Music/SMD

SMD files are Final Fantasy Tactics's music files. Each SMD file holds one song.

List of Songs: Songs

Header

The header consists of the following:

Header

Offset	Type	Purpose
0x00	string	SMD identifier (literal "smds")
0x04	?	Unknown
0x8	uint	File size (in bytes)
0xc	?	Unknown
0x14	uint	Number of channels
0x13	?	Unknown
0x1a	char	Reverb Mode
0x1b	char	Volume Depth
0x1c	char	Reverb Delay
0x1d	char	Reverb Feedback
0x1e	uint	Offset of filename
0x20	uint	Offset of data chunk
0x22	uint[number of channels]	Offset of channel N. The number of these will equal the number of channels read earlier.
Varies	uint	End of offsets. (Should equal 0)
Varies	string	Filename. This is a zero-terminated string. always 12 bytes long though. music ##.mid

Channels

SMD files contain a number of channels. Each channel contains a sequence of notes and instructions, and they're all played simultaneously. To play a 3-note chord, for example, you need to have 3 channels, and each channel plays one note of the chord. Typically, channel 0 doesn't contain notes, only special instructions like tempo settings. There is some evidence that notes placed in channel 0 will not play, so notes should probably go in channels 1 and higher.

Instructions

Each instruction begins with an identifier byte and is followed by zero to 3 parameter bytes. The number of parameter bytes depends on the instruction.

Instructions

Value (hex)	Name	Parameters (bytes)	Purpose
0x00-0x7F	Note	1 or 2	Play a note. 0x00 is the quietest and 0x7F is the loudest. The 1st parameter is the note's pitch and duration. (See the table below.) If the first parameter is divisible by 0x13 (19), then there will be a second parameter.
0x80	Rest	1	The parameter is the length of the rest, in 192nds of a note. A duration of 0xc0 (192) is equal to a whole note, 0x60 (96) is a half note, etc.
0x81	Fermata	1	Extend previous note. The parameter is the length of the extension, in 192nds of a note.
0x90	End Bar	0	End channel. Stops any more instructions from being read in this channel.
0x91	Loop	0	Loop remainder of channel indefinitely.
0x94	Octave	1	Set octave. The parameter is the octave. 0x03 is the 4th octave (the one with middle C).
0x95	Raise Octave	0	Increment octave
0x96	Lower Octave	0	Decrement octave
0x97	Time Signature	2	Set time signature, apparently. Not sure if this affects playback or is just informational. The 1st parameter is the top number, the 2nd is the bottom.
0x98	Repeat	1	Begin loop. The parameter is the number of times to loop
0x99	Coda	0	End loop. (sets a loop point?)
0x9a	To Coda	0	Goes to set point?
0x9c	Sound Effect	3	Play a sound effect. first argument is the sound effect ID.
0xa0	Tempo	1	Set tempo. 0x66 (102) is the most commonly-used tempo across all files, and it appears to be 120 bpm.
0xa1	Accelerando	1	Raises the tempo by the argument's value.
0xac	Instrument	1	Set instrument. The parameter is the instrument number. For a full list, see: Instruments.
0xb2	Enable LFO	0	enables oscillation based on the sound wave of the previous instrument. !! Only works if the current instrument is in an Odd (not even) channel.
0xb3	Disable LFO	0	turns off oscillation.
0xb4	Enable Noise	1	Sets the current instrument to Noise. Argument is the noise clock.
0xb5	Increase Noise	1	increases the Noise clock by the argument.
0xb6	Turn on Noise	0	Sets the current instrument to Noise. Does not calculate the noise clock.
0xb7	Disable Noise	0	Turns off noise for this instrument.
0xb8	Acoustics	3	Sets the reverb delay, reverb feedback, and volume depth of the current song. probably intended to only be used via channel 0.
0xba	Enable Reverb	0	Turns reverb on for this instrument.
0xbf	Disable Reverb	0	Turns off reverb for this instrument.
0xc0	Naturale	0	Resets the current instruments parameters (based off of its WAVESET soundfont data!)
0xc1	Envelope Shape	3	Sets the attack mode, sustain mode, and release mode of the current instrument, in that order. [1]
0xc2	Attack time	1	Set attack time. First parameter is the length of the attack. Higher values mean the note takes longer to fade in.
0xc3	Decay Time	1	Sets Decay Time. First parameter is the length of the decay.
0xc4	Sustain	1	Sets the sustain. first parameter is the length of the sustain.
0xc5	Release	1	Sets the release. first parameter is the length of the release.
0xc6	Sustain level	1	Set sustain level. first parameter is the sustain level. higher values hold the note louder.
0xc7	Envelope Tail	2	Sets both the Decay time and the sustain level, in that order.
0xc8	Attack Mode	1	Sets the attack gradient. if the attack mode is 5, set the attack mode to exponential. Otherwise, it's linear.
0xc9	Sustain Mode	1	Sets the sustain gradient. if the sustain mode is 1, set linear increase. if the sustain mode is 5, set exponential increase. if the sustain mode is 7, set exponential decrease. otherwuse, linear decrease.
0xca	Release Mode	1	Sets the release gradient. if the release mode is 7, set exponential gradient. Otherwise, it's linear.
0xd2	?	1	?
0xd7	?	1	?
0xd8	Pitch Shift	3	The 1st parameter is the speed, 2nd is the intensity (amount of pitch change), and 3rd is delay before pitch shift happens in each note.
0xda	?	0	?
0xdb	?	0	?
0xe0	Dynamics	1	Set volume. 0x00 is the quietest, 0x7f is the loudest.
0xe1	Crescendo	1	Increases volume.
0xe2	Fermata Ramp	2	Sets a fermata with the length of argument 1. sets the target volume to reach by the end of the fermata as argument 2.
0xe3	?	1	?
0xe4	?	3	?
0xe6	?	0	?
0xe8	Balance	1	Set balance. 0x00 is left speaker, 0x7f is right speaker.
0xe9	Shift Balance	1	Adjust the balance towards either the left or right speaker.
0xfd	Scale tempo	1	Multiply the tempo by the argument.
0xfe	Select Sound Font	1	Tries to find a soundfont with the ID given as a parameter. as only one soundfont in FFT exists that can be played with suzuki's music library, this does nothing.

Notes

To play a note, use a note-playing instruction (00-7f) followed by a byte from the table below. If you use a custom note length (0x00, 0x13, 0x26, etc.), then you will need a second parameter specifying the note's length, in 192nds of a note (see explanation of Rests, above). This gives you more control over exactly how long the note lasts.

Note types (all values in hex)

	C	C#	D	D#	E	F	F#	G	G#	A	A#	B
Custom	00	13	26	39	4c	5f	72	85	98	ab	be	d1
whole	01	14	27	3a	4d	60	73	86	99	ac	bf	d2
dotted half	02	15	28	3b	4e	61	74	87	9a	ad	c0	d3
half	03	16	29	3c	4f	62	75	88	9b	ae	c1	d4
dotted quarter	04	17	2a	3d	50	63	76	89	9c	af	c2	d5
3rd	05	18	2b	3e	51	64	77	8a	9d	b0	c3	d6
quarter	06	19	2c	3f	52	65	78	8b	9e	b1	c4	d7
dotted 8th	07	1a	2d	40	53	66	79	8c	9f	b2	c5	d8
6th	08	1b	2e	41	54	67	7a	8d	a0	b3	c6	d9
8th	09	1c	2f	42	55	68	7b	8e	a1	b4	c7	da
dotted 16th	0a	1d	30	43	56	69	7c	8f	a2	b5	c8	db
12th	0b	1e	31	44	57	6a	7d	90	a3	b6	c9	dc
16th	0c	1f	32	45	58	6b	7e	91	a4	b7	ca	dd
dotted 32nd	0d	20	33	46	59	6c	7f	92	a5	b8	cb	de
24th	0e	21	34	47	5a	6d	80	93	a6	b9	cc	df
32nd	0f	22	35	48	5b	6e	81	94	a7	ba	cd	e0
48th	10	23	36	49	5c	6f	82	95	a8	bb	ce	e1
64th	11	24	37	4a	5d	70	83	96	a9	bc	cf	e2
96th	12	25	38	4b	5e	71	84	97	aa	bd	d0	e3

Credit

Thanks to P.J. Barnes for figuring out the structure of the file and a few commands.