himham-jak/new-jak-sound-tool

An audio tool build in React and Express.js for editing PS2 music and sound files in browser.

new-jak-sound-tool

An audio tool build in React and Express.js for editing PS2 music and sound files in browser.

This rewrite will (eventually) support all* audio files from the main Jak and Daxter series.

	MUS (SBv2)	SBK (SBlk)	VAGWAD (VAGp)
Jak 1	✔️	✔️	✔️
Jak II	✔️	✔️	✔️
Jak 3	N/A	✔️	✔️
Jak X	N/A	✔️	✔️

MUS

MUS Files are midi sequenced music tracks in SBv2 format. They're used extensively in the first two Jak games, but 3 and X each only contain TWEAKVAL.MUS, which is made up of volume adjustments and has no header. I haven't noted any other differences between MUS files in the games. MUS files consist of a standard sized header followed by a series of instruments and tracks.

Header

Offset	0x00	0x01	0x02	0x03	0x04	0x05	0x06	0x07	0x08	0x09	0x0A	0x0B	0x0C	0x0D	0x0E	0x0F
Value	01	00	00	00	03	00	00	00	20	00	00	00	?	?	?	?
Type	uint32<				uint32<				uint32<
Desc	1?				version	3			32?

Offset	0x10	0x11	0x12	0x13	0x14	0x15	0x16	0x17	0x18	0x19	0x1A	0x1B	0x1C	0x1D	0x1E	0x1F
Value	AA	AA	AA	AA	BB	BB	BB	BB	CC	CC	CC	CC	?	?	?	?
Type	uint32<				uint32<				uint32<
Desc	sound_start	address			sound_length	offset			mmid_start	address

Offset	0x20	0x21	0x22	0x23	0x24	0x25	0x26	0x27	0x28	0x29	0x2A	0x2B	0x2C	0x2D	0x2E	0x2F
Value	53	42	76	32	02	00	00	00	?	?	?	?	XX	XX	XX	XX
Type	utf32>				uint32<								utf32>
Desc	S	B	v	2	2?								name

Offset	0x30	0x31	0x32	0x33	0x34	0x35	0x36	0x37	0x38	0x39	0x3A	0x3B	0x3C	0x3D	0x3E	0x3F
Value	0A	00	00	00	01	00	CC	CC	?	?	?	?	34	00	00	00
Type	uint32<				uint16<		uint16<						uint32<
Desc	10?				1?		num_instruments						52?

Offset	0x40	0x41	0x42	0x43	0x44	0x45	0x46	0x47	0x48	0x49	0x4A	0x4B	0x4C	0x4D	0x4E	0x4F
Value	50	00	00	00	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Type	uint32<
Desc	instruments_offset	80			1?

• instruments_start = 0x20 + instruments_offset

Offset	0x50	0x51	0x52	0x53	0x54	0x55	0x56	0x57	0x58	0x59	0x5A	0x5B	0x5C	0x5D	0x5E	0x5F
Value	00	00	00	00	05	00	00	00	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX
Type	uint32<				uint32<				utf32>				utf32>
Desc	0?				5?				name	again			name	again

Offset	0x60	0x61	0x62	0x63	0x64	0x65	0x66	0x67	0x68	0x69	0x6A	0x6B	0x6C	0x6D	0x6E	0x6F
Value	XX	XX	XX	XX	7F	00	00	01	00	00	00	02	00	00	00	00
Type	utf32>
Desc	name	again			?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

Instruments

Each instrument takes up 8 bytes and points to the regions where its samples are stored.

Offset	0x70*	0x71	0x72	0x73	0x74	0x75	0x76	0x77
Value	RR	VV	PP	PP	RR	RR	RR	RR
Type	uint8	uint8	int16<		uint32<
Desc	num_regions	volume	pan		region_offset2

• region_offset = 0x20 + region_offset2

• *usually instruments_start is at 0x70, but this may not be the case in modified files

Per-Instrument Information

The per-instrument information regions begin immediately following the last instrument and are 24 bytes.

