Starfox Adventures Sound Extraction

[Majora]

oi lol,

been wondering for ages if any resourceful Starfox fans had the chance to check out the magical world of sound extraction taken exclusively from Starfox Adventures

Sound extraction can refer to the removal of several sounds from the game's ROM or .iso file, including:

vocal samples from the characters (such as dialogue, grunts, noises, the sound of steps they take on grass, sand, and stone),

in-game sounds (such as environmental ambience, bird noises, dinosaur roars, the sound Krystal's staff makes when it fires a laser),

and music samples (such as the chants and vocal samples that play in Cape Claw, instrument files, and percussion files)

This process has been performed using a myriad of programs; taking sounds from loads of games spanning across numerous consoles, including soundfonts created using extracted files from The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time for the Nintendo 64, Pokemon Black & White for the Nintendo DS, Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo, Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Gamecube, effects extracted from the Assassin's Creed games for the Xbox 360, CastleVania soundfonts from the PlayStation 2, and many others

Starfox Adventures has a pristine variety of professionally-mixed sounds that have lots of sonic potential in sampling, music production, and more

knowing Starfox Adventures' gorgeously-produced soundtrack, i was curious to see if anyone on this site has experience with or knowledge of others removing the individual sounds from the game

[Rik McCloud]

Pretty sure that Mr. Krystal has a link to a rip of a large majority of the sounds from the game. Check out the Krystal Archive.

[Star Fox Runner]

I agree with Rik, if there's one guy who knows how to get ANYTHING out of Star Fox Adventures, it's him. Pay the Krystal Archive a visit and email him.

[Majora]

thanks mates

[DZComposer]

Careful with instrument samples. Even the chants come from commercially-available sample libraries (I've heard them pop-up elsewhere), so anyone who posts them could get DMCA'd.

[Majora]

Oh yes. David Wise used loads of samples from the Heart Of Africa sample library. Been using that library for ages myself, as have various Nickelodeon composers (if you've ever heard the music from Avatar The Last Airbender, The Wild Thornberries, to name a few). Very dynamic.

[Rin]

Yeah, the Krystal Archive has a lot of stuff. Wonder if he's updated/done any more ripping recently. I noticed some of the stuff I was looking for wasn't there, but that was ages ago.

[Majora]

Emailed him earlier today. I had read on his website earlier that it had an unfortunate hacking problem a few months ago, which can't be very pleasant.

Equally-unfortunate, I had completely forgotten to email him after replying to this thread thinger earlier in the year for reasons unknown. Could have eliminated any potential issues that may surface as a result of his site having been hacked before. I must have been pretty busy lmao

Hopefully he has some of the files mentioned here backed-up somewhere, or at least recalls the utilities & methods he used to obtain them.

As previously mentioned, I already have a fairly large amount of the samples used in most of the music pieces in Starfox Adventures as a result of owning the Heart Of Africa sample library, but you just can't beat the sounds you can extract from the game itself, with all their original character.

To put that into perspective, you can technically emulate all the instruments used in the Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time right on your computer using the Digital Audio Workstation of your choice via your computer's MIDI functionality, but the original samples just have such a diverse array of characteristics and variables that define their sound, such as tones, loop methods, grain, and more.

Consequentially makes video game sound extraction pretty important if you'd like a proper set of samples to work with when reworking their pieces, especially when it comes to a game with such a diverse sonic palette, like Starfox Adventures.

[DZComposer]

For sake of additional information, David Wise said in an interview that the orchestral samples he used for SFAd were mainly from Peter Siedlaczek's Advanced Orchestra.

I was never all that fond of that library, I felt that EastWest and VSL had better stuff at the time.

[Majora]

Ah, can sympathize with that decision for a project like Starfox Adventures.

Everybody was using EastWest at the time. Their products may as well be the Edirol of the 2000s. The product would have sounded like any other album, game, or film with a string section in its soundtrack. Not to mention the character of Advanced Orchestra, which appears to strive more for unique sounding results, instead of the strictly-realistic tone EastWest goes for with every single item they market.

