SGM ARE IN!

[killersquirel]

I'm in for one with speech. Looks awesome!

[TotOOntHeMooN]

The SayGM speech feature is a great added value, matching with the original 80's arcade spirit.

I'm really confident that developpers will use it to create some amazing games port that we loved to play for a while.

Edited January 13, 2016 by TotOOntHeMooN

[Jinks]

I would buy a sgm with speech as well..

[Gandor]

I would be interested in one with speech

[andyghee]

Speech Module arrived today and it works perfectly on my PAL-Console as well as on an F18a modded NTSC model. Speech test ist fine. By the way, this is the first time I am able to play my SGM-Cartridges on the console rather than in the CoolCV emulator.

[ArcadeJunkie]

Count me in for one with speech as well.

[Rey]

I really truly hate doing this but I must share my experience with Fred ( juice2839) Very difficult for me to share this.

 

My experience with Fred (juice) has not been a good one. The first round of SGM's without the speech chip did not work out for me. I could not get any sound out of the thing. I contacted him and he was good about it. I sent it back and he confirmed it was defective. I requested a refund and you'll see why in the pictures I'm going to post below. Yes it was a Poorly made expansion card but understandable being a proto. I was more than happy to keep it if it worked but it was defective. Only reason I even saw this is because it kept slipping out of the old famicom case.

 

.

 

 

 

 

So a month later I decide to give Fred a 2nd chance with this newer revision which included the speech chip. Like everyone else, what drove me to do this in the first place is waiting over 2 years for OPCODE to send me my SGM.

I was excited to finally have a working SGM even it being a clone, but was greatly disappointed to see what I had received for $90. Take a look;

 

 

He did not even bother to put the SGM in one of these beat up famicom cartridge shells. Sends me two to pull apart and do this myself. Well I said to myself that as long as this one works, I'll find a nice enclosure for it. After all the board did look way better and I was confident this was going to be great!

 

 

Unfortunately even after tapping into the c88 cap for the ADAM it still sounded like crap. I was very upset so I recorded the following videos to share with FRED.

 

Listen to the static when this thing is plugged in.

 

 

Now listen how clean the ADAM sounds when I unplug Fred's SGM;

 

 

His response is it must be an issue with my ADAM. He has one and it works fine. I mentioned I have 3 ADAMs and they all do the same thing. He insist it's an issue on my side, then goes off to say,"I'm positive that the sgm is working right. I suspect the problem is in how your hooking the adam up for video and audio. If you can hook up the adam with the rf output I bet it works fine". Well to further cooperate with him I tried that but it was the same. Besides, RF?Why would I want to use that when there's a better option? He then advises me to just use a colecovision to try it on there. This kept on going because at the end it had to be my fault

 

I don't want to buy a colecovision to use this, I have an ADAM. I tell him to give me a week or two, to look over this whole thing. I don't have an SGM yet but fortunately a friend of mine was VERY kind to mail me his for further testing. While I waited for this to arrive,I began tracing all the connections between Fred's SGM, through the ADAM's logic board up to the CV board. I tapped into the sound chip on the SGM but the sound there was great, all 3 channels. Trying to make sure it really wasn't an issue on my side, I tested the pin for audio out and it sounded terrible. So there was nothing else to do here since the sound output was already garbage before it enters the ADAM.

 

A few days later I receive the loaned OPCODE SGM. First off it's obvious just by looking at the product it's superior to what Fred is putting together for basically the same price. I guess the whole point of this thing is that he's rushing these out to us, right? ......... Instead of doing some deep testing with such an important module. This is a must and more importantly you can not RUSH during assembly to avoid problems like these.

 

I finally hook up OPCODE's SGM and listen here;

 

 

 

Well look at that, no static and sounds beautiful. Guess the problem isn't me after all. I send this video to Fred and mention how I'm just going to return this to him for a refund. His reply was," I can check it out for you and if there's an issue I'll repair it". That didn't sound good. My response, " You mean when I send this back to you I will not be getting a refund? I've been real patient with you throughout this whole thing with the first defective SGM and now this. Understand my side of it now, I just want a refund and to be done with it. How's this my fault?".

 

Didn't hear back from him for 2 weeks even after numerous messages until today when I requested I needed to hear back from him.

 

I have been in his shoes and know what it's like so I feel terrible about all this. I screwed up in 2014 with the first revisions of my power supplies. Even though they worked fine when I tested them on my ADAM, people were having issues. When the first return arrived I saw no problem but did not conclude there was no way this wasn't my supply. Then decided to pickup another ADAM and test it there. BOOM, problem showed up! We all know coleco has made different revisions of these boards and what doesn't affect one will screw with another. I learned that the hard way, Had to give refunds and the few who were willing to accept a fix, I did that on my dime. I ain't rich, in fact I barely make it by so this hurt big time but I had to do it. Reputation is EVERYTHING when it comes to these things and I had to make it right. My fix worked on all the ADAM's I have and never heard about another issue again. If one were to arise I would definitely take care of it instead of placing blame on the customer. Even though most of us barely make any money out of this fun hobby, people pay for these items and we must be responsible when the fault is ours.

 

So we now reach today and I'm still getting the vibe that he has no plan to give me a refund. I mean, why after all this would I be willing to continue with this back and forth that somehow is still my fault? I don't understand, if you have the item returned in your hands and I showed you proof that the problem is not on my side, why can't I get a refund? Not only that, but there are others I've talked to with the same problem just confirming this isn't on my side. Tested not only on ADAM's but colecovisions too.

 

In an attempt to not be an asshole about this and try once more to work with Fred, I sent him another PM trying to reason with him pleading he worked with me and other customers having this issue and this is what I get:

 

"I didn't bother reading your whole message as I already knew you were a problem when I sold you the last one that you destroyed. I suspect you're either working with opcode or just go out of your way to start rumors and discontent. At any rate I didn't say there was not an issue I said I am investigating it. If you truly have been in my shoes then please wait while I see what the issue is..

Thanks,

Fred"

After that I could not take this anymore and do not think I deserved this treatment after being patient and respectful along the way.

My response to that, and please understand it's hard to be insulted like this and remain calm once again:

"It's because of that attitude that I no longer have patience for you. I have opened a dispute with paypal. Up to this point I've been respectful but your last message there is enough for me. You're a rude and stubborn individual and am done dealing with your ass. Falsely accusing me of damaging your over priced junk is the mature and correct way to handle YOUR FUCK UP. Bravo and good luck."

In paypal this was his response to my opening a dispute:

 

Hello REINALDO,

Your a fuck tard... scamming POS.

- Frederick Konopaska, February 16, 2016 at 6:50 PM

 

 

 

In conclusion, I like to support other developers.However, I can not support what he's done here nor the way he conducts himself especially in the middle of a situation. While ED has admitted he has to share some of the blame for this clone coming to existence,the reality is that in my opinion there's no comparison. Ed's SGM is a true polished product that WORKS. I'm sorry to say that what I have received from Fred so far has just been over priced junk.

[Kiwi]

He did not even bother to put the SGM in one of these beat up famicom cartridge shells. Sends me two to pull apart and do this myself. Well I said to myself that as long as this one works, I'll find a nice enclosure for it. After all the board did look way better and I was confident this was going to be great!

 

IMG_20160211_190512.jpg

IMG_20160211_190546.jpg

 

 

There's no silver AY-3-8912 printing or any kind of label on that black chip. Is that really a AY-3-8912 chip or something else.... My guts, it something else. Maybe replacing that blank chip with AY-3-8912 might get the SGM sound working. You could use nanochess test rom and see if it detect that chip or not. The speech chip have a labeling on it.

 

Rey I'm really sorry that this happened to you. I really do hope you get your money back.

 

EDIT: Sorry I can't read. I missed the part you tapped directly on to that chip. I really shouldn't post while being tired.

Edited February 17, 2016 by Kiwi

[TPR]

After that I could not take this anymore and do not think I deserved this treatment after being patient and respectful along the way.

 

Based on what you posted, I would have to agree with this statement right here. This is very disappointing to hear, Rey, but forgive me for saying, part of me is not that surprised. From what I understand, you seem like a very helpful and respected member within this community. I cannot imagine any scenario where someone wouldn't want to work out the issue or at worst case refund the money to satisfy a customer. I really hope the two of you can work something out and that Juice straightens up his act. Best of luck to you!

[TotOOntHeMooN]

double post...

Edited February 17, 2016 by TotOOntHeMooN

[TotOOntHeMooN]

Rey,

 

What I can read is more peoples receiving this hardware was happy to play with it.

You are angry about prototype board and Famicom case, but you get what you bought and nothing was hidden to you.

I think the real problem is more the fact that you have finally received the opcode's SGM, so you no more need both and better to get a refund.

(the only mistake was to accept to sold you first a prototype instead of asking to wait... But it was exchanged)

Your sound issue is sympomatic to old capacitors that no more filter the CPU signals, so the audio mixing amplifier embedded into the expansion increase this and turning up the TV set volume increase this lound sound. I have already ear that on many 80's systems, and a way to fix your problem is to recap your Adam or remove the speech chip from the expansion and use it like the original SGM.

 

The Fred video show working SGM and speech chip. So, I don't see why he will take the risk to sell not working boards...

[Rey]

Fred really? You're going to continue with this fake account? First I STILL don't have opcodes SGM. 2nd,why would I be angry about the prototype board? You even gave me a refund. Old caps, So all of my 3 Adam's plus additional backup boards are all to blame. Wow. I never said everyone was having an issue either but you choose to ignore the ones that are having an issue. Had you treated me with respect even if it was an act, I probably would've been dumb to trust you and wait until I was past the point of no return with PayPal. I don't even care now about the money, all I care is about the truth. My reputation in this community speaks for itself and honestly I don't have time for this foolishness. You already admitted there's a problem but you're blaming it again on"80's" hardware. You still haven't answered why OPCODES SGM works perfectly and yours sounds like crap. Your proto didn't have the speech chip either and was defective too.

I just hope others I talked to about this chime in on the issues they're having.

Rey,

What I can read is more peoples receiving this hardware was happy to play with it.
You are angry about prototype board and Famicom case, but you get what you bought and nothing was hidden to you.
I think the real problem is more the fact that you have finally received the opcode's SGM, so you no more need both and better to get a refund.
(the only mistake was to accept to sold you first a prototype instead of asking to wait... But it was exchanged)
Your sound issue is sympomatic to old capacitors that no more filter the CPU signals, so the audio mixing amplifier embedded into the expansion increase this and turning up the TV set volume increase this lound sound. I have already ear that on many 80's systems, and a way to fix your problem is to recap your Adam or remove the speech chip from the expansion and use it like the original SGM.

The Fred video show working SGM and speech chip. So, I don't see why he will take the risk to sell not working boards...

[youki]

I don't enter in that debate.

 

But i just can assure you , that Fred and TotOOntHeMoon are not the same person.

 

Opcode raised the rumor that Fred and TotoontheMoon was the same person but it is NOT the case.

[Rey]

I don't enter in that debate.

 

But i just can assure you , that Fred and TotOOntHeMoon are not the same person.

 

Opcode raised the rumor that Fred and TotoontheMoon was the same person but it is NOT the case.

 

You're a person I would believe youki. I don't have access to a moderator panel but it's strange that one, this account was created when things started getting ugly between juice and opcode. I also noticed and maybe it's a coincidence but when totoon logs on, juice logs off. When juice logs on, totoon logs off. This way creating posts within minutes of each other. I notice these things because I've been a moderator at another large site for years. So aside from looking into posting IP addresses, IP addresses at registration and other clues, this was another sign it was the same person. A VPN could be used to make this harder but at the end there are ways. My experience is with vbulletin and xenforo so I'm not sure how IP board works with problems like this.

