Super Nintendo Music / .SPC Player

[grimmah1978]

Im confused.. Whats the purpose of this thing? What does it do? i mean i get that it plays music somehow.. but please elaborate.

[FarisOssandon]

Sounds awesome!

[theeltea]

I want to build one SO BADLY! I believe my snes has a detachable APU

[MAH1500]

I always used a Winamp plugin to listen to all SPC music, edit loops, convert them into waves, edit them, burn them into Audio CD, but the hardware still produces a faithful SNES sound, with this you can record directly from the source ! great job man :)

[dudjoe]

ok let me get this straight , u build all that just to listen to the music of games ?..

[mamaluigi1999]

i love the sound of the drums and bass the snes produces

[MajorDisaster4u]

That is so cool, Good job!!

[tibabo]

can do the same with SnesMusic on iPhone

[Bylga]

That's amazing! I wish i could build one =(

[MrPivotjuggalo]

Dude play new junk city from Earthworm Jim on it :U

[figaro589]

the wiring looks like it took a while :) nice work! think you would do this to another console? I'd like to see it done to a SEGA Genesis, or as I know it as, the Mega Drive :)

[matts2007]

@figaro589 Someone did; I would do this as soon as more documentation is released: Youtube "Hardware VGM Player - YM2413 FM"

[camelazo]

Song after 5:50? pleasee!!!

[matts2007]

@camelazo Added annotations to video. From Donkey Kong Country 2 - "Forest Interlude"

[CoTeCiOtm]

0:35 So... you had to do a few connections...

[blinkstock182]

Hey its the screwattack podcast song!

[nensondubois]

Have you been to SNESmusic DOT o r g and it's new forums?

[ultimateshadowx9]

I have a few questions:

1. Do you make and sell these?

1.1 If so how much?

2. What was the game list?

[Oricevreitu]

which game is at 4:44?

i like the theme very much.

[matts2007]

@Oricevreitu star fox corneria

[nickmaynard]

does an .spc file contain multiple songs on it like an .nsf file? or does it only contain a single song? i'm really thinking about doing this!

[matts2007]

@nickmaynard They should only contain one song. Then again, it depends on the instruction set of the .spc dump.

[alecjahn]

Should play the underwater level music from DK Country, I believe titled "Aquatic Ambience".

[speewave]

@alecjahn i took that song for granted when i was a kid... i mean, it was a song in a game when i was 5 or so... played it again, couldn't believe it was on a (now) 21 yr. old Console

[steeviebops]

@tdub228 Looks like a Compaq LTE 5000. I had the 486 version of this, the LTE Elite.

[ypoora1]

By the way,you can use this to convert SNES tunes to MP3s!

[ypoora1]

now Make it usb and ad internal memory!

[lauri647]

Oh, WOW I want it.

[fintogive]

you should sell this!

[Kulawendin]

Sick laptop.

Where can I find the pinout for the SNES sound card?

[zedrein18]

Holy crap! You did the S/PDIF mod!!! I know I am probably asking a lot on this one: could you possibly show how you did that mod specifically? I know it doesn't seem terribly difficult, just a few wires and connectors plus a chip that will re-format the SNES's digital audio to S/PDIF format, but I'd like to see the specifics. I am the kind of person that learns more from real pictures as opposed to a diagram. Thanks so much for your videos!

[matts2007]

@zedrein18 Go to the URL displayed as a slide at 0:51 in the video. Alternatively, google "alphaII spdif"

[zedrein18]

@matts2007 Oh thanks! How does the digital audio sound compared to just regular analog? Is it a pretty dramatic improvement or negligible difference?

[matts2007]

@zedrein18 On a large stereo system, it makes a small difference. It eliminates "buzz" and "hum" problems. I have planned on making a video on comparing the Alpha II emulator, analog from the APU, and SPDIF from this mod. My computer has an SPDIF in on board; just need to connect it properly. I'll get some time in a few weeks.

[tdub228]

What sort of laptop is that?

[Cooprocks123e]

Can you do requests and then record them onto .mp3? Because that would be awesome.

[tdub228]

Epic. Win. I bow to you, and would most likely buy one of these if they were mass produced. CAN YOU MASS PRODUCE THEM?! Because that would be awesome...

[snower5554]

how did you make all the labels? im trying to build one of these.

[matts2007]

@snower5554 I had some Contact brand clear decorative covering adhesive around. We normally use it to laminate paper. Just print out text onto regular paper using a laserjet printer. Next, tape a piece of this contact over top of the printed text. Run the paper back through the printer by printing the same document: the fuser in the printer embeds the toner. Just cut, peel, and apply.

[T3RRABYT3]

Did you use a gameboy the the outer casing on the sides?

[Cooprocks123e]

what is the music at 3:20?

[Holavoir]

@Cooprocks123e Mega Man X: Armored Armadillo

[blinkstock182]

@Holavoir It's also the screw attack sidescrollers theme... YAY.

Thank goodness you told me which one it is.... it's been bugging me.

[rockinfaceplant0000]

hell yeah star fox

[KasHCubeD]

You should've slapped a Sony logo onto there!

[carrierpilot1357]

what mario game does the first track you play come from?

[Cooprocks123e]

@carrierpilot1357 SMRPG.

[dvdragond2]

Does this device have to be constantly connected to the PC? or can you have a SD card slot for it to read off of?

[morrissteven]

This is genious, but would be a thousand times more useful if there was a midi in/thru option... but if SPC files are like actual samples then are there a ton of those samples on the net? It'd be nice to play those samples through actual hardware and convert them with good hardware to 44.1 or 48. Is there any chance of loading SPC files into the hardware and then using the hardware as a sound generator? How much would you sell one of those for if you were able to do it?

[matts2007]

@morrissteven So what you are looking to do is load the hardware with a set of SPC samples, then send notes at will? This would require a special 64k rom image for the hardware. Also, computer host software must be developed to send the correct information to queue sounds. Hopefully someone with programming and micro-controller skills does something similar.

[bto1993]

4:40 Star Fox for the win.

[Legion2000]

SNES Soundchip = best console Soundchip ever

[Blazestalker100]

You made this? holy mother****** Your skills should be brought right over to nintendo themselves!

[jmpatinhas15]

whats that and whats that for?

[johneymute]

hey that,s actualy pretty cool,i was thinking to connect this audio chip to a dolby digital system wich is even able to up sample the 16bit 32khz into 24bit 192 khz for the best sound ever.

[aquabluesky]

The greatest part about this video is that the FIRST song that plays is from Super Mario RPG. Gosh, I love you.

[Skylinekid69]

Do you have the schematics available for this?

[matts2007]

Take a look at the comments in the old video (link to the old video is at the beginning of this one).

[YoshiFan501]

sounds too good to be real

[xan1242]

Could you do MIDI on it?

[matts2007]

@xan1242 Doubt it. Each SPC file has its own set of samples and instructions. The protocol for streaming sound effects or queued music varies from sound dump to sound dump. Maybe with a modified SPC rom and a special computer program we can then send audio samples and notes at will.

[SchlossRitter]

Cool work, but is there any way to use it without it being hooked up to a computer for more than one song? I mean, yeah it's cool to use the original hardware, but you have to load off a computer for each track. So wouldn't it be easier to just play the SPCs on the computer, given the proper software plugins, and hook your stereo/speakers to the PC (use a simple 3.5mm to RCA adapter if needed).

Great music choices, especially CT.

[Trogdorbad]

NICE CHOICE

Super Mario Rpg-Mario's Pad was a great choice for the demo. This thing is awesome.

[rushnerd]

I know that emulators can (theoretically) output to 44.1Khz, but do you hear a difference in sound quality from your hardware unit and ROM emulation sound? I would only assume the hardware has a warmer, more smooth feeling to it.

[matts2007]

@rushnerd Great question. The Alpha-II emulator does a great job as it has different interpolation modes and higher sampling rates. Tell ya what; choose a song, and I'll compare this unit to the Alpha-II SPC emulator at various settings. I would like to also play with the SPDIF input on my PC. Thanks.

[rushnerd]

Oh HELL YES! This is just awesome :D

[matts2007]

@rushnerd XD

[Dant2142]

Just a note: That S/PDIF mod can also be done on a normal SNES, you just have to track down the Chip to encode the signal.

[gamester120]

nice.

[alecton]

U ROCK

[MN12BIRD]

OHHHHH MY GAWD! That is amazing! Seriously you went over the top too with SPDIF and Headphone amp?  Wow...

[SMAAAASHTV]

this would be a good way to get music from snes into a digital format from actual hardware!

[missionwolfman]

nice, i wouldn't mind getting one of theses.

[191191119]

@missionwolfman me 2