Aurora, IL
SICK!!!!
(Topic ID: 13392)
Linked Games
Flash Gordon
Bally, 1981
Topic Gallery
1 week later
I just got the machine back from PAPA. I can finally get some photos of the completed game. The video I was waiting on never got made so I will be making my own video once I repair a few things that broke during PAPA.
Quoted from Bowman9:I see you used two MP3 triggers piggybacked onto existing switches to play back sounds and music does this mean you disconnected the original sound board?
And if so what did you do for the bonus count down when the ball is lost?
No, I just turned the volume all the way down. I suppose the original sound board could be removed, but I haven't tried it yet. The game plays the same sequence of sounds regardless of how long the bonus counts down.
Quoted from toyotaboy:You mention that the MP3 trigger can handle playing random sounds (rather than specified ones). I've been reading up the user manual, and I assumed that meant that if you have 18 channels, then you have one trigger but 18 random sounds. Does that actually mean you can have 18 channels, and you can multiple random sounds to each channel? I thought you had to run an arduino with some code to do that, or are you using arduino?
Actually, it's much better than that. I didn't see a need to use the arduino. You can have virtually limitless callouts and sound effects with the random function. You can set any of the 18 pins to pull from a bank of random mp3's which are separate from the files the other pins trigger. (ie. you could have 16 specific sounds/tracks and 2 pins that randomly pull from 20 additional sounds/tracks).
Quoted from Don1:Another question, did you apply a clear coat over the art that was printed?
No, but I have heard of this being done with other overlays. The overlay isn't really meant to be cleared over, though. The overlay itself looks fantastic and very glossy even after some 2000 plays. The only trouble I have had is that after a while I did get a tiny bit of bunching up around a few of the posts. I'm not sure if this is from the posts being too tight, taking ball hits, or what, but it's not very noticeable.
Quoted from Honch:That is AWESOME!!! Audio is outstanding and the playfield looks great. [
] Is this pin going to be for sale???
Thanks! I can't say if I will keep it forever, but no plans to sell anytime soon or reproduce the game. This was just a labor of love... one that I'm not sure if I will ever do again. 
-Brian Stahl
I went and snapped some updated pics. For those who want to see the completed game (with plastics), scroll to the bottom of the site...
http://tristatechapter.com/arcade/ghostbusters/ghostbusters.html
-Brian
2 months later
Agreed. I had been trying to come up with a way to integrate the black/yellow warning sign into the cab. Nice touch! I actually got my second wind on the machine lately and I have been making improvements and modifications. I recently rebuilt the flippers and switched back to the original Bally style bats which make the side targets much easier to shoot. I also added some flashing lights to the Ecto and color changing lighting to the upper playfield. I even added more callouts! It's really hard to call a project like this 'done'. 
I do still plan to make another video at some point. I get so many questions about the 'how to' of the audio system that I'd like to show some of what's going on under-the-hood on the game. Some people thought maybe I just looped the audio, but every sound, quote and music queue is triggered by something in the game. I should add that this method has proven to be extremely reliable. I have not had to make any repairs or adjustments to the system at all.
I've watched this YouTube video over and over and sent it to people. I get the same response: It's awesome. Sound is great. If GB was ever released that would be my first NIB. Kudos, man. That's amazing work!
Quoted from Betelgeuse:I get so many questions about the 'how to' of the audio system that I'd like to show some of what's going on under-the-hood on the game.
Personally, I would LOOOVE this, Brian, but I think it would be a helpful addition to the pinball community at large too.
I know I've PM'ed you with some words of amazement for your work here, but let me just reiterate publicly, your artistry on this retheme is simply stunning. Your attention to detail in the playfield overlay and the inventiveness in your audio mixing is really top notch. Ever since getting into the hobby, I've had a dream of rethemeing my own pin, so this is pretty inspirational.
Keep up the great work and I look forward to more updates as you continue to hone this beauty.
Sincerely,
Ryan Claytor
Elephant Eater Comics
www.ElephantEater.com
1 month later
Brian,
One thing I have not been able to find on your site (beat me if I overlooked it), is how you isolated the trigger switches for your audio from the game switches themselves.
Can you give us all a tutorial?
I'm a little late to the party, but I would like to add my compliments to the ever-mounting stack. Great Job.
I'd also like to 2nd (or 4th or 10th or whatever) that a thorough breakdown/tutorial of your audio work would be an amazing addition to the community. I'm sure more than a few pinsiders have seen your video, and all kinds of lightbulbs started going off in peoples' heads. Personally, I would love to add a custom Queen soundtrack and movie effects to my FG, and have been thinking about how to go about it since I got the thing.
Regardless, the custom work you've put out so far has been of exceptional quality, and is inspiring to all of us that love this hobby.
Halifax, NS
Anyone else looking to do a retheme (not this one). Playfield overlay & masking mailed to USA $200 US & I can print custom backglass $250 US shipped to USA. 300 dpi art or better.
www.greatpinball.com
Quoted from greatwichjohn:Anyone else looking to do a retheme (not this one). Playfield overlay & masking mailed to USA $200 US & I can print custom backglass $250 US shipped to USA
I don't want to offend, but this seems high? I've gotten quotes for vinyl printing for less than $60, and translite (backlit printing) for less than $40 (I can get my own glass). I only know because I actually do have a re-theme project and looked into it.
I do still get a lot of questions about the audio system. I do plan to make a video to help illustrate how this is done, but I haven't got around to it yet. It's something that I think would be difficult to do own my own, so I need to enlist a camera man. When I do make the video you guys will be the first to know.
-Brian
Sana'a
Quoted from Betelgeuse:I do still get a lot of questions about the audio system. I do plan to make a video to help illustrate how this is done, but I haven't got around to it yet. It's something that I think would be difficult to do own my own, so I need to enlist a camera man. When I do make the video you guys will be the first to know.
-Brian
Cool, thanks a lot!
How about just a quick description? Relays, optoisolators, phototransistors......?
Quoted from Betelgeuse:I do still get a lot of questions about the audio system.
I notice that every part of your machine is carefully documented except the audio.
Any actual audio hook up references are always rather vague.
You are not trying to keep it a secret from the world are you?
If you are, you can just say that, rather than lead us on, waiting.......
Quoted from cichlid:You are not trying to keep it a secret from the world are you?
If you are, you can just say that, rather than lead us on, waiting.......
hahah. No, of course not. It's just that every switch is different, so it would be exhaustive to try to explain the specific details. It's like putting in your own switch matrix, with wiring returning to the MP3 Triggers. Some are leaf switches, some are microswitches, some have custom mounts to put them in position, some work off of the action of a solenoid, some work off existing targets, rollovers, etc.
Try elsewhere for cheap stuff & see how it works out. I'm just throwing it out there to help out. Just like this project.
Quoted from Betelgeuse:Some are leaf switches, some are microswitches, some have custom mounts to put them in position, some work off of the action of a solenoid, some work off existing targets, rollovers, etc.
Sure, I understand that, but what device(s) are you using for electrical isolation?
Optos, Relays, simply piggybacking switches?
That is what I'm asking.
(and thank you for not keeping your fine work secret! LOL)
I've been playing with mine for a few days. I've got a power plug, headers soldered in. I'm gonna try to do a video tomorrow morning and post a very rough demo so others can see how easy it is. I think once you see it in action, it'll make a lot more sense. I'm really surprised there are nearly no youtube videos on this subject.
I've yet messed with programming it through the serial port yet so I can do random banks of sounds
Cool, I hate to see you steal Brian's thunder, but I'm glad to see the truth finally come out.
I've had 2 of these Sparkfun boards, loaded with great sound and songs for a month now. I've got the switches triggering the assigned sounds and the songs are seamlessly looped.
All I need is to see a practical isolation scheme; I sure don't want to reinvent the wheel.
Thanks man, you totally rock!
Quoted from cichlid:I've got the switches triggering the assigned sounds and the songs are seamlessly looped
do you have version 1 or 2? Mine was set by default to play once. Does yours have the little test knob on top (press down to start, press again to stop, click right to go up a track, click left to go back a track)?
