What I need is an overview of the process I'd need to follow or to know whether it would be possible or not.
I believe I could do the coding myself if someone could point me in the right direction.
So, that's all, I hope someone can help me with this!
Think of it this way - Imagine that someone creates a new sequenced format (lets use PxTone as an example), *.org, but leaves it as closed source, compressed, and encrypted (I'm pretty sure that PxTone doesn't do this. I'm only trying to illustrate how difficult custom formats *can* be). This would make it very difficult to figure out what the internal data of the *.org is like, and thus it would be very difficult to "convert" it to a different format. Essentially, this is what a USF is. Rather than reverse engineer the N64 program, it was easier to emulate the N64, and let the original program do its own thing.
So, in short, USFs are more like a container format, in that they contain data (an N64 application, and data (which combined create a partial N64 ROM, of sorts) of an unknown type. And, because all N64 games are different (for the most part), even if you figure out the format contained in 1 USF set, you'd still have to figure out the format contained in a different USF set. There would certainly be similarities, but they would most likely not be completely the same.
That said, theoretically you could convert a USF to XM, even without knowing the internal format of the USF. However, I don't know how to do that. I think it involves "listening" on the different "channels" and then copying each "channel" individually. The process is probably similar to "converting" a NSF to a MIDI. OpenSPC could convert SPCs to IT files, without knowing the "format" inside the SPC (an SPC is, essentially, a "savestate" of the memory of the DSP unit of the SNES, if I understand it correctly. Thus, it *could* be any kind of "format". Though, at that point, I'm pretty sure I'm confusing the issue). It was able to do this, because it would emulate the SNES (or the DSP, as that's what's used to play SPCs), and through emulation, it could "split" the "channels", and then, essentially, record the samples as they were played in the emulator. It technically didn't extract the samples from the SPC (if I understand how it worked, that is).
Anyway, what you're asking for has never been done for the N64. It seems to me that you'd be best off either reverse engineering each USF set individually (thus figuring out all the different formats that were used for audio on the N64), or creating a new USF player that operates similarly to OpenSPC (or something like that).
I realize my response isn't terribly useful to you. I'm just trying to help you realize/understand that what you're asking for is a lot harder than it sounds. Mouser X over and out.
Any way you could help me out?
Get this tool here, to convert the sequences to MIDI (without samples):
http://www.goldeneyevault.com/viewfile.php?id=211
Then this tool, to extract the samples:
http://goldeneyevault.com/viewfile.php?id=212
Now to the very time consuming part: you have to re-assemble all the instruments with the samples and the key-mapping given by the tool. Not every game is supported (of course) and sometimes samples are corrupted/missing… Create an .ITI file for every instrument (assuming you're using impulse tracker format) and save it under the same decimal (not HEX!) number as shown in the tool.
The following steps assume you're using ModPlugTracker:
I don't know how good/bad other trackers can handle MIDI files, but if you're using MPT, you can drag the MIDI file into the program to convert it to impulse tracker format. But before you convert it, you should open the MIDI file in some sequencer and set the bmp to 125 or it won't match the tracker's pattern. Go to the instrument tab and load the respective .ITI file with the same number as shown in the midi program edit box. One exception is midi channel 10. It depends (again) on the game how to "implement" this correctly. Some game's drum kits are incomplete or missing altogether. If that's the case, you have to use some other sample. If the drum kit is complete, you load this instrument only ONCE and replace every "channel10-instrument" with the first "channel10-instrument" or you end up with hundreds of redundant samples. Another possibility is to use a VSTi plugin with a fitting drum kit. In some cases, the standard GM-layout is used. Depending on the game's music style, you get a pretty accurate representation of the original sequence.
But you have to tweak and correct a few things here and there. In almost every case, portamento effects and volume slides are messed up. Sometimes a note-off command is missing because an instrument suddenly jumps to another channel. But I believe that's the poor MIDI support in ModPlugTracker and not a faulty MIDI file.
You said there should be a way of splitting the tracks and that's exactly my final purpose, so even if there's no way of converting usfs I'd still be interested in playing each track individually.
