I always thought a one-flip Defeat should score double.

Thanks, Mike. I gave this a try. Can't say it was a breakthrough for me, but it has taught me that I was flipping too often. I need to pick my moments if I'm going to have any hope of beating the Power.
I'm still convinced that the vigor of the Magna-Flip varies from machine to machine.

Pinsound + Motion Control Shaker, Anyone?

Just curious if any of you Pinsound users also have a Pinsound shaker installed. It sounds cool - programming the shaker yourself, choosing the cues and the style of response. I know that Stern programs shaker cues into their gamecodes. There are probably *many* lines of code devoted to them. I wasn't thinking I would buy a Pinsound board, but that customizable shaker does sound fun.

https://www.pinsound.org/motion-control-shaker

Pinnovators PINPAC1, Anyone?

Just curious if any of you club members have a headphone jack from Pinnovators on your TZ. If so, what do you think? I don't plan to upgrade my speakers but I want to enjoy some good audio on headphones.

Powered Subs on TZ: Enough Rumble?

Just wondering if TZ owners with powered subwoofers are getting so much rumble that they don't even need a shaker. And how are you connecting your subs? Through a Pinsound board? Through a Pinnovators headphone jack? There is no sub-out on the stock audio board, I'm assuming.

I just added Pinsound and a shaker to my William's Indiana Jones and updated the sound to one of their files. What a difference it is. Love it and really like how this makes the game even more fun to play.

I have the Pinsound Plus with my own modded sound package using mostly original and some from the Chris Granner sound package, aftermarket speakers and external subwoofer. TZ sounds great and the bass is deep and can actually be overpowering if I want it to be.

I do like shakers, but haven't tried the Pinsound one yet. Maybe I'm just missing it on their website, but I don't see a shaker integration package available on their website for TZ... they mention it, but I don't see how to download it like the sound packages.

I'm sure I would tinker with it myself, but would be nice to start with an already done package.

Wow. That sound sounds dope! Please tell us how you're programming your shaker. Are you choosing your own cues, or does Pinside give you a basic set to get started and you can customize from there?

Where did you get the Granner remix and what does it include? Just how different is it from the stock ROM? How were you able to customize his ROM to make your own? What kind of special hardware is needed to burn ROM's?

Please tell us how the Pinsound board transforms the sounds of TZ. Does it truly alter them, replace them, or just clean them up and make them stereo?

You can download different TZ mixes from the Pinsound website. Most are terrible in my opinion, but the sound designer for TZ has released the original stereo package, but surprisingly doesn't include the Golden Earring Twilight Zone song... because it wasn't originally going to be in the game until the DCS sound board wasn't ready in time for TZ and they had to make some changes is my understanding.

The process of editing or creating your own sound files is for another discussion and detailed info can be found online and many programs available to do this. Pinsound let's you replace any original sound file, which is fantastic. You can upload to Pinsound via USB, so no ROM burning necessary. You no longer use the original sound board. Pinsound itself can have a bit of a learning curve once you dive in if you don't just use one of the prepackaged sound packages.

I basically edited some of the sounds for my own personal tastes, adding a little more bass, turning up volume, etc. I used some of the original and some from the Granner mix.

I also have done the 5 1/4" speaker backbox upgrade and changed out all speakers and wired for true stereo and also have external subwoofer.

Unfortunately the Rod Serling callouts are all pretty low quality because of audio compression used for original sound board and no original recordings are available anymore, so just making them louder only helps to an extent. Others have tried to use TZ TV show replacements, which is a huge undertaking and as far as I know, none have been released to the public. There was also some talk about using a voice actor to redo the callouts, but I also don't think this has been done.

Thanks for sharing. Do you know then the best way to improve a bit the original sounds and musics? I guess the only option is to upgrade the speaker because original sounds are not available to be reuse with pinsound. Right ?

I am having a new issue and could use some help.
On Ball launch, and repeatedly during clock millions, the secondary shooter gate will flip, and the solenoid will engage and kick.
Sounds like a switch somewhere?
Unusual that modes, and every ball launch would do this.

Any ideas and thoughts?

Thanks guys!

