When using this document, keep the following in mind:ntialGeneral Notice

1. This document is confidential. By accepting this document you acknowledge that you are boundby the terms set forth in the nondisclosure and confidentiality agreement signed separately and in
the possession of SEGA. If you have not signed such a nondisclosure agreement, please contact
SEGA immediately and return this document to SEGA.

de2. This document may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new versions of the
document. SEGA may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the
program(s) described in this document at any time.

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3. No one is permitted to reproduce or duplicate, in any form, the whole or part of this document
without SEGA’s written permission. Request for copies of this document and for technicalinformation about SEGA products must be made to your authorized SEGA Technical Services
representative.

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4. No license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patents, copyrights, trademarks, orother intellectual property rights of SEGA Enterprses, Ltd., SEGA of America, Inc., or any third
party.
5. Software, circuitry, and other examples described herein are meant merely to indicate the characteristics and performance of SEGA’s products. SEGA assumes no responsibility for any intellectual
property claims or other problems that may result from applications based on the examples
described herein.

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6. It is possible that this document may contain reference to, or information about, SEGA products(development hardware/software) or services that are not provided in countries other than Japan.
Such references/information must not be construed to mean that SEGA intends to provide such
SEGA products or services in countries other than Japan. Any reference of a SEGA licensed product/program in this document is not intended to state or simply that you can use only SEGA’slicensed products/programs. Any functionally equivalent hardware/software can be used instead.
7. SEGA will not be held responsible for any damage to the user that may result from accidents or any
other reasons during operation of the user’s equipment, or programs according to this document.

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NOTE: A reader's comment/correction form is provided with thisdocument. Please address comments to :SEGA of America, Inc., Developer Technical Support (att. Evelyn Merritt)
150 Shoreline Drive, Redwood City, CA 94065

SEGA may use or distribute whatever information you supply in any way
it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.

(11/2/94- 002)

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SATURN
Sound Simulator
ManualDoc. # ST-168-R3-011895© 1995 SEGA. All Rights Reserved.

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READER CORRECTION/COMMENT SHEETKeep us updated!
If you should come across any incorrect or outdated information while reading through the attacheddocument, or come up with any questions or comments, please let us know so that we can make therequired changes in subsequent revisions. Simply fill out all information below and return this form to
the Developer Technical Support Manager at the address below. Please make more copies of this form if
more space is needed. Thank you.
General Information:

Phone

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Your Name
Document number

ST-168-R3-011895

Document name

SATURN Sound Simulator Manual

Date

Corrections:
Correction

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pg. #

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Chpt.

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Questions/comments:

Fax:

Where to send your corrections:(415) 802-1717
Attn: Evelyn Merritt,
Developer Technical Support

Mail:

SEGA OF AMERICA
Attn: Evelyn Merritt,
Developer Technical Support
150 Shoreline Dr.
Redwood City, CA 94065

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REFERENCES

In translating/creating this document, certain technical words and/or phrases were interpretedwith the assistance of the technical literature listed below.

Dictionary of Science and Engineering, 350,000 words, 3rd Edition
Inter Press
Tokyo, Japan
1990

2.

Computer Dictionary
Kyoritsu Publishing Co., LTD.
Tokyo, Japan
1978

3.

IBM Dictionary of Computing
McGraw-Hill, Inc.
New York, New York
1994

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1.

The Sound Simulator

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Main Window

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Sound Simulator
The Sound Simulator is a simulation tool that enables the playback of sound data as
it should sound when incorporated into a game. Playback control of sound data is
typically not possible until the data is paired with the game application code. The
Sound Simulator enables the playback of sound data by simulating the game codeon the Macintosh. The Sound Simulator’s functions are as follows:

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GA• Sound system startup• Tone data and song data transfer• Sound playback control• DSP (effects) program change• Creation, compression, and linking of SATURN format data
• Creation of sound area maps

SATURN Sound Simulator Manual1Sound System Start UpntialWhen the power to the sound board is turned on, the sound operating system must
be started up. As with the production SATURN, the sound operating system iscleared from memory at power-down. Click on System Startupto perform the following processes from the Sound Simulator.
• Hardware initialization• System table and sound area map transfer• Sound program transfer• Sound driver startup
Tone Data and Song Data TransferdeTone data and song data must be transferred to the sound memory according to asound area map before any sound can be played back. If the tone data and song data
are within the area sizes of the map data, those data can be changed dynamically.
Therefore, several tone data and song data areas can be used. Song data can beloaded in while a song is played back.
Sound Playback Control

DSP (Effect) Program Change

nfiStart, stop, pause, fade in, fade out, etc. for songs and sound effects can be controlledfrom the Sound Simulator. In addition to the mouse, function keys can be assigned
to the Macintosh keyboard to control real-time playback. Evaluation of sound effects
and level matching can be performed while a song is playing.