Any way you could help me out?
No, that's far beyond my skill level (I can sort of read source code. I certainly can't write it). Also, the "splitting" I mentioned has to be done at the hardware/emulator level. It would have to be custom written to do it (and, because of the way the N64 does its audio, I don't even know if it *can* do it). This is why I mentioned openSPC. Take a look at that source code, figure out how it does its thing, and then get some N64 source code (or maybe the source to 64th Note?), and see if you can figure out how to simulate the effect in the N64 source.
Worth mentioning is that the method WDLmaster talks about is, essentially, what I talked about in my second paragraph. Someone reverse engineered the format for N64 sequences. However, as I said, not all games are the same, so the tool doesn't necessarily work perfectly (or in some cases at all?) every time. And you still have to "extract" the audio samples out of the N64 ROM (which again, doesn't always work).
The "splitting" method I mentioned is "better", because it can assign samples to the "channels" as they're generated/emulated. Whereas, with the method above, you have to do that manually. However, the manual method is something that works *right now* (even though it's very time consuming, annoying, and can easily have "glitches" in it, depending on the game/song). The "splitting" method hasn't been done on the N64, and thus you'd be starting from square one there.
Either way, it's not easy. One method works *right now*, but is a pain for every song you want to convert. The other method is a *serious* pain right now, but if done "right" will drastically simplify the process in the future. I guess it comes down to "Are you willing to put up with a little discomfort all the time, or would you rather have all the discomfort happen *ALL AT ONCE*, but (once you're out of the hospital...) then have smooth sailing afterwards?" Most people go with the extended plan, because in the short term, it's not likely you'll be doing much converting anyway.
Sorry I can't help. Hopefully the method WDLmaster talks about is more up your alley. Either that, or good luck rewriting an N64 emulator (I just can't think of any other way to do the "splitting" method). Mouser X over and out.
edited 12:10 AM EDT June 14, 2012
if you manage to find the channel volume adresses, you could poke the value to 0 and then freeze the value, if this works depends on the game
however, personally i prefer to rebuild the soundtracks by ripping all possible data from the rom and use my own fellow tricks to make it sound like the origional [using a MiDi editing software]
i could give a full detailed explanation on how to listen to each track seperatly in an emulator, but its a pretty complicated story
also recordin each track seperate takes very lon and you need some serious patience
seriously, if you scan the ram of a N64 emulator, youll find over hunderds of thousands of adresses, findin the 16 channel related adresses is a pain in the ass
after all, the recordin isnt even going to sound right
cause this is wath youll end up with
Mk64 rainbow road N64 multitrack [audacity is required for playback]
this is why i prefer rebuildin them manually
Mk64 rainbow road FLS
if you found a game of wich you can rip both the samples and sequences [like super smash bros], its just a matter of convertin all the data into your favorite file extention, these conversations are the most acurate and will not take much time to make
i converted the entire super smash bros OST to FL studio, just so i can mess around with it, it took about a week have the entire soundtrack in fl studio format
Would that be OK, if I uploaded the Rainbow Road theme, and if possible, any other remakes you upload? If anyone asks "How did you do it?" should I just say "I don't know"? :P And will you eventually have done all the songs in Mario Kart 64?
On a related note.... will you be releasing the entire Super Smash Bros OST remake, when you've finished?
its ok if you upload the song [probebly to BrawlCustomMusic], if someone ever askes how, as i said before, you can tell them everything as long as you dont mention midi or soundfont
i was actually planning on telling this before but iam still spending much time rebuilding the mk64 OST, and i can take a guess telling ill be done somewhere near the end of 2014
yes thats pretty long, realise that i need a good 12 to 20 houres to make rebuild the songs as acurate as possible
why so long? i do not aim towards acurate notes, i pretty much go after precision note timing, note velocity, channel panning [this is harder than it sounds like], mixing, equalizing and mastering
ill do some more bug fixing on the ssb ost, then ill post it here [probebly tomarrow, if not the day after]
meanwhile, keep yourself buissy with this
edited 10:48 AM EDT June 16, 2012
That's a good thing.
You've heard that 'famous' Miyamoto quote, haven't you?
"A bad game is always bad, but a delayed game is always good". In other words, if you rush it too quickly, it'll turn out bad, but the longer you take to make it perfect, the better.
So, does it take more than a whole day, just to get one song done? So far I've gotten Circuit, Farm, and Rainbow from you, as well as that Title theme with the extra part you added (the one where you said you weren't good with chords or something :P)
Just a short question about Smash Bros, regarding 3 tracks....
Firstly, the Menu theme.... each of the ... 'parts' of the song have their own 'loops' if you know what I mean. In otherwords, one part will be maybe over 1 minute long, and another part might be only 50 seconds long, and won't all start at the same time until a long time later.
On a similar note, the Training theme has a rather long single loop. The main part has a loop of something around 20 seconds, however, there are extra parts that are added, or taken away, after each loop of the main part, as you're most likely aware... the official soundtrack, and consequently the USF rip here, has this timed at around 4:47. However, the full length of a single loop is almost 10 minutes, because the part after 4:47 and before about 9:40 is not the same as the part before it. Let's say you have the parts named as 'A', 'B', and so on, for the first almost-5 minutes, you'll get A, B, C, D, E, F, G for example, then while it looks like it's repeated at 4:47, it might then go something like, D+A, E, B, C+F... etc, and then after about 9:40 it'll then have something like A+E, and then at about 9:50-10:00 it'll then loop. I know this is probably confusing.... but if you want the full version, I'd record it for just over 10 minutes -- yeah, it's very long. Infact, when I made a BRSTM of it for BrawlCustomMusic, the loop I have starts at 39 seconds (39.3346 to be exact), and ends at 596.6409 seconds (9:56), and the track lasts for 19:23 if you have it set for 2 loops + 10 second fade-out.
Thirdly.... the Master Hand Battle. One of the 'guitar' tracks only plays once, but never plays after the first loop, which you'll notice as soon as the loop begins again.
Now, my question is... particularly with the menu, how will you go about these problems? The 2nd one is just merely patience for being bothered to record that long, and the 3rd one isn't really a problem as much, but the Menu theme probably doesn't properly loop for maybe a few hours. So, for the menu theme will you just go for whatever length is close enough to 2 loops, which would be something around just over 2:10-2:20 in length?
Oh yeah, and you know about that 'hidden' section of the 'winning' results theme in Mario Kart 64 that plays after about 53-54 minutes, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqqsewbj5Qw
edited 6:10 PM EDT June 16, 2012
edited 6:36 PM EDT June 16, 2012
indeed, i need longer than a day to complete one song, for rainbow road i needed 13 houres, spread over a good 10 months
about the ssb menu theme, i have no idea how iam going to do that, the origional midi file doesnt even contain a proper loop
but for the training song i already have a solution, even 3 solutions
the 1st one is just the song in wich every different pattern is played once after another
the second is the same but as the song plays, instead of switching from pattern A to B, i made it go A+B and after the second loop: A+B+C etc.
the 3th is where i just render each pattern indivitually so you can make up your own loops in wathever audio editing software you'd want
and for the masterhand battle i didnt even know that, the extracted sequence doesnt tell me anything about patterns, maybe its just something that shouldnt happen?
i also know about the hidden part in the results theme, better yet, when i rebuild the song i immediately put the hidden part after 1 single loop
too bad i cannot yet make a high quatly version of the results theme, iam still figuring out wath the sample layout like thing is for the piano from MK64 temporarily iam using the standart midi piano [wich sounds very much like the one used in MK64]
by the way, i have heard you have super mario galaxy sequences O_o??
must.......have.........gimme............plzzzz
edited 7:39 PM EDT June 16, 2012
http://www.mediafire.com/?5zs6c305tkh50
This should be what you're referring to.
