Fixing "Broken Tempo" In Your MIDI/XM Files

Fixing "Broken Tempo" In Your MIDI/XM Files:


Guide by: CarrascoZX0


About: Fixing "broken tempo" in your MIDI/XM files.


Special Credits: Eduardo Knuckles - Who originally taught me how to fix the "broken tempo" problem.


-Story-


Alright, recently I've been checking out the SSRG Genesis Music Thread, and I've been looking at some people's recent and old XM to SMPS ports. Anyway, I came across quite a few ports by beginners at MIDI/XM to SMPS, and I noticed mostly all had one same problem. Broken tempo...


But not only here, also in Retro's Genesis Music Thread and even people asking me on MSN or something. Now, I don't mind helping people but since a lot of individuals don't know how to fix this problem, I thought I'd make a little tutorial on how to fix this.


Now, I know some of you are probably asking yourself. "What's broken tempo?"


Well, if you are one of those people that when you get a MIDI and automatically open it in Modplug Tracker and start editing it, you'll probably know what I'm talking about. Still don't know? Here's an example...


"Broken Tempo" - This is what you'd normally get if you just get a MIDI and just stick it into MPT without fixing the "broken tempo" problem first, before converting the MIDI to XM then loading the XM up to xm3smps and converting it to SMPS etc.


"Fixed Tempo" - This is what you'd get if you fixed the "broken tempo" problem.


(Also, sorry about the sloppiness of this port. It isn't suppose to sound pretty, it's just an example. =P)


NOTE: In these both examples, I'm using the same MIDI, voices, volume, etc. The only difference obviously, one of the example's "broken tempo" is fixed.


So with that said...


Things That You'll Need:


- A program that reduces a MIDI's tempo. In this tutorial though, I'll be using Anvil Studio.


Now that you've got what you need, let's begin...


Part 1 - Fixing "Broken Tempo" in Anvil Studio:


Alright, once you downloaded and installed Anvil Studio. Open the program up and load your MIDI onto it. Now that it's loaded, you have to reduce the tempo. If you don't know how to do that. Here's a picture...


After clicking, a little window should pop up asking you to enter your new tempo, put 120. If you have to, make it lower. But, 120 works most of the time. If your MIDI was originally lower than 120, then the MIDI really shouldn't have any "broken tempo" problems, but if it does. Divide whatever tempo you have in two, and put that as you new tempo. (Example: 108 ÷ 2 = "54" <--- New Tempo.)


After that, save your MIDI and load it up in MPT.


NOTE: You can't fix the "broken tempo" on a XM. It has to be a MIDI!


Part 2 - Fixing Tempo in Modplug Tracker:


Now that you've fixed the "broken tempo" problem. It's time to fix the next tempo problem. You probably notice that your song is slower now, but it's not "broken" anymore. So, the next part is obvious... Make the tempo a bit faster so it's the same speed as the original MIDI. If you don't know how to change it here's a few more pictures...


Orange Box: Change the speed using the "up" and "down" buttons. Remember... The lower the number, the faster the song will be.


Red Box: Double click to change the tempo. Remember... The higher the number, the faster the song will be.


Now in my case, the MIDI was 240/3. After changing the "tempo" and "speed" to it's correct number, I got 172/2.


After you fixed your "tempo" and "speed," your basically all done. Unfortunately, there's one more thing I highly recommended you fix if you want your MIDI/XM to sound as they originally should.


Part 3 - Fixing Early "Rest Notes" Problem:


Now, there's only one tiny flaw I noticed when using Anvil Studio to fix "broken tempo" in songs. It mostly occurs in notes that play for a while. Don't know what I mean? Let me show you...





As you can see the note I boxed in, the note starts playing at Row: 56. It's suppose to stop playing a Row: 124. As shown here...


But there's one small problem...


As you can see, for some reason there's a rest note that makes the note stop earlier than it's suppose to.


Why does this happen? I'm not sure...


How do you fix this? Well, just delete the early rest note. Remember, these early rest notes mostly appear when a certain note plays for a while. Look though your whole song to make sure there's no early rest notes. After you fixed that, your basically done! =)


So, that's pretty much it. I hope I explained good enough on how to fix this. Hopefully, I don't hear anymore music ports with the "broken tempo" problem. Any questions, please feel free to ask. =)

 

I know I'm bumping a three month old topic and all, but how do you convert to FM Synthesis after fixing the broken tempo?


I can't seem to find a tool.


EDIT: Never mind, you convert to XM and use xm2smps or any of the newer versions.


My bad. D: