tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66682269494596522742024-03-14T10:28:29.363-07:00Plogue R&DOngoing Research and Development for Plogue's 'retro digital' products: chipsounds, chipspeech and chipcrusher .... and various retro computing stuff.plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-46331261128212636822014-12-29T14:47:00.002-08:002015-01-01T13:33:08.543-08:00chipspeech Diary, Part 2
Last summer I spent a good part of my late night research time on Texas Instrument Voice Synthesis Processor (VSP) LPC10 decoding chips. TI made LOTS of these from the late 70s to the late 80s, both for the OEM market and for its own use, under different names. They usually prefixed them TMC or CD for internal use, and TMS for OEM use, but their naming was not always consistent, which plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-16848586972886590792014-09-18T10:14:00.003-07:002014-09-18T10:14:47.764-07:00chipspeech Diary, Part 1In case you haven't noticed, we take hardware research and emulation very seriously here at Plogue.
-We never take any information for granted, whether its from official datasheets, patents or third party research.
-We always double check and investigate what we do on hardware: creating custom tests suites for each and every chip, sending values and capturing the results plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-37552468436533873432014-09-11T07:49:00.001-07:002021-12-21T07:33:55.660-08:00Plogue livenesIs a Nintendo Entertainment System "homebrew" application that I've developed in order to improve the emulation of the RP2A03 for chipsounds 2.0, which is currently in development.
It allows you to change the values of the APU's memory mapped registers ($4000 to $4017) using nothing but the Nintendo d-pad.
A side effect is that it can also be used to generate live minimalistic 'music' on aplgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-79097891745893369532013-10-10T11:03:00.002-07:002013-10-10T11:03:29.104-07:00chipcrusher re-sampling vs frequency responseQuite a few users have complained about chipcrusher's peculiar 'dry' frequency response compared to what they get with other common decimator plugins. This post hopefully will explain a few things.
Lets say we bypass the bit reduction, distortion and post filtering and only concentrate on the task of downsampling the plugin's input signal. which would be say at 96kHz. and that chipcrusher's plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-85805995710357181632013-06-29T07:02:00.000-07:002013-07-04T06:58:34.995-07:00Making arcade cabinet impulse responses.Here are a few pictures we took while capturing impulse responses for chipcrusher in late 2011...
Sorry for the mess, our office is a perpetual hardware dismantling lair.
plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-5756211604697569372013-06-06T07:30:00.001-07:002013-06-06T08:35:15.340-07:00GBA SP Speaker Impulse Response
Looks fun? This is what I did for each and every speaker impulse in chipcrusher's Post Processing section.
The goal is to capture not only the frequency response of the speaker itself, but also the effect of its casing and internal components: resonance, cancellations etc.
Its thus very important to make sure to properly close the unit (which can be complicated by plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-63604540600399256412013-01-19T18:10:00.000-08:002013-01-19T18:12:01.933-08:00Soldering '80
This is pure nerd porn, in so many ways.
And there's a whole lot more here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/paceworldwide?feature=watch
plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-83988541171138168692012-09-08T13:41:00.003-07:002012-09-08T13:46:46.304-07:00Galaxian's digital oscillator explained.The Namco Galaxian arcade PCB generates a few different types of sounds:
Analog Fire sound.
Analog Explosion sound
Three Analog 'Rack Noises' (alien drones)
Monophonic Digital Oscillator, which does the quirky intro tune and the aliens being destroyed.
The latter being digitally controlled and generated, it makes it a perfect candidate for the chipsounds bandlimited oscillator plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-22706411888764173622012-08-06T13:38:00.003-07:002012-08-06T13:38:58.850-07:00Namcot163 Dual 27C020 Eprom CartplgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-81573570065105673292012-07-25T06:43:00.000-07:002012-07-25T06:55:43.455-07:00NES eprom carts
Clockwise from top:
1)Esper Dream 2 Aratanaru Tatakai, Famicom, VRC6, mapper 26, can use regular 27C020 EPROM
2)Lagrange Point, Famicom, VRC7, mapper 85, can use regular 27C040 EPROM
3)Castlevania, NES, UNROM, mapper 2, needs modification to use 27c010/27c020 eproms
4)Super Mario Bros, NES, NROM, mapper 0, no mods needed
Currently using 1 and 3 to run tests for my next updates.
I would plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-2843335518311460172012-05-21T12:44:00.001-07:002012-05-21T12:44:33.014-07:00Address Sniffing an EPROMplgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-49183373902883292292012-02-08T07:26:00.000-08:002012-02-08T07:27:35.146-08:00New Scope
Can't wait to put it to good use. Its a major step up from my crappy PC-based USB scope. Thanks to EEVBlog for the great review.plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-91513500751916394202011-12-22T11:54:00.000-08:002011-12-23T05:54:19.212-08:00AY8930 Initial tests!
Over concerns received about the possibility that the chips were fakes I decided to test a few of them right away (Paypal customer is always right no? I might just get my money back if they are fakes)
So first thing I did was to place two of those chips on my Bagman arcade board, and the sound was just as one would expect a normal AY-3-8910 (the old version). So at least they are not plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-19087765072278956462011-12-20T08:34:00.000-08:002011-12-20T08:41:45.967-08:00AY8930 sourced!