You have furry bob to thank for that (or would if he was here :P)
As for the Master Hand thing, in the actual MIDI (at least the one that I got when I used N64MidiTool), the one that only plays once, is the 4th one down. It will be on Channel 3 (as in MIDI Channel :P)
edited 8:27 PM EDT June 16, 2012
edited 8:50 PM EDT June 16, 2012
"This is amazing. It's almost like the MIDI and the soundfonts were extracted from the MK64 cartridge itself and remade with a higher quality sample rate. I do notice this remake is a little off in some parts. The fade outs of the star FX, before the start of the next loop, is not pitching down far enough. Other than that this is astonishing."
Somehow they know... but I never said anything... wait, are you Roman8707?
Also... how's the Smash Bros thing coming along?
edited 9:22 AM EDT June 18, 2012
well, they have no proof it is done with midi and soundfont so who knows that wath he says is right?
Roman8707 himself isnt sure either, look wath he says ''It's almost like the MIDI'', this tells me hes not quite sure how it was done
as long as neither of us mention any of the secret words, they will never find out........unless one of them is a HCS user...
but your words are right, a bombardment of requests and crap is indeed wath iam trying to avoid
take a look at tonythai [midiman10], i have my beliefs he left his youtube channel to die after all the people who asked him shit about f zero x...
the super smash bros thing is going well so far
however, i still havent taken a look at the menu music yet, i have no solution so far
for the rest, iam almost ready to export the whole OST to wave format
iam still hunting for some bugs in the files [adjusting reverb, delay etc.]
meanwhile, i finished MK64 starpower theme
[one full loop is exectly 5.96 seconds]
part 1
part 2
part 3
[took forever to upload -.-]
some songs sound a little bit better than the other, some barely differ from the origional, thats because not all songs got the same kind of mixing, i tryed my best to enhance them
TUK, you are the loopmaster, so i leave the looping to you [if you aint got a problem with that]
i seperated channel 4 from the masterhand fight song so you can mute it after the first loop
[i indeed could have just make the song loop twice with channel 4 muted in the 2nd loop, but this kind of looping is terrible in FL studio]
i expect the other half to be there soon, i said id be done today, but i didnt expect the uploading to be so long
edit: pattern 4 & 5 from the practise song are the same, made a mistake in the pattern numbering and accidentely put in pattern 4 twice
edit: before you do anything with the songs, you should put them through a normalizer, i see some songs have a low volume [doesnt apply for the hammer and mario bros theme]
edited 4:58 PM EDT June 18, 2012
edited 5:03 PM EDT June 18, 2012
Did I mention yay?
Also what's your upload speed? For me, the upload speed is about 1 Megabit (around 125-126 kilobytes) per second, and generally takes around 50 minutes to upload 200 MB (the maximum size that MediaFire allows for free users)
edited 6:00 PM EDT June 18, 2012
TBH, there are a lot of games that would be awesome for you to do this to.... Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Donkey Kong 64.... but well, unless you felt like doing all those.... like I said, it's up to you... but then Goldeneye never got an official soundtrack, so an enhanced soundtrack would be pretty awesome.
edited 6:58 PM EDT June 18, 2012
to be honest, for some odd reason i like nearly all the VGM of those who i grew up with, to tell you the truth, i never had golden eye, ocarina of time, donkey kong 64, banjo kazooie, and all the other great games [except a few], even though now, these days, i wish i had them, i can tell there is most likely not going to be an ost made by me of any of those, mainly cause i dont have the music stuck in my head
the first rebuild i did was the menu theme from mario kart 64 wich, at that time, i tought was the most badass theme in game. even though my rebuild was horrible i had a neat nostalgyorgasm [lol] after that i felt like rebuilding the entire OST
later i tryed to rebuild the battle theme from pokemon stadium, wich i find very awesome,...halfway i stopped cause i didnt felt like spending my time on it
moral of the story:
no nostalgia = no courage work
no work = no HQ soundtrack
Session Start: Mon Jun 18 22:48:10 2012
Session Ident: vita-
[22:48:10] Session Ident: vita- (~asdf@pool-71-108-241-58.lsanca.dsl-w.verizon.net)
[22:48:10] <vita-> "take a look at tonythai [midiman10], i have my beliefs he left his youtube channel to die after all the people who asked him shit about f zero x..." <-- lol who said that
[22:50:31] <lunar> it was some guy on hcs64
[22:50:43] <lunar> i guess it isn't true :p
[22:51:20] <vita-> i do get a lot of f-zero x remix requests
[22:51:27] <vita-> i end up ignoring them all :(
I'd actually like to offer my help with this project if you'll allow me. It wouldn't go on my channel as my content is based on remastering using more realistic instruments via VST.
