Synthcart output?

[godzillajoe]

So I'm thinking of getting this one in my next round of home brew purchases at the end of the month but I'm wondering if I line out from my TV into a laptop to capture the beats what I can expect the sound quality to be like?

 

Do I need a super duper modded VCS of some kind to even consider this?

 

Because unless someone does it for me, it'll never happen

[+Nathan Strum]

The sound will be better with a mod. RF can pick up all sorts of interference.

 

Best thing to do - get it. Try it. See if the output suits your needs. Then worry about getting a mod installed, or picking up an already-modded 2600.

 

If nothing else, the Synthcart is still a lot of fun. Well worth having.

[godzillajoe]

Are there people who mod 2600's for a small fee?

 

I don't even own any of the necessary tools so please don't anyone respond with "it's easy, do it yourself"

 

If something electronic I own breaks, I punch it. If that doesn't fix it, I buy a new one.

 

Would be nice to have modded system though.

 

But my 7800 is a first run that plays everything so I would be crazy to send that to some stranger, no offense to anyone here but you could swap it out with a crappy newer model and I would probably never know as I just admitted my ignorance of electronics here.

[TimsterAA]

I'd be interested in knowing this too - as the farther I am away from a soldering iron and/or exposed PCBs - the safer the planet is!!!

 

If anyone in the community is available and willing to mod a console for another member (i.e. composite/S-Video mod, stereo(?) audio out mod, etc...), could you quote a ballpark price for what you would charge for the parts and time, assuming the person wanting the mod would pay for the shipping back and forth and of course be providing said console?

 

Any takers out there? I'd be interested in some of these mods. Thanks in advance!

 

--Timster--

[+Nathan Strum]

I don't know if anyone is still doing mods or not. There have been a couple of people in the past who would mod 2600s, but I haven't seen anything from them in some time.

 

I did look over the instructions for 8bitDomain's mods. The ones for the 4 and 6 switch 2600s (assuming a socketed TIA chip) don't require any soldering. The 2600jr one, however, is not for the faint of heart. I don't know what the quality of their output is. You can download the instructions from their website though, and look them over.

 

I'm planning an update to my mods comparison project this Summer, testing as many mods as I can get my hands on, including a run down on how easy (or not) they are to install.

 

But that's this Summer. I can't really recommend anything right now, since there's nothing pre-built that I've tested yet.

[godzillajoe]

Well I just ordered the mod for the 7800 from 8bitdomain.

 

Since I have two of them I figure I can destroy one

[+Nathan Strum]

Get a good soldering iron, and a new, sharp pair of wire cutters. (Personally, I'd never remove a chip the way they show it - I'd use a desoldering iron.)

 

I'd also suggest practicing soldering on something disposable. Like go to Radio Shack, buy a small circuit board and a handful of resistors, and work with those until you're comfortable. Then tackle the 7800.

[Urchlay]

All you really care about for your purposes is getting a clean audio output, right? An audio-only mod would be a lot easier than a full A/V mod. You could do just the audio part of the original Ben Heck mod (http://www.classicgaming.com/vcsp/HowToMAIN.htm)

 

This would only involve soldering two wires inside the Atari (ground and audio-out, the shield and tip of a single RCA cable). You'd run that into your mixer/recorder/etc, and use the TV for RF display as usual.

 

A 7800 version would be just as easy, but I don't know where you find the pre-mixed audio signal inside the 7800. You could grab it from the TIA audio pins, if you didn't care about external audio (e.g. POKEY sound from a 7800 cart).

[highly_liquid]

Hi guys, I agree--getting an audio signal is fairly quick & easy. I have identified the solder points in my MIDI installation notes:

 

http://highlyliquid.com/kits/midi2600/install-cx2600.html

http://highlyliquid.com/kits/midi2600/install-cx2600a.html

http://highlyliquid.com/kits/midi2600/install-2600jr.html

 

As Urchlay says, connect the sleeve of your audio connector to ground, and you're ready to go. The 7800 should be easy--you'll just have to hunt around and "listen" to the signals on the different traces. Some of the other signals have an interesting sound as well...

 

John

[godzillajoe]

No offense guys but some of you assume we ALL have a mess of oscilloscopes, soldering irons and electronics crap lying around and it's no big deal to rip open an Atari, soldier in some capacitors or resistors etc. and have it make you a cappuccino whenever you toggle the Color/B&W switch

 

I was never a big electronics nerd. The last time I even SAW a soldering iron was in an 8th grade shop class.

 

My interests just don't take me there

 

I'm lucky I own a hammer.

 

So unless someone draws me the nice pictures with cut here, solder this thing here, I'm lost

 

That said, I did buy a mod for the 7800 from 8bitdomain and we'll see how it goes. Might as well do video AND audio if I'm in there destroying stuff.

 

I'm sure it's not that big a deal but if I can PAY someone to do it, that's that way I usually go.

 

I don't even change my own oil.

[Urchlay]

No offense guys but some of you assume we ALL have a mess of oscilloscopes, soldering irons and electronics crap lying around and it's no big deal to rip open an Atari, soldier in some capacitors or resistors etc. and have it make you a cappuccino whenever you toggle the Color/B&W switch

 

...

 

So unless someone draws me the nice pictures with cut here, solder this thing here, I'm lost

 

The audio-only mod for a 2600 doesn't involve adding capacitors/resistors/etc, just soldering two wires inside the 2600... there are pictures on Ben Heck's site. Even I could do it, and I'm not so great with electronics (and I don't change my own oil, either. Made a big mess the one time I tried).

 

Are you getting a kit from 8bitdomain, or are you shipping the console to them so they can install it? I don't know much about modding a 7800, am interested to know how it turns out.

[godzillajoe]

Getting a kit. Doesn't seem too bad. I think I'm gonna follow Nathan's advice and get some cheapo stuff at Radio Shack to "practice" on before I go in for the real deal.

[Rob Mitchell]

It's easy to mod the 2600 for audio out. And you can get two channels out if you go to the TIA.

 

Rob Mitchell

[bomberpunk]

godzillajoe, have you turned that mutha out yet?