[AtariAge Store Last Chance Sale!]

I see people mentioning a subscriber discount. What is that? 

[What homebrews should I buy from AA?]

I’m new to the scene and haven’t played every last chance game on the list, but Popeye 7800 is an absolute must-own. It is simply the best port of the arcade game. The packaging is top notch as well. 
 

Another vote for Baby PAC-Man from me as well. No other port exists, after all, and I personally love both Pac Man and pinball, so is an easy recommendation. 
 

I’m surprised people aren’t recommending Zippy for the 2600. I find it to be genuinely fun, in addition to being a technical showpiece for the 2600. 
 

I ordered a few carts earlier, but based on everyone’s recommendations I think I’ll pick up a couple more in the next few days.  

 

 

[Concerto firmware thread]

On 5/30/2023 at 7:36 PM, batari said:

It's a known bug. On Commando and Ballblazer (and other games designed for a POKEY at $4000), there are no issues. For homebrew games such as this, the POKEY address is moved to $0450 and this requires more of Concerto's resources to manage.

 

However, there are solutions. First, the CEM devices (as described here) give back resources to your Concerto. One of the things these devices do is free up enough resources to fully fix sound issues with certain homebrew games.

 

The "free" version of CEM, the CEM #0, is nearly ready to go. These are totally free for 7800 game developers, and others only need to send $5 my way to help defray shipping costs (in the USA.) The CEM #0 and the other CEM devices all fix the sound issues you are experiencing.

 

There are also plans to address the issue in firmware without CEM support. If anyone wants a technical explanation - With the POKEY at alternate locations like $0450, there is some jitter in the timing and a POKEY and HOKEY respond a little differently to this jitter, so the firmware has tried to find a middle ground to balance POKEY and HOKEY support. Once the autodetection is in place, firmware may be optimized separately for each device and the sound should be improved for each.

 

The CEM removes the jitter completely, so it works equally well with either device.

Thanks for the reply and clearing it all up! I’m enjoying the Concerto as is and look forward to new firmware updates. Interesting idea with the CEM as well. Definitely interested! (I mean, who could say no to CEM 0 at least?) Sounds like the 7800’s version of a Genesis 32X! 

[Concerto firmware thread]

Hello. I’m fairly new to Atari collecting and picked up a production Concerto recently with a soldered Hokey. It had the most recent firmware (30723). First game I tried was the Popeye RC demo and it sounded way off. I read through part of this thread and saw that 30323 may be better for Hokey so I downgraded, and it improved the audio but it’s still wrong. So what I’m wondering is, is this just how it is, or did I get a bad Concerto? Is this just a known bug? It seems normal on Commando and Ballblazer. Is there specific test software I could use to test it?