try lowering the volume using microwire commands and not the actual YM volume.

it seems to depend on the ste, some are bad sound quality and beyond hope, some are perfect all the time, and some need the volume reducing on the microwire.

i think its the 'u' tracker command - have a look on the online help anyway

i'd cut traces on the board to separate them, then run wires off the bottom side of the board to my output circuits.

Thank you for your support. That's my idea too. I've tried lowering the volume of the instruments and that just lowered the total volume, but the distortion is still there. If I lower the channels with the volume column - doesn't that require a command for each note? It also seems identical to what I get if I lower the volume of each instrument.

I want to mod my Atari so that I get a jack for each YM voice, I've gotten answer to which pins I need to solder the jacks to, but! In the video iNFOTOXIN posted the guy says I have to cut the pins away from the board. Is that really so? Seems pretty brutal to do that, if I wanna restore it someday or something.

I know dubmood have done something similar. Dubmood: how did you do this?

Also I still wonder if someone knew how to get DMA channels to a single or multiple jacks?

You COULD try lowering the values in your volume sequence. That would achieve the effect of what you're looking to do.

To be quite honest though I don't think it'll clean up your noise. Akira is right that too-high volumes can cause clipping, but running multiple channels at once causes distortion that isn't due to clipping. As such, you might not hear a difference (other than how loud it is) by adjusting channel volume. To get rid of that distortion you'd want to separate the YM's outputs (so that every channel would sound as clean as it does when played solo). This is what everyone else is talking about, Akira is stuck on the clipping thing, haha

No one has said that, and I would very much like your tip on how to lower the whole channel at once. In maxYMiser that is, there's a MIDI CC that does it but I can't find a decent setting or command for it in the tracker.

Thats what the series R will take care of(or better yet, use 2 resistors as a voltage divider).. which is why i didn't spec it out with a specific value 1k-10k .
If the signal is too hot, attenuation can easily be done.

anyways.. lots of options.

Just because you separate the outputs doesn't mean you are not pumping too much volume on each channel anymore, may I add.

So sum it down analog :-P
Doesn't mean it has to be in the box of the STE. just cuz it's stock doens' tmean they were going for best possible sound, more like.. this works pack it ship it.

Because analogue summing is better!

You can take direct off the chip but i recommend using a series R and output cap to protect the chip.
In an ideal world i'd recommend a buffered output..

My new NESmod2 pcb would work perfect for this as it supports 3 channels. problem is.. it's not finished yet!

I've been meaning to do a tutorial for individual outs on an STE. I know some people make a fuss about "it doesn't sound as good
with the channels separated because they dont modulate each other the same"
But the channels get summed together anyways in the end before it's made into an mp3 so what is the difference between in the box or out of the box?  lol.

anyways..

Series output resistor (maybe a 1k-10k, experiment) and an output electrolitic (1-10uF @25V-50V)

http://www.jeffn.com/vintage/tweety.jpg

Yeah I get that, thats why I tried all the others stuff. How do I lower the volume of yeah channel in maxYMiser? With MIDI it's easy, but in the tracker it looks like It's the volume column is where it's at? Seems like the same thing as to change the instruments. Or have I missed something?

No, man, lower the general output of each channel so you don't clip the master. You are clipping it. TOO LOUD. Comprende?

Honestly I haven't a clue about any of it, I'm a total noob. I'm hoping for some kind of tutorial, the guy from the Atari Music Network's asked but didn't get much of a response.

Lower the level of the instruments? I'll have a look at it. No, but it seems like a fun project to do.

Thanks! So pins 3,4 and 38 - but he says I have to cut them? Because they are soldered together; if I just solder jacks onto the pins I will just get three identical outputs, right? Seems kind of drastic to cut the actual pins of.

Also now that he mentioned it in the video, how do I get the DMA channels as well? Just in case or something. Can't find datasheet for it because I don't know what the chip is called.