How to Analyze Sequenced Video Game Music

This document introduces my generic analysis method for sequenced video game music. I hope this will help your research.

Prerequisites

The following knowledge is necessary to understand this document.

  • Bit, byte, endianness
  • Decimal number, hexadecimal number (hex), two's complement
  • Basic knowledge about MIDI
    • How to view/create a MIDI file by using MIDI editor/sequencer
    • Concept of a track and a channel

The following knowledge is not a must, but it will help you to understand this document more deeply.

  • Specification of Standard MIDI File (SMF)
  • Hardware specification of the target platform (console, handheld)
    • Especially, it is good to know what plays a sound, and how to play a sound.
  • Experience of programming language (for instance, C) and assembly
    • This document does not require code analysis, but they will definitely help you to imagine the background of the music driver.
  • Debugger tools
  • Compression algorithms (such as RLE or LZSS)
Read more

How to Analyze Sequenced Video Game Music

This document introduces my generic analysis method for sequenced video game music. I hope this will help your research.

日本語に翻訳する

Prerequisites

The following knowledge is necessary to understand this document.

  • Bit, byte, endianness
  • Decimal number, hexadecimal number (hex), two's complement
  • Basic knowledge about MIDI
    • How to view/create a MIDI file by using MIDI editor/sequencer
    • Concept of a track and a channel

The following knowledge is not a must, but it will help you to understand this document more deeply.

  • Specification of Standard MIDI File (SMF)
  • Hardware specification of the target platform (console, handheld)
    • Especially, it is good to know what plays a sound, and how to play a sound.
  • Experience of programming language (for instance, C) and assembly
    • This document does not require code analysis, but they will definitely help you to imagine the background of the music driver.
  • Debugger tools
  • Compression algorithms (such as RLE or LZSS)
Read more