Akumajo Densetsu Sound Issue

suicidalparrotsuicidalparrot
in Help Wanted!
I just got my copy of Castlevania IIIfor the Famicom, A game I've wanted for a long time, in the mail today. When I popped it into my resistor modded toaster I was horrified to hear that the music was completely messed up. It seems to be layered incorrectly and the timing is way off. Now I have played Akumajo Densetsu on the powerpak and it it sounds immaculate. Below are videos of each. Is this some issue of compatibility with the VR6 chip or is my cart just screwed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Akumajo Densetsu on the Powerpak


Actual Famicom Cart with issues

Comments

  • AlexKunioAlexKunio
    The messed up sound is from the famicom cart playing on the modded toaster via a 60-to-72 pin adapter?
  • suicidalparrotsuicidalparrot
    Originally posted by: AlexKunio

    The messed up sound is from the famicom cart playing on the modded toaster via a 60-to-72 pin adapter?


    Yes it is man. the converter from the guts of a Gyromite cart
  • AlexKunioAlexKunio
    That won't work without a modded pin adapter. I don't remember the technical details, but I went through the same thing and ended up just getting a Famicom to play it on. I did the same resistor mod to my toaster & I can play it on Powerpak too.

    *edit* - sorry actually I don't think it will work at all, I was thinking of using the modded pin adapter with the powerpak. I believe the toaster is incapable of playing the audio from a real Akumajou Densetsu even modded.
  • suicidalparrotsuicidalparrot
    Thanks man! All I needed to know is that is wasn't messed up. Thanks! That's good info to know.
  • MogMog
    I just happen to have 2 NES's sitting here. One with audio mod, one with out. Your FC cart music sounds just like the sound I get out of my non sound modded NES with the JP version on my PowerPak.



    When I switch to my audio modded NES, the sound is just as awesome as your powerpak version.



    My guess is there is something wrong with your cart/something doesn't work right when using a converter.
  • AlexKunioAlexKunio
    Here's another thread with info about this:

    http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=22&threadid=29018

  • suicidalparrotsuicidalparrot
    I'm going to radio shack to pick up the parts and i'll post here later to say whether it worked or not. Thanks again for the input guys.
  • suicidalparrotsuicidalparrot
    Well I picked up the pieces I needed, soldered them to the adapter, and still no luck.

    After quite a while of messing around and searching google i discovered that i needed to join 2 pins together on the nes expansion port on top of the resistor mod i had already previously done. With the resistor mod you join pins 3 and 9 with a 47kohm resistor, and for this mod you just create a wire jumper from pin 3 to 40. Thankfully both mods work fine together and don't cause any issues that i have discovered.

    On the 60 to 72 pin connector you solder a 100kohm resistor and a non polarized 1uF capacitor between pin 46 on the 60 pin side to pin 18 on the 72 pin side. Once you've done all of that you're golden. I am now able to utilize the extra sound on my cart. Pics below of the modifications that were made.


    Pic of the adaptor. This is actually the pic i used for reference, not my adapter. My horrible soldering is too embarrassing to show.
    image


    The NES mobo and expansion port pins.
    image
  • MogMog
    Is that extra wire on the NES board only if you are using actual FC carts? Or should that just be done for all audio mods?
  • suicidalparrotsuicidalparrot
    just for the FC carts. It did nothing for the Powerpak when i was testing. As far as I could tell anyway. I really don't know much about this stuff on my own. I just noticed in the instructions I was following they had joined 2 different pins than the resistor mod. When I removed the resistor and left the wire, the powerpak lost its sound. When i put them on together. the powerpak sounded the same as it did with the resistor alone, and the two didn't seem to interfere with one another.



    Edited to expand my explanation.
  • AlexKunioAlexKunio
    Interesting, thanks for the follow-up info on what you did. I only did the (pin 3 -> resistor -> pin 9) mod on my toaster as outlined in loopy's Powerpak mapper set. I didn't realize you could do an additional mod for actual famicom carts. I did the audio mod/powerpak thing & still wanted more authenticity, so I ended up getting an A/V famicom & importing a nice CIB copy of Akumajou Densetsu Now I'm after some of the other advanced sound chip games like Lagrange Point
  • suicidalparrotsuicidalparrot
    Not a problem man! I figured I can't be the only one who's had this problem so i wanted to get the solution out there for others too. I will be doing the same. Is there a definitive list out there of cartridge famicom games that use expanded sound? I don't think there are too many are there?
  • AlexKunioAlexKunio
    There aren't that many, no. The others are pretty Japanese text-heavy, including Lagrange Point, which is the most advanced audio (from a purely technical standpoint, of course) on NES. Lagrange Point is the only game that ever used the VRC7 chip for audio. The VRC6 chip (which powers Akumajou Densetsu) is also used in Mouryou Senki Madara & Esper Dream II. They're both Japanese text heavy, but Esper Dream II has a translation patch out so you can Powerpak that translation with your modded toaster!



    http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1045/



    I believe Just Breed uses MMC5 for audio too, so you can't Powerpak it, and it's an RPG, but it does have a translation out so I guess the best bet is emulation for that one for now (or learn Japanese )
  • rokubungirokubungi
    Just Breed does not have extra audio and there is a translation patch for Madara. The famicom Madara cart uses eprom pins so you don't even have to do any jumpering.



    all FDS games have extra sound though.



    I've got a copy of lagrange point for when/if there's ever a translation made for it. it sounds more like a Genesis game than a Famicom title.
  • ayjanuayjanu
    Thanks for the useful information in these posts.  I'll be looking to do the external audio mod to my NES eventually, so this helps.
  • suicidalparrotsuicidalparrot
    Hey no problem, man. Though these are the guys that deserve credit. this is the page I followed when I did mine, and even the stuff I discovered by accident is discussed further on. I just didn't read far enough lol. Anyway there's some good info there.



    http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=1860.0
  • ayjanuayjanu
    Alright, cool.  I'll check that out too.  Just don't wanna mess this up.  I've already had to replace one NES board (due to something totally unrelated), and getting my hands on Stack Up for the 60-to-72 pin adapter was pretty spendy, so I gotta be sure I do this all right the first time.
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