Binary XACT SoundBank

This is the binary version of the XACT SoundBank (XSB), version 11, as used by Jade Empire on the original Xbox. The Windows PC version of Jade Empire uses an ASCII variant, which contains the same information.

Conceptually, it's very similar to later XSB versions that are used by Microsoft's XNA toolset.

On the top-level, a SoundBank consists of cues and sounds. A sound is a collection of tracks, which each contain a list of events and a list of wave variations, while a cue consists of a list of references to sounds.

Both the cue variation and the wave variation can be selected using different methods. For example, they could be played in order, or randomly. Or they could be explicitly selected by game.

A structural example

• Sounds
  • Sound 0
    • Track 0
      • Event list
        • PLAY
        • LOOP
        • VOLUME
        • PITCH
      • Wave variations
        • Sound 23 out of WaveBank "foobar"
        • Sound 24 out of WaveBank "foobar"
        • Sound 12 out of WaveBank "quux"
  • Sound 1
    • Track 0
      • Event list
        • PLAY
      • Wave variations
        • Sound 24 out of WaveBank "foobar"
    • Track 1
      • Event list
        • PLAY
      • Wave variations
        • Sound 25 out of WaveBank "foobar"
• Cues
  • Cue 0
    • Cue variations
      • Sound 0
      • Sound 1
  • Cue 1
    • Cue variations
      • Sound 0
  • Cue 2
    • Cue variations
      • Sound 1

Structures

All numerical values are little-endian.

Header

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	4	FourCC, "SDBK"
0x04	2	Version, 11 (0B 00)
0x06	2	CRC
0x08	4	Offset to WaveBank array
0x0C	4	Offset to crossfade parameters array
0x10	4	Offset to 3D parameters array
0x14	4	Offset to ?
0x18	2	XSB flags
0x1A	2	Number of ?
0x1C	2	Number of sounds (soundCount)
0x1E	2	Number of cues (cueCount)
0x20	2	Number of ?
0x22	2	Number of WaveBanks
0x24	4	?
0x28	16	SoundBank name
0x38	cueCount * 20	Cue entries
0x38 + cueCount * 20	soundCount * 20	Sound entries

WaveBank entry

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	16	WaveBank file name (without extension)

Cue entry

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	2	Flags
0x02	2	Sound index (see below)
0x04	4	Offset to name (see below)
0x08	4	Offset to cue variations (see below)
0x0C	2	Index into the crossfade parameters array
0x0E	2	?
0x10	4	Interactive transitions (see below)

Sound index: 0xFFFF if the cue has only one variations.

Offset to name: 0xFFFFFFFF if the cue has no name. Should be ignored if XSB_FLAG_NO_CUE_NAMES is set.

Offset to cue variations: 0xFFFFFFFF if the cue has no variations

Interactive transitions: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBB???

• A, 24 bits: Offset to the interactive transition definitions
• B, 5 bits: Trigger variable

Sound entry

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	4	Offset or indices (see below)
0x04	2	Volume and LFE volume (see below)
0x06	2	Pitch
0x08	1	Number of tracks
0x09	1	Layer
0x0A	1	Category
0x0B	1	Flags
0x0C	2	Index into the 3D parameters array
0x0E	1	Priority
0x0F	1	I3DL2 volume in 2.56th dB
0x10	2	Parametric EQ gain in 8192th dB
0x12	2	EQ Q and EQ frequency (see below)

Offset or indices: Offset to non-trivial entry, or 2 bytes of wave index and 2 bytes of wavebank index.

Volume and LFE volume: AAAAAAABBBBBBBBB

• A, 7 bits: LFE volume. VolumeLFE = -A * 0.5
• B, 9 bits: volume: Volume = -B * 0.16

EQ Q and EQ frequency: AAAAAAAAAAAAABBB

• A, 13 bits: EQ frequency
• B, 3 bits: EQ Q coefficient. Q = 1 / 2^B

Simple sound track

One track, one PLAY event, multiple wave variations.

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	4	Variation parameters (see below)
0x04	variationCount * 4	Variation entry (see below)

Variation parameters: AABBBBBBBBBBBBBCCCCDDDDDDDDDDDDD

• A, 2 bits: Flags
• B, 13 bits: Current variation
• C, 4 bits: Variation selection method
• D, 13 bits: Number of variations (variationCount)

Variation entry: 2 bytes of wave index and 2 bytes of wavebank index.

Complex sound tracks

Multiple tracks or more than just a simple PLAY event.

