Deprecated: mysql_connect(): The mysql extension is deprecated and will be removed in the future: use mysqli or PDO instead in /storage/content/49/145849/famitracker.com/public_html/forum/classes/dbHandler.php on line 29
FamiTracker
Well, you could make instruments based on what the commands are doing, but they may not actually correspond to the instruments originally used--for example, if I did everything manually (no instruments), if you were to make instruments based on my song, you may end up with a TON of them simulating volume changes. Hell, even if you have instruments in your song but change volumes on them, that'd create additional ones, unless your conversion program is really smart.
Maybe some day there is a method, but even so each instrument contains two part: Sustain, Release. Some kind of computing might be able to identify identical notes, but the Release part will still be very likely to screw up.
Certain games also do volumes frame by frame. Sometimes you have a really long instrument with volume envelopes containing very few adjustments and a long string of arpeggio envelopes.
On top of that, early games usually use some sort of hardware fade-out (e.g. Donkey Kong). Extraction of such instru- No, hardware fade-outs are not instruments.
That said, it would be good if extraction of instruments is possible in the future so that people no longer have to go with the complicated way.
However, that would require a ton of work. And besides what you said about hardware sweeps, there's also another problem I foresee.
We already have FamiTracker with its ability to compile the instruments' MML & tracker's notes into 6502 ASM code, but disassembling the ASM code & decompiling it into the necessary MML & notes is a whole different story.
It's like trying to decompile a program into its original C++ source; the smaller the program, the more accurate the result. If the program is fairly complex, the chances of your decompiling it into its original C++ source is slim (resulting in several syntax errors). The same goes for FamiTracker (which I consider as an IDE with its own high-level programming language).
_______________________
Technology: the one thing that's hated & cursed at by all engineers, technologists, scientists & technicians!
)