Offset	0x00*	0x01	0x02	0x03	0x04	0x05	0x06	0x07	0x08	0x09	0x0A	0x0B	0x0C	0x0D	0x0E	0x0F
Value	?	RV	PA	PB	00	00	NS	NE	00	00	R1	R1	R2	R2	RF	RF
Type	uint8	uint8	int8	int8			uint8	uint8			uint16<		uint16<		uint16<
Desc	?	region_volume	region_pitch_a	region_pitch_b	?	?	region_note_start	region_note_end	?	?	region_adsr1		region_adsr2		region_flags

Offset	0x10	0x11	0x12	0x13	0x14	0x15	0x16	0x17
Value	SO	SO	SO	SO	?	?	00	7F
Type	uint32<				uint16<		uint16>
Desc	region_sample_offset				?	?	127?

• *relative to region_offset

• Followed by 16 bytes of 00

Instrument Samples

• *relative to mmid_start

MIDD Header

24 bytes?

MID Header

148 bytes prior to each sample

MID Samples

Binary data of some kind

Legend

• <: Little endian
• >: Big endian
• ?: Unidentified or unused bytes.

SBK

SBK files are sound effect banks of adpcm recordings in SBlk format. They're used throughout the full series, but Jak and Daxter uses an older format which contains a pre-header (of seemingly indeterminate size) listing the sound names. Excluding that pre-header, SBK files are made up of two parts: a standard sized header, and a series of adpcm recordings.

Jak 1 Pre-Header

• The first 12 bytes are reserved for the title, though the original game never uses more than 10 and the filenames only allow 8. This is followed by 8 bytes of 00.
• Then at 0x14, there is a uint32<, the number of tracknames in the preheader, num_sounds. This is redundant information.
• From 0x18 on, 12 bytes are reserved for each trackname. Each is followed by 4 bytes of 00, then a 4 byte fadeoff_params.
• The pre-header ends with 00 padding until some predefined round address.

Header

Each SBK file has one 0x50 byte header which contains version information, the addresses of sample data, the number of sounds (redundantly in the pre-header too), and 3 pointers into a sound array.

Offset	0x00	0x01	0x02	0x03	0x04	0x05	0x06	0x07	0x08	0x09	0x0A	0x0B	0x0C	0x0D	0x0E	0x0F
Value	03	00	00	00	02	00	00	00	18	00	00	00	?	?	?	?
Type	uint32<				uint32<				uint32<				uint32<
Desc	3?				2?				header_size	24			?

Offset	0x10	0x11	0x12	0x13	0x14	0x15	0x16	0x17	0x18	0x19	0x1A	0x1B	0x1C	0x1D	0x1E	0x1F
Value	SS	SS	SS	SS	BB	BB	BB	BB	53	42	6C	6B	?	?	?	?
Type	uint32<				uint32<				utf32>				?
Desc	sound_start				sound_length				S	B	l	k	?

Offset	0x20	0x21	0x22	0x23	0x24	0x25	0x26	0x27	0x28	0x29	0x2A	0x2B	0x2C	0x2D	0x2E	0x2F
Value	?	?	?	?	6D*	6D*	6F*	63*	?	?	?	?	?	?	NS	NS
Type	?				utf32>				?						uint16<
Desc	?				m	m	o	c	?				?		num_sounds

• *00 in Jak 1

Offset	0x30	0x31	0x32	0x33	0x34	0x35	0x36	0x37	0x38	0x39	0x3A	0x3B	0x3C	0x3D	0x3E	0x3F
Value	?	?	?	?	P1	P1	P1	P1	P2	P2	P2	P2	?	?	?	?
Type	?				uint32<				uint32<				?
Desc	?				soundarr_ptr**				soundarr2_ptr**				?

