This thread is for listing various custom samples that might be notably useful, if you happen to be making a custom composition of porting something not from a SNES game and want some good samples for it. If anyone has any to add, feel free.
Note: All tuning values are assumed to start with @0 $E5 $XX $04. Other values might work (particularly those within an octave of the given values), but these are the ones I used.
Strings:
Mickey's Magical Quest strings, sample 01 in the Dark Forest theme (mq-05.spc), C8D bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $FB
YI strings, sample 1B in the castle theme (yi-10.spc), D9B bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
DKC3 low strings, sample 20 in the boss theme (dkdt-10.spc), C7B bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
Live-A-Live cello, sample 27 in The Birds Fly in the Sky, the Fish Swim in the River (lal-17.spc), 678 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $02
Plucked/strummed strings:
YI bass, sample 04 in most of the main level music, 17A bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $04
Terranigma bass, sample 0C in the Beruga's Lab theme (ts-48.spc), A2 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
YI distortion guitar, sample 1A/1B in the final boss theme (yi-23.spc), 4EC bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $FE
DKC3 overdriven guitar, sample 1A in Rockface Rumble (dkdt-18.spc), 117 bytes. Tuning: None necessary
Brass:
YI trumpet, sample 1B in the athletic theme (yi-13a.spc), 426 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $07
Mickey's Magical Quest trumpet, sample 05 in the Dark Forest theme (mq-05.spc), 4BF bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
SMAS trumpet, sample 18, 201 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
Woodwinds:
SMRPG bass clarinet, sample 0D in Fight Against an Armed Boss (smr-119.spc), 546 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $0E
YI pan flute, sample 05 in the first credits theme (yi-26a.spc), 465 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $0
DKC3 saxophone, sample 20 in the bonus theme, 627 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
Keyboards:
DKC2 piano, sample 1C in Hot-Head Bop (dkq-14.spc), 4F5 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $00
YI rock organ, sample 06 in the main level music, 63 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $07
SMRPG organ, sample 0A in the first Smithy battle theme (smr-218.spc), 384 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
Percussion:
SMRPG crash cymbal, sample 12 in the Culex battle music (smr-207.spc), 7CE bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $06
SMRPG marimba, sample 0A in Barrel Volcano (smr-214.spc), 8C1 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $02
MMX melodic tom, sample 22 in the first Sigma stage theme (mmx-24.spc), 7B3 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $08
Misc.:
MM7 sawtooth, sample 09 (as far as I know, it never changes), 3F bytes. Tuning: None necessary
MM7 square, sample 0F (as far as I know, it never changes), 3F bytes. Tuning: None necessary
DKC2 pitch enveloping samples, samples 15-34 in Disco Train (dkq-19.spc), 2D bytes each/5A0 bytes total. Tuning: $ED $81 $F8
Reasons why these are on the list (my opinion):
Strings from Mickey's Magical Quest, Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country 3: These are all pretty good string samples, and they're not terribly huge (still rather large, but it could be worse).
YI bass and Terranigma bass: Both good bass samples that are quite small. I personally prefer the YI one, though, because the Terranigma one seems to have an odd bass-drum-ish extra noise that plays with every note. SMW's bass sample (@8/sample 05) is WAY too quiet, so you could swap this one out globally if you wanted to.
YI distortion guitar, DKC3 overdriven guitar: They're both pretty decent guitar samples that are a heck of a lot smaller than the ones in, say, Mega Man X. I actually included them both in my sample repository.
Trumpets from YI, MMQ, Super Mario All-Stars: They're all fairly decent brass samples, although I haven't compared them with ones from Final Fantasy or anything like that. If I had to pick one, I'd probably go with the one from Yoshi's Island. (The SMAS one is surprisingly good when you consider that most of its samples are the same as SMW's, though...why couldn't SMW have had that sample?)
Super Mario RPG bass clarinet: Low woodwinds are awesome. SMRPG has some pretty sweet samples in general, and this one is no exception. The one problem with it is that it has to be at a pretty high octave not to sound weird, which gives it a rather small range.