The AY8930 Enhanced Programmable Sound Generator is a very rare Microchip (who bought GI) version of the AY-3-8910. It includes better frequency range, noise, PWM and independent control of the envelope for each channel.
I was lucky to find a stash of those chips and will soon try them on my AY-3-8910/YM2149F protoboard to see if they work and experiment with them, then for a plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-37800636953084383372011-11-03T09:58:00.000-07:002013-08-07T12:43:19.971-07:00JAMMA Space Invaders experiment.
33 years ago a game caught the eyes (and ears) of many people in Japan, and later everywhere else. You can read the whole story here of course, but this is not the subject of this post.
This post is about a little experiment I made in fixing and converting an original Midway Space Invaders motherboard to run in with JAMMA harness or standalone machine.
A Few notes:
-The coin input, and plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-52323396333608280352011-10-14T02:38:00.000-07:002011-10-14T02:50:42.472-07:00Arcade Restoration - Week1: Acquisition
Wednesday Max and I went on an econoline field trip to bring back two classic cabinets in fair condition.
I will show our restoration progress in here as time permits. Work will progress slowly since this is really a pet/coding break/lunch break project for us.plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-47784182974151651522011-09-01T06:37:00.000-07:002011-09-01T06:44:05.436-07:00Analog TV Death tollIts Analog TV Death Day in Canada and to celebrate here are a few personal observations.
While I sadly don't have access to any sort of statistics, just going to work each day using my bicycle I got to see lots and LOTS of Analog TVs on the curb. NO thanks to the imps at BestShop for turning customers away from the standalone ATSC->composite converters and towards new LCDs instead. "You know plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-64868560739001302672011-06-25T12:20:00.000-07:002012-12-10T20:00:04.780-08:00Playing the revolution/Home Computer Invasion Documentaries in Trouble???Original Link being gone, it makes me fear the worse.
I REALLY hope the reason isn't because of damn lawyers!
Here are two other sources for the Teasers on the most thrilling documentary series since The machine that Changed the World:
There's never been a computer documentary this well shot EVER, and nearly everyone I respect and admire in the industry took time to get interviewed. I plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-52319586714601276232011-06-24T10:40:00.000-07:002011-06-24T10:45:36.922-07:00(SAFE) US SMS Japanese Mod in action
Charles MacDonald provided a circuit for me to try
HERE
Good news is that it now works after a few treaks.
Just have to to a proper protoboard version now.
I'll be receiving two different FM Units soon, the original and the "Australian Reproduction"plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-37354597858955609102011-06-06T18:46:00.000-07:002011-06-08T07:00:47.750-07:00The reluctant US SMS that didnt want to be japaneseEDIT2: A new solution (much more invovled ) was suggested by Charles MacDonald this will be interresting to try.
EDIT: Nice, I got my answers in that thread. I'll have to backtrack on when did this become a dangerous thing to try, FYIW I used 10k res to short pin 34.
This MOD does not work on my SMS:
I tried everything, including burning a Japanese BIOS which works great here:
plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-3451319279396534312011-05-10T07:04:00.001-07:002011-05-13T10:00:06.509-07:00Does ... not ... compute...
Added Internal Picture:
Theres a piezo in there... now if I could
make it beep.....
Horrible damage due to the leaking internal soldered 2x1.5v AA batteries (removed)plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-62034348138328589302011-05-03T17:58:00.000-07:002011-05-03T18:24:20.421-07:00The Great AdLib Fire ...
(see third capacitor from bottom) ... I hate that smell.
From wikipedia:
"Self-destruction and thermal runawayTantalum capacitors are under some conditions prone to self-destruction by thermal runaway. The capacitor typically consists of a sintered tantalum sponge acting as the anode, a manganese dioxide cathode, and a dielectric layer of tantalum pentoxide created on the tantalum sponge plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-38138005977699900142011-02-19T12:03:00.000-08:002011-02-19T18:29:44.185-08:00Lamer Exterminator, or how a 22 year old malware can still piss you off.As usual I need to step back for my obligatory back story.
-VIC-20 from 1981 to 1985
-C64 from 1986 to 1994 (even logged onto my University account with it!)
-Various PCs and Mac's from then on.
Didn't see the word Amiga there? Normal, only very rich kids had them where I came from. Only relatively recently did I start to indulge in that world, and what a 'fun' ride this still is. AmigaplgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-92033322873717668312011-02-04T13:17:00.000-08:002011-02-04T13:17:19.677-08:00patienceplgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668226949459652274.post-89919784024210163152010-12-23T11:48:00.000-08:002010-12-23T11:48:52.327-08:00Oh yes I'm working on new stuff...No updates for a while, its because I can't disclose my new stuff yet.
Sad because theres LOTS of research in there.
I'm hoping to post a glimpse at NAMM 2011.plgDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10861444119468585310noreply@blogger.com4