GYM Sets by holyice7 at 1:31 PM EDT on July 8, 2009
I'm wondering how the old Genesis format GYM is timed and ripped. I'm trying to listen to one of my favorites, Sonic 3D Blast, but half the tracks are cut off before the end, like some idiot timed them, and the format seems to have been been put out of use by VGM, which is a shame, since the emulation for Genesis in VGM sounds like crap.
What can I do to fix this almost ten-year-old GYM set?
Given the info here, GYM does not support any internal header or tagging information. This means it doesn't have a simple time value you can update. It seems like you'll need to rerip the set. I guess that only answers half of your question, maybe someone else can tell you how to rerip it.
...SmartOne, I've just gone through your suggested method with a few emulators, and it sounds...exactly the same as it does on Winamp. The percussion is full of white noise, and half the high notes are drowned out, none of which happens with the GYMs.
As it is I'm cutting these tracks together by hand, but some of them have chunks missing. Anyone know the ancient and mythic rituals by which GYMs are ripped? Subsequently...anyone willing to give this one a go, since I have a hunch it's not one of the easier methods.
Blah blah blah. The last time a GYM set had a shaky tempo was when the person recording it didn't have a computer that could handle running a Genesis emulator.
I'm less concerned about accuracy, and more about precision. If something sounds like shit, that's all well and good, but the soundtrack I remember is tinted through the nostalgic glaze of my memories, and it sounds clear and chip-tune-ie.
I seem quicker to bitch these days, anyway, as relentless searching has found the DGen emulator, which careful listening causes me to suspect that it's the very same emulator that the current Sonic 3D Blast GYM set was recorded on. I'll record a set and submit it to Zophar within the week if I feel like anyone cares enough about GYMs any more to bother with the effort.
I might just be better off throwing a set of mp3s out there to anyone who would actually want this stuff.
Yeah, I loaded up the sonic 3d blast vgz set I've got and the foobar plugin was having a TON of trouble with the low end stuff and the percussion, Rusty Ruin 1 for example... sounds horrendous, gym set from zophar meanwhile sounds fine. Loaded it up with that VGM_Play thing in kega too, and aside from being insanely inconvenient, it sounded the same as it did on foobar. So, really, just a +1 that the problem exists. Somehow I doubt it's just an issue of inaccuracy, unless the gym format managed to inaccurately replace horrendously staticy snare samples with decent ones. If so, thanks, sounds much better :/
Well I have no idea what happened in the last two hours. I opened DGen, and the percussion sounded crystal clear the first time, now it sounds like crap every time I open it again, and I can't get the GYMs to log worth anything. I'll probably need to find another emulator, but not tonight.
If you want to have a look around, fridgey, be my guest. I'll even take something with WAV logging, I just need it to have high-end sound emulation. This is just taking a lot longer than I thought it would, and I have Xrays to be taken tomorrow...
...Never mind, apparently you can draw blood from a stone. The GYMs coming from a ten-year-old, outdated emulator somehow sound far better than the sound output the thing itself is producing.
I'll take the time to furrow my brow and rub the bridge of my nose at this tomorrow, however, as the curiosity causing my insomnia has now been solved.