4bit atari synth!!!

[Armer]

So.. here is the tune, and the vid - both featuring the machine i modded earlier on in the thread..

I must confess to sampling the 2600/synthcart, but hey, so what.

I also dug out my OTHER atari, an Atari Jaguar, and Jaguar CD unit, did a quick S-VHS mod on it, and played the tune through the VLM by Jeff Minter a few times, recording the output, and i mashed that up with some delicious 2600 crashing, and some donated footage from world-renowned lunatic, telecine-sk. So, enjoy! Oh, the extended version is on Juno Download >> game over - chasing the beam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKidtJGE5w

Thats Freakin Awesome Man ! ! !

[playthatbeat]

Also: AVGN has a go at the Jaguar:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/46723.html?type=flv

and fails to get his Jaguar CD to work

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/47108.html?type=flv

It seems everyone hates the jaguar! except for YaK's Tempest 2000.. Shame, its actually a great console, but as everyone points out, it never got streached to it's max potential

I may revisit the VLM soon, now i have read this about the backdoor into it

YaK - ah yes, what a genius coder!! i remember playing Llamatron 386 in the day.. awesome.. And never getting to grip with TRIP-a-TRON on the amiga.. (sigh)

[playthatbeat]

Also: About Jaguar AV mod

I modded the Jaguar i have (an NTSC rev 5 model) to use a S-VHS out port so i could record it's output.. The SCART lead i have works fine on an RGB TV input, but not on my DVD recorder or any of the grabbers i used.. so, open the Jaguar, loose the metal cage, and look around the cart slot - you can pick off the Audio out & chroma & lum out and use the same ground for all as indicated here:




here it is with the vid tapped only (i didnt need the audio)



Yes, i am aware there are docs on the webz for an alternitive way to get SCART out for tellys that don't like the stock one, but fu*k that, i know the S-vhs is grabbable.. so i went in..

There is a video out blurb on the atariage FAQ on the jag

Looooverleeee!

[playthatbeat]

So.. here is the tune, and the vid - both featuring the machine i modded earlier on in the thread..

I must confess to sampling the 2600/synthcart, but hey, so what.

I also dug out my OTHER atari, an Atari Jaguar, and Jaguar CD unit, did a quick S-VHS mod on it, and played the tune through the VLM by Jeff Minter a few times, recording the output, and i mashed that up with some delicious 2600 crashing, and some donated footage from world-renowned lunatic, telecine-sk. So, enjoy! Oh, the extended version is on Juno Download >> game over - chasing the beam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKidtJGE5w

[playthatbeat]

So... first tune made with the 2600 done now, er, i think..

I think i will wait the obligitory 24 hours, and then if it's as goddamn awesome as i think it is, make a video next week and get it out...

In other 2600 news:

I dug out my old Eprom blower for a try at reading an atari cart's rom.. Failed hard, the blower is shite.. An old parallel port one i used in my PIC phaze. Meh.

Anyway, i took apart a PAL cart i got for 99c on ebay - a german language one - as it was from a manufacturer that used an eprom on board, a 2732A, and i reckon i can blow my own roms to it, instead of the awful game it came with.. So i have a ZIF socket on the way (ebay $9) and i will put that on the cart to hold the eprom. I have an eeprom blower for a lend also on the way - nearly bought one (a willem) on ebay for 40eu, but ATARIAGE forums have enuf on them to dissuade me, they are well ropey for old higher voltage chips apparently.. i am going to have to buy a UV erasor, as the bloke lending me the blower only has 1 and so on.. they are cleap - 20euro delivered, so what.. It's done now innit.

So, the plan is to try at making a nice swappable rom cart.. more as i get round to it.. But i really cannot be arsed buying games, even if they are cheaper then 8-track tapes now.. i DID get 1 box of 24 for $9.99 - yay.. but thats the lot for me, gonna make me a 'anything cart'.

.. then can see about getting a shitload of eproms from eprom man and building a nice stash of the best 2600 games for research purposes..

Mmm.. i'm going to have to use the 2600 in the video clip.. since it has a s-vhs output now. i wonder if i could get the Jaguar CD's lightsynth to do stuff for me too? That would be nice. An atari-themed tune and video..

