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I found the Hoot Archive with lots of music stored in M files and PAI files (I assume to be PC98's natural sound format). I know I can play them with Hoot Player, but I want a converter to get these into WAV files. Please help.

Hoot has an option to output whatever is playing to WAV.

Look at the top menu bar and click on the second menu ("System"). The last item is "WAV Output". When toggled on, it outputs the music currently playing to a WAV file in the Hoot/outs directory. You can then edit/encode the file to your liking.

Hoot though doesn't really emulate the sound correctly though. It even requires SEPARATE files for percussion (WAV files with predefined sounds), rather than using software rendering to actually GENERATE the sounds at runtime like the actual PC-98 does and like the emulators do. And Hoot's output sounds NOTHING like the output sound when actually playing the games on an emulator. It's like when you have a midi file playing but your midi software has a flute in a chanel where it should have an oboe. I wish that there was a DIRECT CONVERSION type of PC-98 audio to WAV file converter.

The test of a good converter is this. If I listened to the output wav file from such a converter and then went and played the ACTUAL GAME on a REAL PC-98 and listened to it in its NATIVE computer environment, the sounds I hear should be identical from BOTH source, if the converter is good. Too bad I don't have a real PC98. However I bet Anex86 is better than Hoot at getting the music right I contend. Hoot even has to have helper files inside special zip files (sucks because Hoot can't even work standalone and needs extra files), along with the actual desired song files (either M or PAI). A GOOD converter would DIRECTLY convert M and PAI files to WAV files.


So my search continues for such programs (which might be named M2WAV and PAI2WAV). Does anyone here know if such programs exist? If such programs DO exist, please post download links to them.

I can see you always seem to have all the knowledge..

Actually, you don't. So why don't you start reading a little bit more and/or listening to what other people says? It will help you a lot.

The separate files for percussion are from the Rhytm set of YM2608 (OPNA), which are ADPCM mono samples stored, not GENERATED in real time as you assure the PC-98 does. (and emulators actually require these files for correct 2608 emulation)

If you care to read, here are the specs:

http://www.x68000.de/soundchips/files/sheets/ym2608.pdf

Technical Specifications

* Channels: 16
* Channels 1-6: FM Sound Synthesis with 4 Operators. Also comes with a build-in envelope Generator (ADSR)
* Channels: 7-9: Squarewave & Noise Synthesis (compatible to the YM2149)
* Channels 10-15: Rhythm Channels. Each of the 6 channels plays a predefined ADPCM Sample. Available were the following instruments: A Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Cymbal, Closed Hi-Hat, Tom Tom & Rimshot.
* Channel 16: 4-bit ADPCM Sample Playback (with up to 256kb Sample DRAM), Sample Rate 2 – 16 kHz. The difference to the channels above is that you can actually upload one or more samples yourself.
* Stereo: Only the FM Channels feature Stereo. The Squarewave, Noise and Rhythm Channels are Mono
* DAC: External, the 2 Channel YM3016 Stereo DAC
* Has an LFO


Next time try not to be so cocky. (;
P.D: And PLEASE STOP with the CAPS. I think EVERYONE can UNDERSTAND what you say ANYWAY. Thanks in advance!

And, by the way, Anex86 does not emulate OPNA, just OPN (As far as I know). That's why they sound different, Hoot emulation being a better one for obvious reasons.

What Wushu said.

I don't even know where to start, but indeed, it seems you don't have a clue about the PC-98.

First: FMPMD2000, Hoot, Neko and T98 are ALL based on Cisc's fmgen audio library. They ALL require the use of additional ADPCM samples to fully emulate the YM2608 (OPNA). Not sure about Anex86, since it's a commercial emulator and it probably includes its own sound engine.

Any discrepancy between the sound reproduction of those emulators can be attributed to the version of fmgen used (0.07, 0.08 or 0.09), the volume balance of the individual channels, or the sound frequency (most programs use 44 KHz, Hoot uses 55 KHz).

If Hoot sounds totally different as you imply, then the problem is not in Hoot but in your setup. At any rate, Hoot uses the most bleeding edge version of fmgen available. If you don't like it for whatever reason, feel free to use any emu out there and record the sound with Audacity.

Or you could simply use Winamp with the appropriate FMP plugin (the ADPCM samples and the WinFMP/PMDWin libs are required) and record the sound with an output plugin like out_lame.

As long as you don't have listened to a real PC-98, please refrain from assuming that Hoot doesn't have accurate audio reproduction. It's a Japanese player made by Japanese developers for Japanese audiophiles. I think they certainly know better than we do. (And yes, I've heard a real PC-98 before, as well as a PC-88 and a X68000. Never listened to a FM-Towns. I can at least certify that the sound emulation of Yu-no is spot on.)

What's Yuno?

What's OPN?

What's the difference between OPN and OPNA?

What sound chip does PC98 use?

Why did Washu link me to an x68000 info site for the PC-98 sound hardware info?

Do both computers use the same sound hardware?

Why do you say Anex86 is commercial? I thought it was freeware. I found it for free at http://www.zophar.net/pc98/anex86.html and at the Anex86 official website http://homepage2.nifty.com/ans/ax/files ... ex86e1.zip

Let me google that for you.

Anex86 is a shareware emulator. You can try and use it for free, but if you like it, you are supposed to register it.

By the way, its redistribution by unauthorized parties is strictly forbidden, but lazy dogs like Zophar can't be bothered to respect or even understand those terms.

How is it restricted in the unpayed version? And can it use a BASIC rom to boot into basic? Or is Anex86 not capable of using a BIOS rom (because of its internal emulation engine and not needing a BIOS rom)?

Is there any PC98 music/audio playing plugin for Foobar2000?

It's not that I have something against you, don't get me wrong, but I didn't know either and it took maybe ten seconds to find the answer on Google. ("pc98 foobar2000")

The second result is the answer you're looking for, S98 Decoder (foo_input_s98).

Thanks but that only let me get a FEW pieces of PC-98 music.
All the games that had music in S98 format one can find the S98 music files right here http://s98.hcs64.com/
Not even the games I want music from (except one, Variable Geo) are in there. When I go to Hoot archive, though I see that the games I want are there but they are not in the S98 format unfortunately. Instead they come in a variety of formats. For example:

Metal and Lace uses *.PAI
Metal and Lace 2 uses *.HMD
Marble Cooking uses *.M
And many other games use many other music file formats. (these aren't all proprietary though as some different games use the same formats sometimes, for example a few other games use *.M)

So I'm either looking at needing to find one plugin for ALL PC-98 music (like GEP plugin for Foobar2000 that plays many Nintendo game formats from Gameboy, NES, and SNES), or I'm looking at the need to find more plugins each one for a different PC-98 music file format. Please help me find the additional PC-98 music plugin or plugins for Foobar2000.

If they do not exist, you should code plugins for them. If they don't exist and you do not want to code then just use hoot.

I don't know the specs on these other formats. The official file format documentation would be in Japanese, even if I could find it, which I can't. But being a PC-98 website, these forums have fans of the system who would probably love such a Foobar2000 plugin and I'm quite surprised they haven't yet written one, especially since many probably know Japanese and are familiar with finding goods (like Japanese file specs). Some of you guys who know how to do it right should make such a Foobar2000 plugin for all PC-98 audio file formats.