YI pan flute: I was looking for a pan flute sample, and I found this one...and I was satisfied. It's not too large, but it's not bad quality at all, the best pan flute sample I've found.
DKC3 saxophone: Okay, in all my time working with SNES music, this is the only saxophone sample I've found. It's notable just because of that, although I'm not sure where it would fit in the average SMW hack.
DKC2 piano: A surprisingly good piano sample for its relatively small size.
YI rock organ: This sample sounds cool, it could fit in a variety of areas, and it takes up very little space. It has a pretty distinctive sound to it, which could be a good or bad thing.
SMRPG organ: How dramatic! This is another sample whose small size does not prevent it from having good quality.
SMRPG crash cymbal: This is about the smallest crash cymbal sample you're likely to find. (Believe me, I've tried.) As long as it has the right ADSR (the original settings, $ED $7F $F3, work well), it should work fine in any piece with a crash cymbal.
SMRPG marimba: This is a good marimba sample. @3 makes a passable marimba at a low octave, but that also makes it too quiet. This sample is a bit on the large side for mallet percussion, though. (If that is a concern, consider using DKC3's xylophone sample—sample 16 in Mill Fever—instead; it is only 426 bytes.)
Mega Man X melodic tom: This is probably the best 16-bit melodic tom I've found. It seems oddly quiet next to certain other instruments, though.
Mega Man 7 sawtooth and square: If you want a 16-bit sawtooth or square, look no further. These (or their equivalents in Mega Man & Bass) should do. They're also both very tiny, which tends to be the case with sawtooth and square samples.
DKC2 pitch enveloping: Can create an interesting sound, and the entire set of 32 samples is smaller than a lot of single samples. (There are several sets of pitch enveloping samples in Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3; I chose this particular set because it seems to be the largest.) The big drawback with these is that you have to use a buttload of $E5 (or $F3) commands because you'll be changing them so often. You might want to avoid making any complex, hard-to-loop patterns with these.
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I'm working on a hack! Check it out here. Progress: 64/95 levels.
Note: All tuning values are assumed to start with @0 $E5 $XX $04. Other values might work (particularly those within an octave of the given values), but these are the ones I used.
Strings:
Mickey's Magical Quest strings, sample 01 in the Dark Forest theme (mq-05.spc), C8D bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $FB
YI strings, sample 1B in the castle theme (yi-10.spc), D9B bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
DKC3 low strings, sample 20 in the boss theme (dkdt-10.spc), C7B bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
Live-A-Live cello, sample 27 in The Birds Fly in the Sky, the Fish Swim in the River (lal-17.spc), 678 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $02
Plucked/strummed strings:
YI bass, sample 04 in most of the main level music, 17A bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $04
Terranigma bass, sample 0C in the Beruga's Lab theme (ts-48.spc), A2 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
YI distortion guitar, sample 1A/1B in the final boss theme (yi-23.spc), 4EC bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $FE
DKC3 overdriven guitar, sample 1A in Rockface Rumble (dkdt-18.spc), 117 bytes. Tuning: None necessary
Brass:
YI trumpet, sample 1B in the athletic theme (yi-13a.spc), 426 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $07
Mickey's Magical Quest trumpet, sample 05 in the Dark Forest theme (mq-05.spc), 4BF bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
SMAS trumpet, sample 18, 201 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
Woodwinds:
SMRPG bass clarinet, sample 0D in Fight Against an Armed Boss (smr-119.spc), 546 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $0E
YI pan flute, sample 05 in the first credits theme (yi-26a.spc), 465 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $0
DKC3 saxophone, sample 20 in the bonus theme, 627 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
Keyboards:
DKC2 piano, sample 1C in Hot-Head Bop (dkq-14.spc), 4F5 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $00
YI rock organ, sample 06 in the main level music, 63 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $07
SMRPG organ, sample 0A in the first Smithy battle theme (smr-218.spc), 384 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $??
