Ah! Awesome! That put me at ease. Thank you for taking your time explaining.

Great stream btw, so cool to hear the direct audio.

Going to stream more pirates tonight with direct audio and video capture! Live at 8 Eastern at http://www.twitch.tv/buffalopinball

Has anybody heard anything about adding/expanding the lightshow and audio when firing at the ship and then sinking the ship?
The new movie clips help but I think just firing and hitting the ship should result in much better audio and greater light show and then sinking the ship should really be something "special"

Hard to tell in the live streams but is there no explosion audio on a direct hit or any shaker integration on a hit?

Please,
There are two outcomes to firing the cannon. A hit, or a bullseye. Not too long ago JP added videos for each outcome. There are big and huge audio outcomes for each. These are the LOUDEST sounds in the game. All of the JJP streams only incidentally capture game audio from the mike so the real experience obtained by standing in front of a pin after blowing up the ship is not available.
The explosions are big, the orchestra goes nuts and it is very rewarding. It used not to be, it is now.

This event happens when the ball is wild and it is as big as it can be without nerfing your ability to continue playing.

There is considerable low frequency content in these fanfares and those with subs attached will notice it.

ddt

I think I posted that in the TH thread someplace. When I get home tonight I'll try to search for the link. If I can't find it, I'll post some pictures in that thread for you. To sum it up ... I split the signal going to the cabinet sub (from the back of the PC cabinet box connection) so that it goes to both the RH and LH audio cable channels to the sub, then out of a small capped off access plate on the back of the pin. This is the way Pinnovators recommends it.

Hey Thunderbird. I don't own a POTC (considering buying one) but do have a Dialed In and have watched a ton of the JJP live stream videos. I would say get whatever game you like the best, play both and get a good number of games in on each before pulling the trigger. As NIB games continue to become higher in price I would expect to take a greater hit on the secondary market. There's only so many pinball dollars to go around and I've found that selling newer higher end games takes longer then selling higher end Bally / Williams titles or Stern pro games. What drew me to Dialed In is how rich everything is in the game in terms of the animations, rules, sounds, music, etc.

Dialed In has a ton of toys with 5 magnets, the drones, theater toy, moving mechanic, large physical ball lock, moving QED toy, etc. Pirates has a lot of toys as well and I would have given it the edge over Dialed In in that department if the original 3 disk toy and moving chest was still in the game. After the production changes to Pirates I would give Dialed In the edge in toys. Dialed In offers a greater variety of toys and mechanical features then Pirates in my opinion.

I prefer games with deep objective based rulesets and both Dialed In and Pirates offer that. Pirates has way more modes then Dialed In but I don't find them to be as unique or as rich compared to Dialed In's disaster modes as all 125 chapter modes in Pirates play the same as there's no licensed actor audio / video from the films feature in any of them (other then a quick 2 second clip at the beginning). Same goes for each movie multiball in Pirates. There's a multiball for each movie but I don't feel like I'm playing through an event in 1 of the 5 films as there's no licensed actor audio / video. However, the 5 wizard modes in Pirates come across as very unique and remind be of the multi stage WOZ, Hobbit, and LOTR type mid wizard modes that I enjoy. Also, the pick of pirate feature in Pirates is super cool and combined with the map awards feature opens up a ton of strategy options. I can see the pirate character feature being a big draw at home for family, friend, pinball league nights, and tournaments. With the pick a pirate feature the lack of licensed actor audio / video in the game kinda fades away as you are then trying to maximize how modes are played in regards to scoring and getting through them quickly to get to wizard modes.

Since Sunshine here in NYC has both POTC and DI, I recently got to play them back to back. THey are both worth owning. DI feels like a sports car in the sense of speed handling while POTC is like a luxury vehicle with all the options. I don't miss the features that were taken off from prototype (which I was able to play a few games on)

As for NIB games loosing value, to me they hold value incredibly well compared to my other hobby, high end audio. I was shocked at this when first getting into pinball about 2 years ago.

I want to get a JJP game but will have to sell my TAF to do so, and I'm debating a POTC or wait for perhaps WW? The space MY audio gear takes up and living in NY means I can only have one game. I now see why most people here have a game room full. On location it's also hard to get a sense of the game since it's so loud and with the venues music playing.

Oh yeah. As far as movie based pins go I think The Hobbit, with its latest code, is now the best of all time in my opinion due to excellent use of licensed assets being integrated throughout the game. The amount of work that went into that games rules, animations, music, and audio is astounding.

I get both the pop on boot up which is fairly normal, but I also get the cracks every now and then in the gameplay audio.

Audio clipping and drop outs.

OK, of the handful of little things to tinker with, I have no real concern so far. The one big annoyance is the clipping and drop outs in the audio. It is starting to drive me crazy! I believe that a few have questioned audio related issues, what is the fix here? I can upload a video if need be but it is painfully obvious and annoying.

Just listening to the end of game audio now, clippity clip! It's like a 'pop' sound.