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Number of events
0x01	3	Offset to event list

Variation table

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	4	Variation parameters (see below)
0x04	variationCount * 8	Variation entry

Variation parameters: AABBBBBBBBBBBBBCCCCDDDDDDDDDDDDD

• A, 2 bits: Flags
• B, 13 bits: Current variation
• C, 4 bits: Variation selection method
• D, 13 bits: Number of variations (variationCount)

Event list entry

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	?
....		Parameters

Event list entry for a PLAY event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x00)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x04)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	Loop count
0x08	4	Offset or indices (see below)

Offset or indices: If XSB_PLAY_EVENT_FLAG_COMPLEX in Flags is set, this is an offset to a wave variation list (see "Simple sound track" above). Otherwise, this is 2 bytes of a sound index followed by 2 bytes of bank index.

Event list entry for a PLAY_COMPLEX event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x01)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x10)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	Loop count
0x08	4	Offset or indices (see below)
0x0C	2	Pitch variation, lower bound
0x0E	2	Pitch variation, upper bound
0x10	2	Volume variation, lower bound
0x12	2	Volume variation, upper bound
0x14	2	Maximum variable sound delay in milliseconds
0x16	2	?

Offset or indices: If XSB_PLAY_EVENT_FLAG_COMPLEX in Flags is set, this is an offset to a wave variation list (see "Simple sound track" above). Otherwise, this is 2 bytes of a sound index followed by 2 bytes of bank index.

Event list entry for a PITCH event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x04)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x08)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	Number of fade steps
0x08	2	Pitch, lower bound or starting value
0x0A	2	Pitch, upper bound or starting value
0x0C	1	?
0x0D	3	Fade duration in milliseconds

Event list entry for a VOLUME event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x05)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x08)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	Number of fade steps
0x08	2	Volume, lower bound or starting value
0x0A	2	Volume, upper bound or starting value
0x0C	1	?
0x0D	3	Fade duration in milliseconds

Event list entry for a LOWPASS event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x07)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x0C)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	Sweep step count
0x08	2	Cut-off frequency start
0x0A	2	Cut-off frequency end
0x0C	1	?
0x0D	3	Sweep duration
0x10	2	Resonance start
0x12	2	Resonance end

Event list entry for a LFO_PITCH event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x08)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x04)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	?
0x08	1	?
0x09	1	?
0x0A	1	Delta
0x0B	1	Pitch modulation

Event list entry for a LFO_MULTI event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x09)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x08)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	?
0x08	1	?
0x09	1	?
0x0A	1	Delta
0x0B	1	Pitch modulation
0x0C	1	Filter modulation
0x0D	1	Amplitude modulation
0x0E	1	?
0x0F	1	?

Event list entry for a ENVELOPE_AMPLITUDE event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x0A)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x0C)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	?
0x08	2	Delay in seconds
0x0A	2	Attack in seconds
0x0C	2	Hold in seconds
0x0E	2	Decay in seconds
0x10	2	Release in seconds
0x12	1	Sustain power
0x13	1	?

Event list entry for a ENVELOPE_PITCH event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x0B)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x10)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	?
0x08	2	Delay in seconds
0x0A	2	Attack in seconds
0x0C	2	Hold in seconds
0x0E	2	Decay in seconds
0x10	2	Release in seconds
0x12	1	Sustain power
0x13	1	?
0x14	1	?
0x15	1	?
0x16	1	Pitch scale
0x17	1	Filter cut-off

Event list entry for a LOOP event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x0C)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x00)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	Number of loops (see below)

Number of loops: 0xFFFF for looping indefinitely.

Event list entry for a MARKER event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x0E)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x00)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	Marker occurrences
0x08	4	Marker value
0x0C	1	?
0x0D	3	Repeat duration in milliseconds

Event list entry for a MIXBINS event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x10)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x20)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	?
0x08	1	Channel index 0
0x09	1	?
0x0A	2	Channel volume 0
0x0C	1	Channel index 1
0x0D	1	?
0x0E	2	Channel volume 1
0x10	1	Channel index 2
0x11	1	?
0x12	2	Channel volume 2
0x14	1	Channel index 3
0x15	1	?
0x16	2	Channel volume 3
0x18	1	Channel index 4
0x19	1	?
0x1A	2	Channel volume 4
0x1C	1	Channel index 5
0x1D	1	?
0x1E	2	Channel volume 5
0x20	1	Channel index 6
0x21	1	?
0x22	2	Channel volume 6
0x24	1	Channel index 7
0x25	1	?
0x26	2	Channel volume 7