I downloaded A soundfont, as in *.sf2, but there were a few instruments missing. For example, the bass that's used in Surface 2.
I would use that program that extracts sounds from N64 games (N64SoundTool IIRC), however, what program would I use to, well, use them with the MIDIs? FL Studio is a no go (I can't be bothered to pay), and I don't think you can just assign WAVs to an instrument in SynthFont, can you?
And I'm aware that this entire post will make you think "what the **** is he on about"?
MIDI is all you need in this case, why save as a FL studio project when you can just export as MIDI? thats the only thing you need
the only disadvantage is that every time you reload your file you must aplly the soundfonts on the instruments again
and for the soundfont, did the creator follow the N64soundTool ordering?
i checked it out a while ago and the samples are placed really odd on the notes, besides that, the looping of the samples is really bad
if you want to make an N64 soundfont compadable with the midi rips from Subdrags tools, you gotta follow the Soundtool order, if you just put in random values and stuff, you gonna have a hard time rebuilding them in your favourite midi edit software
by the way TUK if you want those remakes so bad, why dont you give it a try yourself? when the MIDIs and samples [with correct values] are availible, its not hard at all, and i sure arent going to do it
Eh, yes and no. You are right but, I don't think it's a good idea to blindly follow the instrument structure in creating a soundfont and hope it'll absolve you of having to use initiative at all when it comes to rebuilding songs. So long as all the instruments are there in the soundfont, picking the right ones to go with the right instrumental lines is honestly a quick and trivial process most of the time (you may have to add some envelopes and things.) So while it might reduce some of the workload, there's a danger that you'll expect it to be automated, to be able to simply load a soundfont and play the midi with it and it'll be all boo-tickety... most likely it won't, something will fuck up, probably related to controllers or levels or octaves.
Just saying, if you want to do this properly (not even sure why you're doing this, but there we go), by all means make life easy on yourself, but avoid the alluring cheap and dirty solutions. You will have to work with the midis and sounds a little bit, I almost guarantee it.
by the way TUK if you want those remakes so bad, why dont you give it a try yourself?
first rule of TUK: he doesn't like doing things himself and asks other people do everything on his behalf.
edited 5:55 PM EDT June 20, 2012
for the super smash bros soundfont, i 'blindly followed the instrument structure' and saved it as a soundfont, there are no 'fuck up's' found when the soundfont is applied on any of the SSB sequences, besides the lack of reveerb and delay
'not even sure why you're doing this', i learn my stuff to look at wath other people do, that doesnt mean iam a copy cat, but this is my way to learn sequencing
on my 'study' on music, i did not have any examples when i started, i didnt know where to start so i went remaking songs as acurate as possible
i rebuild SSB's soundtrack just to test out Subdrag's tools, i just rebuild mario kart 64 for practising writing by ear
i have yet to learn about scales and chords, thats why i play piano and guitar
first rule of TUK
that awnsers many of my questions
btw, They aren't mutually exclusive :J
i still dont get wath it means
But, n00b question, yet, simple (well simple enough to say), how do you MAKE a sound font (sf2) file?
I am saying there is no reason why you can't do both (as someone who has dropped acid and smoked weed.) It was said in jest.
Viena is great btw, glad I switched from Vienna.
What happens is, you know how track 4 starts of as a guitar, and then changes to some kind of 'organ' sound? Well, when it loops, the instrumentation remains as an organ, and doesn't change to a guitar. So, if you want a perfect version, what you should do is, if possible, redo track 4 of Master Battle, but have them all as that same organ sound.
