N64 Sound Tools Facts & Features

Use N64 Sound Tools to create the best music and sound effects for your N64 games. N64 Sound Tools is a complete, self-contained development environment. With N64 Sound Tools, a musician can edit the music and then hear exactly how the edited music or sound effect will sound on the N64. Because the playback occurs on the N64, a musician can hear what additional changes need to be made.

Features

  • Create memory-efficient sound data for reduced compile times.
  • Fine tune musical arrangements and attach musical effects to notes.
  • Add or delete notes.
  • Edit and play back your music directly on the N64 system.
  • Edit music easily using intuitive Sequencer user interface.
  • Import standard MIDI type 0 and type 1 files into the Sequencer.
  • Edit waveforms quickly and easily using intuitive Waveform Editor.
  • Organize waveforms into groups.
  • Transfer single or multiple external MIDI samplers using MIDI SDS.
  • Use batch processing to perform several processes on multiple waveforms, a must when you have many instruments or sound effects.
  • Control individual tracks and audio channels precisely by specifying the maximum number of audio channels to be used overall and to be used by a single track. And you can watch the Sequencer allocate audio channels to see how many channels are actually being used by each track.

Software

Sound Sequencer
Use the Sequencer to arrange, fine tune, and play back music and sound effects on the N64 Control Deck. A musician can, for example, use the Sequencer to edit the arrangement of the song, add/delete notes, edit tracks, edit notes, add effects to notes, and play back the audio portion of your game.

Waveform Editor
Use the Waveform Editor to transfer instrument and sound effect waveform (AIFF, WAV, UWE, or RAW) samples to the PC. On the PC, use the Waveform editor to edit, trim, loop, and re-sample the files. Then save them to disk for playback and arrangement in the Sequencer.

Hardware

N64 Sound Tools Interface Pak

Documentation

Audio Development Guide
This guide fully explains the N64 audio system. Because the N64 does not use a sound-generator chip or dedicated DSP, there are no hardware restrictions. You have more flexibility in sound development because almost all audio functions are implemented by software. Because of the power of this software-driven sound system, the programmer and musician need to work together closely to ensure that the audio does not impose on graphics processing. Using this guide, the programmer and musician can make resource allocation choices from the very beginning.

User's Guide
This guide explains how to use the menus and work within the N64 Sound Tools development environment.

Programmer's Guide
This guide fully explains the Music Tools Library including the Music Player and the Audio Manager in addition to the API (application programming interface) for the programmer. The API is designed so that the programmer can play the songs and sound effects generated by the N64 Sound Tools with a minimum of effort. Using the API, the programmer can start, stop, test, pan, and adjust the volume levels of songs and sound effects.

Tutorial Guide

This guide, intended primarily for musicians, explains the flow of sound and music development using the N64 Sound Tools.

Requirements

  • Standard PC w/ Pentium 90 MHz CPU
  • Windows 95
  • 16 MB of memory
  • 10 MB of free disk space
  • Printer port or parallel I/O card with full two-way communication capability
  • Standard Centronics Printer cable
  • Sound card (for Waveform Editor)
  • N64 Control Deck including AC adapter and AV cable
  • TV set