BOOMY
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TL;DR version is basically describe the recording setup you use for capturing your tracks off your DMG. For those who cbf, here is my story below...

Hey all, I'm a bit of a noob. Ive written a bunch of tracks on my DMG and Im ready to record.
When listening to my tracks through my audio interface it seems like half  of the track is muted or clicking, some parts have the completely wrong envelope, some are half volume, all sorts of random things that sound nothing like what I had written when you listen through other means. I have tried several gameboys, some were prosound modded and some were not. Through all of them, I do not get an accurate representation of what I wrote when plugged into the audio interface directly. 
It is only a recent issue, as up until I planned to record these tracks I was listening to them live through a roland busking amplifier with a line in. Now interestingly, when I plug the gameboy into the busking amp, then use the line out of the busking amp into the audio interface none of the problems arrive and I can actually hear my track.
So what is going on here? What black magic is occurring by buffering through the busking amp first?
One would assume it is normalizing the level or strength of the signal in some way. How can I get this result without buffering through the busking amp?
Would a normal 4 channel mixer get the job done?

Any help figuring this one out would be greatly appreciated.

frantic
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Could it be something simple like a broken cable used in one case but not in the other?

rebb
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Second what frantic said. Check your cables.
Record something from your phone to audio interface, sounds ok? Connect headphones to your game boy, sounds ok?

BOOMY
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Same cable used in both cases. regardless, I can confirm recording from phone to audio interface, headphone out from gameboy and gameboy to external amplifier are all working fine. But when the same gameboy signal goes to the audio interface it is missing half the information and is all weird e.g. wav channel will be muted and pulse channel will be triple its normal volume in some parts. However, when buffered through the busking amp it works fine. Have tried different gameboys, different cables, same cables etc.
You can literally have the song playing and switch output devices while its playing using the exact same cable and get two different results.

Also...how do you record your DMG?

rebb
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Can you post recordings from busking amp and without? Sure you are not recording mono?
I usually record just straight from game boy to audiointerface (scarlett 2i2)

Edit:
As fast test you can just do two instruments panned left/right and check how it looks on audacity or similar.

Last edited by rebb (Sep 15, 2020 3:54 pm)

BOOMY
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Definitely not recording in mono. Just seems like audio interface doesn't like 'raw' gameboy signal
What is the best means for getting some audio online quickly?

rebb
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Probably google drive (check permissions) or dropbox? Audio interface should not have any problems with game boy raw signal.
EDIT: What is your audio interface btw?

Last edited by rebb (Sep 15, 2020 4:01 pm)

BOOMY
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M Audio Mtrack.
I'm going to try see whats going on in audacity. maybe i AM recording in mono but dont realize or something, Im going to rule that out before I go to the effort of google drive wink

BOOMY
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Yea ok, it was that simple. I need to split my gameboy into two channels, I thought the interface could receive in stereo. *loosens collar* I feel embarrassed, especially when I thought I was "definitely" not recording in mono.

I'll buy some cables to get that happening and get back to you if my problem still occurs. Thanks for your help. I feel stupid, lol.

rebb
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It's usually easy to figure out oddities like this just by looking the signal

Last edited by rebb (Sep 15, 2020 4:16 pm)

BOOMY
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Nonsense. It was black magic ya here!? wink

martin_demsky
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Bratislava, Slovakia

I record with my steinberg ur28m audio interface in 24-bit/96 kHz stereo into mac pro with adobe audition, i use roland pro cable (stereo 3,5" jack to two mono big jacks). After recording i use waves multimaximizer mastering plugin with proud & loud preset, i dont eliminate noise, because it is part of dmg sound. And at the end i downsample to cd quality with audition intelligent algorithm.

Last edited by martin_demsky (Sep 15, 2020 6:41 pm)

Doctor Octoroc
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Philadelphia

It's always something silly and simple, no need to feel embarrassed!

I had a similar issue when I first started recording from my DMG but I had just done the prosound mod so I thought I goofed up the mod and did loads of troubleshooting in vein on account of that. I finally realized that by just using a 1/8" to RCA R/L cable, everything was just fine.

I have a tiny 4-channel Mackie mixer so I have to use the RCA line in since the 1/4" jacks are taken up by my prosound NES I use in conjunction with the DMG. I use an Amazon Basic 1/8" to split L/R RCA cable, no need for anything fancy. I keep it simple with recording in Audacity and do very minor mastering after the fact. Basically, I only make adjustments that I can feasibly do live playing through a mixer so minor channel panning to create a bit of stereo separation on the NES and I pull the stereo back to center a bit on the GB input so it's not 100% in each channel (I go 70% R and L so panned notes are heard in both channels to some degree but everything center stays pretty much the same). But I adjust all the bass, mid and treble on the mixer while recording.

I will go back in to remove noticeable 'clicks' on slow tracks but I've actually found a way to compose by overlapping notes that removes the clicking artifacts in most instances. It can only be done when using external MIDI send with something like the Teensyboy+MGB but it's probably the best trick I've learned for composing with the DMG. I don't believe there's a way to do that with any step sequencers, however.

Last edited by Doctor Octoroc (Sep 16, 2020 11:31 pm)

martin_demsky
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Bratislava, Slovakia

Probably also i will do pro sound mod, i did it on my first creamy Gameboy which died after 3 years, yellow from "Play it loud" edition was without it (also died after some time) and my latest transparent is in great mint condition so i didn't want to modify it except backlight, but with pro sound mod when natural noise go away i will probably record every channel separately and mix it in Audition or Logic.

Last edited by martin_demsky (Sep 18, 2020 7:53 pm)