Quoted from cichlid:Sure, I understand that, but what device(s) are you using for electrical isolation?
Optos, Relays, simply piggybacking switches?
I'm not sure I understand. Anywhere where a switch for the MP3 Trigger was at risk of shorting to the game's switch matrix, I just used electrical tape or heat shrink tubing to insulate it.
Quoted from Betelgeuse:I'm not sure I understand. Anywhere where a switch for the MP3 Trigger was at risk of shorting to the game's switch matrix, I just used electrical tape or heat shrink tubing to insulate it.
Which means his signal voltage is coming from whatever sound board he is using and all he did was wire in switch lines. Close a switch to ground and a sound plays. Sounds like he didn't have to do much more than that with the device(s) he used.
Quoted from ChadTower:Which means his signal voltage is coming from whatever sound board he is using and all he did was wire in switch lines. Close a switch to ground and a sound plays. Sounds like he didn't have to do much more than that with the device(s) he used.
That's it, you've got it. Each trigger on the board has it's own hot and ground. This doesn't mix with the games existing wiring or switches at all. You could have the game turned off and the audio would still work.
Quoted from Betelgeuse:That's it, you've got it. Each trigger on the board has it's own hot and ground. This doesn't mix with the games existing wiring or switches at all. You could have the game turned off and the audio would still work.
Heh, I hope that's not the case... at least pull the voltage for your sound system from something inside the power switch. Assuming you're powering those boards with some sort of 12v laptop power supply you could tap the 110v right before the game's main transformer and the cabinet main switch will turn it off and on.
You didn't use the service outlet, did you?
BTW, I love this game. Ghostbusters is probably the biggest missed pinball opportunity of the last 20 years.
Didn't get around to doing a video this morning, will try tonight.
I think there needs to be a sticky thread (like Vid does) that lays this out, I think more people would be apt to try it if they saw a good demo video.
Hunted around last night, apparently the cable you need to hook up with USB is called an FTDI cable:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9718
I believe these can be had for cheaper, that's just one example. Only reason you'd need the usb cable is if you want to update the firmware on the chip (new code). It's possible chichlid has an old firmware that has looping on by default.
I bought connectors to make my own cables, not realizing that .100" pitch is the standard header on most PC's, so probably easier to buy these cables pre-made (if you've ever built your own computer, it's like the thin wires you hook up for power switch, reset switch, HDD light, etc).
For power I'm using a 5v wall plug from a D-link router ($6 on amazon). I intend on simply plugging it into the extra outlet nside the cabinet. What's nice is this board will handle 4.5-12V input making it quite flexible. I don't recommend hacking a usb cable to give you 5V since it draws 650mah (I got a new error message that says my usb is exceeding power limits). I could have blown my computer's usb chip by being impatiently stupid
The mp3 .INI file (search around, there are example files you can copy into a text editor) goes onto the micro SD card for instructions (like volume control, random tracks, etc). Only way for you to access 512 banks of sounds with full control is through arduino (not ready to go down that path just yet, but nice that it supports it, and arduino kit is less than $30).
It's amazing the old one only had 7 channels, now we get 18 for the same price.
Quoted from Betelgeuse:Each trigger on the board has it's own hot and ground. This doesn't mix with the games existing wiring or switches at all.
Quoted from cichlid:Sure, I understand that, but what device(s) are you using for electrical isolation?
Optos, Relays, simply piggybacking switches?
Ah, see, you were hoping for some fancy optoisolators that you could just hook up in parallel to the switching matrix.
But instead Brian faked you out and hooked up everything separately. Labor intensive, but obviously effective.
Quoted from vid1900:Ah, see, you were hoping for some fancy optoisolators that you could just hook up in parallel to the switching matrix.
But instead Brian faked you out and hooked up everything separately.
You know, I really WAS hoping for a clever solution, like using the lighting circuits to drive relays or activate phototransistors.
Stacking switches instead of using the existing voltages seems clumsy.
Quoted from toyotaboy:Only reason you'd need the usb cable is if you want to update the firmware on the chip (new code).
You can also put the file "MP3TRIGR.HEX" in the root of the SD card and when you boot up, it will automatically update the firmware without a computer or cable.
