87 replies to this topic

[Smarty]

Straight from the documentation:

GMPokey is a port for a library that emulates POKEY's sound output. This package is meant to bring 'retro' sound to your games, reminiscent of 8-bit home computers and game consoles. Of course similar effects can be obtained through the use of samples, but GMPokey has the added advantage that you have full control over the audio registers, allowing you to make in-game adjustments to the sound output. You can also save GMPokey output!

Version 2.1 released: GMPokey is now a Game Maker 7 extension!

Changes:

• Circumvented the file path problem of the extension mechanism in GM7.
• Upgraded GMPokey to a Game Maker 7 extension package. Users of Game Maker 5 and 6 should use GMPokey 1.1.
• The function gmpokey_init() is now restricted to 2 parameters.
• The function gmpokey_init_ext() has been added for extra initialisation options.
• Defined constants for the control registers.
• Rewrote the documentation and made it a CHM file.
• Demo updated for Game Maker 7.

Download GMPokey 2.1 (272 Kb)

Have fun!

Edited by Smarty, 25 September 2007 - 11:08 PM.

[Fedor]

better update your signature
Edit: you still have a lot of old stuff left over it tells me it can't find the GM_Pokey dll
I know thats some old stuff

Edited by Fedor, 02 March 2007 - 01:54 AM.

[Daniel-Dane]

Hey Smarty! That is double posting, you should either delete/close the old topic or move it here.

[PLAY: More]

The extension is missing SAPOKEY.dll!

[Smarty]

Wow, all those positive reactions.

better update your signature

Better refresh your browser cache. Next time I'll just create a file with a new name, I suppose.

Edit: you still have a lot of old stuff left over it tells me it can't find the GM_Pokey dll
I know thats some old stuff

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Please point out to me what exactly is 'old stuff'? I've cleaned up the documentation and the demo as well.

Hey Smarty! That is double posting, you should either delete/close the old topic or move it here.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm not quite sure what Shaltif's stance on such conversions is. The old GMPokey is still a DLL while the new one is a GEX. They both have a purpose; one is for GM5-6 users and one is for GM7+ users.

If it can't go in two, I'll have the other topic closed.

The extension is missing SAPOKEY.dll!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, it isn't. There seems to be a problem with the extension mechanism: if you create a new game and try out the extension functions without saving the GMK file, it tells you that a DLL is missing. If you first save the GMK file, it runs correctly.

I don't know why it does that, but I have no control over this.

[Daniel-Dane]

Right, sorry Smarty. I have seen others do it also. I just changed mine into an extension and left the scripts there also and moved it to the extension forum.

[pcnerd]

What's gmpokey? before I download...

[PLAY: More]

What's gmpokey? before I download...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It gives you retro-style sound in-game.

[sn0wb0arder381]

Cool man, I had fun playing around with this before. Just cant find a use for it...

[im2confused]

I've downloaded this before, during those oh-so distant gm6 days and it worked wonderfully.... but now, I don't hear anything at all! (Yes, volume is on)

I think it might be yet another delightful incompatibility with Vista. (Vista is an upgrade from previous windows, right?)

[gymnastdaniel5]

I think this is smart smarty thanks for making it in extension form!

Edited by gymnastdaniel5, 03 March 2007 - 07:19 AM.

[pcnerd]

Is retro effects like gargle or something?
I probably won't download it, my computer doesn't have any speakers.
And before I post any thoughts I need to know that it is!

[Smarty]

I have found out why you are getting missing DLL errors. I've created a topic about it here. At the moment I do not have a working extension available until the issue is somehow resolved.

[mrsmes]

hey the extension sounds good now i can produce awesome original sounds 2 place in my game. i owe you credit 4 v help 2 make original sounds 4 commercial purposes thnx man.

this makes me happy thnx guys and staff and mostly mark overmarrs.
it's safe but it doesn't work with or with out the extension.

Edited by mrsmes, 06 March 2007 - 11:22 AM.

[MasterMind]

I'm not getting any sound whatso ever. I have volume on high, but nothing doing.