Not to put down the quality samples they use, of course.

Still, you can't go wrong with an older set of sounds, if sampling them from orchestral performances isn't an option.

Take the Emulator II strings, for example. I still use those on pieces that demand a bit more than a simple set of strings. If you've ever heard West End Girls by the Pet Shop Boys, surely you'd agree

[Majora]

quick update, Mr. Krystal was able to restore loads of StarFox Adventures Krystal-related audio files in response.

 

From what I've seen of it, it seems much more accessible than the files listed on Starfox-Online, as all the files have been properly labelled & organized.

 

He says he'll get around to uploading tons of more material once he's completely restored the Krystal Archive.  Very cool

[DZComposer]

Yeah, we used to have it a bit better, but the move to IP.Downloads required not using that custom code. I haven't had the time to go in and tag all 700+ files. I've asked for help in the matter, but as always happens when I ask the community for help, I got none.

[Majora]

Ah, no need for such negativity; where's that cheery Texas attitude?

Would be happy to lend a hand.  Toss me a private message

[Fox777]

I realise this is an old topic, but seeing as how it's still on the first page I don't see how it would be bad to bump an old topic. I apologize if it is though!

Anyway, I know the there is StarFox Adventures audio on here & the Krystal Archive. But I'd rather extract them from my own game myself. I've already ripped an iso of my StarFox Adventures game disc, and I've extracted the game files from the iso.

In the audio folder, there is the following files:

data(folder)
midi.wad
starfox.h.bak
starfoxm.poo
starfoxm.pro
starfoxm.sam
starfoxm.sdi
starfoxs.poo
starfoxs.pro
starfoxs.sam
starfoxs.sdi

 

The .sam files are the largest files so I assume those would be what contains the audio. The problem is, they are text documents, but they are the largest files in the folder. Which makes me assume that they contain the audio. But I cannot find anything to convert them or whatever and every time I do a search, the same, unhelpful, results come up.

So yeah, there's some information, hopefully it will help. So is there any information on how to extract the audio?

 

EDIT: I've tried just about everything... I've tried opening it in programs like Audacity, etc. But whenever I do, it's just a high pitched crackling and static. This is really frustrating...

[Majora]

Sorry for not replying sooner, only just came by.  Recently got my hands on the contents of the game's .iso as well

 

Wouldn't try opening such obscure proprietary formats like .sam in a program like Audacity, as it can only read raw audio data.  Can imagine that would be like trying to open an .mp3 file in Paint.

 

Could be completely wrong, but I get the sense from looking at its audio data that the .bin files are what we should be after here, especially that MUSIC.bin bad larry
.bin image files are similar to .iso files in that they both can be mounted using Virtual Drive software

Out of all the file types in the game's data, I think they would be the ones most likely to contain or somehow link to its audio files, though unfortunately, they seem to be unmountable, even when paired with proper .cue files

 

Clearly the game's audio data can be accessed in some way, due to some bits and pieces of its dialogue having been extracted by others previously mentioned at some point 

Think the best course of action so far as accessing the game's instruments and sound effects would be to get their insight on how the game stores its data, as it does so in a manner seemingly more complex than most other Gamecube games.

For example, to help visualize that strange data storage method, do you see how things like character models and textures are sorted by location in the game's contents, as opposed to storing all the models in one folder, textures in another, etc., as most Gamecube games store their data?

 

"- capeclaw

ANIM.BIN

ANIM.TAB

ANIMCURV.bin

ANIMCURV.tab

mod48.tab

mod48.zlb.bin

MODELIND.bin

MODELS.bin

MODELS.tab

OBJSEQ.bin

OBJSEQ.tab

OBJSEQ2C.tab

TEX0.bin

TEX0.tab

TEX1.bin

TEX1.tab

VOXMAP.bin

VOXMAP.tab

capeclaw.romlist.zlb"

 

Not to imply that the game stores some audio data in areas other than its Audio section, but from seeing it store data as common as character models and textures location-by-location, I can imagine that its audio files may be stored in an equally strange manner.  Could be completely wrong, of course.

