Custom sound and music for gottlieb 80b and system 3 - oh go on then

YUUUSSSSHHHHHH!!!!!!

#6 8 years ago

MJR

mr2xbass

Pinside member

So will this have the option of choosing between using alternate sounds and the original sound generators and being able to change back and forth?

I currently building something similar, just for custom sounds though, using an Arduino and robertsonics WAV Trigger ( www.sparkfun.com )

1 month later

#7 8 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Latest updates for my custom sound board for 80b games. Some pics of the latest revision to the proto board using some more powerful embedded controllers to handle the sound processing better. The board can now play upto 4 channels of 44khz, 16 bit, stereo sound (cd quality) sound. So that's enough for 1 music channel, 2 sound effects channels and 1 speech channel. I have the board playing the original sound effects and music from gold wings via wav file samples read directly of sd card and of course you could swap these out for original score and effects etc. The possibilities here are endless.

The board is also instant boot using embedded controllers. no computer os system boot up delays. More vids soon when i plug this into my gold wings game and play some games to test it out.

IMG_5269_(resized).JPG

IMG_5268_(resized).jpg

#8 8 years ago

CJB

Topher5000

Pinside member

Thorold, ON

10y 45,300 900 1

This is cool. I could program my Raven to play "Get to tha choppa!" when the helicopter spins & "Long Tall Sally" when the ball drains (amongst other things).
Any idea what the cost would be?

#9 8 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from Topher5000:
This is cool. I could program my Raven to play "Get to tha choppa!" when the helicopter spins & "Long Tall Sally" when the ball drains (amongst other things).
Any idea what the cost would be?

Yep, that's the plan Aiming to sell them for around £100 plus postage, though that's not finalised yet.

2 months later

#10 7 years ago

FTZ

Vongoosewink

Inactive member

Indianapolis, IN

10y 38,600 102 2

I love that you are doing this - I've been hoping to add custom sounds to my Arena ever since I got the game... (Conan the Barbarian excerpts!) Any new developments/progress?

#11 7 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from Vongoosewink:
I love that you are doing this - I've been hoping to add custom sounds to my Arena ever since I got the game... (Conan the Barbarian excerpts!) Any new developments/progress?

Still working on it. The more powerful controller i'm using now is much better. Things have been hectic with all my other hardware board sets and projects, but this is on the list.

#12 7 years ago

MJR

mr2xbass

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from applejuice:
Still working on it

YAY!

#13 7 years ago

JJZ

toyotaboy

RandOM Pinball

Allyn, WA

12y 184K 11,929 3 14

someone that owned a gold wings could retheme into a top gun pretty easy

#14 7 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from toyotaboy:
someone that owned a gold wings could retheme into a top gun pretty easy

I own a Gold Wings ! One of my fav games of all time and the reason why i started making new cpu boards and these other projects Thanks JT. You rock

#15 7 years ago

GEO

Geocab

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Cleveland, OH

11y 78,550 2,387 8

How would it play stereo sound? Do you have an added amp section so we can add a speaker? My Raven is my first Gottlieb and it only has one back box speaker, I assumed the other System B's would be the same.

#16 7 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from Geocab:
How would it play stereo sound? Do you have an added amp section so we can add a speaker? My Raven is my first Gottlieb and it only has one back box speaker, I assumed the other System B's would be the same.

The board has the capability to decode stereo sound files, but to be compatible with stock game wiring and amps it outputs a combined mono signal. I may develop a true stereo amp board that can be plugged in as a replacement though later Most pinball games though are mono and original sound files are usually only recorded in mono. A good upgrade for general gottlieb 80b games is to add another speaker to the backbox anyway just to balance the sound output and return the game to a more normal 3 speaker design.

The board has 4 channel but this is mainly for handling the types of sound and speech effects playing together during the game. i.e you can play a music backing track then 3 other sound effects potentially at the same time. The original boards hardware is very good, so that it can handle the same and not have some sounds cutting others out.

Taking this in game play terms. The multiball ready feature on Gold Wings has a high pitched bip repeat tied to a flasher to show the lane to shoot. This plays along with the background music in a 1 second repeat. However, when pop bumpers and other targets are hit they also still respond with their appropriate sound without stopping any other sound playing

#17 7 years ago

GEO

Geocab

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Cleveland, OH

11y 78,550 2,387 8

Cool. Thanks for the explanation.

#18 7 years ago

MJR

mr2xbass

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from applejuice:
The board has 4 channel but this is mainly for handling the types of sound and speech effects playing together during the game.

Yeah, I noticed on Spring Break, the background music has three voices (bass, melody, accompany/harmony) and a drum beat. The music plays non-stop during the game BUT anytime there is a sound effect triggered, it is generated by the same channel that does the drums (noise generator). So the music continues to play but the noise channel goes back and forth between the drum part for the background music and whatever sound effect is being triggered by hitting switches on the play field.

#19 7 years ago

DEL

SealClubber

Pinside Moderator

14y 127K 11,060 246

I might have kept my Gold Wings if this was available.

8 months later

#20 7 years ago

CDL

crlush

Pinside member

Ray Twp., MI

11y 86,300 2,760 8

Any updates?

#21 7 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from crlush:
Any updates?

Yes still working on it. Hope to update again soon

#22 7 years ago

???

cfh

Pinside member

12y 90,550 3,226

During the mid-1980s when Williams and Bally were doing speech on every game (around the Space Shuttle and forward era), Gottlieb was not doing speech (to save money no doubt.) A lot of sys80b games could really use speech. Raven, Gold Wings, Hollywood heat, just to name a few. Basically all the games from 1983 up till about 1988 by Gottlieb did not have speech (and sure could use it.)