Try to unplug the headphone jack connector on the mainboard. My audio is perfect since that

Try to unplug the headphone jack connector on the mainboard. My audio is perfect since that

I had exact the same and did it the same way. Other way is shorten the post itself a bit

I'll try the audio connection. For the post, I did both, took down the top of the screw head and grinder down the plastic post a bit as well. The post alone would have helped I supposes

That solved the clipping! Thanks for sending that suggestion back into the thread, in response to my issue. Man, it was frequent and very annoying! (Simple fix)

I hear a drop out in the audio on the last game I tried but this is not a pop or clipping etc... I expect that the drop might be a software fix in the waiting. Completely cool with that.

Too fast a reply unfortunately. A couple games later I am hearing the clipping again. I will play and try the audio jack thing (re-seating) and see where it takes me.
UPDATE: it is still way less than before, that's a start!

No actually, just unplugged the 1/8' audio cable and reconnected it. I have since opened up the area to the main board and reset that connector (pin was off). I also re-seated the 1/8" jack as well (again, while I was back there). Still clipping but less than this morning.

I've said it before, this game is a Masterpiece. The only issue for JJP and especially Eric is Topping this game. Not going to be easy! For me, the biggest surprise and value of this pin is how immersive the audio and graphics are. With all the nay sayers early on demanding DVD rips I feared there would be gaps in the play to code animation. Far from it to me. Not to put this game on a pedestal but the animations and sound tracks created FAR exceed my expectations and I can't think of another game done this well. Add to that I suspect Keith/Joe and team are still not done as they seem like perfectionists. (good thing). As for easy to understand, I can see this being difficult to master on a route but in home use I feel the fact you can't really Master every aspect in one week is a great new spin for Pinball. A new adventure every time we play it.

Our games are in our media room with a nice 5.1.2 setup w/ subwoofer. We’ve been talking about trying a Bluetooth transmitter plugged into the headphone jack to push the audio to the sound system.

Yep, scares me every time. Sounds like I am going to pop the speakers. Like I said, the line level out of the CPU is really low so they have to amp the signal up pretty significantly. It works, but I am guessing may also increase the audio pops on startup. Also amps any static they have on the line which i am guessing may contribute to the audio pops we hear during the game.

Mine has always done this as well.

I believe that Keith mentioned it as possibly being resolved in one of the last updates but it is still happening.

I also still have some audio clicking. I'll have to record some of it to see if others have that. There has been some discussion of what to check and to try to re-seat audio/speaker related connectors/cabling but that didn't fix it.

I think that we've bounced around the idea but if they would just allow an MP3 or sound file option in attract mode then we could choose our own music/audio.

Simple add-on and they could even restrict it to free play only. This way we can add what we want for our home arcade and they don't really have to worry about operators adding something that they shouldn't (if that matters). Who is interested in this?

The red portion doesn't stick, it just moves correctly, its the registration of the switch open closed state that is flaking out.

Check out the vid. BTW, it behaves the same if its my finger pushing the metal switch arm..i just took this video before I used my finger. You can hear the test screen in the audio.

Seems its a bit of a 'hidden mode' too because I'm not seeing anything regarding 666666 mode in the instruction .pdf.

does anybody know if getting there actually does anything besides the screen animation (and possibly additional audio)? is there an extra multiplier or additional jackpots/rewards?

Hogbog ?

Just looked...not exactly very cheap...$50.

Mini High-Gain Stereo Audio Booster With Volume Control https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018IKIX02/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.cCsCbSPFVCC4

But it works.

But what type of subs are you guys using. I saw one on crutchfield for 140 with amp. Also it has a left and right input, how would this be hooked up?
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_107PSW10B/Polk-Audio-PSW10-Black.html

Um...huh

Polk Audio PSW10 10-Inch Powered Subwoofer (Single, Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002KVQBA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_UcZsCbHAYHYJ9

Just use one input, it is fine. Additional clips on the pinball cabinet sub speaker to one of the inputs on the external subwoofer.

Is there a way to mod the sound on this? I'd love to play with the audio and add some custom music and sound clips to it.

I'm going to be adding a sub to my POTC the same way I did on my DI.
I added a 3.5mm "Y" splitter from the MB audio output jack in the backbox. Then I run a 3.5mm cable out to the sub with a 3.5mm to RCA Stereo pair adapter on the end.
Super clean. Sounds great. Easy peasy. The sub's crossover filters out the highs.

Nick "junky"

We've "been aboard" since December. Even though we've had more (minor) issues to resolve out of the box than most who've checked in here, I have zero regrets about it because there's SO much value in its single cabinet relative to what else could potentially fill that space.

Big question for me would be: dump it for what else? What's available now or on anyone's radar that is of similar quality and depth to Pirates? What machine can offer more gameplay and quality in all the ways we know that count in that same single-machine space? That's a REALLY high bar at this point. In the meantime? A pirate's life for me.

In normal situations, why do we sell games? We master them. The rules and/or sounds/display are repetitive. There's new shiny objects that by some subjective measure are different/desirable enough to swap for.

Master Pirates? Well, when you can complete Break the Curse in 3 out of 5 games, you probably ought to hit the Circuit like yesterday. Repetitive? Relative to other games Pirates has arguably unprecedented variety and depth in gameplay along with a jolly roger-flying boatload of very high quality audio/video assets, and the code's not even done yet. Shiny objects? Maybe Stern does a theme you just have to have, or CGC remakes your favorite classic, but are they going to be objectively comparable in terms of gameplay value to Pirates? I suppose we'll see. Until then, pick your character and I'm going to try to plunder you blind. (Can you plunder opponents in any other potential replacement game?)

