The SNES Audio hardware research behind chipsynth SFC plgDavid 2020-09-14 | Get chipsynth SFC here plogue.com/products/chipsynth-sfc.htmlCustom electronic test rigs were built and designed by me.Actual testing and reverse engineering was done me and Hubert Lamontagne and myself at Plogue over a period of years.01:20 Teardown of console variations 07:37 Digital Capture10:43 Renders are all different12:38 MDFourier SPC (beta)25:40 16kHz on a 32kHz ZoH DAC stairsteps28:05 Analysis of the reconstruction filter30:00 Ceramic Resonator and Heat issuesCorrections-SHVC-SOUND were not the most manufactured version of the SNES. Just happens to be the most common version I locally find In Canada (that's not really a good sample)-there are no "'GMP" revisions but in fact "GPM" . Dyslexia at work.More info on MDFourier http://junkerhq.net/MDFourierMDFourier SPC is beta but full sources will be published.Tracks used:Mathew Valente - Theme of DespairPocaille - Post-Quantum Ultra-Luxury DoomscrollingFrom the official chipsynth SFC launch albumtoycompany.bandcamp.com/album/chipsynth-sfc-songsAndApoplexia - Vega GenesisFrom the official chipsynth MD launch albumtoycompany.bandcamp.com/album/chipsynth-md-songs
Livestream: Finding rare audio chips in common games plgDavid 2022-05-19 | This was my first ever Livestream (I learned a lot and will do better haha)The 1992 Famicom release of Gimmick! contains a special mapper chip (Sunsoft 5B, aka S5B AKA YM6630B) That is extremely rare. Its audio functions, a variant of the YM2149 used in the ATARI ST were only used in that single game. This cart is highly collectible and super expensive, but there are other ways to find this chip!In this video I will open 4 other Sunsoft games straight from eBay to find another.chipstream 0x00linksnescartdb.comhttps://www.jensma.de/nesrepro/gimmick/
Emulating the DX7 the HARD way. Part 1. plgDavid 2021-09-22 | chipresearch episode 0x07 00:00 Intro02:00 Goals02:43 Sub CPU05:21 Main CPU06:23 Address Map Investigation07:59 Cartridges11:09 Firmware Analysis14:42 Skeleton MAME Driver18:24 End of part 1Get chipsynth OPS7 here plogue.com/products/chipsynth-ops7.htmlTracks used:GGS V - OPS7Apoplexia - U OPS7T M8madbrain - Blue TangerineFrom the official chipsynth OPS7 launch albumsoundcloud.com/chipsounds/sets/chipsynth-ops7Channel intro/outro:Apoplexia - Vega Genesis From the official chipsynth MD launch albumtoycompany.bandcamp.com/album/chipsynth-md-songsFollow me twitter.com/plgDavidFollow Hubert twitter.com/MrMadbrainSupport us by getting an OPS7 license (or gifting one to a musician friend!)Thank you!
Fake chips? plgDavid 2020-01-13 | Deep dive into the very nerdy world of DIP IC counterfeiting, recycling and remarking with an emphasis on Yamaha 'YM' series of chips.chipresearch episode 0x05*EDIT* Due to the overwhelming complaints about my use of the term '"FAKE", here are a few thoughts:Mark (Mohammad) Tehranipoor, co-author of the book I based my video on actually describes remarking as counterfeiting:http://tehranipoor.ece.ufl.edu/jetta14-2.pdf "A counterfeit component (i) is an unauthorized copy; (ii) does not conform to original OCM design, model, and/or performance standards; (iii) is not produced by the OCM or is produced by unauthorized contractors; (iv) is an off specification, defective, or used OCM product sold as “new” or working; or (v) has incorrect or false markings and/or documentation."Wikipedia: "Counterfeit products are fakes or unauthorized replicas of the real product"I use the word *Fake* for remarked chips throughout the video even though I know very well that the majority of those chips were _originally_ made by Yamaha. I do spend 38 showing this! But selling a beat up+recycled chip *as new* by falsely recreating its markings is faking (which is worse since we are losing precious info on its actual age and revision number). To spot recycled/remarked chips.1)Texture must be the same on bottom and top2)Pins should be straight with no solder or flux traces.3)Acetone should not alter the chip's surface.4)Datecode should be in the 80s or 90s (for most DIP YMxxxx chips)5)Markings should not be laser etched (orange looking) for DIP YMxxxx chips of the 80s6)Eject holes (really ejector pin marks - thanks) should be shiny for most casing typesAnything else is proof that the chip is not NOS (new old stock)LGR has made a cool video after watching this one:youtube.com/watch?v=wNrF-g3FbtU**FAIR USE**Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. Image/info credits:nepp.nasa.gov/workshops/etw2010/talks/08_Hughitt_Counterfeit%20Electronics%20-%20All%20the%20World%27s%20a%20Fake.pdfspringer.com/gp/book/9783319118239slideshare.net/cyanarella/Linkedin-Defense-and-Aerospace-procurementhttp://visura.co/loka/stories/ctrl-x-topography-of-e-wastetwitter.com/JohnAndersen21/status/877577349989933056scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2112226/chinas-most-notorious-e-waste-dumping-ground-now-cleaner-poorerYoutube segments:youtube.com/watch?v=z3DU2mNBa6Myoutube.com/watch?v=1yB-O4TFIz8youtube.com/watch?v=yDSWGV3jGekyoutube.com/watch?v=1yB-O4TFIz8youtube.com/watch?v=z3DU2mNBa6Myoutube.com/watch?v=j9nasajve1oyoutube.com/watch?v=5vN_7NJ4qYAyoutube.com/watch?v=LV5CToNxKOUyoutube.com/watch?v=TIf4TvQQm9IMusic (used with kind permission)aliceffekt.bandcamp.com/album/hundred-rabbitstoycompany.bandcamp.com/track/vega-genesisThe only consistent ebay seller that I trust to sell recycled but _not_ remarked chips as of the time of this video (things might change)ebay.ca/str/hifiicFirst time I came across remarked chips (yes the Comic Sans ones):http://ploguechipsounds.blogspot.com/2011/12/ay8930-initial-tests.htmlSpecial thanks to ImATrackMan, Lord Nightmare and Devine Lu Linvega for encouraging me to finish it (its been dragging in my harddrive for nearly 3 years).Until Next time...
The rigs weve created for chipsynth MDs emulation. plgDavid 2019-09-04 | *Get chipsynth MD here plogue.com/products/chipsynth-md.html*More info on MDFourier http://junkerhq.net/MDFourierCustom electronic test rigs were built and designed by me.Actual testing and reverse engineering was done by Hubert Lamontagne (youtube.com/channel/UCefg2OJ7Ls17Z8eONifR4iA) and myself at Plogue over a period of years.Tracks used:Pocaille - Something must be done. This is something. Therefore we must do itApoplexia - Vega GenesisFrom the official chipsynth MD launch albumtoycompany.bandcamp.com/album/chipsynth-md-songs
(June 2016) chipsynth FC First hardware prototype plgDavid 2019-05-27 | please forgive the shaking.Latest prototype info: Does FDS, VRC6,VRC7,N163,MMC5 and Sunsoft 5B.Next step: Embedded keymaps for some DMC-heavy games, like Gimmick, SMB3, etc. the DMC will play emulated on the CPU.
IZE80, an in-circuit emulator for Z80 systems in action in an MSX plgDavid 2019-01-05 | My IZE80 design is an ICE for Z80 systems (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-circuit_emulation) that can be used in virtually any Z80 machine that has an original 40 pin Z80 (or compatible clone)** This is not yet for sale but it might be soon, comment if interested! **This video - which was shown at MagFest 2019 - is just an example of what it can do in a low powered MSX1 machine (the Casio PV16). It works the same in a ColecoVision and Sega Master System too.The microSD card can hold any data you need (roms, vgms, samples) and the mini USB can be used for MIDI, firmware upgrades or other communications.I plan on showing off some other uses for this board so stay tuned!
PortaFM vs real OPLL in real time + Prototype chipsynth FC hardware. plgDavid 2018-05-28 | chipsynth PortaFM is a new virtual instrument emulating Yamaha FM PortaSound keyboards of the mid 80's. This video explains how I test its YM2413 (OPLL) emulation code against hardware live though analog captures. (The OPLL has an internal Time-division multiplexed 9-bit DAC) 0:00:00 Yamaha's OPLL FM chip range0:01:29 Primer: homebrew Famicom-style hardware vs software emulation0:02:55 Comparison: OPLL vs OPL2 chip0:04:48 Why emulate aliasing?0:05:10 PortaFM's Drum mode0:05:54 How to judge emulation quality?0:08:02 Tremolo stepsMain product page:plogue.com/products/chipsynth-portafm.htmlYou can also read the manual here:s3.amazonaws.com/chipsynth/PortaFM_manual.pdfMusic used:toycompany.bandcamp.com/track/green-infernoNotes:1)My hardware OPLL-based Famicom cartridge has an active low pass filter to keep its op-amp from going crazy, so that explains why the top end is slightly duller on hardware. This is not a flaw of the emulator. The emulator does not filter anything to match any specific OPLL-using circuit.2)Lagrange Point (the last cartridge shown) is a 1991 Japanese exclusive Famicom game which uses the VRC7 mapper for sound purposes. This special chip, made by Yamaha (but Konami branded), has a slightly modified OPLL core inside.3)My "chipsynth FC" hardware synth is not yet ready to show/explain fully yet, it will be around time its plugin counterpart is shipping.4)The "tremolo steps" test: The host emu and the external chip are driven by separate master clocks and have not be reset at the same time. So their LFOs phases - which derive from that master clock are not obviously not hard-synched. So if you actually look closely, the red and green lines will eventually do the same patterns, just not at the same time.Great PortaFM walkthough video from @cuckoomusicyoutube.com/watch?v=g1gsLMNFOks
The Story of MacinTalk Part 1 plgDavid 2016-09-16 | chipresearch episode 0x01The origins of the original Macintosh voice, from its roots in S.A.M. to the January 24th 1984 Macintosh launch demo.(btw my company Plogue made a plugin that emulates this voice perfectly. Its called chipspeech You can try it at plogue.com/chipspeech )
Recreating vocal tracks in Ableton Live with chipspeech plgDavid 2015-09-13 | A few tricks on how to use Plogue chipspeech (or Alter/Ego) in the context of making a cover/remix of a song in Ableton Live.(sorry for my voice being only in the left channel, was missing a piece of gear and had what I had)Original song: youtube.com/watch?v=dVVZaZ8yO6o
Ocarina Of Time: Medley on a Trikitixa (Antton eta abar) plgDavid 2015-06-08 | Was going to the open farmer's market (Marché Jean-Talon) and this guy started playing this medley!The guy gave me his card, you can see more at facebook.com/pages/Antton-eta-abar
TMS5220 Driven by my own FTDI setup plgDavid 2015-04-16 | Found this old video (uploaded 2 April 2014) in my unlisted bin.(chipspeech was not announced yet)Its my older setup used for TMS5220 playback. (see my EVA video for my new setup). this uses a hacked up TI99/4a speech adapter, playing back an LPC stream found online.
Preserving the Chrysler Electronic Voice Alert (EVA) plgDavid 2015-04-15 | chipresearch episode 0x00EDIT: June 2nd 2017: The EVA system is now emulated in MAMEgithub.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/eva.cpp Don't ask me for ROM Dumps.This video shows you an overview of the tasks involved in preserving rare speaking devices of the past before they are destroyed or lost.The sounds you hear at the end are from the preserved data playing back in chipspeech's TMS5110 emulation core. While it runs fine in chipspeech, we sadly cannot ship this file with the program because we do not have the rights to it. Maybe one day.In the mean time the data is preserved and backed up safely for posterity. (please do not ask for a copy of the rom until there's been 75 years since 1982 :)Still looking for French and Spanish EVA11 and EVA24. If you have a loose unit please get in touch with me.Other videos of EVAyoutube.com/watch?v=OBFdvJwl8T8youtube.com/watch?v=hkP7f2LFFmA
Yet another Canadian milk bag video. plgDavid 2015-03-23 | Some things make sense to you because they have always been part of your surroundings. Growing up with Milk Bags makes it all normal I SWEAR!
Plogue chipspeech - quick launch overview from an exhausted dev. plgDavid 2015-01-14 | Please excuse me for the bad ... everything... We promise there will me much better tutorial videos soon. This was made late last night. (EDIT one month later ... the night before shipping)
Bare EII boot from HxC plgDavid 2014-11-15 | Here's our Emulator II PCB set with all the guts directly accessible for research. Yummy.
Live NES 2A03 APU Register Writing Performance. plgDavid 2014-09-05 | I've made a tool for generating 'music' on a NES by manually toggling its APU (Audio Processing Unit) register bits, something neither musical and surely NOT intuitive.More up to date info and downloads here: http://ploguechipsounds.blogspot.ca/2014/09/plogue-livenes.html
Roland SH-101 cleaned and tested. plgDavid 2014-07-09 | We are parting with a Roland SH-101, this is a thorough test of its current state.
