Contents

XA file format

XA file format

Code example

https://github.com/ABelliqueux/nolibgs_hello_worlds/tree/main/hello_xa
https://github.com/ABelliqueux/nolibgs_hello_worlds/tree/main/hello_multi_xa

Needed tools

Mkpsxiso

You need mkpsxiso in your $PATH to generate a PSX disk image.

Candy SDK tools

You also need psxavenc and xainterleave.

Windows 32bits pre-built binaries are available here : http://psx.arthus.net/sdk/candyk-psx-tools-win.zip

WAV creation

Use ffmpeg to create a 16-bit ADPCM mono WAV file - change -ac and -ar to reduce filesize (and quality)

$ ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -acodec pcm_s16le -ac 2 -ar 44100 output.wav

You can use Audacity to edit sound, but as mentionned in xatut.pdf, p17 :

At this point it is worth mentioning that certain sound editing packages add some custom information at the end of a .WAV file such as author and package used to create the file. This is normally not a problem as the .WAV header contains details of the length of the data. However MovConv and MovPack do not use the header information in this way, and so will convert .WAV files to .XA using all the data after the .WAV header up to the end of the file. This can lead too .XA files with audible noise such as clicks or pops where the custom information has been converted to sound data at the end of the sample.

Generate interleaved XA file

psxavenc -f 37800 -t xa -b 4 -c 2 -F 1 -C 0 "../hello_cdda/audio/beach.wav" "xa/beach.xa"
psxavenc -f 37800 -t xa -b 4 -c 2 -F 1 -C 0 "../hello_cdda/audiofunk.wav" "xa/funk.xa"
xainterleave 1 xa/interleave4.txt xa/inter4.xa
xainterleave 1 xa/interleave8.txt xa/inter8.xa

Alternatively, you can use the windows tool MC32.EXE to interleave several PSX media files. See here for more detail on its usage.

Encoding to XA

You can use a modified version of psxavenc to convert your audio file to a 2336 bytes XA file :

./psxavenc -f 37800 -t xa -b 4 -c 2 -F 1 -C 1 "input.wav" "output.xa"

You can read it back with XAPLAY.EXE, that's in psyq/bin/XAplay.

PSXavenc usage

./psxavenc 
Usage: psxavenc [-f freq] [-b bitdepth] [-c channels] [-F num] [-C num] [-t xa|xacd|spu|str2] <in> <out>

    -f freq          Use specified frequency
    -t format        Use specified output type:
                       xa     [A.] .xa 2336-byte sectors
                       xacd   [A.] .xa 2352-byte sectors
                       spu    [A.] raw SPU-ADPCM data
                       str2   [AV] v2 .str video 2352-byte sectors
    -b bitdepth      Use specified bit depth (only 4 bits supported)
    -c channels      Use specified channel count (1 or 2)
    -F num           [.xa] Set the file number to num (0-255)
    -C num           [.xa] Set the channel number to num (0-31)

Interleaving XA files

You can use MC32.EXE or xainterleave to interleave several PSX media files.

See here for more details : https://github.com/ABelliqueux/nolibgs_hello_worlds/tree/main/hello_multi_xa

Interleaving and cd-rom speed

The PSX CD-rom speed for XA playbakc is dependent on the number of interleavde channels in the XA file.

If using 4 channels, you need to use cd rom speed x1.

If using 8 channels, you need to use cd rom speed x2.

Setting the CD-rom speed in PsyQ is accomplished with CDcontrol() :

// Set 1x speed
param[0] = CdlModeRT|CdlModeSF|CdlModeSize1;
CdControlB(CdlSetmode, param, 0);
// Set 2x speed using CdlModeSpeed flag
param[0] = CdlModeSpeed|CdlModeRT|CdlModeSF|CdlModeSize1;
CdControlB(CdlSetmode, param, 0);

See http://psx.arthus.net/sdk/Psy-Q/DOCS/LibRef47.pdf, p.677 for CDcontrol() 's documentation.

MC32 usage

You can read the full manual here : http://psx.arthus.net/sdk/Psy-Q/DOCS/Devrefs/Dataconv.pdf, p.14 to 58

mc32.exe can also be used from the command line with scripts. See here for more details ; https://github.com/ABelliqueux/nolibgs_hello_worlds/wiki/STR#via-the-command-line

xainterleave usage

xainterleave <mode> <in.txt> <out.raw>

mode can be 0 for full raw sectors or 1 for just XA (divisible by 2336)

in.txt is a manifest txt file as seen here

Example for 1 music file, to be played at 1x CD speed (4 channels):

1 xa test.xa 1 0
1 null
1 null
1 null

Add 4 more lines for 2x cd speed (8 channels), i.e :

1 xa test.xa 1 0
1 null
1 null
1 null
1 null
1 null
1 null
1 null

where the content of each line is :

   1     xa  menu.xa        1                          0  
sectors type file    xa_file number (0-255) xa_channel number (0-31)

The format seems to correspond to the entry_t struct.

Empty manifest ?

The laconic error message you can get if something is amiss in your manifest file is not very helpful.
If you encounter it, check the path to your xa files in the manifest file is correct e.g : Using :

1 xa bar/foo.xa 1 0

instead of :

1 xa foo.xa 1 0

can result in an Empty manifest ? error message.

mkpsxiso

You can use the following syntax to include your XA file in the CD image :

<file name="mymusic1.xa" type="xa" source="mymusic1.xa"/>

See here for more details : https://github.com/Lameguy64/mkpsxiso/blob/c44b78e37bbc115591717ac4dd534af6db499ea4/examples/example.xml#L85

PsyQ XA Tools

XAPLAY.EXE : Single channel XA playback
XATOOL.EXE : XA structure inspector
MC32.EXE : Converts WAV > XA > Interleaved XA

MC32 manual has lots of information about the various encoding/interleaving settings : http://psx.arthus.net/sdk/Psy-Q/DOCS/Devrefs/Dataconv.pdf, p.14 to 58

XA tutorial : http://psx.arthus.net/code/XA/XATUT.pdf

Full XAtut archive : http://psx.arthus.net/code/XA/xatut.zip - https://web.archive.org/web/20060316213726/http://dev.paradogs.com/bin/docs/xatut.zip

XA ADPCM documentation : http://psx.arthus.net/code/XA/XA%20ADPCM%20documentation.txt

https://psx-spx.consoledev.net/cdromdrive/#cdrom-xa-audio-adpcm-compression

PsyQ XA player example : psyq/addons/scee/CD/XAPLAYER

XA SCEE Technical note - July 1998 : http://psx.arthus.net/sdk/Psy-Q/DOCS/CONF/SCEE/98July/xa_sound.pdf

PSX audio tools : https://forum.xentax.com/viewtopic.php?t=10136

PIMP tools : https://psx.arthus.net/tools/pimp-psx.zip

Source : https://discord.com/channels/642647820683444236/663664210525290507/843211084609617930