That said though, someone would have to *record* the speech. Your board looks like a great way to implement said speech, but getting an appropriate voice actor to do it (and writing the lines), well, that's another story. Otherwise you end up with the speech like on Americas Most Haunted (which seems odd and out of place.)

What i'm saying is there's a lot more to this then just playing the speech! The example of Raven using the Arnold line, "get to the choppa", sounds good. But i'm not sure how it would play in the context of the game. It might be a bit weird, especially if the speech is "too good", compared to the rest of the game's sound track. Just something to think about...

1 month later

#23 6 years ago

HBO

Luzur

Pinside member

8y 53,700 1,276 5

Imagine Hollywood Heat with Miami Vice speech and music..... *drools*

2 weeks later

#24 6 years ago

BIL

racer_x

Inactive member

Zion, IL

8y 45,550 196 6 7

Quoted from Luzur:
Imagine Hollywood Heat with Miami Vice speech and music..... *drools*

Exactly would I would like to do with mine.

5 months later

#25 6 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Major progress with this project. I have finally got the interface to work reliably with inbound cpu requests.

Good point in the vid is around 5.35

This project has been much more complex than first thought but we are getting there now. The sound board logic is much more than just 'play this sound Id' it turns out

I'm still refining the code logic and not 100% sure if each game will need custom logic as well as a sound file set, we will see, but the second prototype boards are getting closer. Also waiting for some dac sound processors to improve sound quality and remove noise. The first test was using bog standard passive Pwm line out

1 month later

#26 6 years ago

HBO

Luzur

Pinside member

8y 53,700 1,276 5

So how long before you can do complete sound/music remakes?

#27 6 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from Luzur:
So how long before you can do complete sound/music remakes?

Not long! I am currently working out the best DAC system to use to get the clearest sound output possible

2 months later

#28 6 years ago

HBO

Luzur

Pinside member

8y 53,700 1,276 5

So, how goes it? any updates?

#29 6 years ago

PJE

BleacherBum

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His looks really promising! I would definitely be interested.

9 months later

#30 5 years ago

DAD

Linkage

Pinside member

Gander, NL

10y 35,400 278 13 2

Did you get any further with this?

#31 5 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from Linkage:
Did you get any further with this?

Yes i have been working on this alongside many other projects . Here is the latest prototype boards i got just before christmas. This is part way through assembly of it for testing. Its alot smaller than the original now but still fits the mounts ok.

IMG_3116 (resized).JPG

1 month later

#32 5 years ago

NAJ

WpgPins

Pinside member

Winnipeg, MB

8y 30,400 69 5 10

This is an incredible project! Any update?
I’m curious if this is going to be something that will be available for others (me) to purchase? Amazing possibilities with this!

#33 5 years ago

PSW

Psw757

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Will this work on System 80 games or 80b only?

#34 5 years ago

???

shepP

Pinside member

6y 53,650 267

Pardon my ignorance but would this work on a barb wire?

#35 5 years ago

RUS

sagejr

Pinside+ Frequent

New Hartford, CT

8y 81,300 1,100 1 7

Looks great. I have a gold wings and a Gottlieb Rock, Would be great to add my own music tracks to these games.

2 weeks later

#36 5 years ago

PSW

Psw757

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11y 117K 7,226 13 48 4

Any update

1 month later

#37 4 years ago

PSC

yotsuya

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Phoenix, AZ

10y 23,300 15 2

Sign me up for one when available

#38 4 years ago

JRC

TwoHeartedMale

Inactive member

Ann Arbor, MI

5y 56,550 587 7

Quoted from yotsuya:
Sign me up for one when available

Me too

1 month later

#39 4 years ago

TCB

Malenko

Pinside member

7y 77,900 1,604 10

Quoted from yotsuya:
Sign me up for one when available

Same here.

3 weeks later

#40 4 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

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Any developments?

1 week later

#41 4 years ago

BMP

Palmer

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5y 101K 2,503 4

Any news?

#42 4 years ago

JRC

TwoHeartedMale

Inactive member

Ann Arbor, MI

5y 56,550 587 7

I really hope this works out. I'd buy like 3 of them.

#43 4 years ago

USA

SilverballSleuth

Inactive member

6y 58,800 1,205

Quoted from TwoHeartedMale:
I really hope this works out. I'd buy like 3 of them.

I also really hope this works out.

Edit: Just 80B? Or 80A and 80B? Thanks.

2 weeks later

#44 4 years ago

PSW

Psw757

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11y 117K 7,226 13 48 4

Is this happening or what?

#45 4 years ago

MRM

mrm_4

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73DFAB7F-0577-4FBA-9C00-C748582B506E.gif

#46 4 years ago

PJE

BleacherBum

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9y 57,900 392 11

Questions,
1. Based on images you posted on posts 1, 7, and 31, is it correct to assume that your soundboard will only replace the A6 versions in games listed in images 2-5(see attached image)*
2. To further clarify, will your board work in all of the games listed in images* 2-5 or will it only work in one of those versions?

Thanks,
Phil

*Image is a screen shot form Pinball Resource

ACB83BBF-D847-4A24-8692-561EDAD1A65F (resized).jpeg

#47 4 years ago

PUN

punkin

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Woolgoolga

4y 109K 11,019 7

You do notice they are all different part numbers?

#48 4 years ago

PJE

BleacherBum

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Yes I noticed, but since he had stated which one he was working on and others had ask general questions I thought I would be a bit more specific. Apologies if my question bothered you.

#49 4 years ago

PUN

punkin

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Woolgoolga

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Trying to help, not bothered.

weird.

#50 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice