Does anyone own a real PC Engine / Duo / etc.?

[Monk]

I have recently started being interested in the old PC Engine and its quirky sound chip. I made a couple of tests that worked on the emulator, but I have to wonder what it would be like to compose music for the real PC Engine. Sweeps are amazingly cumbersome to try to do, but other than that, it seems nice - six channels, nice sample capability (I can capture drums from real C64, for example, then use those samples as drums in a PC Engine song, unifying old machines nicely), customizable waveforms..

 

It's kind of boring to compose just for emulation, it's not quite the same.

 

The same thing prevented me from getting too excited about FM synthesis, AdLib, OPL2/3, and so on - but when I got the real chips, an exciting world of subtractive synthesis opened up to me, and I worked hard to learn those chips and what makes them tick, and now I can make instruments and compose for and on those chips, plus, I can combine them with real SID chip stuff, which is pretty heavenly thing to be able to do.

 

I suspect if I could find a way to get my own stuff to be played on a real PC Engine, I would probably be excited and inspired enough to really roll up my sleeves and start creating stuff for the PC Engine as well.

 

So if anyone owns a real PC Engine or one of those derived systems (I kinda lost track when trying to figure out the later versions and such), I would appreciate the opportunity to hear my own music captured from a real system.

 

(Please message me or something, I might forget to read this thread)

 

My humble tests are just a couple of patterns of almost-nothing so far, so don't expect anything - I'll attach the test file here anyway.

 

I have been considering purchasing that system, though, but I already have so many systems, I am running out of space.. (I know it's physically very small, but all the wires and stuff have to go somewhere)

 

 

PCEngineTinytest.hes

[+jgkspsx]

I can play it on my Turbografx. Is a cell phone recording from the sound bar good enough for you?

[turboxray]

I'll capture a recording from a Duo-RX tomorrow and post a link.

[Mikebloke]

I have a turbografx also, but it's hard modded to scart, the best I could do is convert the whole signal to hdmi then record audio from that, which shouldn't change the audio at all. 

[BurritoBeans]

Figured I'd give this a shot! Having a couple of issues on my end:

I can get the file on my Super SD System³ with no issues, that's easy as .HES just renames to .PCE, but I'm fairly sure it's playing back way too fast. It's just a long buzzing noise, nothing like what I hear in Mednafen, and something a good few other .HES files I throw on the system seem to be doing. I do have a few .HES/.PCE files that work fine, the ones out of here work great, but everything else I can find seems to just break.

 

If anyone knows the process of fixing things up, I assume a hex editor is needed unless someone has some script somewhere, I'd be glad to give it another shot!

[CatPix]

Silly question but I do not own a flashcart, so, is there a way to convert that HES file to a CD image? That way I could burn it on a CD and play it like a regular game, if more tests are required?

[DragonGrafx-16]

I got a Duo RX but unless there's a utility to burn the roms to a CD I got no way to play them as I don't have an Everdrive.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I have JPN TurboDuo that I upgraded to s-video a few years back that I use as my daily driver PCE game system. I could capture from it directly to my capture device and then just extract the audio from it and try and provide that? I will warn however that even though I recapped my Duo about 6 years ago now? It still has a very noisy floor and it is actually worse when using my TurboED vs actual HuCards. CD don't appear to create any noise for some reason? Anyway, once I get my Everdrive I should be able to test it out.

 

[Koopa64]

I have a Turbo Grafx-16, a Core Grafx II, a PC Engine Duo (original black model) and a PC Engine Duo-R.

 

I do also have a Turbo Everdrive.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Koopa64

[BurritoBeans]

By chance, if someone with a Turbo Everdrive could try, can someone do the same thing I did (Just rename .HES to .PCE) and try running the file to see what happens? I'm interested to know if it's just an issue with my hardware or the file in general. There are mentions elsewhere of .HES files running too fast, I just have yet to find anyone saying how to fix them.

I'll get a recording of what my Super SD System is doing when I get off of work tonight.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

@Monk, Here it is through my TurboDuo. Again through the TurboED it has a pretty nasty floor noise level but I've lived with it.

 

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

That sounds more lofi than it should I think...

[+-^CrossBow^-]

26 minutes ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

That sounds more lofi than it should I think...

That is a direct capture so not sure? Pretty sure it sounded the same through my AV receiver as well when I first listened to it.

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

58 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

That is a direct capture so not sure? Pretty sure it sounded the same through my AV receiver as well when I first listened to it.

 

I mean it sounds more lofi than the PC Engine sound chip usually does...stage_1.mp3

This is one of my PC Engine tunes... it has a way brighter sound and yeah this was from tracker program so software but I know the sound of the real hardware. It is as clean as this.

Edited November 30, 2021 by DragonGrafx-16

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Understood. I listened to it through my AV setup and it was the same honestly. But you are correct in that most tunes from the PCE do sound of better quality. Air Zonk for instance sounds pretty excellent!

 

[turboxray]

Recorded from my Duo-RX: http://www.turboxraypce.org/pce_demos/pce_audio_tests/PCEngineTinytest.wav

Straight from the consoles audio out - no compression.

 

 One thing I noticed is that in the Turbo Everdrive.. if you load the rom from the menu, it plays fine. But if you remove the SD card and have it 'cold boot' the rom, you have slight distortion in the first few seconds. This clears up on the second loop. Probably something isn't being initialized (but is when the TeD menu is brought first before loading the rom).

 

 Is this your own sound engine?