Jump to content
IGNORED

Ballblaze/Pokey in Mono for Stereo modded 7800's?


Rick Dangerous

Recommended Posts

Hey peeps

 

So I have a 7800 PROsystem AV Modded by Electronicsentimentalities and last night I was playing more or less my whole library of 7800 games. They were all coming out of my stereo speakers as beautiful unique channels.

 

Then I popped in Ballblazer, and my sound was left channel only.. Has anyone ever heard of this happening? Is it just Ballblazer, all pokey chips, or perhaps a freak side effect of the AV mod? After Ballblazer I played a few more games, and back to stereo with no issues. ?!?

 

Any input would be appreciated, Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pokey has just the single audio out pin. Stereo Pokey generally refers to using more than 1 chip which is default for some arcade games and a popular modification for the 8-bit computer but AFAIK never done on a 7800.

 

As such, it would seem logical that an AV mod for the 7800 would take the external audio input from the cart port and pipe it to both sides, not just the left as seems the case here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm... I am at a loss then since the other games work so great. The mod I had done is apparently known as the LHE mod. Might this have anything to do with it? It's really not a big deal if I wanted to have a "Ballblazer tournament day" I suppose I could just slap in a Y splitter for that left channel. Maybe the chip in the Cart is broken? I bought it new in box but I suppose anything is possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Pokey chip in the cart isn't broken. Like I said, only 1 audio pin from Pokey and it carries all 4 channels.

 

NTSC TIA has 2 audio pins, 1 for each channel.

 

All the other games work great because they all use TIA sound. Ballblazer is one of few games on the 7800 which uses a Pokey chip.

 

Is the mod something premade which you buy and install, or is it selfmade from instructions? The fix for the Pokey sound should be simple, you just need to pipe that external audio input to the right channel as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All the other games I play are very clearly in stereo. Hmmm. Like I said not a big deal, I can throw in a Y splitter for epic Ball Blazer sessions lol. I don't think it's dual mono because I specifically asked him for distinct stereo, and it sounds awesome(!) on all the other games..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually don't see how you *could* get stereo from the Pokey without messing up the TIA sound. If you force Pokey to both channels, I'm pretty sure that would make the TIA sound mixed as well (i.e. no more separation) because they share the same output. That would be mono sound split into both speakers for everything. That's how my output is, although personally I think that's fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay so basically I gave up pokey dual mono (and tia dual mono) to have Tia stereo. I can live with that...

Yes. This exactly.

All mods I have seen for the 7800 are 1 channel, probably to keep the sound level of the pokey chip and the sound level of the TIA chip similar. Also TIA stereo involves lifting 2 TIA pins, which is easy if it is socketed, and it usually is not socketed on the 7800 so you need to cut them or cut traces.

 

I like the 2 channel stereo separation better, and if I want the same sound from both speakers I use the audio controls of the tv or stereo system to switch to mono. Why go and find Y cables? (Unless what you are playing on doesn't let you switch to mono.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would be interesting to see what type of mod could be done for a 7800 with an XBOARD present since it has the option to connect 2 POKEYS inside the console...

 

Granted, there's probably very few of those units out there...

 

 

 

Edit: I'm surprised nobody's [that I'm aware of] brought this issue [messed up non-TIA audio] up with the XM since the XM only has a single POKEY - plus the YM2151 - and has been tested with AV Modded 7800s. This should be an issue on it with Beef Drop, Commando, Ballblazer, and several other home-brews on AV Modded 7800s, I'd presume.

Edited by Lynxpro
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

Damn. My car broke down on the highway. It is very cold out. Got home, moonshine timed myself up. Ahhh, good to go. So, the Atari 7800 is basically a dual mono or single overall mono factory preset type system. With a mod though,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atari-7800-AV-Mod-Board-S-Video-Composite-Audio-Out-/291375842395?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43d75a845b

The TIA could be made stereo or at least dual mono if the 7800 was just overall mono to begin with? Ok I just noticed if I add a link on this forum then keep typing even with spaces after it, the post becomes a mess as the link connects to what you typed after it once you hit post message. Sigh. Ahhh, after a glass of moonshine, I just decided to take a picture of my post before I posted it. I asked a question in the picture, well my original post, here at the bottom of the picture.

15ewzzk.jpg

Edited by ataritiger
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Question (verbatim):

"...Will the XM have composite video AND S-Video as well as a left/right white/red rca jacks for dual mono or stereo output in the rear the of XM add on"

 

Answer:

None of the above. The XM does not provide console output options. ;)

Thought I should add the technical reason for this. The XM plugs into the cartridge port, which does not have pins with audio or video out. Only audio in. So the XM cannot output audio or video that originates from the console.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...