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When there are several DSP (effect) programs on the sound area map, a DSP program can be changed by clicking on the Effect Changebutton. The DSP program does
not run by simply being transferred into memory, so even if there is only one DSP
program, Effect Changestill must be selected.
Creation, Compression, and Linking of SATURN Format DataGASong data created with a MIDI sequencer can be converted to compressed SATURN
data. Multiple songs can be put into one song data bank (sequence bank) with theMake Sequence Bankfunction. This function links together independent compresseddata files. It is assumed that multiple song (and/or sound effect) data is contained ina sequence bank, so even if only one song is in a bank, the Make Sequence Bankfunction must be used.
Creation of Sound Area Maps

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Sound is controlled by each individual game area. The tone, song and effect data
size of each area are used to create a memory map. The game program refers to thismap and transfers tone and song data; the sound driver also controls sounds andplayback based on this map. Therefore, the sound area map is an important memory
map that is at the heart of sound control.
A unique sound area map is made for each game. The sound area map data isincorporated in the game program by the programmer. This data is transferred tothe sound system when the game application is started up.
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Using the Sound SimulatorntialThis section explains the functions for all Sound Simulator menu items and their uses.
Menu Bar
There are five menus on the Sound Simulator menu bar.

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File Menu
Selecting this menu displays the following:

The File menu is the menu that is used to open, save sound area map files, etc.

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New

Open...

Opens a map that has already been created.
Close

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Creates a new map.

Closes a map that is being edited. The Sound Simulator session will not end.
Save

Saves the map being edited.
Save as...

Save Binary File

Saves the currently active file as a binary file.
Collect List OpendeSaves the map being edited under a different name.

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Opens the collect list file. Selecting this displays the following dialog box:

The existing collect list files are displayed. A collect list is a compilation of multiple
file names. It eliminates the need to select individual files at the beginning of eachwork session. It is used for converting standard MIDI files and creating sequencebanks. All files opened here contain both of the above file types.

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Collect List Save

Saves the currently active collect list file.
Collect List SaveAs…

Saves the currently active collect list file under a different name.

4Function Key Open

Function Key Save

Saves the function key setups to a disk file.
Function Key SaveAs...

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Saves the function key setups under a different name. Function keys are stored in a
map file. This menu item is used when function key setups are used in a different
map file.
System StartupdeStarts the sound system with the sound driver and other sound data transferred tothe sound board in advance.
Make Current

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Activates the currently selected map, thereby switching the map. The sound driverthen uses this map as the current map (currently valid map). If auto load is specified
in the map file data, file data is automatically transferred to the sound board.
System Down Load

This feature is used when the target board has crashed and must be reset. It transfers
the system startup data to the sound board and eliminates the need to restart theSound Simulator.

Down LoadCo

In order to download a customized sound driver, save the driver file under the filename SDDRV.TSK in the same folder as the Sound Simulator and execute this command.

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Transfers the currently selected file data to the target. Clicking on the download filecauses the file to be highlighted in black (reverse type) to show that it has been
selected. To select several files at once, hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on
the desired files. To deselect a file, click on it again to return it to normal display.
Effect Change

Changes DSP programs when there are multiple DSP programs in the current map.
Clicking on a DSP program to be switched causes it to be highlighted in black (reverse type) to show that it has been selected. More than one DSP program cannot be
selected.
Quit

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Ends the Sound Simulator session and closes all open windows.

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Edit Menu
Selecting this menu displays the following:GA

Data Edit
Selecting this menu item opens the following dialog box:

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A part of the map data can be edited here. The start address, area size, data type,transfer file, and auto load settings can be set. Specifying the transfer file causes the
specified file size to be displayed in bytes to serve as a guide for determining andchanging the area size.
Using this menu is the same as double-clicking on the Edit window.

6New Datantial

Selecting this menu item adds new data to the current map. The data type is thedefault “BANK data” or a data type last selected in the Data Edit dialog box. The
default size is set to 00000.
Map Name Change

Each area map has its own name. This makes it possible to assign easy to understandnames when multiple areas exist.

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Cut

Copy

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When selected, a confirmation dialog box appears to prompt the user to either update the address or retain the current address. The cut data is stored in the Clipboard
to allow retrieval when Paste or Insert is selected.
The selected data is stored in memory and can be retrieved when either Paste orInsert is selected.
Paste

The most recently stored data in memory is pasted when this is selected.
InsertGA

The most recently stored data is inserted immediately before the selected data. The
insertion position is immediately above the selected data, which is highlighted inreverse type. When data is not selected, the inserted data is added at the very end.
Clear

Clears all selected data, with the exception of the data type.
New Map, Cut Map, Copy Map, Paste Map, Insert Map and Clear Map

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These functions perform in the same manner as the features above, except maps areedited instead of data.