My other games are really good and really pimped out, but the Pirates honeymoon continues. Every time we power it up it's a special treat--a challenging, varied, and exciting gameplay experience with tons of "delicious frosted topping" heaped on. It challenges every pinball skill in a beautiful environment loaded with cool stuff that makes pinheads smile. Weeks after its "landfall" here I haven't tired of it in the slightest, because each game you're off on another path of adventure among so many possibilities, determined mostly by your play--maybe all the way to Break the Curse this time?? Unlikely...but press Start and let's find out. And again. And again...

I've posted about this before. JJP's are just computers. You can easily connect a headphone cable y splitter off of the audio out port on the motherboard. And then just run that to an RCA adapter on the line in on your subwoofer. This is the cleanest way to go. You have no modification to your game. No soldering. And it's the proper way to send signal to a subwoofer. Easy peasy

I think that's just bad audio recording. It's that noise right after the coil noise when you switch characters. It's also during gameplay on some occasions. I do have 0.98 installed.

check the connection of your audio out from the cpu board to the audio in (j102) on the audio amp board. it sounds like one of them is not fully inserted, therefore only giving you some of the sounds.

I can allow Kaneda's view that POTC isn't a"Greatest of all time" game as some have proclaimed it to be. That is a subjective ranking opinion and he's entitled to it. However, to pronounce it a loser because it doesn't meet his narrow definition of a winning pinball game (must tell a story and be approachable) is simply absurd. Additionally, stating that it doesn't take advantage of its widebody playfield, has no toys of value, and the center spinner has absolutely no effect on the ball, all make me wonder what the hell he was looking at while playing the POTC at Sunshine Laundromat and/or how their game has been set up!

I also wonder how well he could hear the game at Sunshine as the audio on POTC is not only amazingly good, it REALLY enhances the gameplay and significantly aids a player's understanding of its various features.

One only needs to watch a portion of Karl DeAngelo's latest fantastic POTC stream from this very afternoon to see what a wonderful game it is!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/389946436

To go off on a very quick tangent, pinball is at it's core, metal meeting wood and plastic. We've even seen P3 involve glass, and the loss of tactile feedback alters pinball in a way where it's no longer pinball. Down that road, to heavily weigh plot structure or narrative advancement would need to be facilitated via moving, interchangable pieces on the playfield itself, and outside of glass, that's impossible. So to do so now, has to be done via an LCD screen somehow. LCD's definitely remove a viewer from the main component of pinball again, the tactile feedback.

Unless 3 to 4 dedicated years were spent engineering entirely new game advancements and engineering feats, which in turn would sink any company wishing to profit, there won't ever be narrative journeys more substantial than jumbled video and audio clips mashed oddly together, ala the Hobbit or Batman 66. The limit isn't necessarily the creators, it's the medium, and again, pinball being pinball, with elaborate nuances at best, and that is more than fine by me.

I had a Star Wars LE for over a year and feel very similar. I actually just sold it to buy a Pirates LE. The mission structure in Star Wars is awesome but I was not a big fan of the rather empty layout. In terms of shots that pass through or drop into an area Star Wars premium / LE has 8 of them (7 on pro minus the fork ramp) where Pirates has 16 not including the extra ball shot which would make 17.

It's cool that Star Wars has all of the movie clips and actor audio / video. After a while though the layout just felt dull, the left outlane drove me nuts, and the mini LCD area felt wasted with uninspired skillshots. You can tell where JJP spent their money with Pirates and it was on the toys, features, and code. I've finally realized that at the end of the day all those items are more important to me then having movies clips.

I sold mine right before I bought pirates as well! I agree the video/audio didn’t make up for the playfield......although I did like dodging asteroids in video mode. While waiting to place my POTC order I went old school and picked up Williams IJ (my other keeper beside pirates) and black rose. I picked up black rose as a temp game to mess around with until I decided to get pirates. Before I bought it I had neighbor lined up to buy it as his first pin as he wanted something more entry level price wise. My wife said to me “black rose is quirky and fun....let’s keep it awhile longer and sell Star Wars.” lol

I decided to keep my NIB POTC LE and finally opened the carton and set it up this past weeked ... so I'm now officially in the club and loving the game!!!

For those keeping track, my game is LE # 224 and was built on 1/28/19 and other than a bunch of typical NIB adjustments and minor fixes, the only outstanding items I have to address yet are a poor screen right side hardware latch (screen sags as a result) and a really noisy spinning disk (which I know is somewhat typical too). Oh, and my topper is missing its mounting hardware (screws and plugs).

Hooked up a Polk PSW10 subwoofer directly to the game's CPU audio output too and the bass is now rockin' - SO NICE to finally get to enjoy this game at home rather than on route!

I was saying to a friend last night, how well this game blends it's A/V package with the gameplay. That to me, on top of the excellent shot and rule design, make it a must own among modern pins.