Broken wire on ball trough switch ?

LTG : )

I was wondering if anyone knows where I can purchase the mini switch replacement kit for the Power playfield?

Thanks.

Send a pm to Jason_Jehosaphat and ask where he got them.

LTG : )

They do have the original sound mix available to download on the Pinsound website.

The pinsound plus board has built in equalizer so you can tune the audio that way as well.

I would definitely recommend upgrading the speakers, especially if they are still the originals from 1993.

Even “entry” level, inexpensive speakers from places like Parts Express would offer a nice upgrade even if using the original sound board.

Especially if keeping the original sound board, make sure you match the ohm ratings of the original speakers. TZ speakers are not wired in a “traditional” manner from the factory. You could rewire them if going to stereo using the pinsound board.

Pinsider Twister sells them.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Ill start there, thanks, Lloyd!

Slot Machine Scoop Woes:

My Mantis Slot Machine scoop lobs the ball clear down to the foot the right sling. It's exciting and all, but it's hard on my poor playfield. For whatever reason, the radius of the scoop is compound. Specifically, it's about ten inches or so right up to about two inches from the end of the tongue, at which point it has no radius at all, allowing the ball to launch at about 30-degrees. This is a problem. That launch angle means the ball sails, like a rainbow jump shot, all the way down to the foot of the slings. I have the stock coil in there (AE-24-900) and the stock plunger, and I have the coil bracket aligned such that the plunger is as co-linear as possible with the ball's resting place in the back of the scoop.

I spoke to Kerry at Mantis - who is very nice and responded quickly - about this and he assured me it was the result of some variable that *I* was responsible for - coil power, bracket misalignment, plunger length, deflection, etc. - and not his scoop, as I was perhaps only the third buyer of his scoops ever to even bring this up. I can understand how common it might be that people buy his parts and install them clumsily, then complain about how they don't work right. Well, while I'm not an ace, I do know how to install a scoop with care and line up the associated assemblies to ensure it works as designed - and that's exactly what I've done here. Nothing more and nothing less, so to be told its poor operation is on me (and not on its design) is frustrating for sure.

I would put the stock scoop back in the game but it was removed for failed seam welds and is out of commission. Should I buy a replacement stock scoop?

The only "solution" I can envision is to (somehow) mount the scoop on a sloping base, changing its orientation in relation to the playfield by at least 10-degrees. This would allow the ball to launch at an angle of 20-degrees rather than 30. Still, this fix would also require a custom base for the bracket which holds the coil! So, a complicated fix involving considerable geometrical precision and thus very unlikely to be undertaken.
In case you'd like to glace at the Mantis scoop:

https://mantispinball.com/product/twilight-zone-slot-machine-scoop/

Frustratingly, I've had a few Stern games with ejecting scoops and in each case the ball did *not* launch like a rainbow jump shot!

Ideas?
tz.slot.scoop (resized).jpg

How does the Manits scoop compare to the original and is it possible to bend the tongue of the scoop exit down to improve the ball transition onto the PF? Also have you checked the coil is the correct one - maybe even check it's resistance to the specs?

Thanks for this info as well.

I’d like to replace my 93 original speaker, does anyone would have any advice on the replacement?
Is flipper fidelity the best?
Thanks for any help

When i got my game the scoop always seemed sluggish.
It had a shooter rod tip down there.
Try that

Original sounds are available for PinSound, however, as stated above, the Granner mix is better, start with that & if you want to make the Serling callouts better they can be ‘remastered’ via Audacity tools.

And check the switch matrix that is common with that gate solenoid

Thanks, Dave!
Brain isnt working as well.

Sorry if this has been answered already but does someone know why the Granner remix music planned for DCS use are completly different to what went actually to production ?
Are those remix also prototype and were in the process to be modified?

I just listened to all the musics qnd it puzzle me how differents from the production all those musics can be. It’s like a new experience ...

Possibly due to the limited size available on the pre-DCS audio board, they had to rework the audio package to fit

It’s a matter of preference, but for price, quality, ease of installation and support, I love flipper fidelity. I have put them in just about every Bally/Williams games and a few stern’s that I’ve owned.

