Guaging Interest... QBert Sound Board Replacement

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

>Thanks, all, for the input. I will post once I've researched this
further.

I think you will find that this is much less random than you think. Set
up the test jig and keep hitting the same garble lines and see if they
change at all.

Based on other games I have repaired the sound is never random. Each
sound line (or combo of lines) plays the same sound.

Could be wrong on q-bert, but I doubt it.

Kirb

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I did and was surprised to see that the phoneme selection was different on
multiple plays of the same sound. I cannot say whether it was a different,
predefined sequence played on each try or if was truly a random selection of
phonemes, but it was definitely different when playing the same sound number
multiple times through.

-roy-


"kirb" <kirbseepe@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1112676083.673371.31960@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> >Thanks, all, for the input. I will post once I've researched this
> further.
>
> I think you will find that this is much less random than you think. Set
> up the test jig and keep hitting the same garble lines and see if they
> change at all.
>
> Based on other games I have repaired the sound is never random. Each
> sound line (or combo of lines) plays the same sound.
>
> Could be wrong on q-bert, but I doubt it.
>
> Kirb
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

It is very random. Also you will have to know which random phonemes its
sending, or all 64. I believe it is the latter. You will sometimes hear
"silence" and spurts of noise in the garble, which are all part of the
phoneme "list" of the SC01.
Yes, different sound calls emit the same garble but at different
frequency rates (creating the voices of Slick/Sam, Q*Bert, &
Ugg/WrongWay faithfully) by sending "rate" data to the voice DAC. It's
pretty dynamic, in like a single phoneme can be sustained and then the
computer can vary the rate - creating the "falling" sounds of Qbert and
Coily characters. "Black Hole" (the pinball) uses this effect to
reproduce a good "wind" sound by using a sustained "noise" phoneme.
Pretty clever stuff !

Marcel

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Krull and Mad Planets are the only boards that didn't offer SC01
(voice) features. It was purely DAC-created sound. They should've
included it in Mad Planets at least, but I guess those chips were
pretty expensive in those days.

Marcel

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I'd be interested. Anything to replace the 30v power supply... My sound
is offically gone for the 3rd time on my Bert in 4 years. :-(

Derek


Chumblespuzz wrote:
> All,
>
> Thinking about a new project... a Qbert sound board replacement.
Would be a
> direct plug in replacement for the original sound board.
>
> Would produce all sounds, voice and tones.
>
> Would anyone be interested in this?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> -roy-

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

No, the SC-01a is unique and was not sold at Radio Shack.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Radio Shack sold the SP0256. While this is a speech synthesis chip, it
is not compatible, pinout or phoneme-wise, with the SC-01a. You can
read all about the SC-01a here:
http://www.ionpool.net/arcade/gottlieb/technical/votrax.html

and even more here:
http://www.redcedar.com/sc01.htm


tm

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

The SC-01 is also used in Gorf and Wizard of Wor. I've been wishing that
technology would progress far enough to reproduce this chip cheaply.
Doubt it will ever happen, but you never know... look what is being done
in FPGA these days.

-Commander Dave


<rgvac_junk@mgcap.com> wrote:
> Unfortuantely, sampling the Votrax SC-01a doesn't work as well as one
> might hope. The samples done for MAME are only a small approximation
> of
> all the different sounds the chip can make. The Q*Bert code relies on
> the random voice playback which, if sampled, would take up a large
> amount of space, and even then might not be enough...
>
>
> tm
>

 

[Vaxx]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

IIRC, Rat Shack used to sell a phonectic chip fairly cheaply? I still have a
few nos sitting around somewhere, but if I get the pinouts, it might be a
direct drop in for it.

<dragonbreed@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1112628017.623771.169870@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> What equipment / chips will you be using?
> SC01 has 64 phonemes which are millisecond bursts of sound which
> spliced together at a rate makes speech.
> If using a playback system, you will need a separate sequencer to tell
> what phonemes to play. That is the only way you will achieve the random
> voice garble of Q*Bert. The other sounds/voices you just playback
> normally, I believe.
> It will be easier in a sense that everything plays on one channel, that
> is, the sounds never overlap each other.
>
> IMHO video game sound effects were more thrilling in thie time. Take
> also the classic Williams games for instance.
>
> Marcel
>

 

[Vaxx]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I would think at the least, this chip would be compatible. Might have to
make an adaptor.
'
<rgvac_junk@mgcap.com> wrote in message
news:1112710452.043923.304270@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> No, the SC-01a is unique and was not sold at Radio Shack.
>