Make one in Notepad or your text editor of choice. Paste in the text below, and save it as config.ini

debug = false ;
psrec = false ;
sleep = 999 ;

(PinSound Studio Pro might even create one if you launch it and it doesn't find an existing config.ini - not sure. Either way, once you've got it, you can let PinSound Studio Pro edit it, or do it yourself directly.)

I know. You have to create a text file from scratch, name it config.ini, and put the items in it that I describe in my post.

Download the PinSound Studio Pro, open your sound package and you can define all the settings easily. No manual config.ini file required (and all the settings in this file are deprecated for information).
What you're looking is available on the right "global levels".

I forgot, here is the link
https://www.pinsound.org/help/pinsound-studio-pro/

PinSound Do you have any US vendors with stock at this time, or is $50+ shipping from France the only option for us? Thanks

For a single shaker, Post Parcel from France to US is about $23 via PinSide.

It was for a shaker, pinsound board, and speakers. Guess I didn’t expect $55

That IS a lot of stuff. And it's coming from France, not the nearest Amazon warehouse. Those boxes are pretty big dont' forget

Cool, again just wondering if there was someone in the US who had stock. If not, I understand.

Everything is relative. A shipment cost of 1 starpost from Marco is $70 from USA to Europe... No kidding.
Pinsound speaker set is really heavy, $55 is not cheap, but not extreme at all.

You might could find the PinSound locally, just need to do some Googling.

Thanks

I have bought the boards from K's Arcade - but they are all sold out too.

Black Friday not too far away.

Do they usually go on sale around then? It seemed like someone alluded to that in a prior post

New firmware for both boards - several revisions starting in Aug. since I last updated in Dec.

I have used the original Pinsound board, just looking at getting some more boards and getting a shaker.
So downloaded the latest software but my original mixes will not load into the Pinsound Studio Pro as I am getting 'Incorrect sound package no config-pinsound file found'.

Where do I get this file and what does it do, I can not find any help on this.

I think I have two of these that I likely won't use if anyone is interested. I believe one of them has the add on cable for the wpc95.

You need to have the orchestration in the new format with the new folder naming convention. If the new version is not currently on the PinSound community site, then PM PinSound and they will take care of it for you.

When did this start happening? Isn't this going to screw up all our custom mixes?

It is a relatively new requirement to support the new "shakerizations" (actually, may have been implemented even before that, in preparation for things to come). No, it will not mess up our custom orchestrations. PinSound will happily convert them if you ask, assuming they have not already posted updated ones on the PinSound community. It is a proprietary naming convention which can somehow change from orchestration to orchestration for the same pin. I don't understand how or why, but PinSound tells me it is a proprietary methodology. What also doesn't make sense, but what I've been assured of, is that you can follow any of the new folder naming conventions of a working orchestration for a given machine, and your new orchestration will work (assuming you also have updated the firmware on your PinSound).

Currently we are in a transition time where the new PinSound Studio Pro does not have all of the legacy PinSound Studio features built into it yet - they are coming. What does make things a little difficult, is that you can capture a PSREC file of a new orchestration and the old numbers show up in the old PinSound Studio (I still use this until PSSP has replay built into it). Just to be clear, all of the previous orchestrations will still work on PinSound even with the new firmware, but they will never support shaker routines and/or any other features that may be added in the future.

More specifically to the question posted, in order to add shaker actions you must use PSSP, and your orchestration must following the new folder naming convention for your pin along with the corresponding pinsound.config file. If you want to create a new custom orchestration and want to play simulated game files while building your orchestration, then you must use PSS for the time being.

I don't know the shaker folder/naming convention requirements, but this does sound a bit strange. I hope this is not an attempt to hinder other sound-replacement solutions, as this type of confusion will only end up screwing over the community YET AGAIN, and ultimately lead to lesser sales. I'm already a bit frustrated the price hasn't come down. I was going to put in an order for 2 boards and a set of speakers the other day, and the total was almost $1,000! PinSound is such a great solution, but the real lack of support (seriously, the board has been out for 4 years and there are still no instructions really) and the price is a hard pill to swallow. Perhaps it's what I had for breakfast, but for me the shine is starting to come off.

My guess, I have no real insight into the reasons, is that the original convention was designed before any of the advanced features were ever conceived. To add additional features required more complex coding, and some form of system to protect methodologies. PinSound is one of the few highly specialized products I can think of that still openly allows for end-user customization, and even supplies the tools that encourage it.

I know the pricing can sometimes be a barrier, but I sincerely think the brothers aren't getting rich off of this by any means. It is still a part time hobby/project of theirs which requires significant time investment & effort on their part (they still have to maintain real jobs to support themselves), they continually develop both the hardware and software, they travel the world over to pinball shows to promote their brand/products and to make enough sales to keep things going, they must account for licensing issues/agreements, etc. Unfortunately, in such a niche hobby (I know all of us would like to think home pinball ownership is mainstream, but it is not), there will never be enough volume with this type of product to drive down prices significantly. Coupled with the fact that the largest demand is in the US (I would assume), which elevates shipping costs since everything comes from France.

I'm sure that most already know all of these points, and when it comes down to it each person needs to make their own evaluation regarding if the feature set and experience the PinSound products deliver is worth the price point. For me, the answer is a resounding "yes". As a result, I've incrementally added PinSound boards and accessories to both of my pins as I could afford it. I'll never tell anyone else how to spend their money, but I happily promote PinSound as a result of my overall positive experience and what their products deliver to my overall enjoyment of pinball.

Agreed on all points. It's not like ColorDMD allows us to customize the color jobs!

No, they don't, but this is because a licensing rights issue with the IP owners. I can't help but imagine how much their sales would grow if they did allow customization and provided the tools to do so. Just imagine the buzz there would be across the pinball community over being able to not only personally colorize, but to substitute in customized animations and content. This is the reason why many have turned to products like PIN2DMD. Unfortunately, there are some limitations and the learning curve is significant. With a substantial existing colorization library, an open ColorDMD platform would have immediate success, and many could use their creativity to help grow and strengthen the hobby.

You mean ColorDMD has an agreement with Scientific Games ? Huh... I always assumed this was just a business secret in order to protect their OWN IP.

If I don’t get a shaker and use the original Pinsound Studio, does anything change in terms of making orchestrations? Thanks.

No, at least not for now (who knows what the future may hold).

Companies like Stern & Planetary Pinball (Williams & others) own the IP rights to the frames and animations on the DMDs, and protect them like they were gold for some reason (these are 25+ year old games for he most part that are just circulated on the pre-owned market). ColorDMD has their patented methodology for converting those frames (one way, not the only way), but they also have agreements with the owners of the images and animations for the right to convert them (i.e. they pay the IP owners each time they sell a ColorDMD - or at least they have some form of financial arrangement).

Believe me, what I started my PIN2DMD colorization project for The Getaway a couple of years ago, I got legal threats from both ends.

Got it. I wonder if they really own the rights, or are just protecting their investment in the repro rights. I thought PPS owned the right to reproduce, which (IANAL) AFAIK is not the same as actually owning the distribution rights. Further, since you bought the game, you (at least in the US) have teh right to modify it. Perhaps that's slightly different for ColorDMD, being a company trading on the use of those images... but Pin2DMD should be free & clear as it's one's own work. Not 100% sure if I am characterizing this correctly, but that's my current understanding.

It would seem that Scientific Games (the *actual* rights holder) would be interested in protecting those original rights. PPS has a reputation for being way overprotective on their (lesser, reproduction rights) - i wonder if that was ever legally challenged, if this particular case would ever hold up. Or are ColorDMD and PinSound essentially just paying a fee to keep their companies out of court?

Yes, I realize how 'conspiracy theory' this sounds, but it IS business.

The issue was not modifying for your own use (although there was some pushback on that), but actually sharing/distributing with others, even if you didn't charge for it. Also, ColorDMD has a much higher opinion of what their patent(s) cover verses what they actually do. In their mind any colorization of any type violates their patent, but I've read their patents and this would not hold up based upon my experience. I'm just a hobbyist individual, and have no desire of any legal challenges, so I had to let them rough me up a little. However, I happily jab back occasionally.

Fascinating. Thank you for the insight!

So playing around with the boot.wav I noticed if I use a long audio file it will keep on playing even when gameplay is started. Is their a way to stop it playing or am I just stuck using a short sound file. I thought it might be neat have music playing until the a game was started...

I don't know what the defined length of that clip is, but I've had them too long before where they just cutoff. No way to time it to when a game starts. I would just suggest you play around to see what is possible.

So, I’m contemplating getting a Pinsound shaker or a pinshakers shaker for my Indiana Jones. Any thoughts either way? It sounds like the Pinsound shaker may be a little confusing for install. I’m thinking pinshakers shaker may be more “plug and play”. Thoughts out there?

Do you have a pinsound already? Get the pinsound shaker. It is way more flexible. Do you not have a pinsound already, and don't want to spend $500 for a new sound board and shaker? get the pinshakers shaker, it still lets you do a lot of different stuff, and can trigger on a lot of conditions.

I already have a Pinsound board. I just heard that adding a Pinsound shaker may be difficult and you may have issues with current custom mixes you already had on your Pinsound. Is there truth behind this?? If adding a Pinsound shaker is easy, I’m all for it, but from what I’ve read, it doesn’t seem like it is. Any thoughts???

I bought one for a Tommy. I have not received it, but from what I can tell looking at their site it looks like it would not be too difficult to modify an existing custom file. That said, I worry that their pre-done programs might be a preexisting sound package with shaker cues added. they have a video that shows some software that you can download that displays all of your files. It looks like you just highlight a sound and then pick the shaker effect, and it just adds a trigger to that sound. That seems simple enough. They also offered to walk me through the process if I had any problems.
If anyone knows anything different, I’d love to hear.
So, those are my thoughts. Once I get the thing and give it a run, I’ll let folks know how it goes.

I have a lot to say on the topic regarding the PinSound shaker, but I will try to keep things to the point. Just to let everyone know, I am the one who was selected to do the PinSound shaker programming for The Getaway. I've done over a dozen custom orchestrations for The Getaway and helped on a variety of others for various pins.

1) Physical Installation | Very simple, easy instructions, takes 15-30 minutes
2) Custom Orchestrations | The only requirement of any mix is that the folder naming convention be in the new number structure. If you have an older version that follows the simple numbering, then it will not work. All you have to do is re-download the mix from the PinSound community forum which should have the new structure. If you have an orchestration you did yourself, then PM PinSound and they will be happy to convert it for you. In order to support advanced features they had to change the way they were referencing the folders. So, nothing difficult or incompatible at all with a custom mix as long as it is converted to the current folder structure.
3) Programming | PinSound is working with users like me to create default shakerizations (my word). If there is one done for your game, then you are plug and play ready to go (will need to install latest firmware). If you want to do your own from scratch or modify an existing routine, then that is quite simple with PinSound Studio Pro. You have 9 different default shaker actions plus 3 custom ones you can program onto any sound event in a game. If editing an existing routine, you'll spend 5-10 minutes. If starting from scratch, you can have a basic shakerization done in 15-20 minutes. Afterwards you'll spend as much time as you want fine tuning things.
4) Orchestration Compatibility | A shaker routine for a game is automatically compatible with ALL orchestrations for that game (there is a feature that will allow you do disable for a given orchestration if you like). So, if PinSound includes one by default (they are still in process of developing for all games) or if you do your own, it will work with every orchestration you have on the USB drive without having to do anything extra.

I highly recommend the PinSound shaker if you already have a PinSound or buy them together as a kit. It is well designed, easily integrates, and PinSound includes all of the tools to easily program the shaker routine. Since I have firsthand experience with installation and programming from start to finish, I'd be happy to answer any questions I can that people post in this thread.

If you are interested in learning more about my Getaway shaker experience, you can start here and read several posts down regarding the installation and programming for The Getaway | https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/getaway-club-dispatch-run-a-make-on-license-plate-kingpin/page/196#post-5176104

Just heard pinsound for the first time yesterday on data east Batman. It was amazing. Well done.

This is all very positive information. One dumb question: how does one know if one has the old versus new numbering convention?

Thank you Tantrum! I have the IJ custom mix on mine. Do you know if these custom mixes are updated with shaker implementation now? If so, just install shaker, download new mix and I’m ready to go?

It's very unlikely - each custom mix will have to be re-organized to support the shaker. The brothers may consider a script that lets you reorganize automatically in PinSound studio. I'm not sure how complex that would be though. I'm sure it's not a huge pain, but for the custom mixes people are charging for (e.g. IJ), they should really consider doing an update.

The easiest way to know is if you have a PinSound.config file in the orchestration’s main folder (same level as the various file type folders - music, etc.) Here are some example screen shots of old vs. new with one of my Getaway orchestrations.

Old Format
pasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).png

New Format
pasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).png

I don’t know if IJ is done yet. But if it were, yes to your question.

Okay, so if I see something that looks like the photo attached below, I should be good to go?
BTW, thanks for the help. I have frequently read your posts re Pinsound and they have proven very helpful.

Screen Shot 2019-09-22 at 4.05.58 PM (resized).png

Yes, once the shaker program is launched (or if you want to create your own), your orchestration is in the correct format. Basically, you will have an updated pinsound.config file to replace or possibly it might even be in a firmware update that will automatically do it for you (I'm still unclear a little on this one).

For music conversion, what do you find is the best format to use that sounds the best on the Pinsound card? How should the track be converted to sound the best? I know some file types have different options for converting the file. Thanks.

I export to WAV 16-bit from Audacity (tool I use to do my sound editing). Important thing is to start with a high quality original and when editing to equalize all of the files (e.g. modify them to all have about the same amplitude). I find that the graph I want typically looks something like what I've attached. the key is to have all of the music with the light color in the center of the graph to be close to ranging from -.5 to .5, even if you have to clip a little on the high/low end (i.e. the peaks). Other settings would be Stereo, 48000Hz, 32-bit within Audacity.

pasted_image (resized).png

And FWIW it is not worth setting audio files on these games to 32-bit, or to anything higher than 44100 Hz. You might want to do that with a high end stereo system, but in these games ultra high-end audio is indistinguishable from CD quality (16-bit) and just adds additional processor overhead, which could lead to lag in the sounds being played.