Missing Sound Channels (Blue’s Journey, Others?)

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ccovell
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Missing Sound Channels (Blue’s Journey, Others?)

Unread post by ccovell »

Hey folks. Thankfully the sample playback speed error of the Neo-Geo core has been fixed; however another annoyance continues: missing sound channels in games such as Blue's Journey. I remember there being others (mostly ADK games?), but it'll take a bit more listening to games to spot some.
Unfortunately, there are no VGM rips of Blue's to aid in reporting.

So, anyway, do other people notice missing sound channels in this and other games, or is it just me?
A video for proof:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AGF4SQy4BA
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Re: Missing Sound Channels (Blue’s Journey, Others?)

Unread post by Kitrinx »

This core is sourced from multiple parts. The basis of its ASICs were from Furrtek's talented decapping, tracing, and conversion to HDL. The cpus are the venerable fx68k and the battle-tested t80, however the sound chips (the 2610 in particular) have had numerous problems since the inception of this core. Greyrouge, myself, and others have done quite a bit trying to get them in top shape, but as your video shows it seems some problems still remain.
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Re: Missing Sound Channels (Blue’s Journey, Others?)

Unread post by Barone »

ccovell wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:47 pm Hey folks. Thankfully the sample playback speed error of the Neo-Geo core has been fixed; however another annoyance continues: missing sound channels in games such as Blue's Journey. I remember there being others (mostly ADK games?), but it'll take a bit more listening to games to spot some.
Unfortunately, there are no VGM rips of Blue's to aid in reporting.

So, anyway, do other people notice missing sound channels in this and other games, or is it just me?
A video for proof:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AGF4SQy4BA
I think Fatal Fury 3 also has issues. I'll try to pinpoint some of them.
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Re: Missing Sound Channels (Blue’s Journey, Others?)

Unread post by Barone »

I think Fatal Fury 3 also has issues. I'll try to pinpoint some of them.
EDIT: I think it's more about volume balance here, the drums samples seem to be played quieter than they should.
For example: the panned cymbal sounds in Blue Mary's stage track ("Kiss me") at around 1:45.

Also, the piano keys which start to be played panned to the left at 2:41 Floating on a Harp and Piano Fantasy for Yvonne Lelord (Mai Shiranui Stage) (https://vgmrips.net/packs/pack/fatal-fury-3-neo-geo) don't sound right to me on this core on my MiSTer FPGA.
IDK if it's just me or if someone else has found it to sound different than it should.
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ccovell
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Re: Missing Sound Channels (Blue’s Journey, Others?)

Unread post by ccovell »

Greyrogue has fixed the error with Blue's Journey, so many thanks to him/her!

As for balancing inaccuracy, yes, some games feel like certain instruments are in the background & drowned out, compared to how I remember them or heard on real hardware. Well, that'll take a bit more listening to by all of us.
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Re: Missing Sound Channels (Blue’s Journey, Others?)

Unread post by mario64 »

ccovell wrote: Sat Jun 25, 2022 11:14 pm Greyrogue has fixed the error with Blue's Journey, so many thanks to him/her!

As for balancing inaccuracy, yes, some games feel like certain instruments are in the background & drowned out, compared to how I remember them or heard on real hardware. Well, that'll take a bit more listening to by all of us.
Is there a core update with this fix available?
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Re: Missing Sound Channels (Blue’s Journey, Others?)

Unread post by Hodor »

ccovell wrote: Sat Jun 25, 2022 11:14 pm Greyrogue has fixed the error with Blue's Journey, so many thanks to him/her!

As for balancing inaccuracy, yes, some games feel like certain instruments are in the background & drowned out, compared to how I remember them or heard on real hardware. Well, that'll take a bit more listening to by all of us.
Maybe you could compare to MAME which actually has a very good audio implementation.
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ccovell
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Re: Missing Sound Channels (Blue’s Journey, Others?)

Unread post by ccovell »

mario64 wrote: Sun Jun 26, 2022 1:32 am
ccovell wrote: Sat Jun 25, 2022 11:14 pm Greyrogue has fixed the error with Blue's Journey, so many thanks to him/her!

As for balancing inaccuracy, yes, some games feel like certain instruments are in the background & drowned out, compared to how I remember them or heard on real hardware. Well, that'll take a bit more listening to by all of us.
Is there a core update with this fix available?
The Mister Wiki on GitHub allows you to download any of the cores & files individually from the long list on the right: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wiki

In this case it's under NeoGeo, releases/ and it's not the .rbf core but an .xml file (you can tell from the age of the most recent file)
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Re: Missing Sound Channels (Blue’s Journey, Others?)

Unread post by mario64 »

Thank you. This issue doesn't seem to impact the .neo version of the game. I get the organ stabs and steel drum sounds already.
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