 208
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:19 pm
Location: Besançon,France
Contact:

Post by bastien » Wed Apr 03, 2013 2:23 pm

Wow seems to have very good.works here :P
I have a question , you talk about export with real hardware compatibility, is this include a specific sgdk driver? ( with can control both pcm and fm )?
Thanks!

Aly James
Very interested
Posts: 74
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:34 pm
Location: FRANCE
Contact:

Post by Aly James » Thu Apr 04, 2013 4:15 am

bastien wrote:Wow seems to have very good.works here :P
I have a question , you talk about export with real hardware compatibility, is this include a specific sgdk driver? ( with can control both pcm and fm )?
Thanks!
Thanks, I just enhanced the DAC custom waveform with an LFSR that generate random bytes... tasty :)
sgdk driver ? nope the connection with the hardware is made via the GENMDM midi Interface designed by Little Scale. FMDRIVE 2612 can act as a VST MIDI controller in this case, provides enhanced control and visual feedback.

Aly James
Very interested
Posts: 74
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:34 pm
Location: FRANCE
Contact:

Post by Aly James » Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:22 am

Description edited, I just finished the 45 pages manual. :)

neologix
Very interested
Posts: 122
Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 5:19 pm
Location: New York, NY, USA
Contact:

Post by neologix » Sat Apr 20, 2013 10:39 pm

Just donated! I look forward to some YM2612 VSTi goodness :D

ValleyBell told me he will work on updating VGM2MIDI in a few weeks to add the CC conversions, so that's a thing to look forward to in the future as well :)

Aly James
Very interested
Posts: 74
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:34 pm
Location: FRANCE
Contact:

Post by Aly James » Sun Apr 21, 2013 12:53 am

neologix wrote:Just donated! I look forward to some YM2612 VSTi goodness :D

ValleyBell told me he will work on updating VGM2MIDI in a few weeks to add the CC conversions, so that's a thing to look forward to in the future as well :)
Greeeaaaaaaat for the CC!!
I have updated the first post with video links :)

PREVIEW
http://youtu.be/wU4COz6Gc4U

QUICK AUDIO COMPARISON
http://youtu.be/8qAkbtnzinI

++

Aly James
Very interested
Posts: 74
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:34 pm
Location: FRANCE
Contact:

Post by Aly James » Wed May 15, 2013 8:19 pm

Image

I am proud to announce that the Legendary composer Yuzo Koshiro (SOR, Revenge of Shinobi etc...) is now a proud FMDRIVE User!
The fun story is that he tells me that he tried to donate for FMDRIVE the day he saw it on the news but was kind of blocked by paypal in Japan...
I offered him a copy as he is one of the reason why I put my headphones on the MD when I was a kid smile

I hope he will drop some nice FM magic with it, he twitted a picture of his 64bit system using cubase 6.5 starting toying with FMDRIVE and a few minute later started to test an made two tests from his actual work that he sent to his dropbox :
http://twitter.com/yuzokoshiro
Home it makes you happy as I am :)

Aly James
Very interested
Posts: 74
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:34 pm
Location: FRANCE
Contact:

Post by Aly James » Wed May 15, 2013 8:31 pm

SOME NEW LINKS:

Basic CSM test on the hardware during the dev process:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... PRMF-1qe3s

Comparison and audio on soundclound
http://soundcloud.com/alyjameslab

Eke
Very interested
Posts: 884
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:57 pm
Contact:

Post by Eke » Wed May 15, 2013 9:43 pm

wow, the fact you got a professional MD music composer using your program is really impressive 8)

from the soundcloud recordings you posted, i must say emulation sounds quite good , how are you filtering the digital output exactly (high pass, low pass, etc) ? and how did you implemented the characteristic DAC "distorsion" ?

everybody probably told you already but the interface is purely awesome, especially the virtual MD design and buttons integration: i initially wanted to do something similar with genesis plus gx GUI but never really managed to vectorize megadrive hardware stuff so they would look realistic but still more like a virtual console than basic photo realistic pictures... i guess that's where you see what real artists can do :roll:

Aly James
Very interested
Posts: 74
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:34 pm
Location: FRANCE
Contact:

Post by Aly James » Wed May 15, 2013 10:34 pm

Eke wrote:wow, the fact you got a professional MD music composer using your program is really impressive 8)

from the soundcloud recordings you posted, i must say emulation sounds quite good , how are you filtering the digital output exactly (high pass, low pass, etc) ? and how did you implemented the characteristic DAC "distorsion" ?

everybody probably told you already but the interface is purely awesome, especially the virtual MD design and buttons integration: i initially wanted to do something similar with genesis plus gx GUI but never really managed to vectorize megadrive hardware stuff so they would look realistic but still more like a virtual console than basic photo realistic pictures... i guess that's where you see what real artists can do :roll:
Thanks for your kind words, coming from you, it is an honor :) most of the people in here I really wise and talented regarding the MD dev, my knowledge is only related to music and audio stuff, however now I know quite a bit on the YM2612 too :)

Actually some people really love the non standard interface an some people hate it, I think it is just a question of personal taste...I like non standard thing.
The output is lowpass filtered a bit in MD1 mode and also the output of the M1 operator (the one with feedback) it sounded closer that way. no high pass to keep the bass strong..
DEPRECATED The DAC distortion was the harder part...it can bring something to the sound and actually change the shape of the initial sine wave in time...of course to not kill your CPU it is an approximation, not a straight copy.
I found a close approximation of the effect watching the process on oscilloscope.
When TL goes lower (more generally the output volume in db) the effect goes higher. The process take the DAC output an uses an ATAN distortion function to distort the sine wave, the top an bottom starts to be slowly rectified ended up to a near square wave at near max attenuation.
Also there is a waveshaping (at the beginning it was non linear, but cost to much cpu, so I ended up with a static one, that is close) on the sine that emulate the extra harmonics even at max volume.

A better implementation is used on FMDrive 1.23 it is in the YM2612 sticky doc :)

On the other hand the HQ mode does the reverse, not only distortion free but far more data points are used for calculating the envelopes than on the original chip, resulting in smooth transition in parameters at any rates... the high frequencies are also unfiltered.

now some info of what I did with the CSM mode. most of the people here already know about this but I drop a few words regarding the particular implementation in FMDRIVE too

Best Regards
Image
Last edited by Aly James on Sat Nov 30, 2013 3:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

TmEE co.(TM)
Very interested
Posts: 2440
Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:37 pm
Location: Estonia, Rapla City
Contact:

Post by TmEE co.(TM) » Wed May 15, 2013 11:36 pm

Code: Select all

SELECT CASE OPNmode
CASE 1                             'YM3438 mode
 OPNbuf(i%, 0) = Lft AND &HFF80
 OPNbuf(i%, 1) = Rit AND &HFF80
CASE 2                             'YM2612 mode
 IF (Lft > 0) AND (Lft < 256) THEN
  OPNbuf(i%, 0) = Lft AND &HFF00
 ELSE
  OPNbuf(i%, 0) = Lft AND &HFF80
 END IF
 IF (Rit > 0) AND (Rit < 256) THEN
  OPNbuf(i%, 1) = Rit AND &HFF00
 ELSE
  OPNbuf(i%, 1) = Rit AND &HFF80
 END IF
CASE ELSE                          'Silky smooth mode
 OPNbuf(i%, 0) = Lft
 OPNbuf(i%, 1) = Rit
END SELECT
I do this in my core and it produces spectrally correct output compared to real chips, to the last details. I have not came up with any cleaner way to do this, maybe a bigass array to do translation so there's no compares and jumps...
EDIT: now looking at it, I need to do this crushing before panning stuff, will save cycles :P
Mida sa loed ? Nagunii aru ei saa ;)
http://www.tmeeco.eu
Files of all broken links and images of mine are found here : http://www.tmeeco.eu/FileDen

Post Reply