I was experimenting with SNESGSS, and I noticed that the ADSR envelope sounded different than I expected. Look at the Instrument Tab, and see the AR, DR, SL, SR levels. The preview image draws a line to show you what the envelope should look like.
But, it never sounded what it looked like… so I ran some tests. I think you will find the results interesting.
With AR =15, DR = 1, and SR at 30, I adjusted the SL (sustain level) and then recorded the result from my actual SNES.
(Top pic is the actual recording, and bottom pic is what SNESGSS showed.) Interestingly, the audio from SNESGSS was fairly close to correct. It’s just the drawing of the envelope that is incorrect.
With SL = 7, it skips the decay phase.
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Here’s with SL = 6.
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Here’s with SL = 5.
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Here’s with SL = 4
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Here’s with SL = 3
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Here’s with SL = 2
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Here’s with SL = 1
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And, here’s with SL = 0
The last one here is pretty close to what I would have expected.
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I don’t fully understand what’s going on, or why the result was so different than expected. It seems to me that the decay period is much shorter than the graph would lead you to believe. This is with DR = 1, which is the 2nd slowest decay rate. For most of the tests the decay period finished very quickly. With SL at 6 or above, it was nearly instant.
This also underscores the point… you need to test your songs on a real SNES.
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(NOTE – AR and SR were tested separately, and seems to be correct).
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nesdoug 