Getting the sound just right in MAME..

[Keatah]

MAME has a lot of video options and HLSL in attempt to get the image to look as authentic as practical. Fine.

 

But what about the sound? As far as I can tell MAME simply dumps the audio to the speakers and that's it. Oh sure it works great I'm sure. But I was thinking that some of the unique ambient sounds of the arcades come from 6x9's booming in a semi-hollow wood or pressboard cabinet.

 

What is feasibility of MAME modeling that quality via DSP? The boomy sound. Because, right now, the only solution I see is to build a box with similar displacement and mount speakers in there like the real thing.

 

 

[Trebor]

Because, right now, the only solution I see is to build a box with similar displacement and mount speakers in there like the real thing.

 

Fortunately, sound (card) options are considerably robust in offering a variety of possibilities that change the end results of what you experience, that can be applied for, and in harmony with, more of an arcade-like (cabinet) sound. Creative Labs offers some ways (I.E. chamber/hollow effects), and even my 'measly' built-in motherboard sound by RealTek offers the following:

 

 

Additionally, MAME does provide as options, the ability to change the sample rate/quality, as well as manipulate the individual volume levels (via sliders when running) for games with multiple sound channels and/or different chips. Of course any Arcade game that allowed manipulation of the sound options via dip switches is implemented as well for many games. If I recall correctly, this includes implementing/emulation of items like "QSound".

 

Don't get me wrong, environment effects along with adjustments to a (software) equalizer under (baseline) MAME would be sweet; however, there are indeed more solutions than just needing to build a physical contraption to try an capture the essence of a specific arcade cabinet's sound experience.

 

Wonder if something like OpenAL incorporation would be an option - that is if the licensing is compatible. It appears the emulator Dolphin makes use of it, as of version 4.0 from Sept 2013. Not entirely sure if OpenAL, or something similar, could be utilized for creating cabinet-like effects on sound.

 

Your topic coupled with OpenAL has intrigued me Keatah, I inquired on the MAMEWorld board and will follow up here on any noteworthy responses.

 

EDIT: As promised above, per one of the MAMEDevs:

 

"We're not interested in doing any kind of sound enhancement at this time (and if we wanted to, OG can do most of the relevant kinds of DSP in his sleep). Next for audio will be 5.1 output and audio input (mostly for MESS, but there's a few arcade games with microphones too)."

 

No biggie, as again, there's sound card drivers that offer environment enhancement effects coupled with software equalization. Additionally, great to read that 5.1 output and audio input (I.E. microphones) will be looked at for implementation.

[Arbee]

Amusingly, this is now possible, but only on Mac builds of MAME/MESS. You can chain up to 10 Audio Unit (AU) plugins, the same ones used in GarageBand/Logic/Cubase/Ableton Live/Pro Tools/Reaper/etc. So you can run Qbert through Auto-Tune

 

Before anyone asks, it's Mac-only because OS X's APIs make it trivial to do so. It would be a much greater undertaking to support VSTs on Windows (the equivalent plugin type) even without the user-education aspect.