There's pretty much the same thing with Sector Z. The first time, you hear some kind of trumpet instrument playing the main melody, but halfway is switches to more of a horn/trombone sound... but never goes back to the trumpet sound.
Also, I don't get exactly how they fit together... do the parts just fit one after the other, for each channel, e.g. would Channel 4 Part 2 be immediately after Channel 4 Part 1, i.e.
C4P1|C4P2 etc?
So, would it go something like this:
C1P1|C1P2
C2P1|C2P2|C2P3
C3P1|C3P2
C4P1|C4P2|C4P3|C4P4|C4P5
Etc?
i just split everything that i found in the sequence, i even splitted some notes from each other while they are meant to be in the same pattern, in the same channel
i have no idea how the menu theme works
no notes = no pattern = no wave file
edited 3:48 PM EDT June 22, 2012
But do all the Part 1s of each channel start at the same time, or is there a channel that doesn't play until a few seconds?
This is how I did it originally:
C1P1|
C2P1|
C3P1|C3P2
C4P1|C4P2|C4P3|----|C4P5
----|C5P2
C6P1
C7P1|C7P2|----|C7P4|C7P5
EDIT: After listening to the original music, it seems each part should have a length of 8 bars. The tempo is 75 bpm, which means the length of each part should be precisely 12.48 seconds (75 beats per minute = 3.12 seconds per measure)
EDIT 500: No, that doesn't work. The first few channels' parts seemed to work at 12.48 seconds, but Channel 4's Part 1 has about 33 seconds between each time it plays.... and then Channel 4 Part 2 seems to not play after Channel 4 Part 1, but over the top.
Firstly, there's the 12.48 seconds, where you've got them at 22.41 seconds, you you've got 10 seconds of unnecessary silence at the end of each part, which is confusing. Is there a way of extracting the entire of each channel as one WAV instead of in parts, and for the exact length that each one loops? In otherwords, a single WAV for Channel 1, with the exact length of 12.48 seconds, etc?
So all I can think of is that each part is a different length, and does not always a have a length of 22.41 seconds?
DAMN YOU HIROKAZU ANDO!
edited 11:32 AM EDT June 23, 2012
edited 11:40 AM EDT June 23, 2012
edited 11:42 AM EDT June 23, 2012
Anyway, my suggestion is to listen to the songs on original hardware where possible, as it could be an emulator issue, instead of a song issue. I know I'm not terribly helpful there, but hopefully you do find it useful. Mouser X over and out.
''i just split everything that i found in the sequence'
''pattern is supposed too be part of cannel 7 part 5''
see the wave files as a multi track
And what do you mean by 'the last pattern is supposed to be part of channel 7 part 5'?
Oh look
'i even splitted some notes from each other while they are meant to be in the same pattern, in the same channel'
Well that explains why I couldn't get it to work properly.
Sorry if I don't know every thing about every thing.
That image has NOTHING to do with what I'm asking about. I already said that each part seems to be 4 bars long, and according to the MIDI, it's 75 bpm.
75 beats per minute, means 0.8 seconds per beat (60/75). Therefore, 4 beats to a bar is 3.2, therefore, 4 bars will be 12.8 seconds (not 12.48 seconds as I previously mentioned)...
But your WAVs are all 22.41 seconds long, which is way longer than just 4 bars.
As I said, all I was asking is, does each Channel loop straight after the last pattern has finished, or are there any extra silence parts before? For example, if Channel 2 only has 1 part, does it loop after 4 bars, or is there a few extra bars after the 4th bar before it repeats, i.e. does Channel 2 loop after 7, 8, or 14, or whatever bars?
And, Mouser X, if you mean the USF might have the patterns playing/looping in the wrong order or at the wrong time, etc, would the "Nintendo All Star! Dairantou Smash Brothers Original Soundtrack" version be more accurate?
