Snes9x4P question


SlyStrife

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Hi! I just got my Pandora Rebirth a couple of days ago so I'm still getting everything up and running! For the most part I have everything working, the question I have is regarding the best settings for this emulator. It runs everything near flawlessly but something I've been noticing is that the sound effects seem a bit off. It's especially noticeable in games like Sparkster and Mega Man X. I've tinkered around with the settings but I can't find anything that lets you play around with the sound and all the other options I played around with didn't do anything.


I have my Pandora overclocked at 800mhz and the version of the emu I'm using is 1.39ff.20120226.1 which is the most up to date version I assume? Is there a way to fix this or am I just being picky? :p It's not a problem if this is just still in the works, I'm, a bit of a perfectionist so I like to have everything set up in the best way possible. I noticed that this is the same deal in Picodrive and I couldn't find a way to fix it. But the music, gameplay, and speed(in most games) is 100% accurate so I won't complain too much. The Pandora is everything I expected it to be and I'm 100% satisfied!


Thanks in advance for any answers! If you have any recommendations for settings in the emus I'd be more than happy to hear them! :3
 
It's hard to know the issue without more information from you. Are you using headphones though? I've found a few (iPhone earbuds in particular) that cause some serious issues such as center channel cancellation and stuff. It may be way off base, but I have a feeling there is something going on with headphones that have an integrated mic that is causing a grounding issue of some kind.
 
I'm afraid I can't help you. All the emu's I use sound fine to me, including SNES9X4P...then, again, I'm tone-deaf, so I am not as sensitive to sound quality as you might be.


I mean, for example, they tell you that CD sound quality is better than cassette, okay, I get that...but they say .ogg is better than .mp3 but I sure as heck hear no difference!!


I also see no difference between regular TV and HDTV. No real difference.


Maybe it's because I'm old...forty-something here.


I use default clock speed of 800 on my ReBirth, just as you do...and I never messed with any settings on any emu's.
 
It's hard to know the issue without more information from you. Are you using headphones though? I've found a few (iPhone earbuds in particular) that cause some serious issues such as center channel cancellation and stuff. It may be way off base, but I have a feeling there is something going on with headphones that have an integrated mic that is causing a grounding issue of some kind.

What kind of info do you need? As for what it sounds like... it basically just sounds like some of the sound effects are distorted or that some of the channels are missings. Only the sounds effects though, the music is 100% perfect.


Also no, I'm not using headphones although I did notice that the left speaker is missing the foam padding that's in the right speaker. I doubt that would affect anything though.

I'm afraid I can't help you. All the emu's I use sound fine to me, including SNES9X4P...then, again, I'm tone-deaf, so I am not as sensitive to sound quality as you might be.


I mean, for example, they tell you that CD sound quality is better than cassette, okay, I get that...but they say .ogg is better than .mp3 but I sure as heck hear no difference!!


I also see no difference between regular TV and HDTV. No real difference.


Maybe it's because I'm old...forty-something here.


I use default clock speed of 800 on my ReBirth, just as you do...and I never messed with any settings on any emu's.

There's definitely something up with mine, I was comparing them and there was a clear difference. Maybe there's something internally wrong with the unit? I really hope not but in any case it's not a big anough problem for me to warrant a refund.
 
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Ok, let me know what you think!
 
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There's definitely something up with mine, I was comparing them and there was a clear difference. Maybe there's something internally wrong with the unit? I really hope not but in any case it's not a big anough problem for me to warrant a refund.

Well, as I said, it could just be your ear is more sensitive than mine, as I mentioned, I am tone-deaf, so I do not really notice minute differences in sound quality - you might.
 
Try playing with headphones... After playing Mega Man X for a bit I can say it has a lot of stereo effects. You might be missing sounds because you might be missing your left or right channel. If you plug in headphones and both left and right sound the same you might have an audio issue.


That's at least what I would try first...


Besides that it sounded fine to me. I do have an SNES though... So maybe tomorrow I can load mega man x for comparison.
 
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Both speakers produce sound, it's just that the left one is missing foam padding. But I'll try with headphones and see what that sounds like. I'll post my results here after I'm done.
 
I'm not sure if this setting would be applicable to Mega Man X, but toggling "Alt. Sample Decoding" fixes sound effects in games such Chronotrigger.
 
I'm not sure if this setting would be applicable to Mega Man X, but toggling "Alt. Sample Decoding" fixes sound effects in games such Chronotrigger.

It didn't completely fix the issue but it made the sound effects sound a lot better. Thank you!


If anyone else has thoughts or opinions please share them with me! :>
 
Hey guys! I figured I'd give you a little update....


I've been playing around with PCSX Rearmed lately (beautiful piece of software) and it seems the sound effects issue extends to that too. I guess this would mean that there is something internally wrong with my system if no one else has this issue. Oh well... beggars can't be choosers I guess.
 
It's possible there was a soldering issue with one of the speakers. If ground is swapped with live then it can cause issues if there's overlap: left and right would still play normally but center would cancel itself out, resulting in no sound, or tinny "echo" sounds.


Download an audio sweep MP3, for example from here, and see how it plays on your Pandora, if there are any frequencies that are just way wrong or if the entire thing plays just fine. Compare centre against left and right sweeps. Play them all on your desktop so you know what you're listening for.
 
Ok, I'll try that out and post the results here when I'm finished. Thanks for the assistance!
 
I played two of the mp3s on the desktop and the pandora. Unfortunately there was a clear difference between the two.... the playback on the pandora was a little more high pitched and scratchy. I have no skills in soldering or the like... do you have any recommendations on what I should do?
 
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Can we move this to Support, and call it sound issues or something, because this is beyond a SNES question etc... ?


What I don't understand is how this issue is affecting both speakers and headphones? If it is a bad solder job on the speaker, I understand, but the headphone output is separate from that? Unless I'm smoking glue again.
 
Definitely not hearing things, the mp3 test was clear as day. I wouldn't care if ALL the Pandoras were like this, but I have no way of knowing since I don't have a second unit to compare...
 
The Pandora should have excellent sound quality, Personally It's the best sounding device I have in my house.


Does messing with the volume nob change anything? Try adjusting it while playing sound, try tapping on it a little.. do you hear any improvement or worsening of the audio quality?


Seen poor Potentiometers cause some issues on other devices..
 
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Try using it to play some mp3 or whatever music files and see if you get the same thing. Maybe it's your unit, maybe it's just some fiddling with controls within SNES...or maybe with your Pandy itself.


Like I said, I'm never a good person to ask about sound quality, because I don't hear minute differences in sound quality. A lifetime of ear infections has left me tone deaf.


Here's a thought for you: Where are you located? If you're lucky, maybe someone close by has a Pandy and would be willing to meet you somewhere, and you could test yours against theirs.
 
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