Power cycle the board and then it is updated.
Quoted from cichlid:You can also put the file "MP3TRIGR.HEX" in the root of the SD card and when you boot up, it will automatically update the firmware without a computer or cable.
that's good to know! I need to update my firmware to the latest then.
*edit* Ok, I get it now, I see the looping audio. If you wire it up to switches with power off, works just fine. Turn on the power, looping audio. I guess this makes sense since there's live voltage of between 2-4V through ground, and this device is triggered by 3.3-5V. I'm racking my brain how to isolate each switch from this powerline?
Trying to bump this thread. Measured the voltage coming out of the trigger inputs, sure enough 3.3v, no wonder why it's getting triggered over and over. I spose if I have 4v on the line, and I use the right value resistor to drop it to 2v, this should solve it? But then is it going to jump back to 4v when the switch is activated?
Quoted from cichlid:You know, I really WAS hoping for a clever solution, like using the lighting circuits to drive relays or activate phototransistors.
Stacking switches instead of using the existing voltages seems clumsy.
Oh yea, since so many people have managed to pull this off before. Why would anyone care how I had done this anyway, then? I think I made it pretty clear from the beginning that I am not a techno genius and that this was something anyone could do.
Quoted from Betelgeuse:Oh yea, since so many people have managed to pull this off before. Why would anyone care how I had done this anyway, then?
I don't think he meant any insult to you (at least I did not read it that way).
I think he just thought that because you had not shown any pictures of your hook up, you were hiding some amazing hat trick.
Absolutely fantastic! Brilliant work and the kind of dedication that deserves every praise that comes your way!
Quoted from Betelgeuse:Oh yea, since so many people have managed to pull this off before. Why would anyone care how I had done this anyway, then? I think I made it pretty clear from the beginning that I am not a techno genius and that this was something anyone could do.
Hey man, I did not mean to insult you in any way.
Your game looked so professional, I honestly though you had cooked up an isolating circuit of some kind.
Please accept my apologies and I look forward to your video.
Quoted from toyotaboy:Trying to bump this thread. Measured the voltage coming out of the trigger inputs, sure enough 3.3v, no wonder why it's getting triggered over and over. I spose if I have 4v on the line, and I use the right value resistor to drop it to 2v, this should solve it? But then is it going to jump back to 4v when the switch is activated?
Where are you getting these voltages?
From the installed card in the game, or just on your workbench?
Quoted from Betelgeuse:Oh yea, since so many people have managed to pull this off before. Why would anyone care how I had done this anyway, then? I think I made it pretty clear from the beginning that I am not a techno genius and that this was something anyone could do.
Not many people who have done this answer questions about it. They show a finished game with a youtube link and questions are avoided. If they do answer questions it isn't in detail. For better or worse pinball is often an "I have it and you don't and that makes me feel good" hobby. That's one of the reasons this thread is so long. Someone is finally answering questions in detail.
Quoted from cichlid:Where are you getting these voltages?
From the installed card in the game, or just on your workbench?
I'm getting that voltage from the lines running on the switches while it's in attract mode or playing a game. Didn't get a chance this weekend to see if the voltage changes when the switch is activated (which it would have to in order to detect a switch is pressed), or see if any of my other pins have this same issue.
Truly sorry if I overreacted. It's just that I felt I have gone out of my way to share this information with everyone. I even made a website to help try to explain these things, in case you missed it:
http://www.tristatechapter.com/arcade/ghostbusters/ghostbusters.html
I didn't think I was being evasive about any questions that had been asked in this thread or the countless ones I have received through PM and email. I just felt kind of slighted when my method was referred to as 'clumsy'. Sure, it could be improved upon, but I couldn't think of hardly anything that couldn't be achieved with the audio using this method. You just have to get creative.
-Brian
I am very grateful for all the info Brian has posted about this build! I, like many others I'm sure, have contacted him with questions, and he is always quick and informative with his responses. A big thank you from me to Brian for putting this thread and the website together for everyone to see! It has pushed me back toward a build that I had previously abandoned. Two very big thumbs up to you my friend!
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