Personally I'm not sure what you mean by it could be an emulator issue. What, if I may ask, could be an emulator issue?
I'm using my 'goddamn brain'. Sorry if my fucked up mental illness called Aspergers Syndrome is annoying.
edited 3:49 PM EDT June 23, 2012
That said, the Zelda:OoT USF set plays slower than it does on hardware. So, the timings used in the USF tags don't match the OST, because the timings are based on listening to the USFs (which play slower, and therefore longer). That's one example. I think someone said the Banjo Kazooie set (or is it Banjo Tooie? I don't remember) can't be "properly" looped because not all of the different channels loop at the same time (ex: Ch1 plays for 1:32, ch2 plays for 1:44, ch 3 plays for 0:46, etc. That's an exaggeration, but I'm just trying to illustrate my understanding of what I read). I have no idea if that's an emulator issue (as in, because it's emulated wrong, the channels are, individually, being played at the wrong lengths/speeds), or if it actually does that on hardware. I'm just saying that people have found issues with various USFs, and since it's an emulated format, if the emulator is bad, the playback will be bad as well. So, since it's been shown that the emulator *is* "bad" (how "bad", I don't know. Overall it's obviously pretty good. But if it's playing Zelda music at incorrect speeds, maybe it's playing other songs at incorrect speeds. If it's doing that, then maybe individual segments of the songs are actually being played at incorrect speeds as well? I don't have the games, or the hardware (my brother has the N64), to tell), then we have to assume that the output is "bad" as well (as I said though, overall it's pretty good. I personally haven't really noticed anything. I'm only relaying what I've read other people say). How "bad"? The only way to tell is to compare the output to original hardware, which is why I suggested doing so.
As for the MIDI conversion/extraction and whatnot, that's basically a different matter altogether, and really has nothing to do with emulation. If, when you extract/convert the ROM data into MIDI, the MIDI says "Play ch1 for 1:32, Play ch2 for 1:44 and Play ch3 for 0:46", then I guess the MIDI is as correct as we know how to check. I can't fathom how that would work in a MIDI file (I can see how it'd work in a custom format, and maybe the conversion process is such that the data didn't convert right?), but if that's what it says, then I would assume that's what it is.
Hopefully that answers your question? Mouser X over and out.
I wasn't basing the length of each 'section/part' on the USF, entirely, but rather, on the MIDI, i.e. rather than just saying "about 12 seconds", I was saying '4 bars', which is exactly 12.8 seconds, based on the fact that the MIDI is 75 bpm, which means each beat is 75/60 beats per second, and therefore 60/75 seconds per beat, which is 0.8, and therefore, multiplying that by 4 gives you a full bar/measure length of 3.2 seconds, thus 4 bars is 12.8 seconds, as I've explained before. One way is to, not count the seconds, but rather count the bars, assuming no channel has an irregular last measure of say, 11/8 or something, and doesn't loop at the end of a 4/4 measure or something.
edited 11:32 AM EDT June 24, 2012
I'm aware of the entire song playing at a slower speed, but for example, Channel 1 playing say, 1.1 times faster, but Channel 2 playing 1.2 times slower or something, I wasn't aware of that.
I'm not saying that's what's happening, only that it's a possibility, considering that it's known to have slow emulation issues already. Honestly, I'm not sure I believe it, even though I'm the one that proposed the idea. Overall slowness (or being too fast even) makes perfect sense to me, but for it to be individualized to specific channels seems a bit of a stretch to me. Certainly not impossible, because it's an emulation issue. Who knows what's causing it? It could be just one small command/program that just so happens to be applied to an entire song most of the time, but for certain games, that small command is applied to each channel individually and therefore is a separate instance, and could therefore be emulated incorrectly, individually every time.
Anyway, I guess I just didn't really understand what you're problem was, so I mentioned the above emulation possibilities, just in case. With your further explanation, it sounds like it's most likely not emulation related at all. Sorry if I ended up confusing the issue. Still, hopefully my input has been useful, even if not entirely directly related. Maybe someone else will get some use out of it? Mouser X over and out.