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Arkanoid sound pitch 2x higher as of 0.184
#366711 - 06/11/17 10:20 PM
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Hello,
As I've said before, I've been away from following MAME for years, and am noticing several differences in how games were emulated before versus in the past. Today, I just noticed that the sound in Arkanoid is pitched twice as high as I remember it being in older versions of MAME.
I looked up original hardware footage on YouTube, the majority of them sound the way MAME used to sound, but I have found a couple examples (all appearing to be bootlegs) where it sounds like MAME does now.
Here's one where the sound is double-pitch like MAME (this is a Tayto bootleg):
https://youtu.be/x1RNfSM3FgI?t=2m18s
But most of them sound like this:
https://youtu.be/2ngKudlRx64?t=38s
And just for fun, here's another TNT Amusements video where Todd Tuckey plays a machine with an official Romstar board that has the more familiar lower pitch:
https://youtu.be/eM74COL_6do?t=1m15s
All the home ports done by Taito (NES, MSX, etc.) have the lower pitch for the music, and the MSX even has the sound effects matching the arcade at the lower pitch. (The NES sound effects were a different pitch entirely.)
I dug through old binaries of MAME and played Arkanoid with those versions, and it turns out this change is more recent than I assumed. The 2x higher pitch only first appeared in 0.184. Could it possibly relate to this noted change in the 0.184 MAMEINFO?
- AY-3-8910 sound
. Added a write handler for the case of bc1=a0 and bc2=a1. Added guide to bus control signals.
. Overrided device method to support changing clock frequencies in the AY8910. Added virtual keyword to declaration.
I'm slightly intrigued by the fact that there are bootleg boards out there that have the higher pitch. (Also, one YT clip I found showed a "Beta Corporation" bootleg where the music not only ran at 2x pitch, but also 2x tempo! That must be completely wrong.) But the vast majority of machines/boards I've watched on YouTube appear to be in line with pre-0.184, not post-0.184. I haven't found any video evidence of a proven official board with the higher pitch, all such examples on YT are described as bootlegs either in the title, subject or comments, or are obviously bootlegs with hacked copyrights and such.
Anybody have any idea what might have happened to cause this? Can a MAMEdev here possibly take a look at it? I logged it to MAMEtesters as well: http://mametesters.org/view.php?id=6614
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Re: Arkanoid sound pitch 2x higher as of 0.184
[Re: TServo2049]
#366717 - 06/12/17 04:42 AM
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Fixed in git commit 96ed3869ff8461670a940a0ef4cc3e0274938a29 for the next release (0.187).
This bug was caused by commit 0d23c0f6ea771f54a367861f379f6e7ca62d1ced back in March, which added a device_clock_changed() override.
If a sound core has a device_clock_changed() override, MAME will call that function during the device init lifecycle phase, after device_init is called.
ay8910.cpp only actually checked the YM2149_PIN26_LOW state during device_init, and did not check it when device_clock_changed() was called, meaning the clock speed on arkanoid was first (correctly) set to 1.5MHz, then immediately afterward as soon as device_clock_changed() is called, was set incorrectly to 3MHz.
Now YM2149_PIN26_LOW is respected (as needed) during both device_init() and device_clock_changed().
The issue where the 'Tayto' copyrighted 'arkatayt' bootleg set is supposed to have a 3MHz 'overclocked' AY-3-8910A (instead of a ym2149, hence it lacks the ym2149's clock divider) still stands, though, but really should have its own mametesters ticket. I might be able to fix that anyway, though, but I'm not sure exactly which of the bootleg sets are supposed to have the sound chip clocked too fast and which ones are not.
LN
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"When life gives you zombies... *CHA-CHIK!* ...you make zombie-ade!"
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Re: Arkanoid sound pitch 2x higher as of 0.184
[Re: Lord Nightmare]
#366718 - 06/12/17 06:46 AM
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I was wondering that myself. In my search, I found YouTube videos of Game Corporation and Beta Corporation boards that had the sound at 3MHz (including, in one case, the tempo being too fast as well as the pitch!) but I also found a couple videos of Game and/or Beta bootlegs that ran at the correct 1.5MHz.
Are we sure all Tayto boards used the stock AY-3-8910 instead of the YM2149. And how would that explain how I've found examples of Game Corporation bootleg boards running at each of the two speeds? there could be Tayto boards that run at 1.5MHz as well. Someone would have to hunt down multiple bootleg boards and check them. I'm now wondering if it might have been down to the bootleggers either interchangeably installing YM2149s and AY-3-8910s, or even just neglecting to connect pin 26 on the YM2149. If it's not consistent, maybe it'd have to be implemented as an optional setting in machine config?
Edited by TServo2049 (06/12/17 03:01 PM)
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Arkanoid sound pitch 2x higher as of 0.184
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