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Map Menu
Clicking on this menu item displays something like the following:de

As shown above, the area map to be made current is selected. The area maps
switched here are those that are being edited. This operation does not switch thecurrent map. The difference between the Map menu and the Window menu is thatthe latter only displays other map windows and cannot be used to select other maps.
A maximum of 128 individual map data can be stored with the Sound Simulator.

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Window Menu
Clicking on this menu item displays the following:SEGA

Use this menu to refer to other map data.

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Standard MIDI File Converter

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Option Menu
Selecting this menu displays the following:GA

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Selecting this menu item from the Option menu opens the following dialog box:

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Displayed above are a list of song names selected using the Add or Insert buttons thatare referred to as a “collect list". Nothing is displayed until titles are added or inserted
using the buttons. The Collect List Openmenu item allows the collect list to be read
without having to use Add or Insert to register songs for each Sound Simulator session.

Multiple files can be selected and converted by holding down the SHIFT key while
clicking on them.

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Add

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Clicking this button opens the following dialog box:

Song names are added to the collect list here. When a song name is selected, it isadded to the end of the list.

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DeleteSelect a song name from the collect list and click the Delete button to remove it fromthe list.
InsertGA

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Clicking this button opens the following dialog box:

Song names are inserted into the collect list here. Click on the location in the collect
list to insert the song name and then select the song. The song name is then inserted
directly above the selected location.

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Exec

Start up the converter by specifying the song name (a standard MIDI file) to beconverted and then click on Exec. A compressed SATURN format file is output.
The output file format and compression mode can be specified with the Converter
Configurationmenu item from the Option menu. The final output file is output withthe specified file name plus the extension .CNV.

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Converter Configuration
Select this menu item from the Option menu to display the following dialog box:

An explanation of each check box is given below.

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Find Same Data

This analyzes and deletes data that is repeated more than twice in the playback data.
This method of compression does not affect playback.

Binary/ASCII

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Since this procedure may be time consuming (more song data increases the amountof compression time), this box should only be checked during the final conversion
process.

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This feature allows the user to select whether the final output file is in ASCII or
binary format. If the file is output in ASCII format, the MIDI note data and control
changes can be easily checked.

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Make Sequence Bank
Selecting this menu from the Option menu opens the following dialog box:

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A list of compressed file names (called a collect list) converted by the Sound
Simulator's standard MIDI file converter is displayed here. Nothing is displayed at
first until file names are added or inserted using the Add or Insert buttons. The Collect
List Openmenu item allows the collect list to be read without having to add or insert
a file name at the beginning of each Sound Simulator session.
Add

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Selecting Add opens the following dialog box:

Compressed data file names are added to the collect list here. Selecting the compressed data file name adds that file to the end of the list.

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DeleteInsertnfi

deSelecting this displays the following dialog box:

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Select a compressed data file name from the collect list and then click the Delete
button to delete the file.

Exec

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The compressed data file name is inserted in the collect list here. Click on the area inthe collect list to insert the file and then select the compressed data file name. The
compressed data file name is added to the collect list immediately above the file thatwas selected.

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Links all the compressed data files specified in the collect list and outputs them as
one sequence data bank. The name of the output file can be specified freely.

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Sound Simulator
Selecting this menu item displays the following window:

Changes the tempo of the song.
Specifies the value of the tempo to be changed. A plus (+) value means
faster, a minus (-) value means slower. The following is an example:

Co• Tempo Change:• Tempo:nfi

If sequence banks have been transferred from the currently active map, then they
can be selected from the pull-down menu above the file list box. Selecting the sequence bank displays a list of the sequence names in the bank similar to the one
shown above. Select the sequence desired for playback and use the buttons described below to control playback.

With a setting range of-32786 to +32767,
4096 equals 2x (1/2 when negative)• Start:• Stop:• Volume:• Fade level:• Pause:• Continue:• Priority:• Mode:GA• Volume:SE• Effect Change:• Mixer Change:• No:• Mode:• Status:• Print Control:• Exit:Starts playback.
Stops playback.
Sets the sequence volume level and the speed of Fade-in (out).
Sets the fade level of Fade-In/Fade-Out. Setting ranges from 0 to 255,
where 255 is the slowest.
Sets the volume from 0—>127, with 127 being the maximum volume.
Volume is used in combination with Fade Level.
Temporarily stops playback.
Restores playback from pause point.
Specifies sequence playback priority from 0—>127, with 0 having thehighest priority.
Sets the various modes. See the SATURN Sound Driver Manual for more
information.
Changes the DSP program. Selection is made from a pull-down menu.
Changes the mixer. Selection is made from a pull-down menu.
Sets the mixer number (0 to 127).
Displays what task the sound driver is currently performing.
Displays the current status of the sound driver.
Sets the interrupt interval for Mode and Status and can be set from 8 to
200 ticks, where one tick is 1/60th of a second.
Ends the simulation and closes the window.