[Smarty]

I'm not getting any sound whatso ever. I have volume on high, but nothing doing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There is a problem with the extension mechanism that makes it not work. Whenever you are using 2 or more DLLs, in which one DLL calls another, the second cannot be found. See my link further up for more information.

I'm ditching the extension mechanism until this is solved somehow.

[Smarty]

The issue with the file paths of DLLs in the extension mechanism (discussed here) is now resolved. Mark contacted me and confirmed this was something he did not think of. There is no other solution to it than to change all your static links into dynamic ones.

Try the download link in the first post again, it works like a breeze now.

[softhunterdevil]

Smarty!
Can you tell me a way to do the following :

I want to play three notes ... lets say C,D#,F ..consecutively
This is not much problem ... Just use you command to play the note.

Again ... I want to play C,F,F ... consecutively

But when I use your command ... C is as it should be ... however the F is playing continuous. Although I am using commands to play F two times.

How should I do it such a way ... so that the F is heard two times ... so that it sounds like ... C F F rather than C F........

Note: I know I have to stop previous F and then play the next F. But doing so is juat stopping any sound output. My Room speed is 10 and I am making a sound in each step. Any tip or trick you suggest to make two 'F' s so that they are separately heard ?

Thanks in advance

Edited by softhunterdevil, 05 April 2007 - 03:49 AM.

[Smarty]

GMPokey allows you to alter sound output. It isn't an instrument on which you play notes - for example, 'Transition' in my demo plays the notes but fades the volume over steps, so that each note sounds like a synthesizer key press (well, a bit).

GMPokey always has continuous sound output. So, to hear two notes that are the same, you will have to temporarily stop the sound before playing the next. However, you can 'only' change the sound output during the step, so you will need more steps.

Theoretically you could play C on step 1, then mute on step 2, F on 3, mute on 4, F on 5 and mute on 6. But as the room speed is continous, the pauses are just as long as the notes. You would at least need to increase the room speed to 20 to have it played at the same speed.

I would actually suggest using at least 30 as a room speed (your game is much more responsive when you do). Then create an object with the following features:

Create event:

notes[1]=121; // C
notes[2]=182; // F
notes[3]=182; // F
vol=0;
index=0;

Step event:

vol-=5;
if vol=0
  {
     vol=15;
     index+=1;
     if index>3
       {
          gmpokey_sound(0,0,0,0);
          instance_destroy();
          exit;
        }
   }
gmpokey_sound(0,notes[index],10,vol);

When you create an instance of this object, it will play the 3 notes. To hear it again, you have to create it again (make sure only one runs at a time, otherwise you'll get garbage).

[softhunterdevil]

Theoretically you could play C on step 1, then mute on step 2, F on 3, mute on 4, F on 5 and mute on 6. But as the room speed is continous, the pauses are just as long as the notes. You would at least need to increase the room speed to 20 to have it played at the same speed.

I would actually suggest using at least 30 as a room speed (your game is much more responsive when you do). Then create an object with the following features:

Create event:

notes[1]=121; // C
notes[2]=182; // F
notes[3]=182; // F
vol=0;
index=0;

Step event:

vol-=5;
if vol=0
  {
     vol=15;
     index+=1;
     if index>3
       {
          gmpokey_sound(0,0,0,0);
          instance_destroy();
          exit;
        }
   }
gmpokey_sound(0,notes[index],10,vol);

When you create an instance of this object, it will play the 3 notes. To hear it again, you have to create it again (make sure only one runs at a time, otherwise you'll get garbage).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats what I was having in my mind ... thanks for the confirmation & detail overview.

One small question ... what is the differene in milliseconds that human ear can distinguish between two separate sounds ? Do you know ?

[Smarty]

One small question ... what is the differene in milliseconds that human ear can distinguish between two separate sounds ? Do you know ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, I have no idea. But I'm pretty sure it differs per person.

If you want to have more flexibility, why don't you just export wave files from the sounds you create? Then you can make any sound you like and still stick to the low refresh rate.

[softhunterdevil]

Is there any probable way to fill up the missing sounds in octave ...(few in 12 distortion) ... and is there any way to get unlimited number of sounds having volume (8) ... so that even if it exceeds 32, nothing happens.