Channel F Alien Invasion ROM test plgDavid 2014-07-09 | Just a lame camera capture of the Channel F my neighbor office buddy has loaned me once.Credits to my son Edgar for filming while I play! :)
ARIA iOS tech demo plgDavid 2014-07-09 | Small in house demo of the Plogue ARIA Engine (v1.144) running on an iPad1 with a few test sounds, including the original Garritan Steinway from GPO4 without any mods.The app also supports Core MIDI through the Camera connection kit and the AKAI Connect SDK as well. The UI is really just a placeholder, the core of the demo code being the statically linked aria library (c++), and the low latency CoreAudio/CoreMidi integration. You can drop any SFZ file into the Document interface in iTunes and its going to appear in ARIA on next boot. Essentially this is the first full blown SFZ 2.0 player on iOS.
SFZ Tutorial Part 2: Generators , transpose and ADSR plgDavid 2012-12-18 | A first simple tutorial on SFZ programing using sforzandonote you can also try *saw *triangle *noiseMore custom ARIA opcodes here:http://www.ariaengine.com/forums/index.php?p=/discussion/4389/aria039s-custom-opcodes
SFZ Tutorial Part 1: Hello World! plgDavid 2012-12-18 | First part on our series of video tutorials on the SFZ file format, using our new FREE SFZ 2.0 file player called sforzando
chipsounds 1.6 New Stuff (Part 1) Effects, PC Speaker plgDavid 2012-09-10 | Brief overview of changes from 1.5 to 1.6, and a few new sounds
chipsounds 1.6 New Stuff (Part 4) Arcade Sounds plgDavid 2012-09-10 | DK, DKJR, Galax, Phoenix, S.Invaders and Zxxn sound examples.link for the product: http://plogue.com/chipsounds
chipsounds 1.6 New Stuff (Part 3) Experimental music from very short C programs redux plgDavid 2012-08-29 | "Music from very short programs" from viznut and friends, as re-implemented inside chipsounds
chipsounds 1.6 New Stuff (Part 2) Amiga MOD/ST-01 sounds plgDavid 2012-08-29 | Live example of the MOD, MED sample import in chipsounds and also the new ST-01 soundpack, tuned, declicked and categorised. Lots of questions about sound rendering implementation. My research on the real hardware, and discussions with Alankila who also wrote this (https://bel.fi/alankila/modguide/interpolate.txt) made me choose BLIT+oversample+sample_and _hold and only allow the fixed set of DMA read speed the Paula can manage. The Filter part (LED and on board) will come in chipcrusher, our next product. I never said "No one ever got this close". What I'm really saying is that it sounds as it should. There are quite a few bad MOD players who interpolate wrongly, but there are quite a few that does it well.. however .. this is a VSTi
Louis Viens, Salle Pauline-Julien 17 mars 2012 plgDavid 2012-03-18 | Dans le cadre de la finale régionale Centre-Ouest de Cégeps en spectacle au Collège Gérald-Godin, le 17 mars 2012.
Basic AY8930 chip test plgDavid 2011-12-22 | Two short tests for the batch of AY8930 I recently received. First I'm playing a MESS register dump of Lock'n'Chase (from the intellivision), then a vgmx file i've made myself which tries two basic 'extended' features over the AY-3-8910, namely the extended volume levels (32 steps instead of 16) and the 8 Duty Cycle values. Sadly , the 8 Duty cycles dont change seamlessly , and this matches the datasheet's information. Still very interresting variant in my opinion.
JAMMA Space Invaders plgDavid 2011-11-03 | Original Midway Space Invaders B/W i8080 based motherboard, strapped to the JAMMA standard.
Capcoms Cadillacs and Dinosaurs JAMMA PCB plgDavid 2011-07-23 | *SOLD* suicide-fixed sound and rom boards! Fix #1: http://www.arcadecollecting.com/dead/dead.html Fix#2 Qsound board: http://www.arcadecollecting.com/dead/cps-q.html
fake sega mark III plgDavid 2011-06-24 | Proof of concept discreet SAFE MOD to a US SMS console to turn it into a japanese Mark III. Circuit design by Charles MacDonald (http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=66459)
Hangly-Man (Nittoh 1981) at 89 summer fishing resort mini arcade. plgDavid 2011-05-26 | Was digitizing old family Video8 tapes when I stumbled onto this. This is a well known but still relatively rare hack of Pacman. (no clue if this is hangly , hangly2 or hangly3 MAME set).I was about 16 at the time of this vid, and already spoiled by Sega's Shinobi so I wasn't that enthused by those 'old' games anymore (how everything is relative now LOL). So that's why I say "jeu poche" (lame game) to the first game, which I haven't identified. Bonus to someone who spots whats on my T-Shirt that you see in the screen's reflection though. .. oh an my then 8 year old cousin actually plays the game, NOT me! :)
Plogue chipsounds running on VMachine Hardware plgDavid 2010-10-12 | Brief demo of chipsounds v1.501 running on the SM Pro Audio VMACHINE hardware VSTi player. We've ordered one of these as a request to make our Aria Engine compatible with it. I thought it would mean just another session of 'porting' but after i got it running on it i spent a while playing with it, i can say that I would really bring it to friends to jam along with a guitar instead of my laptop anyday.
chipsounds 1.5 New Stuff PART 3 plgDavid 2010-09-05 | chipsounds 1.5: DMG Wavechannel demo Lots of people requested we had an extra software layer on top of the hardware's basic 32x16 waveform player. Here is a demo of that
Super Cobra Running on a Casio PV-1000 Console plgDavid 2010-06-23 | Captured in composite before the RF modulator. NOTE: There is some weird frames going back in time in there which does NOT happen using the device, this is an artifact of my miniDV camera analog input capture. MESS SVN has this pretty damn good now.
ZIF Socketed C64 SID chip and BASIC tests plgDavid 2010-06-17 | Procedure to test SID chips, in video. I installed a 28pin ZIF socket snapped into the normal IC Socket (it wont budge at all), and i use that to quickly insert sids without risking damaging any of its pins. The program used to test the SID chip on the C64 side is available here: http://ploguechipsounds.blogspot.ca/2010/05/one-page-basic-sid-benchmark.html
MOS 6560 (VIC-20) Waveform Clipping plgDavid 2010-05-09 | The effect of the badly designed audio output section right after the MOS 6560 (VIC) chip on a cost reduced NTSC VIC-20. As seen on a tektronix scope. Two tones are playing and volume register (36878) is being changed with a loop from 0 to 15. Clipping is seen on the upper portion of the waveform at roughly value 8. So if you want your VIC tunes not to clip, stay at 7 or 8.
Blip 2009 Presentation : From classic sound chips to virtual instruments. (PART 4/4) plgDavid 2010-04-17 | PART 4: Pitch Ranges and Precision. Brief overview of the current waveform generation methods. Aliasing. Improving Emulators (MESS Arcadia)
Blip 2009 Presentation : From classic sound chips to virtual instruments. (PART 3/4) plgDavid 2010-04-17 | PART 3: Analog vs Digital monitoring and recording LFSR based noise waveform recording and analysis.
Blip 2009 Presentation : From classic sound chips to virtual instruments. (PART 2/4) plgDavid 2010-04-17 | PART 2: Sound chip categories Each category requires specific coding methods
Blip 2009 Presentation : From classic sound chips to virtual instruments. (PART 1/4) plgDavid 2010-04-17 | Presentation on the research thats behind the Plogue chipsounds virtual synthesizer. PART 1: Introduction: Obtaining and taking care of old consoles and chips. (sorry again for the bad quality audio)
SID6581R4AR ENV3 Reads plgDavid 2010-03-14 | The 3rd SID Oscillator is set to release at longest rate ($F). A CIA Timer is set to (callback at each $7a13 cycles) and draws the ENV3 value on the screen. This shows that env goes down 1 each ENV cycle until the character "|" 93, which is when it takes two ENV Clocks to decrease... and so forth The chars to look for are: "|": (93) switches to 2 waits for each drop) "6": (54) switches to 4 waits "Z": (26) switches to 8 waits "N": (16) switches to 16 waits "F": (06) switches to 30 waits and stays the same The value $7A13 comes from the LFSR counter research from kevtris and Lord Nightmare... http://blog.kevtris.org/?p=13
Konami POOYAN Running on a Casio PV-1000 Console plgDavid 2010-01-20 | Another cartridge, same recording setup as AMIDAR
Konami AMIDAR Running on a Casio PV-1000 Console plgDavid 2010-01-14 | Captured in composite before the RF modulator.