I have pinball pro in my space shuttle because they support older games that have a 6X9 speakers and sub, which is great. I have pinwoofer in my stern JP and it is amazing, but they jumped a full $100 since I last bought them so it’s hard to recommend them for the older Bally/Williams games, especially without a pinsound board installed.

Flipper fidelity speaker kits are great and they include anti-rattle tape and a balance knob that can be mounted in the back box or coin door area with an extender cable that is hard to beat. I put them in my twilight zone and am very happy. The bass can be turned up to rattle the cabinet as a little “shaker motor” could and that’s perfect for me.

Oh, my gosh. Interesting! A shooter rod tip on your Slot Machine plunger? Wild! That would launch it clear down to the apron!

Noisy/buzzing Coils: Normal?

Each time I load a ball into the Gumball Machine the machine makes quite a racket. And it's not the upkicker launching the ball into the Gumball Machine, either. It's a noisy buzzing that precedes the actual kicker. The only other mechanism in play at that point is the diverter, but how could the diverter be that buzzy? I have two diverters, and their mechs are identical - one in the orbit and one on the left ramp. I *don't* hear the buzzing when the ball is diverted on the left ramp into the auto-plunger lane, so why is the orbit's diverter so buzzy? I also hear this same buzzing when the bridge diverter retracts to allow the ball to reach the Powefield.
What am I missing?

Is this normal or do I have an issue?

Thanks.

I have exactly this sound too, it's a pretty noticeable buzzing sound. I've always thought it was the motor spinning inside the gumball to "make room" for the coming ball but I've never cared enough to actually investigate properly as everything works as it should afaik. We should most probably not care about it at all

Tack, Lhurgoyf.
The Gumball Machine grinding balls through, while annoying, isn't the buzzing sound I'm talking about.
I don't foresee any solution to the buzzing coils. I tend to play my games on low volume. Most of you probably don't, so your experience isn't as affected by the sounds of the game's electronics/mechanics.

Deadly Slings, Pops, and Outlanes!

My TZ is hard. It's hard enough to discourage me. I have it set up at 6.5-degrees, according to the built-in spirit level/manual. In my shopping of the game, I rebuilt the sling kickers - new arms, pivot brackets, plungers, coil sleeves, springs. The original slings were sloppy and the plungers couldn't move easily in the coils.

I also rebuilt the pops - new skirts, rings, coil sleeves, springs. My pops have the bumper that blocks the ball's passage to the left outlane, forcing the ball to exit toward the flippers, but this is scarcely helpful as the ball frequently emerges from the pops with the perfect toss to send it SDTM.

Now I have so much action in the lower half of the playfield that the odds that I will regain control of a ball if it touches a sling or slips into the pops are about 50%, thanks in large part to the diabolical design of the inlane/outlanes. On the left you're sure you have good odds that the ball will avoid the outlane, but with surprising frequency that's exactly where it goes whenever the ball happens to make over into that area. (I suspect this is attributable to the "stair" effect, a leftward descent to the outlane from the top of the sling to the tops of inlanes #1 and #2.) The right side is no better; somehow the ball bounces to the outlane *most* of the time if it ends up in that area, too. And yes, I do try to nudge to help matters, but I lose many more balls than I save.

I don't advance in the code because I can't stay up. Even set to ten balls, I haven't seen Lost in the Zone.

To get to LITZ more often - try to work on a repeatable strategy. For me, it's generally left ramp -> slot machine... rinse and repeat.

I've not reached LITZ either and I guess the LITZ "cheat/practice" was put into 9.4H because not many people got to experience it ... just remember that machines were designed to make money and not for long ball times. Now while you can't adjust the coil power, you can adjust the sling and pop leaf switches to reduce the coils firing with the slightest of touches and so reduce how aggressive the lower section of the PF is.

The buzzing is the gumball diverter gate, and it's very common.

Keep in mind - LITZ is a WIZARD mode. Back in the days, wizard modes were not meant to just be gotten 'often'. It was supposed to be a rare occurrence, when you had just an outstanding game - or you're a damn good player. My first ever LITZ was after playing TZs on location for a couple years.