[playthatbeat]

DO IT!!!! there is even a special IRELAND ONLY version of the atari sold by Peats Wholesale in the 80's!!! Also: PAL units are slightly cooler then NTSC units since there were less of them..

FIND< FIX< PLAY< WIN.....

[Deedo08]

Hahaha

have me an atari 2600 at home that I hook up to the TV from time to time for a laugh. You're not getting it!

The atari must take a look rnd the atic 4 mine....use 2 have a deadly olympics game

[playthatbeat]

So.. did the mod - using the seperate diagram for the audio mod in the longhornengineer schematics, i soldered a few resistors and caps up dirty-style, wrapped them in shrink-tube and got the Audiomod going, then made a version of the Longhornengineer Video mod on Stripboard.. Behold extra shit on the rear after it all:

And the mod on 2 bits of stripboard sitting on some packing foam to the right & 5v feed taken from the regulator on the left to power it all

The only bitch was getting the tiny SMD videoamp mounted on the stripboard - i wonder do they do a larger sized one? I bent up the 2 pins needing 5v, and soldered a bar across them to tap onto with the 5v line, the other legs all hit tracks well.. Oh yeah, this had to happen on the track side of the board..

I Tapped the underside of the SIA ship with Lan cable and passed it thru a hole in the shield..

But i grabbed the audio from the pins on the SIA itself, lifted out of the socket and tapped off to screw-blocks for ease of fiddle, and less pulling-of-the-pins DURING messing.. Block held in place by velcro for added pointlessness.. Tapped pins are in shrink-tube..

A also replaced the Regulator (+5v one) and the cap above it for a nice posh Black one.. Mmmm.. Black.. And i snipped the 4 hard 'legs' into the modulator after finding stuff on them with the multimeter and scope, also: they were there to be snipped.

So now i have Bangaroo audio out on 2 minijacks, S-VHS out and Composite out and can play my slightly-faster NTSC games in comfort and safety, and avail of loud, clean and seperated audio for SYNTHCART..

One weird thing, SYNTHCART itself doesn't look good on an LCD monitor, it's Interlaced or something, a bit garbled, but you DO get a glimpse of the proper fonts as it boots.. Haven't tried it yet on a Capture card or a Projector.. Ah well, more fun..

So, would i recommed this way of modding a VCS? Fu*k no. It took ages and is (as you can see) a mess. But in the absense of an available 'just wire me and snip some shit' mod, if you like a puzzle and can solder without loosing your fingerprints/and eye, then get some stripboard and that FMS6400 chip (check the attached docs for an example circuit) and follow the teachings of the longhorn engineer, he bullshittith not, and will surely lead you to awesome AV fun.

[playthatbeat]

Got my machine this week.. It's a 6-button SEARS clone.. I wasnt happy with the work done by trey - the audio out was tapped pre-modulator and sent to a 1/4inch jack at the rear, so i removed that and went directly to the STELLA chip and lifted pins 12 & 13 for stereo audio out..

i used the audio section of the diagram for the longhornengineer mod to make the output mod, which is like this http://www94.pair.com/jsoper/2600_stereo.html

- you take the pinouts 12 & 13 from the TIA chip, and a 5v from pin 7 of the joystick port,
feeding the 5v thru 1.8k resistors into a cable from the TIA pins pre a 1uF capacitor to the + of ur output socket.. The - for the output jacks can be got by running a lead to the metal shielding around the motherboard as it's earthed. I used minijack sockets, so i can patch it into the modular easily.

                                   +10uF
TIA12<----------------------------|(-------------->Audio R+
                      |                         
           1.8K    |                         
        |--/\/\/------'                    
5v --|                             
        |--/\/\/------,                          
           1.8K    |                         
                      |            +10uF     
TIA13<----------------------------|(-------------->Audio L+

The resulting audio is loud, and you get the percussion on one output, the synth on the other output!!!

I will start using this in the studio next week.. I have decided to build the Highly liquid midi kit into a lovely aluminium box i ordered on ebay from china (9.99!) and make a loom with 9pin D-shaped serial leads and ports so i can trigger the atari via midi if i want, but more importantly, use the box as a drumtrigger from midi tool for my upcoming DRUMS OF DEATH rack!!

