17 Reply by m00dawg

(54 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

I'm not entirely sure what that thing actually does tongue Is it listening to audio and then matching BPM to a sync out?

Our setup is kinda complex - we use a GameBoy (LSDJ) with a MidiBox SID and MidiBox FM and then also do live playing of (usually acoustic) instruments on top. As a result, I need some level of MIDI sync, which is usually handled right now via Reaper. I'd like to switch to using a hardware playback device, like a MidiBox MIDIO128 but I haven't made too much headway on that yet.

Adding in the NES to the MIDI chain won't be really a big deal. As it's just clock sync I'll probably mod my current StageBoy to see if I can use MIDI Thru and then hook up whatever interface I end up with on the NES to that. The primary blocker was an NSF player that could respond to a clock, preferably with some transport controls (so it starts playing when it sees the first clock pulse).

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18 Reply by m00dawg

(54 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Hi Yogi!

Yep I've reached a similar conclusion after Mrwinner provided some links. I think FamiSync + PowerPak + FamiDI would work well! I wonder if I can sort of combine efforts and use 1 Arduino for both ArduinoBoy and the pulse output to the NES. It's too soon to say though. I use a stage-hardened custom ArduinoBoy with a noise rejection circuit for the GB called StageBoy and being able to add in NES support in a revision 2 would be awesome, and also keep things less cluttered on stage.

Anyways don't want to get off-topic - this solution sounds like it is exactly what I'm looking for! I still need to read through all the information but yeah it looks like a workable solution exists. That makes me stoked! I love the GB and LSDJ but I've been missing that NES sound for our live shows and have been really wanting it back.

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19 Topic by m00dawg

(54 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

I've been looking at various ways of doing things - From trying to find a MIDI sync option for NSFs to looking at the projects that rip out the 2A03 from the NES.

I noticed ninstrument lists Pulsar and MCTRL as working together. While I prefer Famitracker over LSDJ, I think this might be workable at this point. I'm missing the NES too much.

So I was mostly curious as to if folks are able to use MIDI sync via MCTRL with Pulsar in much the same way LSDJ works using various ArduinoBoy incarnations (basically play/stop and clock sync)? Or does anyone know of a method to do the same thing with NSFs, say, using the PowerPak?

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20 Reply by m00dawg

(12 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Awe that would be a shame, but it understandable.

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21 Reply by m00dawg

(12 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Hah, referring to the Super 8? Yeah the price is currently a bit steep. I'm curious if an un-assembled kit version is going to come out for a lesser price perhaps. But, either way, I want one!!!

But I'm still going to keep my toaster NES regardless. Fixing up a toaster (new 72-pin connector, disable lock out chip, caps, optionally NESA or some other audio mod) gives pretty good results for less. The current NESA designs are cheap (my first design is a single layer board you can even etch yourself) and the new one I don't expect to be expensive to build.

That's taking nothing away from the Super 8 mind you as it's a thing of beauty. Simply pointing out the toasters aren't going away since the Super 8 isn't for everyone (largely due to cost).

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22 Reply by m00dawg

(12 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Well, one other potential gotcha is that the cartridge pin tends to be noisy when not in use. In an ideal world the mix out would only use the cartridge input when it actually has audio on that channel. I don't have a solution for that at the moment.

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23 Reply by m00dawg

(12 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

I hooked up an o-scope to my NES yesterday and, actually, it seems that the current amp design may be accurate. Off the NES I was getting around .1V and after the amp, around 1V. That's about right for line-level, but I swear I'm hearing distortion in some games on the square-wave channel that make me think something is off. Either way, the audio off the PowerPak is hot - 4V after amplification in the current designs - that's well above line-level.

This brings up a bit of a problem though. I didn't test it, but I don't recall the Famicom audio being nearly that hot, so I need to research that more. Ideally it would be nice to have a solution that worked for both situations without having to replace any resistors and other such nonsense, but I'm not sure of the best way to tackle that. I never have found a good standard way of handling cartridge in (off of the PowerPak or a Famicom cart).

Apart form that issue, the other bits of the circuit I may end up leaving as is - with the discrete outputs as well as the mixed output being amplified up to line-level.

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24 Reply by m00dawg

(12 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Oh wow that's awesome! Looks like the thing is basically available (or almost available)? Indeed, that would be a solid solution - I was griping today after Mega Man 2 froze on me (serves me right for not getting the password when I had the chance). I disabled the lockout chip and have a new 72-pin connector but it's still a bit sketchy to get working well.

In terms of audio, we both appear to be using an op-amp based solution so I suspect the audio performance would be similar as I am totally bypassing the original audio pipeline for NESA. NESA is still a good reasonably inexpensive option for those that can't get a Super 8 (or a CPU or PPU to use) and it's not a particularly invasive mod (save for adding the audio jacks).

That said, the Super 8 looks glorious and I hope to get my hands on one for sure! I even have a busted NES mainboard whoose CPU and PPU is just begging to be liberated.

Someone was working on a similar solution for the GameBoy...wonder how that's progressing...

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25 Reply by m00dawg

(12 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Woo lots of interest it seems! So, I'll try to address things in one go. The primary goal of the NESA is to protect the CPU from naughty things. I don't like the idea of just hooking up an RCA jacks directly to my previous 2A03 so the OPA is there to sacrifice itself. It has similar benefits to the standard RCA mod in that it bypasses the original audio pipeline, so is a great deal quieter.

I hadn't thought of any sort of filtering beyond the input caps I originally used as part of the CMoy design. I was thinking of actually getting rid of those, but that runs under the assumption that the output sources being used have their own DC correction (if there is any from the NES to begin with, which I need to test). As an aside, I AM looking at modifying my StageBoy (Arduino + Audio Balanced box for my GameBoy) to use a low pass filter to try and tame some of the aliasing.