Offset	0x40	0x41	0x42	0x43	0x44	0x45	0x46	0x47	0x48	0x49	0x4A	0x4B	0x4C	0x4D	0x4E	0x4F
Value	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	P3	P3	P3	P3
Type	?				uint32<				uint32<				uint32<
Desc	?				?				?				soundarr3_ptr**

• ** Add header_size to each sound_arr_ptr for the true position

ADPCM Sound Arrays

For each entry in the sound array, we can do some arithmetic to find the position of the sample's data, this_sound_start.

Offset	0x50***	0x51	0x52	0x53	0x54	0x55	0x56	0x57	0x58	0x59	0x5A	0x5B	0x5C	0x5D	0x5E	0x5F
Value	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	DV	DV	D2	D2	NE	NE	NE	NE
Type	?				?				uint16<		uint16<		Uint8
Desc	?				?				default_volume		default_2		num_entries

• *** The standard starting point for the first sample

Offset	0x60	0x61	0x62	0x63	0x64	0x65	0x66	0x67	0x68	0x69	0x6A	0x6B	0x6C	0x6D	0x6E	0x6F
Value	SP	SP	SP	SP	00	00	00	00	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX	XX
Type	Int32<
Desc	sound_2_ptr*

• ** Add soundarr2_ptr to each sound_2_ptr for the true position

VAGWAD

VAGWAD files are "higher quality" sound banks of adpcm recordings in VAGp format. They're used in every entry in the series (VAG format is even used in The Lost Frontier) but Jak and Daxter uses big-endian in some places where the later games use little-endian. These files were primarily reserved for dialogue, though the music for Jak 3 and X are stored in them as well. VAGWAD files are made up of two parts: a standard sized header and a series of adpcm recordings. They're arguably the simplest format of them all, created by simply concatenating its component parts.

Header

Jak and Daxter

Offset	0x00	0x01	0x02	0x03	0x04	0x05	0x06	0x07	0x08	0x09	0x0A	0x0B	0x0C	0x0D	0x0E	0x0F
Value	56	41	47	70	00	00	00	20	00	00	00	00	SL	SL	SL	SL
Type	utf32>				uint32>				uint32>				uint32>
Desc	V	A	G	p	version?	32?			sound_offset	0			sound_length

Offset	0x10	0x11	0x12	0x13	0x14	0x15	0x16	0x17	0x18	0x19	0x1A	0x1B	0x1C	0x1D	0x1E	0x1F
Value	SR	SR	SR	SR	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00
Type	uint32>				uint32>				uint32>				uint32>
Desc	sample_rate				0				0			0

Jak Sequels

Offset	0x00	0x01	0x02	0x03	0x04	0x05	0x06	0x07	0x08	0x09	0x0A	0x0B	0x0C	0x0D	0x0E	0x0F
Value	70	47	41	56	00	00	00	20*	00	00	00	00	SL	SL	SL	SL
Type	utf32<				uint32>				uint32>				uint32>
Desc	p	G	A	V	version?	32?			sound_offset	0			sound_length

Offset	0x10	0x11	0x12	0x13	0x14	0x15	0x16	0x17	0x18	0x19	0x1A	0x1B	0x1C	0x1D	0x1E	0x1F
Value	SR	SR	SR	SR	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00
Type	uint32<				uint32<				uint32<				uint32<
Desc	sample_rate				0				0			0

• *00 in Jak X

ADPCM Data

VAGDIR.AYB

VAGDIR files are used as directories for the adjacent VAGWAD files.

Related links

• A similar project in Python by jwetzell.
• Another similar project in C# by Luminar Light.
• My previous sloppy iteration of this tool.
• The Neopets:TDF tool by Monster860 in Javascript that I forked to make the previous version.
• A python script by Edness for processing Jak 3 and X VAGWAD/VAGDIR.
• A C# tool by XyLe-GBP for editing the PSP's at3 format used extensively in Daxter.