Difference between revisions of "MUS"
From DoomWiki.org
| [checked revision] | [checked revision] |
(more info) |
(→Limitations) |
||
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
==Limitations== | ==Limitations== | ||
| − | The MUS format can only use the first 9 MIDI channels using the first 8 for music instruments and the 9th for drums. The reason this is forced upon the format is that | + | The MUS format can only use the first 9 MIDI channels using the first 8 for music instruments and the 9th for drums. The reason this is forced upon the format is that [[OPL2]] cards ({{wp|Ad Lib, Inc.|Adlib}}, {{wp|Sound Blaster#First generation Sound Blasters, 8-bit ISA & MCA cards|Sound Blaster 1.0, SB 1.5, SB 2.0}}) had only nine channels. FM cards with dual OPL2 ({{wp|Sound Blaster#Second-generation Sound Blasters, 16-bit ISA & MCA cards|SB Pro}}, {{wp|Media Vision Pro AudioSpectrum|Pro AudioSpectrum}}) or OPL3 ({{wp|Sound Blaster#Sound Blaster Pro 2, CT1600|SB Pro 2}}, {{wp|Sound Blaster#Third generation Sound Blasters, 16-bit ISA cards|SB 16}}) had 18 channels, and any card fully compliant with the {{wp|General MIDI}} standard had to support at least 16 channels; but the success of the earlier 9-channel FM cards required going with the lower common denominator for compatibility reasons. |
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
Revision as of 07:21, 4 March 2014
 | This article or section is a stub. Please help the Doom Wiki by adding to it. |
The MUS format is a slightly altered MIDI format, created for DMX and used in the Doom engine soundtracks. MUS files are nearly identical to MIDI files, only slightly more compact. The file format has a size limit of 65536 bytes.
Support for standard MIDI files in vanilla Doom was added in version 1.5, which meant WAD authors no longer needed to convert MIDI files to MUS. However, since this was achieved by the game running MIDI2MUS internally when needed, authors looking for vanilla compatibility should make sure that the MIDI file they include can be successfully converted.
Limitations
The MUS format can only use the first 9 MIDI channels using the first 8 for music instruments and the 9th for drums. The reason this is forced upon the format is that OPL2 cards (Adlib, Sound Blaster 1.0, SB 1.5, SB 2.0) had only nine channels. FM cards with dual OPL2 (SB Pro, Pro AudioSpectrum) or OPL3 (SB Pro 2, SB 16) had 18 channels, and any card fully compliant with the General MIDI standard had to support at least 16 channels; but the success of the earlier 9-channel FM cards required going with the lower common denominator for compatibility reasons.
Notes
The MIDI2MUS converter does not create perfect conversions; sometimes the created files can sound distorted.
The MIDI format uses the value 127 as the maximum possible volume in volume change events; MUS allows for higher values. A MUS->MIDI converter that does not take this into account might end up glitching the volume on certain channels. "Smells like Burning Corpses" is known to be affected by this problem.