Next todo: build the composite and S-VHS output mod - parts are here, and i'm gonna do the build next week. All based around the clever FMS6400 chip which amplifies the signals needed for Composite or S-VHS out.. Look at the diagram and suggested circut to power and make it work - dead handy eh!!!???!??!

[playthatbeat]

AT LAST!!

Someone selling a mod kit who has been seen on the scene within the last year..

http://www.longhornengineer.com/Videomods/Videomods

Get it into you!!!! Kit for ~$20 !!!!!!

Excellent guide to installing here: http://www.longhornengineer.com/Videomods/6switchNTSC

First i have seen with things like guides for holes and blah.. FU*K YEAH!!!!

Also: feeds Stereo Audio out!!! This is the mod of the gods.. and the price is right.

[playthatbeat]

Another 'simple' mod is here: http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1151
uses nothing but a 22k resistor, 2 1k pots and some time..

This is the clear bang-for-buck winner mod when you check out all the mods compared side-by side.. an excellent comparison of all the available mods is here: http://www.cheeptech.com/2600mods/2600mods.html

You can clearly see S-VHS out is the way to go for quality, with some amplification to boot, as championed By Chris Wilkson on his CyberTech mod board. This was apparently available on www.atari2600.com at one stage, but it's now not available anymore..

So, this leaves only one alternative, and thats the benheck mod.. this is the one i will be doing, since 8bitdomain.com are not answering emails, and the site appears to be (c)2006...

EDIT: some bad vibes about 8bitdomain.com here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/lofiv...hp/t87227.html - i did the undo with PayPal, got the refund.. In the same batch of emails re: the refund, 8bitdomain reply'd to me, but of coarse, it's all too late for that now.. ah well..

Also: The same guys at cheeptech also have overlays for the controllers used for the SYNTHCART http://www.cheeptech.com/files/synth...rd_overlay.pdf

[playthatbeat]

Update:

Machine hasn't arrived from Trey, but he says it was shipped on friday, so next week hopefully..

The HIGHLY LIQUID interface is here, and i have decided to build it into a seperate box with minijack outs for all the triggers and it's own 5v PSU, and either 'modularise' the Atari with lots of sockets for the input triggers, or make a snake with minijacks to Atari Joystick plugs.. This is so i can use the Interface on it's own as a MIDI drum-trigger that turns midi notes into gates, as i'm always short of them..

The 8bitdomain.com AV out kit isn't here, nor have i got any reply from them after ordering one, so i have been looking at various mods for atari 2600 composite video out with this page having the nicest amplified/video driver circut designs, and clear details of how the STELLA chip outputs video. It suggests you can make a S-VHS lead, or combine the signals to make composite video out. I think the combination of the signals from the chip, with pots inline to adjust stuff would be the way to go.

But, it seems the 'dirty' output mod for video is very simple, and can be made 'tunable' with the addition of some pots inline/instead of the resistors at the tappoints shown in the attached piccy.. I might be going for this, since accurate colour reproduction is not that important to me, i just want to see whats what..

[playthatbeat]

Meh! Rik - You need to get a synthcart and make a bleep epic!!!

for those who want to try an atari 2600, visit the stella distro point and download the one correct for your system: http://stella.sourceforge.net/downloads.html

then either use the opera browser, or your favorite torrent proggy to get this bundle of roms: http://www.mininova.org/get/2138248

you can download the rom for the SYNTHCART fro the author's website listed above, and it DOES WORK perfectly.. If you record the sound it makes, you in essence have the above project, in software, For free.. If you can capture the audio internally, then it's pretty much the best quality you could hope for..

Of coarse, it's not the same as jamming with your VCS-AXE, but hey, love that noise

Edit: you don't NEED the rom torrent to run the synthcart rom - it's just so you can play games on the emulator.. either way, the stella emulator needs ROMs to work, so have them unzipped into a folder somewhere (they are .bin files) and within stella, go to that folder and select the rom to start it.. easy peasy.

[Rikand]

have me an atari 2600 at home that I hook up to the TV from time to time for a laugh. You're not getting it!