 

I also find it odd that his explanation is VERY similar to Freds via PM. I'm just seeing too many coincidences here but maybe that's all they are and it's indeed not the same person.

[youki]

The Fact is that TotOOntHeMoon is an real hardware genius with whom we work (ok mainly him.. ) on a very great hardware project (i can not say more for now , but it is NOT another SGM ).

 

He was not member of AtariAge at this time when i saw some posts from Fred doing some things with Speech Chips , and i pointed Fred's posts to TotOOntHeMoon because part of thing Fred was doing looked similar to what Tot' was doing.

 

So he registered to AtariAge, and entered in contact with Fred. Then they shared their experience , i think ToT' helped Fred to finalize its prototypes... i don't know details here.

 

Tot' is a very Nice guy but he has his personality , he is quite impulsive So sometime he reacts too strongly. (as i do sometimes also ) But He is a very nice guy and a True hardware genius believe me.

[TotOOntHeMooN]

Hi Rey,

 

Fred leave in USA. I leave in France, like Youki. I suggest the login/logoff are only related to GMT.

I have registered here because I'm working on a new Colecovision game : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x39rl1s

And because I have seen the Fred projects, that looked interresting in my point of view.

 

I understand that Opcode was not happy to see peoples doing alternative boards, but by posting here, I was imediatly injured by Opcode from my first post. Since the begin, Opcode think that I'm Fred... But, I'm just a graphics and hardware guy. I'm not known from your atari/coleco community, but more I read posts agains peoples here, more I prefert to not continue to know your world and probably stop all my related Colecovision activity.

 

Regards.

 

EDIT: Thank you Youki, for your kind words.

Edited February 17, 2016 by TotOOntHeMooN

[Rey]

The Fact is that TotOOntHeMoon is an real hardware genius with whom we work (ok mainly him.. ) on a very great hardware project (i can not say more for now , but it is NOT another SGM ).

 

He was not member of AtariAge at this time when i saw some posts from Fred doing some things with Speech Chips , and i pointed Fred's posts to TotOOntHeMoon because part of thing Fred was doing looked similar to what Tot' was doing.

 

So he registered to AtariAge, and entered in contact with Fred. Then they shared their experience , i think ToT' helped Fred to finalize its prototypes... i don't know details here.

 

Tot' is a very Nice guy but he has his personality , he is quite impulsive So sometime he reacts too strongly. (as i do sometimes also ) But He is a very nice guy and a True hardware genius believe me.

Thanks youki, I will take your word for it. Either way, why TotOOntHeMoon is giving incorrect opinions on a matter that doesn't involve him is beyond me and increased my suspicions. I really don't want to deviate from my original post as this other nonsense is not of importance to me and distracts from the facts posted above.

 

I don't think it's necessary for me to add anything further on this subject nor defend anything posted above. The proof in the videos, pics and quotes speak for themselves so I'm moving on.

 

Hi Rey,

 

Fred leave in USA. I leave in France, like Youki. I suggest the login/logoff are only related to GMT.

I have registered here because I'm working on a new Colecovision game : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x39rl1s

And because I have seen the Fred projects, that looked interresting on my point of view.

 

I understand that Opcode was not happy to see peoples doing alternative boards, but by posting here, I was imediatly injured by Opcode from my first post. Since the begin, Opcode think that I'm Fred... But, I'm just a graphics and hardware guy. I'm not known from your atari/coleco community, but more I read posts agains peoples here, more I prefert to not continue to know your world...

 

I sadly more expect to stop all my related Colecovision activity.

 

Regards.

 

EDIT: Thank you Youki, for your kind words.

If you're not Fred then there's nothing to worry about or a need to stop posting here in our community. What I don't understand is you defending Fred's behavior or giving an opinion on a matter you were not involved in. That is all sir.

 

Done.

[AtariBuff]

 

I have registered here because I'm working on a new Colecovision game : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x39rl1s

Looks great. So, that game will come with speech to use it on Fred's hardware?

[TotOOntHeMooN]

Looks great. So, that game will come with speech to use it on Fred's hardware?

