Looking for a way to record FF8's sound effects

[wanderer]

Hello everybody, I'm new here.

I'm looking for a way to record all of FF8's sound effects. I plan on doing this using an scph 1000 console instead of an emulator (for sound accuracy reasons). My only problem right now is to find a way to play all of FF8's sound effects so I can record them. In FF8's debug room you can play sound effects but not all of the game's sound effects. You can play maybe 250 sound effects at most in the debug room but not the 1500+ sound effects the game has. So I was wondering if you guys had any idea with that matter ? The end goal for me is to be able to replace the sound effects of the steam version.

[Aavock]

Hey, have you tried Shard's FF8Audio tool ?

[wanderer]

FF8audio is for the pc version of the game. FF8audio will be useful later on to replace the pc version's sound effects with the newly recorded sound effects of the PS1 version (which are much better).

[DLPB_]

Best way is to do what I did with ff7.  Either the emulator has a record audio option - or use ASIO if possible (internal hardware recording).  I used creative audigy 2 (a rather old card now) with Asio (mix FL should give "what you hear" when using asio) and Adobe Audition.

In order to actually play the effects.... it was easy in FF7 cause I altered a field to allow me to choose which effect to play - and then I ported that field into the PSX version.  You need a way to alter PSX version and add your own sound test.  Maybe Deling will allow you to do it?

[Ansem]

Emulator recording is not preferred for accuracy though, because there still isn't even one emulator (or plugin) in existence that successfully replicates the PSX reverb 1:1. The closest one is the open source edition of Pete's DSound plugin, but even that sounds very flat when compared to the real hardware.

If I remember correct, PCSX2 devs have noted this and are planning to implement hardware-accurate reverb, but that one can't even run a PS1 game past the main menu yet, so that won't be an option for a while still.

[DLPB_]

mednafen is the closest - and it's very accurate apart from reverb.  And if you are going to record from real psx, then you'll be needing ps2 to do it via SPDIF.

[Ansem]

Not necessarily. Any high-quality RCA cable should be enough for PS1 sounds, since they aren't really that top-notch to require a higher bandwidth. Just a matter of having the hardware to capture it. Although obviously, SPDIF would be the most professional way to do it and it would ensure the recording will be as clean as possible.

Do you have a recorded sample from Mednafen available? I'd like to draw my own comparison just for the conclusion, if nothing else.

[wanderer]

an scph 100x psx console has rca outputs. I was thinking of using something like this :
https://www.ebay.com/itm/AV-Male-3-5mm-stereo-Jack-to-Female-2-RCA-plugs-Audio-M-F-Cable-/380801581947

to plug the left and right audio and then plug the 3.5mm jack end into the line input of my motherboard and then record sound from windows.
I was also thinking of recording sound effects from a PAL psx version of final fantasy 8. To me the sound effects sound better on my French Pal version of the game than on the NTSC US version. The difference is noticeable even on the first few sounds effects of the main menu (new game sound, cursor moving sound, memory card loaded sound). I don't know if PAL does a better job than NTSC at sound. You might want to try a PAL version and see if you agree with me.

DPLB, you mentionned "Deling". Who or what is "Deling". Sorry if it's a stupid question.

Off topic : How do I get not approved by a moderator each time ?

[DLPB_]

Analogue recording nearly always leads to problems.  Esp for those not experienced.  You'll get noise, interference, clipping issues.  The works.  SPDIF cuts out nearly anything that could go wrong and will be bit accurate.  Personally, Mednafen worked pretty well for me.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B43luAxFZKC-b2xUbU1xcDFmSVE

[wanderer]

Have you guys seen my message above ?

[Ansem]

Lmao I can't even remember where that sound is from. Is it FF7 or FF8, and where might I be able to play that sound alone without other noise?

[DLPB_]

FF7:  Dispel (orig Despell)

To play without noise, assuming you don't make your own sound test -  use Despell at places where game music is off at times, such as Shin-Ra Building when Trail of Blood is playing.

[Ansem]

Oooh ok. Yeah I think I've got your sound test script stashed away somewhere, just need to burn it on disc and fire away.


Hm, that's interesting. The difference between Mednafen and PS2 is practically negligible as far as the human ear can distinguish it, but oddly enough, the waveforms are noticeably different. Here is the same sample recorded from a PS2, if you want to see for yourself.

[DLPB_]

The waveform difference may be because of where you recorded.  IN battle, the panning will change.  Set camera to fixed - that may help.


If that isn't it, then it may just be that the waveform looks different but in reality the values are all within the margin that the sound is the same to the human brain. And of course,  what sounds the same to you may not be same to another.

[Ansem]

It wasn't recorded in battle, I recorded it in Chocobo farm with the sound test script you made. (was it you? Or am I remembering things)

At any rate, I think it's safe to say Mednafen produces satisfactory results; it may not be 100% accurate, and it probably never will be, (there is a line where perfection transitions into a fool's errand) but it's accurate enough. Certainly more accurate than whatever was originally put into the PC ports.

[DLPB_]

yeah i did the sound test. just didnt realize youd burned to disc n recorded from ps2