Note: Refer to the section on System Interface for a detailed description of each control command.

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PCM Stream Play

Add, Insert

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Selecting this menu item displays the following window:

Enters a new file for PCM stream data playback. The file can be either an AIFF or
BIN file.
Change

The file is changed without changing Direct Level, Direct Pan and other settings in
the file.

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Delete

The entered PCM files are deleted along with its settings.
File load, File save

The full path of the entered file and the file settings are saved.
Start

Starts PCM Stream Play according to the settings.

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Stop

Stops PCM Stream Play.
Param Change

Changes the settings of the PCM data being played back. The parameters for which
settings can be changed are Direct Level, Direct Pan, Play Pitch, Eff Select of the left
and right channels, and Eff Send level of the left and right channels.

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Exit

Parameters- 16 bit, 8 bit

Selects 16 bits or 8 bits for the PCM playback data.
-Mono, Stereo

Selects stereo or mono for the PCM playback data. These parameters are notautomatically detected even if an AIFF file is loaded.
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R Channel, L Channel-

deEnables the specification of the output channel for stereo audio file playback.
This setting cannot be made during playback of the file. This parameter isignored by the ParamChangebutton.
Direct Level

Sets the volume during playback from a range of 0 to 8.
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Direct Pan

Sets the Pan for playback from a range of 0 to 31. This is ignored in stereo
playback.
Start Addressnfi-This is the start address of the PCM playback data. The setting ranges
from 0 to 0xffff0, with the setting at position 1 being ignored.
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Buffer Size-

Play Pitch

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Sets the buffer for the PCM playback data from a range of 0 to 0xf000
in 0x1000 units. This value represents the number of samples.
Sets the playback pitch from a range of 0 to 0xffff.
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Eff SelectSelects the effect for each of the left and right channels from a range of 0 to 15.
-

Eff Send Level

Sets the Effect Send Level from a range of 0 to 7. Effect-related settings formono audio are set on the right channel.
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PCM Stream Offset

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Sets the playback position in the buffer from a range of 0 to 0xffff.

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Ends the PCM Stream Play mode and closes the dialog box.

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H

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Function Key Setup
Selecting this menu item displays the window below. The functions of the sounddriver can be assigned to the number keys 1~8 (includes numeric keypad) and thekeys Q, W, E, R, T, Y, U and I.

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• Print Control:

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• C:
• New:• <— / —>:• Use:• OK:• Exit:Adjusts the interrupt interval for updating Mode and Status. One tick is 1/60thof a second.
Clears the contents of the selected function key.
Prepares a new map page.
Selects the page for key assignment. Function key tables are identified by their
number and name. The name of a table can be set as desired by the text edit
box between the arrow keys.
Select the page using <— —> and confirm the active key assignment.
Assigns the input data set in the middle input box to the selected key.
Closes the window.

Refer to the SATURN Sound Driver Manual for more information on the various
command codes and parameters.

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Print Mode/Status
Selecting this menu item displays the following dialog box which shows the current
mode and status of the target:

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The update rate of the mode and status data is set by the Print Control parametersetting in the Sound Simulatorand Function Keysetup windows. Click on the close
window box to close this window.

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Display Mode
The dialog box below is displayed when this menu item is selected:

deSpecifies the font size of the displayed characters on-screen. A larger font size can beselected if the characters are difficult to read.

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Print FullPath
The dialog box below is displayed when this menu item is selected:

If a data file or folder has been moved, it will not be read in because the file is not at
the last-specified location of the hard disk. Select the file name by clicking on it, thenclick Print Full Path, to display the full path for the folder in which the file is registered.

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Make Sound Binary
This command reads in each file according to the current map and outputs a data
file equivalent to the data sent to the target. The download files that are converted
have the full file path settings. The file size is 479KB from 0xB000 to 0x80000.
Sections where no full file path data exist are padded with 0x00.

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OptionThe following submenu is displayed when the Option menu item is selected:

Make CompleteCodede

Beginning with the sound driver running on the target board, all data is made into asingle file based on the current map. The difference of this feature from the
MakeSoundBinarymenu item is that that data already transferred to the target board
are retrieved. This function notifies the user at compile-time as to whether it isenabled or not. If a map exists but the function does not work, it means that thefunction cannot be enabled.

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Send Driver to SBox

Downloads a sound driver to the sound development target box. Since the download address starts from 0, once it has been executed, this menu is disabled regardless of the driver.

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To start a customized driver, place the sound driver file with the name SDDRVS.TSK in
the same folder as the Sound Simulator and then execute this command.

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