To this day, with the TZ in my collection, I MAY get LITZ once a month or so.

You can make the game easier, sure, but.. then that takes the fun out of it, IMHO.

Switch Row Out: What Happened and How to Repair?

My left-middle Greed target was cockeyed so I pulled it, straightened it, then put it back.
When I booted the game I got a long list of "check switch" this and "check switch" that.
They seem to all reside on row #7 in the switch matrix.
I reached out to LTG right away and he thought I might have taken out an LM339.
Coincidentally, I have two fresh chips of this type on my non-working Fliptronics board.
I would like to transfer one/both to the CPU to see if this will recover my switches.
I don't want to fry one chip after another though. How do I know my short (if that's what I have) is sorted before I go installing more LM339's in my CPU?
First photo shows the donor chips from the Fliptronics board. The second, my Rottendog CPU.
The third/fourth show the target's wiring in detail. (Is that white wire shorting on the target's support bracket? If so, how? That bracket touches nothing but wood. Or, wait: is that diode shorting on the bracket? I tightened those screws to compress the target stack. Perhaps that brought the diode's wire in contact with the bracket.)

** Update **
A closer look reveals no shorting at the switch. 'twas just an optical illusion.

01C0BD71-ACB4-440E-8D4C-C8E1AE5CCDA2 (resized).jpegF4B3C184-6077-4D85-BCEB-1FDF623311BF (resized).jpeg
2B3BE8E6-967E-498F-AD1D-7A1D9C37FA61 (resized).jpeg650DE2E4-1196-4093-AAD7-44C905C459E7 (resized).jpeg

Good to see you are back at it Art

True. Getting to LITZ is a lot easier if you just focus on starting modes. You don't have to play them, just keep stacking them. I don't find that very fun and like playing modes so rarely see LITZ.

Exactly -
I have two ways of playing - points, and LITZ.
If I'm going for points, I will time and try to get certain things in a general order - like, for example, would try to get the Clock Millions, the Camera's Clock Ten Millions, and Powerball Mania as the last things - that way, their scores are added onto the LITZ modes of the same type, and therefore get my LITZ score higher. If I'm really good, will try to collect a Camera 'Collect Bonus' right before, so that those huge modes are collected twice for me.

For me - I always play for LITZ and points! If having a really good game, there's the rare possibility of a second or third LITZ!

IMG_9075 (resized).JPG

I got this score without LITZ.
I have never made it to LITZ.

F894FB11-6143-4052-A517-ADEA7C13FAB8 (resized).jpeg

Switch Row 7 Out, Cont'd:

It seems I've stumped the group. Can I twist any arms?

I should clarify that the Test Report shows switches #37(left inlane), #47(Clock Millions), and #57(Proximity Sensor) all down, plus one - the left ramp - that isn't even on row 7. The last thing it reports is "Ground Short Row 7 - White-Violet R7."

So, I have been poking around under the PF looking for a short involving any of these switches but I see nothing suspicious. I'm looking at all switches with a white-violet wire. Tracing white-violet back to the CPU reveals nothing suspicious, either.

Again, I did no soldering when I adjusted the middle-left Greed target, the adjustment that set all this in motion. The game was off. I took out the target. I straightened it. I tightened its stack screws. I put it back in. I then booted the game and - Poof! - big problems. The target in question is the "enhanced" version from The Pinball Resource, which means it has a baton or stay for a spine to help support the target. It worked fine for weeks before I dared to straighten it.

J208-8 on the CPU handles switch row 7. As a test, I unplugged that connector and booted the game, thinking that if the short were under the PF somewhere it wouldn't be reported with the connector unplugged. Well, that wasn't very useful as the game just reported a lot of other issues instead when I booted up - fuses, 12V opto stuff, etc.

Does it make sense to desolder the left-middle Greed target and boot the game? Could it be the source of the short even though it appears fine?

I've been casually looking and haven't found an answer anywhere. Does anyone have a part number for the spring that goes below the upper playfield?

Tx8uxk6 (resized).jpg

You're in luck - I looked that up for someone else a couple of weeks ago https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/twilight-zone-owners-club/page/219#post-6428871