Been looking around on the Haley's Comet forums for some guidance; doesn't look like there's much material there regarding StarFox Adventures' audio, but they may have the tools or at least the know-how on how to go about reaping some usable audio from these odd file formats

 

I just sent 'Mr. Krystal' a message asking for some insight on it as well.  Would think he'd have an idea of how to go about it, seeing as how he has extracted dialogue relating to Krystal from the game

 

Guarantee the disconnect here is something relatively simple, just a question of working through the obscure file formats appropriately

[Majora]

Here's just about all I can come up with so far.  
LINK REMOVED - Contains processed audio samples from commercial sample libraries presented in a state contradictory to that in which they are commercially distributed - from one of StarFox Adventures' demo builds, including a majority of its instruments with their original loop points and settings (Decay, Release, etc.), environment sounds, and general in-game effects (Fox grunting, Tricky's "dum-dee-dah"), as well as LINK REMOVED - Contains processed audio samples from commercial sample libraries presented in a state contradictory to that in which they are commercially distributed - .  
Some samples do have some minor frequency issues though, which I like personally, very Fairlight-esque, nothing unpleasant.  
 
[Links removed - Contains processed audio samples from commercial sample libraries presented in a state contradictory to that in which they are commercially distributed - ]
 
Can only get so lucky of course.  
Having extracted this audio from a demo version of the game, there are a few sounds from the finished version missing, such as the female choir featured in most Krystal and Krazoa Palace themes, some instruments used in the StarFox leitmotifs (as they were added later in development), etc.
 
Not a bad compilation though, would say these account for about 94% of the game's audio, which is definitely better than what was available until only just recently. Have no idea what it is with Gamecube fans when it comes to StarFox Adventures; seems like there's been comparatively less interest in extracting and examining its contents than many of its peers from the same console.  
At the risk of sounding unthankful, you would think content like this would have been readily available years ago, especially with such a budding interest in the game's developmental soul-sister game Dinosaur Planet.  
 
Not to put that one down, of course, as I'm sure its undeveloped content is interesting, but StarFox Adventures is such an intricately-layered piece; definitely deserves better than what it gets from its series' main audience

[DZComposer]

I'd highly suggest not ripping the instrument samples.

David Wise used several known commercial instrument sample libraries including Peter Siedlaczek's Advanced Orchestra and Heart of Africa. I'm sure Best Service and Spectrasonics would be very displeased if their samples were in there, as both libraries are still commercially available:

http://www.bestservice.de/detail1.asp/best_service/complete_orchestral_collection/en

http://www.spectrasonics.net/products/legacy/heartofafrica1.php

http://www.spectrasonics.net/products/legacy/heartofafrica2.php

Many of the sound effects are likely from commercial libraries as well as I hear many of the same sounds everywhere.

Since these aren't the works of Rare, I'm nervous about them being linked here, to be honest.

EDIT:

After digging though the soundfont, I found some sounds that I know for sure are from Heart of Africa (Some of them are even used in the sound demo on the store page I linked). Because of this, I'm sorry, but I have to remove the links.

[Majora]

Yep, already established that most percussion samples are indeed from the Heart Of Africa libraries, very familiar with them, as I've owned them for over a decade.

 

I can attest that the majority of the library samples extracted from the game's demo build and compiled into the soundbank I supplied have seen major processing of all kinds: decompression, some sub-harmonic filtering, monoization, dynamic re-compression, all sorts of good stuff; therefore rendering the sounds as they are unique and untenable as public source audio (could even extend that thought to describe them [in the same form as I've made them available] as public domain unlicensed audio samples, considering the readily-available nature of their founding).