I mean ... is there any other chip or dll to do that ?
Or any other method to produce such retro sounds ?

Edited by softhunterdevil, 10 April 2007 - 05:03 PM.

[Sinaz]

Hey Smarty, I've been playing around with gmPokey, and loving it.

I've also been scouring the net looking for information on programming sound effects... Obviously, I'll get good eventually through trial and error, but it'd be great if there were some explanation of how certain sound effects have been produced in the past, and especially some nifty engineering tricks. So far I've found a lot of ROM analysis and chip diagrams... but nothing that really helps me.

Link if you got 'em!

And thanks for the excellent extension.

Edited by Sinaz, 10 April 2007 - 05:14 PM.

[Smarty]

Is there any probable way to fill up the missing sounds in octave ...(few in 12 distortion) ... and is there any way to get unlimited number of sounds having volume (8) ... so that even if it exceeds 32, nothing happens.

I mean ... is there any other chip or dll to do that  ?
Or any other method to produce such retro sounds ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

None that I know of. What you could try - something I haven't tried myself - is create 4 copies of the GMPOKEY DLL and link and execute each seperately. But anyway, realtime sound synthing is processor intensive, so it may bog down your game if you use too many.

Hey Smarty, I've been playing around with gmPokey, and loving it.

I've also been scouring the net looking for information on programming sound effects... Obviously, I'll get good eventually through trial and error, but it'd be great if there were some explanation of how certain sound effects have been produced in the past, and especially some nifty engineering tricks.  So far I've found a lot of ROM analysis and chip diagrams... but nothing that really helps me.

Link if you got 'em!

And thanks for the excellent extension.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the kind words, Sinaz. Do you mean how to create interesting sounds with this particular extension, or are you looking into creating your own synth DLL?

[Sinaz]

Thanks for the kind words, Sinaz. Do you mean how to create interesting sounds with this particular extension, or are you looking into creating your own synth DLL?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I meant making my own sounds using gmPOKEY. Like, examples of the sequences used to generate some classic sounds. I've got some nifty sounds going on just by playing around... but so far, it's been about as productive as trying to mix oil paints with my eyes closed.

[Smarty]

It's hard to get into the details of particular sounds, but I'll touch the basics here.

First off, keep in mind that there were several chips in the good old 80s. While POKEY was used in several home computers and a few arcade hall machines, it doesn't mean you will be able to emulate all the sounds you remember from that era. For example, this chip has square waves by default, but not sawtooth or sine waves. Of course you can't ever expect it to emulate realistic sound effects.

What all those 8-bit machines had in common is that sound effects were created by updating any of the sound registers during the screen's vertical blank (usually at 50 or 60 Hz). So you have decent flexibility to start with at a room speed of about 60, changing the sound registers at every step. There is no point anyway to make more calls to gmpokey_sound() than once per step, per channel. GM's timing is though less than dead accurate, you have to make sure that the frame rate is constant.

Sound effects were a matter of creating frequency and volume envelopes, and concatenating sounds with different distortions. To speed up the process those envelopes values were sometimes stored in arrays. For many sound effects more than one channel was used, although the 'real' art was in making sounds as complex as possible using a single channel, saving other channels. For example, arpeggio was used to create a chord sound of 3 notes on a single channel, by alternating those notes with pauses of about 2 frames between them and repeating that sequence (so you hear a very quick succesion of those 3 notes).

Most of the popular sound effects usually apply a combination of square wave (distortion level 10, good for jump, fall, die, and other beeps) and noise (distortion level 8, good for shots, explosions, hits). Machine-like sounds can be found in distortion levels 6 and 12. There is no rule of thumb to the sound effects though - except that for good sound effects, you will always apply at least some frequency, volume, or even distortion envelope. An unchanged single sound will never do.

It helps to listen to real sounds to make a kind of chip counterpart. Does the frequency go up or down, where does it start, how fast does it go? Is it noisy, clear, a combination of both? Does the volume fade, increase? How loud does it start or end? Et cetera...

Of course, the sound you produce is only a suggestion... The game player only associates it with what happens on the screen, and the imagination does the rest.