Anyways, the major things I am going to look at is to see if I can balance out the audio from the NES and cartridge in (and at least estimate how close to line-level those really are) and then see if I really can just buffer, or if I need to do any sort of amplification.

But the ultimate idea is as described - clean, safe, discrete line-level output with an addition mono mix out. The nice thing is if some of my current assumptions are correct, the resulting design will be simpler than my previous designs. Meaning it can be smaller, or there is room for more fun stuff.

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26 Topic by m00dawg

(12 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

I finally started looking at my NES Audio amp again. The first two major designs were largely based on the CMoy Headphone Amp. The first design was a single-board, through-hole solution; the second used SMD parts for size and lower voltage requirements (both the NES and NESA can be powered via a 9VDC power adapter).

The biggest feature I want to add is a passive mixer for the 4th audio channel (mixing the 2 NES channels with cartridge input). I am also debating about switching to unity gain buffers for the discrete outputs as I found them to be rather hot and it's likely not necessary to amplify the audio as it is already near line-level (I need to verify that).

I want to try and position the new board so it sits underneath the 2A03. I measured 65x44mm worth of room there which should be plenty (I just may be height limited which is important for the power caps). That way the mod can be installed without having to cut anything inside the case.

Finally, I think going back to a through-hole design makes the most sense. Easier to assemble and many through-hole OPAs can be powered by as little as +/- 4.5V. That leaves no headroom if using a 9VDC supply, though, so I'll have to test that out.

If anyone would like to follow the project, the Eagle schematics and board layouts are available on Github:

https://github.com/m00dawg/NESA

Likewise if you have any suggestions in what you might want to see in this design, do let me know!

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27 Reply by m00dawg

(122 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Oh snap! I forgot about that project. Does PULSAR support clock sync with MCTRL yet? That's just about a "problem? solved!" solution for me if so!

Valid point about DPCM. I don't know the capabilities of PULSAR, but being able to sync an NSF lets you use DPCM in that context. I think Batsy Adams' sync experiments used the PowerPak's NSF player - he just added sync.

All that said, in terms of an interface, where MidiBox can be nice, I would say, is with the USB MIDI stuff it can now do via CORE32. I'm trying to move away from using a laptop during a live show instead, I'm trying to build and, if need be, augment the MidiBox MIDIO128 to serve as our MIDI playback/sync device. However, I'm in the minority smile Having MIDI over USB is pretty glorious. Plus the new CORE32 boards can do routing and stuff. There's plenty of power there to handle sync to the NES plus likely most of the core MidiBox functions.

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28 Reply by m00dawg

(122 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

yogi wrote:

For any Midiboxers out here, this blogger has a veriation on the Tsundere/Chip Maestro interface that seems perfect for a MIOS core
http://shiftmore.blogspot.com/2012/11/a … art-i.html
Food for thought
Yogi

I think there was some work a while ago posted on the MidiBox blog about an NES synth. It harvested the actual 2A03 off the mainboard though (much like how MBSID does). Since it's not socketed, that makes me nervous.

I think just having a MIDI clock sync solution would be pretty huge as then NSF players and trackers can use that for their BPM. That doesn't necessarily allow for full on live play but it means the NES could then be sync'd to the same MIDI clock everything else might be using.

MidiBox already has lovely MIDI support (obviously) though for just interpreting MIDI clock and sending pulses, I wouldn't imagine the piece would be so difficult. Modifying, say, an NSF player to respond to the signal - that's not something I have even begun to figure out.

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29 Reply by m00dawg

(20 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

If you pulled up the board layout, that airwire is actually the PE connections for the DIN jacks. They are just the stress joints and I didn't see a need to tie them to ground, so I didn't.

I did go back and forth on using a ground plane versus traces on the analog section though. Since it was basically point to point in each side of the tranny, I didn't see much value in a plane there. Doing it that way also helped keep the analog wires further away from the digital section.

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30 Reply by m00dawg

(20 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Jazzmarazz wrote:

Did I miss it, or where did you write what you did about the separate ground planes?

I think I rambled about it but didn't mention the current solution. I basically kept them separate. The digital side has both ground and power planes and the analog section has separate ground traces. After I thought about it, there was really no other way to do it because the transformer is doing both noise rejection and isolation and you can't do that with sharing a plane on both sides of the tranny. Given that, it also made no sense to connect digital and analog grounds together. Just in case, I used plastic connectors for the analog side, should the case ever be grounded to the digital count (e.g. if wanting to attach the voltage regulator to the side of the case to help with heat).

So, in short, you can think of the digital and analog section as entirely separate - they just happen to be in the same box.

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31 Reply by m00dawg

(20 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

I finally finished the thing! Works quite well, though I'm still working on adding a few features. The DIP switches aren't even being used right now, and the LED doesn't blink how I'd like. I also need to get the side panels cut still. However, it currently functions in the way I needed it and does a damn good job of it.

The rest of the photos are on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/VictimCache) and I also have a GitHub repository for this here:

https://github.com/m00dawg/stageboy

The project isn't "complete" but it is functional at this stage so be mindful if you want to trudge on ahead and build it.

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32 Reply by m00dawg

(20 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

EDCOR transformers finally came in WHEE! I've also been thinking about the LED and button situation. I'm not pondering using DIP switches to set the mode and doing away with the button altogether. Then I'd only have 1, maybe 2 LEDs (BPM and, optionally power). The DIP switches would not require reading from EEPROM and there won't be any external switch to switch the mode (say if you accidentally kicked the button during a show or something).

I've been using the above pictured solution for a while now and I have to say, the extra iron is well worth it in terms of noise rejection performance. It's very good.

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