 

Can understand your concern, wouldn't want to take what I perceive to be a potential risk either, but precautionary vigilantism really isn't necessary in this case; the license application of the samples as they were prior to their processing by Rare in 2002 does not apply to their use or distribution following their purchase.

 

To demonstrate that policy, if I were to upload the contents of each Heart Of Africa CD I own online and offer them as a free download, that would absolutely violate Spectrasonics' license agreement, no doubt about it.

However, if I took each individual sample and ran each one through a Roland Space Echo delay, an SP2016 plate reverb, and a few Drawmer gates, and uploaded all of the processed material online as a free download, I wouldn't be uploading the contents of the Heart Of Africa CDs, I would be uploading and distributing my own processed audio samples.  

 

Therefore, in order to violate any existing license agreement, the most applicable or relevant hypothetical license violation in this scenario would be incurred if Rare Ltd. were to release a commercial source audio product for StarFox Adventures, which I'm currently unaware of.

 

If you'd still prefer I don't re-upload the material you removed, isn't a problem at all.  Would prefer if you reconsidered though, as there really isn't any majorly useful audio material posted online for StarFox Adventures, would be a little disappointed to see that situation continue because of an ultimately unnecessary technicality, y'know

[DZComposer]

I don't know, it seems pretty clear to me:

 

Reproduction or duplication of these collections, or any of the sound recordings contained therein, either as they exist on the discs, or by any means of reformatting, mixing, filtering, re-synthesizing, processing, or otherwise editing for use in another product or for resale, is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of Spectrasonics.

http://www.spectrasonics.net/support/knowledgebase_view_topic.php?id=410&categoryID=81

I understand your point about there not being much out there. I'm fine with stuff that is Rare's work. If adding filters is not enough for Spectrasonic, it is not enough for me either.

[Majora]

"...for use in another product or for resale", meaning that particular passage requiring proprietary consent applies only to the audio samples' inclusion in consumer media intended to be sold, consequentially excluding the audio material as was previously available here.

 

Really isn't an issue though, can imagine the material will be appropriately circulated elsewhere, in good faith.  A simple timeframe concern.  

Small pleasures - who are Spectrasonics to deny us these

 

Already thankful enough that something from under StarFox Adventures' hood has finally been produced.

[Majora]

Again, you'd think its audio files would have been looked into and sorted awhile ago.

Just need to work out the few remaining missing samples from a complete build of the game.  Keeping an eye out for the Krazoa spirit voices as presented in-game, among other effects.  Replicated easily-enough regardless, but it's all in the interest of completion

[DZComposer]

I don't find the argument that "Free means not for sale" compelling when it comes to law, and to my understanding the courts haven't either.

Anyway, don't get me wrong. I love seeing this kind of stuff. I just have to be careful with copyright issues. I'm OK with Rare's stuff like music and voice acting being shared because Rare doesn't mind when people post music rips and such from their games.

[Majora]

Can imagine most people wouldn't find that argument particularly compelling, especially if it were under law review.  Thankfully, Spectrasonics' Heart Of Africa sample CD's license agreement is not a written law, it is a product license agreement; a separate entity which, when breached, is penalizable in a manner described in the license issuer's material breach of warranty policy.  Essentially, when 'A' is broken, only 'A' is broken - 'B' is not.

Regardless, under our own circumstances, neither license nor law is or has ever been broken, as the aforementioned circumstances do not meet the conditions described in the license agreement.  

 

Furthermore, in the interest of throwing the proverbial DZComposer a hypothetical bone, even if Best Service and Spectrasonics both updated their individual license agreements tomorrow morning to accommodate such an ambiguous inadequacy in their policies, the matter would be dealt with in the same manner remotely similar cases are by the two library producers in question: the links would have their contents deleted.

 

Really isn't an issue though, nothing to get terribly philosophical over.  Respectfully sensing some slight final-word syndrome symptoms, going to let you have at it

Shouldn't be too difficult for interested and enterprising individuals to find the audio in question with a simple search