[softhunterdevil]

Do you have any plans for it in the future ?
Can we expect any future update ?
What more can be done about it ?

[Smarty]

The goal of this DLL was to emulate the POKEY chip and hand out pretty much all the functionality it had, in mono and stereo. That's done. What more can I do?

[Tony225]

well, for instance you can try and find out why i'm getting an error here, well, a fatal error...

[Sinaz]

well, for instance you can try and find out why i'm getting an error here, well, a fatal error...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are you sure you properly installed the extension?

[rabainal]

Hi there, I got a question about your extension package. I'd like to play up to 4 notes simultaneously, what I already managed to do by using the four channels, but I'd like to play the notes not as pure frequencies, but as guitar string imitating sounds. In order to do this, I'd have to play the 3 or 4 first harmonics of a string guitar during each note. The only way I'd see .. would be to use (4 notes x 4 sounds per note (the note+3 first harmonics)) = 12 channels... which is impossible. Is there another way ?

[Smarty]

well, for instance you can try and find out why i'm getting an error here, well, a fatal error...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sinaz is right. You can't run the GMK file if you haven't installed the extension first.

Hi there, I got a question about your extension package. I'd like to play up to 4 notes simultaneously, what I already managed to do by using the four channels, but I'd like to play the notes not as pure frequencies, but as guitar string imitating sounds. In order to do this, I'd have to play the 3 or 4 first harmonics of a string guitar during each note. The only way I'd see .. would be to use (4 notes x 4 sounds per note (the note+3 first harmonics)) = 12 channels... which is impossible. Is there another way ?

The chip is designed to have 4 channels only. So by default this isn't possible.

But there is something you can try - not with the extension, but with the DLL (see previous topics on GMPokey). It is though a very tricky process. What you would need to do is create two more sets of GMPokey commands, that seperately initialise their own instance of POKEY and that have their own commands to address their range of 0-4 channels. Basically, it means you should run the same DLL 3 times. But I haven't tested if this works.

An alternative is using arpeggio - with a single channel, let the frequency step through the 3 notes (changing every one or two steps). This creates a chord-like sound.

Whatever you do though, don't expect to create a guitar-like sound. It's a rather primitive chip.

[rabainal]

Thanks ! I shall try it soon. I don't expect to get a guitar sound lol, I know it's very basic. I just need to hear if some notes (with the harmonics of a string) are sounding well with other similar notes, because with only pure frequencies without harmonics, it's harder to determine if the 2 notes will sound well on a stringed instrument.

[jobro]

Very nice extension! This will come handy!

[[M]edieval]

Is there still a GM6 extension of Pokey?

[Smarty]

edieval,Jun 5 2007, 07:03 PM]
Is there still a GM6 extension of Pokey?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes - here.

I'd appreciate feedback in this topic, though.

[Shadeplay23]

I've downloaded GMpokey, and are the sounds in GMpokey limited?(I expect a yes, but I know you do a lot of amazing things in your demos)


-Shadeplay23

[Smarty]

I've downloaded GMpokey, and are the sounds in GMpokey limited?(I expect a yes, but I know you do a lot of amazing things in your demos)

Hard to give a clear answer to this... The chip can produce a varied arrange of sounds, but all are discussed in the manual. It's how you combine them to make new sounds; tweaking with channels, frequencies, distortions, volumes and the switches to put them to different effects. You'll always hear it's a chip sound though.

In the demo I don't do anything special that hasn't been done already when this machine was in it's heyday. Trying to make up interesting sounds that hadn't been done before was what sound programming was all about.

[softhunterdevil]

Hey!
I am getting the following error when I am trying to install GMPOKEY extension.


It was never before ... as I had installed it beforehand ... but uninstalled Game Maker once to format my comp. Now when everything is up again I am getting error.

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium.

[Smarty]

Nice and descriptive error message by Mark there.

I've never seen that before and considering that it has worked for everyone else (even you) I doubt it has anything to do with my extension.

I assume you have extracted the ZIP file and are trying to load the correct file. Could it be that the extension file was corrupted? Or is anything wrong with your current extensions subdirectory (no modification access for example)?

