How PS1 Audio Mechanics Work

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[@SATOTEHDOOD]

5:06 Some PS1 games have their own file format. This applies to Vib-Ribbon, which has custom file formats

[@sys128]

Aah, I think I mentioned something similar for sequenced music elsewhere in the video. I might look into some of the other file formats some games use, I used XA and VAB as an example because it seems to be more common. VAB format files (VB and VH) were extracted from Track 1 of vib-ribbon using jpsxdec, yet you are saying they have a different format. Interesting! Tell me more!

[@notpsx]

@@sys128 Some PSX games including Crash Bandicoot & Metal Gear Solid use their own audio system rather than Track‘s. It's just a digital piano-roll, a kind of musical notation, a set of commands to trigger smaller instrument samples at a certain pitch instead of playing the track like you would listen to a normal .mp3 file.

[@OldEnemy1]

@@notpsxso midi?

[@Visuwyg]

This has WILD audio quality for a video about audio! Very informative anyway.

[@rommix0]

TL;DW The PSX audio system is nearly identical to the SNES audio system with major improvements and features.

[@ivanpetrovsky.]

damn it's almost like Sony made the sound chip for the SNES

[@rommix0]

@@ivanpetrovsky. Yerp

[@minekize]

​@@ivanpetrovsky. because sony made sound chip for snes and gonna with nintendo make playstation

[@ivanpetrovsky.]

@@minekize yeah. that's what I said.

[@tescoshortage]

- Expansion from 8 channels to 24
- Massively increased sample quality
- More effects, such as the addition of “true” reverb
- Able to play streamed audio just fine
You’re right. It’s a substantial leap from the SNES sound chip.

[@Matishifu]

everybody gangsta until system128 continues to go full on nerd mode and make your brain hurt again
nice video btw

[@mihajlostojkovic3522]

Music in this video is hurting my ears, can somebody help please?

[@sabo-vf3xj]

Got a question, is it true that the PS1 sound system includes generic ROM audio samples build-in into the console?
I mean, this is technically true, due to the famous PS1 start-up sounds being included directly into the BIOS, but I'm talking about other samples like strings, piano, percussion, etc being already included within the hardware.
I'm asking because people have found out that a lot of PS1 games seem to contain a mixture of custom samples (with custom names and varying samplerates) and generic 44.1hz samples (with generic names like "CYMBAL1", "VIOLIN1", "GUITAR1" etc) present within the files or directly referenced in index tables.
Also, there's the somewhat known rumor of Nobuo Uematsu using 'hardware' samples to build the entirety of the FF7 soundtrack (which isn't completely true, as it also makes use of custom samples).

[@BurritoKingdom]

There aren't built in samples in the hardware. Those samples that are "built-in" are actually part of the software development kit that devs used to make games with. Obviously, devs were allowed to use their own custom samples but devs would also use the generic samples in the SDK.
This also happened in previous generations as many SNES games used Nintendo's generic samples rather than creating their own. This also happened with the Genesis and the GEMS sound driver. While the Genesis didn't use samples, it used FM synthesis, many western devs used the generic sounds included in GEMs, rather than programming their own sounds.
The rumor about FF7 wasn't about the samples, it was why FF7 didn't use Redbook audio or XA-ADPCM. These are higher quality than using the SPU-ADPCM format but takes up more space and takes longer to load. FF7 and the majority of Square games already took up so much disc space that the games take up multiple discs so it would be ridiculous to use red book audio. The soundtrack CD is 4 discs, more than the game itself. And as mentioned in the video, XA-ADPCM could not loop, which in an RPG you hear the same music loop over and over again makes no sense. Also the game would take way too long to load.

[@subzerocatalyst]

i relate to being scared by sounds after listening to them for too long, or in silence, or when pitched around too much. feels odd hearing sounds out of context a lot of the time.

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

Just found this video and thanks for explaining what you know on the PS1's audio. These days it's much easier to find info on the audio systems of the Gameboy, NES, and Genesis but wavetable like the SNES or PCM of the PS1 are harder to come by. What I just learned earlier tonight is that while the Saturn has 32 PCM channels it can also be programmed to generate FM sound similar to the YM2151 or YM2612. It's interesting because certain games like the Atari Collection 2 and Namco Volume 4 support games that have FM audio but I guess it's software generated via emulation and nothing that directly relies on the PS1's audio features. I didn't know Duckstation has audio debugging features either so I'll have to experiment with that with those games to find some clues. 😃

[@Skyliner_369]

I wonder how vib ribbon generates the obstacles from a music CD. Probably a deeper more involved video than you might think

[@methanedirigible]

Audio for this video was recorded on a wax cylinder.

[@tescoshortage]

Any idea if the original Persona uses the sequenced audio chip in the PS1/PSX?

[@OldEnemy1]

virtually every ATLUS game used the in-game sound chip until Digital Devil Saga in 2004/5.

[@paulocesarhernandeznaranjo141]

I came looking for wool, and I'm leaving with gold! Thank you for this.

[@AnnoyedArt1256]

i think the ps1 bios uses either midi with dynamic channel allocation or a proprietary format with dynamic channel allocation. i can see that it uses dynamic channel allocation because it randomly jumps from channel to channel. normally this is used for midi or midi-esque players (for example the opl3 or even the nintendo ds with sseq)

[@markusTegelane]

3:08 to skip the history recap

[@alexkubrat3868]

Useless useful fact: PS sound procesor can have up to 32 channels of sound/music, but I am still confused why Tekken didn't use this feature for arcade music.

[@BurritoKingdom]

PS1 SPU has 24 channels. Tekken (Arcade) used the Namco C352 which has 32.

[@crimson-foxtwitch2581]

@@BurritoKingdom…which is still more than enough that for most composers channel polyphony is a non-issue on the PSX hardware

[@themustardthe]

buzzzzzzzz
good video though

[@stevenassmaster8294]

Great video, it really is crazy seeing these old consoles still get super in depth videos like this

[@RemoWilliams1227]

I absolutely love it that we are still able to learn about, mod, and even create for these older systems. Some things about modern times suck, but some rock now!

[@the.meepiest1171]

"so i think it's time to let the furry nerd speak" wait you r a FUR--

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

Looks like a Glaceon

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

This Glaceon has a point

[@LokalChemy]

24:35 what game is this

[@ivanpetrovsky.]

Vib Ribbon.

[@matthewhorton5293]

Please upload more.🥺

[@spectraleevee218]

Okay

[@williamwilliam9993]

PS1 audio is adpcm or red book cd audio

[@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135]

so we talking about synth Synthesis now nice

[@76KyotoTM]

thanks for the portuguese lyrics

[@jokotri2186]

Jesus this video make my eyes hurt

[@JamesAville]

This was awesome!

[@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135]

the music is rate 48000hz

[@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135]

6 voice is call polyphonic

[@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135]

one voice is call monophonic

[@PilotMiaoumi]

sup

[@sys128]

noth'n, u?

[@PilotMiaoumi]

@@sys128 sup