Event list entry for an ENVIRONMENT_REVERB event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x11)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x30)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	?
0x08	4	Room effect attenuation
0x0C	4	High-frequency room effect attenuation
0x10	4	Roll-off factor for the room effect
0x14	4	Decay time
0x18	4	High-frequency to low-frequency decay time ratio
0x1C	4	(Early) Reflection attenuation
0x20	4	(Early) Reflection delay
0x24	4	(Late) Reverb attenuation
0x28	4	(Late) Reverb delay
0x2C	4	Diffusion, echo density in (late) reverb decay
0x30	4	Density, modal density in (late) reverb decay
0x34	4	Reference high frequency

Event list entry for a MIXBINSPAN event

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	1	Event type (= 0x10)
0x01	3	Timestamp in milliseconds
0x04	1	Parameter size in bytes (= 0x14)
0x05	1	Flags
0x06	2	?
0x08	1	Speaker configuration (see below)
0x09	3	Angle and flag (see below)
0x0C	1	Channel index 0
0x0D	1	?
0x0E	2	Channel volume 0
0x10	1	Channel index 1
0x11	1	?
0x12	2	Channel volume 1
0x14	1	Channel index 2
0x15	1	?
0x16	2	Channel volume 2
0x18	1	Channel index 3
0x19	1	?
0x1A	2	Channel volume 3

Speaker configuration: 0 for 5 channels, 1 for 4 channels

Angle and flags: 00000ABBBBBBBBBCCCCCCCCC

• A, 1 bit: If set, use 3D mix bins
• B, 9 bits: end angle
• C, 9 bits: start angle

Variation entry

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	2	Sound index
0x02	2	?
0x04	2	Weight minimum
0x06	2	Weight maximum

3D parameters entry

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	2	Inside cone angle
0x02	2	Outside cone angle
0x04	2	Cone outside volume
0x06	2	?
0x08	4	Minimum distance
0x0C	4	Maximum distance
0x10	4	Distance factor
0x14	4	Rolloff factor
0x18	4	Doppler factor
0x1C	1	Mode
0x1D	4	?
0x20	4	?
0x24	4	?

Crossfade parameters entry

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	4	Fade-in time in 10^-7 seconds
0x04	2	Initial volume
0x06	1	Type (see below)
0x07	1	Fade-in step count
0x08	4	Fade-out time in 10^-7 seconds
0x0C	2	Final volume
0x0E	1	Type (see below)
0x0F	1	Fade-out step count

Type: AAAA????

• A, 4 bits: 0 for disabled, 1 for linear, 2 for logarithmic

Interactive transitions array

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	4	Number of transitions (transitionCount)
0x04	transitionCount * 24	Transition entry

In general, there's one transition per sound combination (excluding the cases where to and from are the same), plus one set for silence to each sound, plus one set for each sound to silence.

I.e. for N sounds, there's N^2 - N + 2N, or N^2 + N in shorter, transitions.

The order is as follows:

• Silence -> N_0
• Silence -> N_1
• Silence -> N_2
• ...
• N_0 -> Silence
• N_0 -> N_1
• N_0 -> N_2
• ...
• N_1 -> Silence
• N_1 -> N_0
• N_1 -> N_2
• ...

Interactive transition entry

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	2	Flags (see below)
0x02	2	Transitional sound index
0x04	2	Source fade-out duration in milliseconds
0x06	2	Destination fade-in duration in milliseconds
0x08	4	Source marker, low
0x0C	4	Source marker, high
0x10	4	Destination marker, low
0x14	4	Destination marker, high

Flags: 00000AAAABBBCCCC

• A, 4 bits: Transition destination
• B, 3 bits: Transition effect
• C, 4 bits: Transition source

Flags

XSB flags

Name	Value	Description
XSB_FLAG_NO_CUE_NAMES	0x0001	If set, cues in the XSB file have no human-readable name

Cue flags

Name	Value	Description
XSB_CUE_FLAG_SEQUENTIAL	0x0001	If set, cue for sequential playback
XSB_CUE_FLAG_CROSSFADE	0x0002	If set, enable crossfade
XSB_CUE_FLAG_STOPONSTARVE	0x0004	If set, stop on starvation
XSB_CUE_FLAG_INTERACTIVE	0x0008	If set, the cue is interactive

Sound flags

Name	Value	Description
XSB_SOUND_FLAG_3D	0x01	If set, the sound has 3D parameters
XSB_SOUND_FLAG_GAINBOOST	0x02	If set, the sound has a gain boost of 6dB applied
XSB_SOUND_FLAG_EQ	0x04	If set, the sound has parametric EQ enabled
XSB_SOUND_FLAG_TRIVIAL	0x08	Trivial sound: one track, one PLAY event, one wave variation
XSB_SOUND_FLAG_SIMPLE	0x10	Simple sound: one track, one PLAY event, multiple wave variations
XSB_SOUND_FLAG_LINGER	0x20	If set, the sound should linger in an interactive cue

