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Eric Vaughn

Writing music for a doom wad

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Hi there,

I can write music using midi programs. Is there a way that I can import this into a doom wad?

Sorry if this question is too noobish. I'm still a bit confused as to how things work around here.

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I use XWE, or WXE or somthing!

It might take a little time to get "used" to it, but download it, try it, and ask in this topic when you need more info!

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Kristian Ronge said:

midi2mus. There's also the opposite, mus2midi.

As far as I heard the strange rumours, even vanilla Doom (but not Doom95) supports vanilla MIDI, though nobody seemed to know this back then... right?

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Okay, the way I do it goes like this:

1. Make the midi-files
2. Enter XWE and find the music-lumps, d_runnin...
3. Tell it to "replace entry"
4. Select the midi-file i want to use

At first, you might not be able to see the files when browsing for them, but if you delete the entry-name and select "All files" in the show-type-field!

This works for my wads, but I use zDoom as testing-program for DoomBuilder, but I don't know wether this works or not for Doom95!
Anyone?

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Oh wait here it is!

I tried it out, and I think it only works with zDoom and other stuff like that. The game actually plays it as a midi file instead of the normal music audio format for the game.

I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to write new songs or export other midis into this format :/

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Doom95 will not play MIDIs, Doom (the original DOS engine) will play any MIDI that isn't too big, and midi2mus will convert only the MIDIs that Doom is able to play. If you're trying with a particularly large MIDI file, you will have to use an expanded engine (that plays any MIDI, such as ZDoom, Boom, PrBoom, etc.) or, if you've created the music, simplify the track so that it converts into a MUS lump file of at most 64 KB.

The sounds of MUS or MIDI files in the game depend on the engine's internal player; equivalent MIDI and MUS lumps will sound the same in Doom (if it can play the MIDI at all) or in ZDoom.

Conversion to MUS is unnecessary unless you use Doom95.

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Eric Vaughn said:
I like the way the MUS files sound better than MIDIs.

When an app plays a MUS file, it sounds like an equivalent MIDI file (assuming it can play both); what you like is the way a particular synthesizer (not sure if that's Doom's or Doom95's) handles MUS (or simple MIDI) files.

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The synthesizer does not synthesize midis. In zDoom, it plays the song just like a normal midi instead of playing it MUS style. When I change to a different level, it will play that level's track in MUS synthesizer style.

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Eric Vaughn said:

In zDoom, it plays the song just like a normal midi instead of playing it MUS style.


Go into Options -> Sound Options -> Advanced Options, and turn on "use FM synth for MUS music".

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Eric Vaughn said:
The synthesizer does not synthesize midis.

What?

In zDoom, it plays the song just like a normal midi instead of playing it MUS style. When I change to a different level, it will play that level's track in MUS synthesizer style.

ZDoom just plays every MIDI-based file the same way. The only music it plays differently is MODs (which have their own samples), or (naturally) MP3s.

Both MUS files and MIDIs use the same sample set.

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Eric Vaughn said:
There is a very noticeable difference in the style of the audio.

If you really want it to sound like Bobby Prince's stuff, use a similar composing style (instrument choices, etc.). A MUS is just a MIDI clone with a different header. Here's the format description. If you take a MUS file, convert it to MIDI, and place it in a wad for ZDoom (or another Doom-based engine) to play it, it will sound as it did before the change, because the interpreter used for both practically equivalent formats is the same (unless the MUS's tempo is screwed up during the conversion, as decribed in this other thread, but that's another matter).

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So there really isn't a process as simple as loading a midi file into a programming and then spitting out a MUS file, or anything like that?

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Sure; those "MUS to MIDI" (mus2mid) programs linked above and on the other thread will do it, granted the MIDI file is not of excessive size (if it is, it can't be a MUS file; that's why the compiler of the Classic MUS wad simplified Mussourgsky's A Night on Bald Mountain). But this (changing the format) will make no difference when you put it back in the game (because the difference is merely in the header and not the music info or the way the Doom engines play it), unless you use the Doom95 executable, where MIDI formatted music isn't accepted at all.

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MUS format uses only the first 9 channels to play MIDI notes. It uses a slightly modified version of the general midi protocol. Only difference is that you cannot play chords on the different MIDI channels. 1 note per track, and track 9 is playing drums.

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