[softhunterdevil]

Could it be that the extension file was corrupted?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I downloaded it multiple times and everytime I wanted to install it got the same error message.

Now what do you mean by

Or is anything wrong with your current extensions subdirectory (no modification access for example)?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What is extension directory ? Under game maker folder ? What may be wrong with it ?

I think the rar (or zip) file is getting corrupted.

Can you please send me the GMPOKEY extension separately ? PM me please.

Edited by softhunterdevil, 13 July 2007 - 02:45 PM.

[softhunterdevil]

I solved the problem.

You have to launch Game Maker "Run as administrator"

Otherwise installation of Extension was giving the above error.

However ... GMPOKEY, MaxWinAPI, d41's Room Transitions, KX_DTE, INI Data Structure gave the error.

But ... Dynamic Variable, Saudio, Ultima Crypt, WS_encryptionandfiles, etc didnot give any error even when Game Maker was run as normal user.

I think there is a factor which determines it ... can any body find out ?

[Smarty]

That's what I meant with modification access.

In the program directory of Game Maker, there is a subdirectory called extensions. It contains all the extension related files (per extension, ideally, a help file, data file and script index file). It sounds as if you were not allowed, as a regular user, to access that directory. And with reason - in many configurations regular users cannot copy files in the Program Files directory (and that's exactly what GM does).

But this clearly isn't just about access permissions. Game Maker is doing something during that installation that it isn't allowed to do because there are insufficient rights.

Just a guess - GMPokey has help lines which appear below the script editor if you type it's built-in commands. Not every package designer may have done that. I wonder if those who have it fail to install, while those who haven't do install as a user. A shot in the dark, maybe...

[Alex]

I can't install the extension for some reason.

EDIT: Nvm, got it to work.

Edited by Alex, 08 August 2007 - 12:52 PM.

[Smarty]

Any additional info? Error messages, for example? Problems in your extensions directory?

Edit: NVM then.

Edited by Smarty, 08 August 2007 - 12:53 PM.

[Alex]

It just said failed to install. When I ran under Admin it worked.

However, the sounds sound really weird... not sure if it's my computer.

It sounds like its breaking up a lot, but the FPS seems fine...

I'm running this under Vista (if that matters).

[Smarty]

I'm running this under Vista (if that matters).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That does matter in installations. The installation of extensions happens in the program files directory of Game Maker. I'm guessing that regular users may not have access to that directory, or that some other process inside GM needs to use Windows features with limited access.

As for the extension - it sounds as if the sound buffer that you used to initialise the extension is too short. Try more, and bigger, buffers. If you used the defaults... Well, then I guess that the defaults just aren't good enough for Vista.

Edited by Smarty, 08 August 2007 - 01:38 PM.

[softhunterdevil]

I'm running this under Vista (if that matters).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That does matter in installations. The installation of extensions happens in the program files directory of Game Maker. I'm guessing that regular users may not have access to that directory, or that some other process inside GM needs to use Windows features with limited access.

As for the extension - it sounds as if the sound buffer that you used to initialise the extension is too short. Try more, and bigger, buffers. If you used the defaults... Well, then I guess that the defaults just aren't good enough for Vista.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In vista, the problem is as stated by Alex, sound is breaking up.
What should be the buffer we should use ?
If we make an application using that buffer, compile into an exe and run it in XP ... will the sound remain same ?

[Smarty]

In vista, the problem is as stated by Alex, sound is breaking up.
What should be the buffer we should use ?

Actually, I don't know. The thing I do know is that the background thread is not getting enough time dedicated by the OS to compute the sound (which causes the distortion).

Try experimenting with the buffer size in terms of kilobytes. The amount of buffers is not that important, but it probably really shouldn't go below 3.

If we make an application using that buffer, compile into an exe and run it in XP ... will the sound remain same ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes. The only risk in increasing the buffer is that you get some latency in the playback.

[YoMamasMama]

I recently came across this extension while searching for an easy way to produce retro sounds and it's a perfect fit.

Excellent work, I'm going to try to use this on my next project.