PLAY event flags

Name	Value	Description
XSB_PLAY_EVENT_FLAG_COMPLEX	0x04	Complex wave variations definition
XSB_PLAY_EVENT_FLAG_LOOPVARIATION	0x40	Select new wave variation on each loop

PITCH event flags

Name	Value	Description
XSB_PITCH_EVENT_FLAG_VARIATION	0x04	Enable variation
XSB_PITCH_EVENT_FLAG_RELATIVE	0x10	Use relative values
XSB_PITCH_EVENT_FLAG_FADE	0x20	Enable fade

VOLUME event flags

Name	Value	Description
XSB_VOLUME_EVENT_FLAG_VARIATION	0x04	Enable variation
XSB_VOLUME_EVENT_FLAG_RELATIVE	0x10	Use relative values
XSB_VOLUME_EVENT_FLAG_FADE	0x20	Enable fade

LOWPASS event flags

Name	Value	Description
XSB_LOWPASS_EVENT_FLAG_RANDOM	0x04	Random values
XSB_LOWPASS_EVENT_FLAG_RELATIVE	0x10	Use relative values
XSB_LOWPASS_EVENT_FLAG_SWEEP	0x20	Sweep cut-off frequencies

MARKER event flags

Name	Value	Description
XSB_MARKER_EVENT_FLAG_REPEAT	0x20	Repeat marker

Enums

Event types

Name	Value	Description
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_PLAY	0x00	Play a wave, from start to finish
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_PLAY_COMPLEX	0x01	Play a wave, with parameters
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_STOP	0x03	Stop playing
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_PITCH	0x04	Set the pitch
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_VOLUME	0x05	Set the volume
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_LOWPASS	0x07	Low-pass filter
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_LFO_PITCH	0x08	Low-frequency oscillator on the pitch
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_LFO_MULTI	0x09	Low-frequency oscillator on the pitch and amplitude
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_ENVELOPE_AMPLITUDE	0x0A	DAHDSR envelope on the amplitude
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_ENVELOPE_PITCH	0x0B	DAHDSR envelope on the pitch
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_LOOP	0x0C	Loop a wave
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_MARKER	0x0E	Marker
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_DISABLED	0x0F	A disabled event
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_MIXBINS	0x10	Set a separate volume for each channel
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_ENVIRONMENT_REVERB	0x11	Environmental reverb
XSB_EVENT_TYPE_MIXBINSPAN	0x12	Set channel volumes according to a listener orientation

Variation selection methods

Name	Value	Description
XSB_VARIATION_SELECT_RANDOM_NOREPEATS	0x00	Random, but no immediate repeats
XSB_VARIATION_SELECT_ORDERED	0x01	One after the other, in order
XSB_VARIATION_SELECT_SHUFFLE	0x02	Random, no repeats at all
XSB_VARIATION_SELECT_PARAMETER	0x03	Game-controlled
XSB_VARIATION_SELECT_RANDOM	0x04	Completely random
XSB_VARIATION_SELECT_ORDERED_FROMRANDOM	0x05	Start with a random entry, then in order

Transition source

Name	Value	Description
XSB_TRANSITION_SOURCE_IMMEDIATE	0x00	Immediately
XSB_TRANSITION_SOURCE_MARKER	0x01	From a marker with a given range
XSB_TRANSITION_SOURCE_RANDOM_MARKER	0x02	From a random marker within a given range
XSB_TRANSITION_SOURCE_END_LOOP	0x04	End of loop
XSB_TRANSITION_SOURCE_END_SOUND	0x08	End of sound

Transition destination

Name	Value	Description
XSB_TRANSITION_DESTINATION_BEGINNING	0x00	To the beginning
XSB_TRANSITION_DESTINATION_ALIGNED_TIME	0x01	To the same time
XSB_TRANSITION_DESTINATION_ALIGNED_MARKER	0x02	To the same marker
XSB_TRANSITION_DESTINATION_MARKER	0x04	To a marker with a given range
XSB_TRANSITION_DESTINATION_RANDOM_MARKER	0x08	To a random marker within a given range

Transition effect

Name	Value	Description
XSB_TRANSITION_EFFECT_NONE	0x00	No effect
XSB_TRANSITION_EFFECT_CROSSFADE	0x01	Crossfade
XSB_TRANSITION_EFFECT_SOUND	0x02	Use a transitional sound
XSB_TRANSITION_EFFECT_SOUND_FADE_TO	0x03	Fade into a transitional sound
XSB_TRANSITION_EFFECT_SOUND_FADE_FROM	0x06	Fade from a transitional sound
XSB_TRANSITION_EFFECT_SOUND_FADE_TOFROM	0x07	Fade into and from a transitional sound