Percussion:
SMRPG crash cymbal, sample 12 in the Culex battle music (smr-207.spc), 7CE bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $06
SMRPG marimba, sample 0A in Barrel Volcano (smr-214.spc), 8C1 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $02
MMX melodic tom, sample 22 in the first Sigma stage theme (mmx-24.spc), 7B3 bytes. Tuning: $ED $81 $08
Misc.:
MM7 sawtooth, sample 09 (as far as I know, it never changes), 3F bytes. Tuning: None necessary
MM7 square, sample 0F (as far as I know, it never changes), 3F bytes. Tuning: None necessary
DKC2 pitch enveloping samples, samples 15-34 in Disco Train (dkq-19.spc), 2D bytes each/5A0 bytes total. Tuning: $ED $81 $F8
Reasons why these are on the list (my opinion):
Strings from Mickey's Magical Quest, Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country 3: These are all pretty good string samples, and they're not terribly huge (still rather large, but it could be worse).
YI bass and Terranigma bass: Both good bass samples that are quite small. I personally prefer the YI one, though, because the Terranigma one seems to have an odd bass-drum-ish extra noise that plays with every note. SMW's bass sample (@8/sample 05) is WAY too quiet, so you could swap this one out globally if you wanted to.
YI distortion guitar, DKC3 overdriven guitar: They're both pretty decent guitar samples that are a heck of a lot smaller than the ones in, say, Mega Man X. I actually included them both in my sample repository.
Trumpets from YI, MMQ, Super Mario All-Stars: They're all fairly decent brass samples, although I haven't compared them with ones from Final Fantasy or anything like that. If I had to pick one, I'd probably go with the one from Yoshi's Island. (The SMAS one is surprisingly good when you consider that most of its samples are the same as SMW's, though...why couldn't SMW have had that sample?)
Super Mario RPG bass clarinet: Low woodwinds are awesome. SMRPG has some pretty sweet samples in general, and this one is no exception. The one problem with it is that it has to be at a pretty high octave not to sound weird, which gives it a rather small range.
YI pan flute: I was looking for a pan flute sample, and I found this one...and I was satisfied. It's not too large, but it's not bad quality at all, the best pan flute sample I've found.
DKC3 saxophone: Okay, in all my time working with SNES music, this is the only saxophone sample I've found. It's notable just because of that, although I'm not sure where it would fit in the average SMW hack.
DKC2 piano: A surprisingly good piano sample for its relatively small size.
YI rock organ: This sample sounds cool, it could fit in a variety of areas, and it takes up very little space. It has a pretty distinctive sound to it, which could be a good or bad thing.
SMRPG organ: How dramatic! This is another sample whose small size does not prevent it from having good quality.
SMRPG crash cymbal: This is about the smallest crash cymbal sample you're likely to find. (Believe me, I've tried.) As long as it has the right ADSR (the original settings, $ED $7F $F3, work well), it should work fine in any piece with a crash cymbal.
SMRPG marimba: This is a good marimba sample. @3 makes a passable marimba at a low octave, but that also makes it too quiet. This sample is a bit on the large side for mallet percussion, though. (If that is a concern, consider using DKC3's xylophone sample—sample 16 in Mill Fever—instead; it is only 426 bytes.)
Mega Man X melodic tom: This is probably the best 16-bit melodic tom I've found. It seems oddly quiet next to certain other instruments, though.
Mega Man 7 sawtooth and square: If you want a 16-bit sawtooth or square, look no further. These (or their equivalents in Mega Man & Bass) should do. They're also both very tiny, which tends to be the case with sawtooth and square samples.
DKC2 pitch enveloping: Can create an interesting sound, and the entire set of 32 samples is smaller than a lot of single samples. (There are several sets of pitch enveloping samples in Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3; I chose this particular set because it seems to be the largest.) The big drawback with these is that you have to use a buttload of $E5 (or $F3) commands because you'll be changing them so often. You might want to avoid making any complex, hard-to-loop patterns with these.
----------------
I'm working on a hack! Check it out here. Progress: 64/95 levels.