Compare this game to the Munster's use of A/V in complimenting gameplay. In that game, there are incessantly several different voices, that for me feel more distracting than immersive. In this example the simplified license aids POTC, rather than having so many varied and frenzied call-outs, there's one comprehensive and incredibly professional one in the form of Gibbs/Kevin McNally.

Regarding the display, when a mode is initiated, the frenzy on the table is momentarily halted, while the ball ricochets back and forth, locked into a gameplay mechanic. In that moment, no concern for a ball drain exists, which allows the player to pause completely amidst the action, see a clip that plays more like an ambient visual clue than one featuring an actor where attention is fully engaged, and table immersion divided between the screen and the playfield. Compared to the Munster's, and many modern games, there's an abrasive set of audio and visuals that ultimately feel more jarring than complimentary towards what's occuring below. A random clip of Herman doesn't often feel tied to gameplay, whereas in Pirates, the quick video clip sets a mood, enhancing atmosphere, more than breaking it.

I feel like Pirates is the first modern game that uses the LCD screen in an entirely complimentary way, more so than distracting. It's a balance that the Hobbit, WOZ or Iron Maiden haven't accomplished. It's more cue based, feeling based, mood based, then "stare at the screen and watch the same clip over, and over, again". The brevity makes those clips more cues than attention holding, and allows just a quick break from the game, to breathe, check goals, and then revert attention downwards again.

For me, the shots and layout are so damn amazing, but the audio cues, use of the LCD screen are even more so. Pirate represents the best blend of stellar classic gameplay meets modern enhanced functionality. Congrats to all owners of this excellent pin, and most of all it's Hogbog creators!

Edit: Oops, sorry Eric for the doubling up of consonants in your username. Only happened because the game is doubly awesome..!

My game is playing beautifully but I am going to have to call JJP about my sound issues which persist. I have tried the couple of suggestions way back in the thread with resetting audio connectors etc... but they have not resolved the issues.

Between the sound popping/clicks (no not the loud initial pop on power up) and the audio which seems to sort of cut out, it is enough to bother me. I've had a couple people notice it without me mentioning it.

I will go back and see if there were other suggestions.

Oh excellent! That sounds familiar from this thread! I'm missing a manual cd, and topper plugs and screws also. Should I contact my distributor for all of these or JJP tech support?

Would this be causing the attract audio cut out also?

Pirates already has a ground loop isolator installed by the factory (unless it got missed). Go over the audio connections up there and make sure everything is plugged in tightly.

Got my LE up and running yesterday. Put around 20 games on it and thankfully its playing perfectly so far. May have a minor issue with some Super Shiny pinballs getting slightly magnetized at the chest but will see.

Before playing it at home I had only played it on location. What a difference. I can finally hear all of the callouts and music. David Thiel did an incredible job with the games music and sound affects as did Kevin McNally for the games callouts. Even though theres no actor audio and actor video in the game I think it worked out extremely well for the game as otherwise the ruleset wouldn't have been designed the way it is. The ruleset for the game feels like a blend between LOTR and WOZ in my opinion.

Yeah, I think it's a good blend between both rulesets. LOTR is loaded with progressive based modes while WOZ has a few of those but has many switch points based modes (first 3 Munchkin modes, Crystal ball modes, Haunted modes).

The 125 chapter modes in Pirates are not progressive based but still feel like modes from LOTR in the sense that you have to hit specific shots on the playfield. I tend to prefer hit specific shots type modes versus random switch based modes (hit orbits, pops, all switches, etc) that become dull quickly in my opinion. Every chapter mode in Pirates has you working the playfield in a different way which is pretty cool. Theres also callouts for specific character shots as well as those remaining to help make up for the lack of actor audio / video a bit.

Multiball modes, besides Curse of the Black Pearl, feel a bit like switch based modes with the same shots being hit over and over for jackpots. Wizard modes take things back to LOTR and WOZ mini wizard mode design in the sense they are these separate events that occur in the game and are progressive based. Overall it's a pretty cool ruleset design.

Hey guys,

Audio:

I have some pretty strong vibration coming specifically from the lower left corner of the playfield (before the flippers). Has anyone else experienced this? Is it possible something is rubbing against the sub on the bottom causing this vibration?

Clipping - Nothing unplayable or anything, but definitely enough to lessen my thrill a bit. And being an audiophile, pretty much unacceptable. Is clipping a somewhat reported issue?

Otherwise -- LOVING this game and I'll catch up on the posts that I missed before this one.

Back to playing!

Pin guy app free. If you have a smartphone, you have no excuse. :p I love the audio callout of the pin guy app too. I put it on the PF and climb under the pin and start adjusting. And it tells me where I need to raise/lower so I don't have to crawl out from under the machine.

Apologizes for repeating myself...

But anyone else experiencing audio clipping on Pirates?

I guess one possible issue is the headphone connector/wire?

Hey,

So I guess audio clipping is "rare."

...Yay!

FWIW...

I plugged in headphones and had absolutely 0 audio clipping.
So I'm not sure if it's a wire or the speaker itself.

The audio clipping seems minimal...or better.

And what I mean by that is just a hint of static here and there.
Is no one really experiencing this whatsoever?

Oh... I forgot to add to my "To-Do" list...

Trying to squash the audio clipping/static.

Plugged in headphones and it's flawless. Need to figure out how to disconnect this molex connector and test. Hopefully, that's it and then I can work on re-routing.

Is it bad that there is no audio for me on the clip but I immediately know what he is saying......................

The one I played on site was actually CE, but yea...I agree.

Couldn't hear audio for anything (where's the "fun" in that). So damn noisy AND they have the machines turned down.
And it had the SDTM off the Tortuga VUK...which is funny because I was trying to figure out how I was going to deal with that when I got my game because I thought it was me.

Turns out...it wasn't me.

Yea, no...I agree!

I really just want to play it as well. Mylar(ing?) the Start Chapter Area seems like a good place, but outside of that. I mean, yea...I don't think there's any other issues. Lloyd himself mentioned adding another layer of Mylar where Man Overboard occurs since the ball drops down hard directly to the playfield.

I have the Cliffy's on order and so ... knowing that I have to remove the BP to do this... I'm not going to be in any hurry.

New flipper assemblies are on their way to me as we speak so I can hopefully be over this BP flipper issue.

I STILL need to level, clean, wax, AND fix the auto-plunger thing...but short of that.
(I do have audio clipping/static. When I plugged in headphones, it was flawless. Need to disconnect that molex connector see if it goes away. If it does, I guess I need to re-route the one specific wire or something)

I should be GOLDEN to PLAY, PLAY, PLAY !!!

I'm trying really hard for a n00b, but I'm looking forward to everything being great soon!

Does anyone sell Titan that also sells star posts? I see that Marco doesn't... it looks like Bay Area might. I was hoping for Marco or PBL. Are the Perfect Play close to Titan? Or are Titan just that much better? Or is just because that is what is OEM?

Also, I'm putting together an order... I have the 6 star posts and all new rings for the PoTC I just picked up used/routed a bit. All the rubbers need to be replaced (all black colored now) and I can clearly see the dimpling on the sling posts (one of them had some chipping now where the playfield wood is showing). Do I need some sort of soft washer to go under them?

As far as I can tell the game plays fine. Ship works nicely, nothing is protecting the wires so I'll do that when I install the rest of the cliffy kit that came with it. Also came with the gear mod for the spinning disc, so that was nice. Need to install. So not sure I need anything else, but open to suggestions

One more question... I recall reading here about audio clicking/cutting in and out. I believe that one of the fixes was to move some audio cables in the cabinet away from electrical? Can someone point me in the right direction?

That was me amongst others for the audio. You may not have the issue.

Still need to disconnect the Molex connector and test.

Pinball is only one of the projects I have been working on and unfortunately haven’t gotten back to it yet.

When I think of flowing, perfect audio, I think of this game. The way sound effects, musical themes, and call-outs blend is absolutely sublime. No other game matches this audio wise.

It's good to be home boys.

Yelobird

I have to agree. As much as I want to protect my investment, I have to understand that as long as I maintain it I should be "good" and yea I just want to play...

I get the new flipper assemblies tomorrow.

I still haven't ordered any additional mylar.
1) Extra piece on Man Overboard
2) Start Chapter Area

Need to level .. sitting at 7 degrees.

Fix the plunger issue where the shooter is hitting the auto-plunger fork. I did this already and the issue returned somehow...

HOPEFULLY fix the audio. I'm an audio guy and any imperfections slightly dampen the experience for me almost immediately.

And then I can play ... I hope! =)

LOVE!

And much respect.

The ones that REALLY want it always seem to find a way. I'm not rich either, by no means - just very fortunate, blessed, and lucky for the time being and extremely humble.

It's just so damn cool to say you own one of these things...or more. I told someone at Best Buy earlier today and he just lit up with awe. How did this conversation possibly take place? Well, you see, I'm desiring to turn one of my spare bed rooms into a "mini" theatre. (I had an actual large size room all planned for it, but my love for pocket billiards is great). Well anyways, I was chatting about different tvs and ya know how they always have those pictures and videos playing that just look surreal? Well one of them was a pinball machine...like the ball rolling around and what not and I took note of it and the rest is history.

My "biggest" thing was just a rare flipper issue which I have the replacement parts for. I have just been lazy, reluctant, and frankly...busy. I just moved into my new home last October and there's always 2038438 things that need to get done it seems.

I'm REALLY LOOKING FORWARD to spending some quality time with this thing and knock out the "issues" that I have. BP flippers. Tighten loose flippers. Level. Install mods including disc silencer kit. Clean and Wax. Work on the plunger assembly. Work on the audio.

And THEN (I think), I can PLAY. I'll very happily keep you all very informed on my progress and probably even share some photos when it's all said and done.

GOOD times ahead!

I actually already put a Pyle 8" sub in the cab, but without an extra amp. Helps with some bass but probably does need an amp or just an external sub. Stern games do a better job here because you can boost the bass in the audio settings. C'mon JJP, catch up!

I think I can answer "yes" in terms of the mid range muddiness (using our speaker). There is a low pass filter whose -3dB (Fc) point is about 180Hz. Frequencies above are attenuated and frequencies below are amplified.

The highs might be improved with a speaker upgrade in the backbox.

Audio mastery plays a role as well in terms of the tonal quality but POTC has an incredible track so I'd be surprised if this were the source of the "muddiness".

Some things to consider. Hope that helps!

Full info for anyone interested:

I hooked up a Polk PSW10 powered subwoofer to my POTC as I have with all of my Stern games and my Houdini. These sound great and are relatively cheap - as little as $80 online occasionally. I think it helps with POTC's bass, but it's not as noticeable a difference to me as on my newer Stern games which I attribute to JJP's cabinet subwoofer probably being better than Stern's.

This is the cable that I have used to connect most of my subwoofers (but there are a lot of others that will work as well and you typically only need one RCA jack rather than two):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YDUZ22/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00

On the right underside of your POTC's CPU (located behind the backbox screen), you'll find the typical (pink, green, blue(?)) sockets for audio jacks to plug into. You want to use the headphone output socket that the cabinet front headphone socket's cable is already connected to. To do so you'll need a splitter (3.5 mm male to (2) 3.5 mm females) so you can connect your subwoofer to it as well.

I ran the cable out the bottom of the cabinet through one of the ventilation openings - you'll need to pry up the screen slightly. If you use a Polk PSW 10 just follow the simple instructions that come with it for its various settings.

Agreed. I've added external audio controls/headphone inputs to all my newer games and they're super convenient! The ability to turn the sound on/off too is handy as well. Also nice to avoid the typical speaker/subwoofer pop when turning the game on and off.

Completely agree.

On another note, if anyone is following, I still have the audio issue on boot. The hissing/squeaking that continues for at least 15-20 seconds. I'm still working on my own solutions for this (which coincidentally might also work with the "pop" on boot that most games have) but, as well, I don't think I should have to solve this. Here is the video for reference: https://photos.app.goo.gl/odnbN7kq2K235JXn9

Reported to JJP tech support.

Hey, for anyone who was interested in my resolution for audio "pop" at power on, here is a thread I started: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/eliminating-the-dc-pop-on-game-power-on

from my experience that starts to go away the more you play and learn the audio clues and the timer lengths (which are pretty generous to be honest). sometimes its well worth it to sacrifice 5-10-20 gold on the table if the ball is heading into a bad spot. and it starts to get really easy to know how much gold is out on the table simply from the audio clues just because of how well the audio is designed on the game.

beckett is pretty much a 'never pick' at this point in my world. but i'll never discount that he could be utilized effectively in some way. part of the beauty of this game

I believe the thing is Disney didn't own The audio and video rights of each actor. Which is different from pictures or images.

LTG : )

I would imagine that standard connectors would result in higher quality audio. Can't say as to how much though as I've never used alligator clips for hooking up a sub.

Are the SEs all gone? Automated had a few last time someone posted.

I played Wonka at the NWPAS this weekend and enjoyed it as a game but not sure if I am going to grab one. So hard to tell with just a few plays and without being able to hear the audio (forgot my headphones).

I am a new owner for POTC. Do other people have tiny crackling sometimes in the audio - like a short tiny pop?
Also the PF-lights seem to sometimes flicker for a brief moment (under a second for sure).

Anyone with similar symptons and what's the cure?

Thanks for any info!

Rebalance your levels between music/fx/voice. The software doesn't do this (why? I don't know, it's not a hard task...) so if the total output of all of those put together are too much, you can clip the audio which sounds like static or crackling.

Thanks, I will try this - I do not use the audio on very high setting, but if its a question of the mix, I will try to adjust it (I have it on factory setting).

Also the flicker on the playfield - it may actually be the topper that is flickering and it is reflected on the playfield. I have the topper set on max 32, but still there is the tiny flicker once in a while.

I'm editing them still. Lots of audio sync issues and also doing some color correction. Hopefully by the end of the month. Just need to stop playing so much pirates!

Your POTC, as with all JJP games I think, has one or more GLI already in it. That being said, the JJP ones seem hit or miss and I've had to replace some because of whine/hiss. The pop/crack when a game turns on (as with most games) is the audio amp getting power without a delay/protection circuit. I started messing with a solution and I have one built for POTC and WOZ but it's not a finished product to sell. But basically it's a delay timer that cuts the speakers until the amp gets power. Thus, no pop/crack.

The POTC GLI is in the backbox, silver PC enclosure that goes between the green 1/8" audio jack on the mobo to the green (I believe) jack on the audio board. You just swap that out (or put one there if yours is somehow missing one).

The audio as a whole is phenomenal!

I think it means you hit the action button when there was no gold to collect and the lower display and audio are telling you the next award you will receive for completing the Pirate lanes.

No, you still have to hit the target after completing the inlane to get the award The audio cue comes when you hit the action button before collecting. I didn't say it gets collected when you hit it.

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know about a little audio experiment I just embarked on with my friend Dan @pinwoofer

We added an amplifier to the backbox speakers and a separate amp and 8” sub to replace the existing sub. It made a huge difference. I always thought the sound was pretty decent on jjpotc but this is amazing. Definitely hearing a lot more range and sounds I didn’t know were in there. With two amps it really allows you to balance out the sounds to your liking. The bass is shaking the room. Dan was kind enough to come help me install as it was my first jjp to try one of his kits. Can’t say enough good things about his products and service.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/new-amplified-subwoofer-kits-by-pinwoofer

Hey all, I've got a friend who's working on an academic project to integrate an AR experience with pinball. He's using a Raspberry Pi and will try to capture audio events by analyzing the pin's call-outs and other audio (music, sound effects, etc). If he can get this to work, we realized we could use the tech to trigger video clips. I recall someone else had been working on a small screen to replace the missing (or mostly useless) starfield on the back of POTC. There was a demo of a clip showing "Extra Ball" but without any event integration it was just a random video sample. But if my friend can get his project working we could actually add video content that syncs with the game play. Would be very cool!

Below is the JJP warranty link and "modification" is called out as being "not covered", so I read this as a broadly sweeping disclaimer about any modification. The word "void" does not appear in the document whatsoever and it's pretty clear that the warranty is for 30 days, for parts only excluding any shipping and labor, for the original purchaser:

http://marketing.jerseyjackpinball.com/general/jjp_warranty-updated.pdf

Our kit will make your title sound awesome and judging from the bump we had yesterday you are not alone in your sentiment about the audio. We have scores of these out there and there is nothing to worry about. I'm an EE with 25 years of experience and we definitely know what we're doing - there is no guesswork here. Cool running, fused amplifiers and safe wiring.

When we put a kit in your machine, we treat it like we're putting it in my machine. I hope you get my meaning there.

I can vouch for Dan's awesome kits - I agree that POTC is missing a bit in the audio department (specifically bass, like most pins). Adding PinWoofer to my (original) Monster Bash, Twilight Zone and STTNG have increased the audio quality CONSIDERABLY in all 3 games. Monster Bash now sounds like I have an external sub on it - so much so that I had to add foam to the glass surrounds because it was rattling so much! That game should sound like a rock concert - and now it does!

STTNG sounds much more full and immersive now, instead of the tinny sounds I was hearing before. And TZ (in which I have a PinSound) sounds incredible in stereo, and the music track is pulsing like it should.

I've added just the PinWoofer amp on STTNG and the full kit on other games, and having the dual-voice woofer is really important, but even the amp by itself is an order of magnitude improvement.

In the past, I've built my own solutions using an L-PAD and bigger 10" woofer, installed the Flipper Fidelity kits. Those are really good, and great ideas to enhance the game audio. But this is better.

Ok, so if you guys followed the early days of my posts, you would find that I have been trying to get our beloved POTC to perform on the audio side with external subwoofer and external amps and speakers. I knew the sound was there as you can hear it when you play through headphones.

Well I took the plunge on the PinWoofer setup. When I got it I almost backed out when I saw the install instructions. Be warned this is more invasive than some mods. But I was determined to get good sound out of this.

Let me just say, if you believe this game is the GOAT, you must do this mod. The bass from the upgraded woofer goes well beyond my external Polk. It provides such a great tactile feedback that you don’t get with the external sub. It was a seamless transition between the bass and the shaker. So much so I actually had to check if the shaker was still working.

Be warned, this isn’t for everyone but for those that are keeping this game forever, I highly recommend the upgrade. This and Pinballj/Harry’s trunk mod and you are set for what I believe is one of the greatest pinball experiences ever. I did make a makeshift cover for the amp just to protect it from falling screws. Otherwise the kit has everything you need.

So, how do I get this sound in the rest of my collection?

Great feedback, thank you!

I'd have to agree that there is a bit of "hands over-head" due to the positioning of the backbox speakers. Also, by "invasive" we provide four screws to anchor the base-plate and a few lugs to replace the solder joints at the backbox speaker terminals but the latter actually seem like an improvement! Other than that there is no modification to the pin; everything is sourced and supplied to added electrical connectors and the backbox amp mounts with magnets. Everything can be put back to stock save four screw holes. If someone is concerned about the holes, we can supply feet and velcro circles.

I'll get with you for feedback on improving the instructions. I don't think the install is difficult, but there are a lot of steps shown to cover the gambit. They can be shortened up a bit.

I sincerely hope you enjoy your epic audio setup @villathrills !

Let a happy person live within you!

https://pinwoofer.com/shop?olsPage=products%2Fpinwoofer-powered-super-kit

To view, select "JJP - Late Jersey Jack Pinball" under "PLATFORM AND DUAL AMP POWER HARNESS".

so the announcement was not needing a usb for updates (wifi) and bluetooth audio. Whether that will come to our older games who knows. No new game as far as I know (getting close to end of year for that 2nd game) and nothing mentioned about an update.......well Wonka is getting another update with features aka a whole new game mode. Meanwhile I still cant change the settings to hard/expert. It really is getting ridiculous that we have a half finished game that is getting 0 attention in regards to finishing up the code so it is a complete game. I have a message from keith from early may where he said that it was embarrassing that presets were still not in the game . Now we are 6 months later and still nothing new.

Both of these are fairly trivial considering the underlying platform. I wouldn’t see why they can’t back port it for all machines. Curl/wget the update and unzip to the local file system and check local fs for updates.

I’d guess that “updates“ will be the incremental only unless they re-format the file system and use an additional boot partition. That should be good enough for most people.

It’s going to be more of an issue that they will need to get people to buy either a compatible USB wifi adaptor OR get people to use a lan cable.

Then you have the headache of people being unable to get their wifi working on the machine. There was enough problems getting people to understand how to use USB sticks!

Have people being asking for Bluetooth audio?

I actually already have an external sub hooked up to my Pirates and agree that the installation is fairly simple. While the overall sound is decent, I'm open to potentially improving (replacing) it with PinWoofer. A trial Hobbit install should tell the tale regarding audio potential.

This has been discussed to death in the past. Each actor ( 23 ) owned their own video and audio rights, not Disney, and the only Disney movie like this as far as I know.

So you have to make a deal, your people and their attorney and agent. Some might not cost much, some a lot. Then get the audio/video you want to use. Put it in the game, and get Disney's approval, and then use it or not and continue or start over.

Heaven knows how much money and time this would all chew up. Easily double the cost of the game and delay it many more years.

In spite of everything. Eric made us a great game. With what he had to work with.

LTG : )

Didn’t mean to derail this thread but head over to the dedicated pinwoofer thread or contact Dan directly. Super knowledgeable guy, about audio, pinball and electronics in general.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/new-amplified-subwoofer-kits-by-pinwoofer/page/7#post-5305257

There's the bottle!

In your... theatre room no less?

....

If you have audio popping, I know EXACTLY how to fix it!

Here ya go!

Alex Tech 10ft - 1 inch Cord Protector Wire Loom Tubing Cable Sleeve Split Sleeving for USB Charger Cable Power Cord Audio Video Cable - Protect Cat D https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FW388KV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_YI1bYmXZFyrWB

Oh awesome to hear. I'm gonna take off the glass to do this and put something on the chapter select post to prevent those STDM and figure out what is wrong with my map hole.

I finally got the annoying audio cutting in and out fixed thanks to an owner on Facebook so I've been playing much more lately and that was annoying as hell.

harryhoudini and other pinball modders, I think this could be one hell of an amazing Pirates mod but I don't have the programming knowledge to pull it off. If someone can pull this maybe just sell me one of the mods at cost for the idea lol

I think that most of us Pirates owners would like to hear audio clips of the actors from the movies in the game. From what I've read there's no way to add this to existing code or add it using something like Pinball Browser for Stern games. However, maybe there is a way. What if a device running on Raspberry Pie could recognize specific sounds in the game and when heard play back a piece of audio? For example one of the chapters in the game is called "Wedding Day". When that sound is played the mod would detect it and play back a piece of audio from the film for that scene. A timer in the programming could then trigger for say 60 seconds (or time given to complete chapter mode) that recognizes additional sounds such as the individual character collect sounds and then plays back audio for that character from the scene. When the timer ends the mod knows that a specific chapter has ended or is completed.

This concept could even be taken further by using it for multiballs and wizard modes as there are specific callouts for those modes in the game. Really any audio could be played back based on what the mod detects. There's Gibbs callouts for each character when they are selected at game start. The mod could hear the character selected callout and then playback a piece of audio of the character from the films.

One time consuming part of this mod would be recording all the chapter start and character collect sounds. Then audio from the movies would need to be ripped out. There may be a gray area with licensing at that point but worse case individuals could always add the sounds themselves.

Something like this would probably be needed to tie inputs from the game and mod together so that both sources could play on the games factory speakers. Outputting the mod to its own mini speaker or something probably wouldn't sound as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Rolls-4-Channel-Passive-Stereo-Mixer/dp/B00E4X6N7I/ref=sr_1_9

Oh wow I think this is the first time we've seen anything code wise altered on a JJP game outside of an official release. Awesome stuff. Looking forward to what's next!

With what you've done so far do you think it will eventually be possible to edit existing audio files?

I see that there are 3 possibilities.

1. harryhoudini pulled off an amazing Jack Sparrow costume and the game simply took his picture
2. harryhoudini is really Johnny Depp and loves to create amazing pinball mods.
3. harryhoudini cracked JJP's code for Pirates!

Seriously though if this is the real deal and existing game audio can be edited then this is a game changer. Pirates is already a GOAT level pin but having callouts from all the actors in it would be incredible.

I really don't want to be overwhelmed by the license. I'm less excited by Rick and Morty due to an overwhelming mess of repetitious clips and audio. The allure for POTC for me is the subtlety of how things click on infinite levels, versus bang you over the head with the same video and audio assets. Kinda like Wonka for this reason too.

I like the clever use of GUI that Wonka and Pirates needed, due to a lack of assets usage. Something like Rick and Morty, on the other hand, currently has plopped down full screen clips on loop, with really no clever use of the license visually, akin to all of the amazing work JP Dewinn has done on all of his games.

Fantastic work! If it could be manipulated like pinsound that would be amazing. I’m thinking of folders for a specific game action that will call a random audio sample out of a given folder. Endprodukt made an amazing Indiana Jones mix with some original assets. It never gets old because for any given game action, there might be five audio samples that could be called randomly.

I hear ya there. I don't really care about video clips as the custom assets such as the interactive map and other animations are done so well. However, just a short clip of actor audio from the corresponding movie scene a chapter is based on for when that character is collected would be awesome to hear. If it can't be done that's cool too as like ya said the game excels without those assets.