Thank you.

It run on a standard Colecovision and cartridge.

No SGM is required, but I don't exclude to support speech if all fit into 32K ROM.

 

What I don't understand is you defending Fred's behavior or giving an opinion on a matter you were not involved in. That is all sir.

Because I think that Fred is not a bad guy and really try to help peoples to get something homemade with his capacities.

It is sad for your experience, but I'm sure that your problem with this expansion is more related to the sound amplification and old Adam capacitors. Not a way to rip you.

Edited February 17, 2016 by TotOOntHeMooN

[+grips03]

that game looks really good

[slab0meat]

What I don't understand is you defending Fred's behavior or giving an opinion on a matter you were not involved in. That is all sir.

 

 

Not taking any sides here, but why can't people give opinions? Did you expect to post your story and to have zero response to it? No one's involved in it other than you and Fred, so only the two of you can comment on it?

[digress]

There is definately some background noise on mine. It works fine. The speech works fine. And the games work fine.

 

The speech part sounds pretty cool actually.

 

The background noise is noticeable mostly when no music is playing on the screen. When it's playing music it sounds correct but I think there is always a bit of background noise. I'll try it again on a few games this morning and see if maybe the volume of the tv is too high and if lowering it would improve/mask out the background.

 

I'm not overly concerned about it and it works. If there is a tweek that could be done via grounding something or revision via exchange i'm open to that but I'll be keeping mine.

 

So I support everyone and Rey makes some damn good power supplies. So please work this out. I think a return for refund should be reasonable if he wants to do so. Perhaps it wasn't clear that you would be returning the product and not just making a claim & keeping the board as well.

 

Thanks

[Rey]

There is definitely some background noise on mine. It works fine. The speech works fine. And the games work fine.

 

The speech part sounds pretty cool actually.

 

The background noise is noticeable mostly when no music is playing on the screen. When it's playing music it sounds correct but I think there is always a bit of background noise. I'll try it again on a few games this morning and see if maybe the volume of the tv is too high and if lowering it would improve/mask out the background.

 

I'm not overly concerned about it and it works. If there is a tweek that could be done via grounding something or revision via exchange i'm open to that but I'll be keeping mine.

 

So I support everyone and Rey makes some damn good power supplies. So please work this out. I think a return for refund should be reasonable if he wants to do so. Perhaps it wasn't clear that you would be returning the product and not just making a claim & keeping the board as well.

 

Thanks

Hey digress,

 

I'm trying to not say anything else on this matter but guess I have to answer this. Yes it was made very clear that I would be returning this to him for a refund because of how bad the static is as you all can hear in the video. He received my return but refused to give me a refund. Due to two bad experiences in a row I did not want to deal with this any further and I don't see how that should be a problem or hard to understand for many of us. Again, I may have just continued to work with the guy but his poor attitude just drove me to give up altogether. Some may be ok accepting the background noise even if it's as bad as what I posted but in my opinion for the price it's unacceptable. Denying there's no issue and placing the blame on your customers isn't the way to go.

[Rey]

 

 

Not taking any sides here, but why can't people give opinions? Did you expect to post your story and to have zero response to it? No one's involved in it other than you and Fred, so only the two of you can comment on it?

That's not what I was trying to say my friend. You are free to say whatever you want as am I to question a comment.

[Rey]

Thank you.

It run on a standard Colecovision and cartridge.

No SGM is required, but I don't exclude to support speech if all fit into 32K ROM.

 

Because I think that Fred is not a bad guy and really try to help peoples to get something homemade with his capacities.

It is sad for your experience, but I'm sure that your problem with this expansion is more related to the sound amplification and old Adam capacitors. Not a way to rip you.

 

But I'm not the only one as you can see, digress just chimed in he hears it as well. May not be as bad as mine but it's there and it shouldn't be. If Fred is not a bad guy and he may very well be a great person as I don't know him, he would've taken care of my issue like a professional instead of replying in the manner that he did.

 

On your game, beautiful job so far!