Sorry to ask, but how does N106 really sound?

[ionustron]

I haven't had the budget to splurge to get a powerpak yet, but I've been very curious for a very long time. Allot of thee covers I've done on the N106 sound noticeably different just between Nintendulator and Nestopia, which has caused me to try and write to find a middle ground intended sound between like 6 someodd emulators.

While I realize accuracy with that chip is really a pipe dream (as I guess the real thing is glob-top,) has anyone who has done the loopy edit and listened to something I put into nsf format noticed any really big differences or glitches?

[tokumaru]

I haven't had the budget to splurge to get a powerpak yet

Even with the PowerPak it's still just emulation. Only a cart with the actual mapper should be able to give you the final answer.

[ionustron]

Yeah that's what I thought. Still a real shame to hypothetically gut a cart or make one of those weird monstrosity boards that has like 5 gamepaks hanging off of it (though I never wrote anything with more than 1 expansion.)

[tepples]

I guess that's why I stick to 2A03 music, even if it does things that don't sit well with the NSF format (such as anything DMC-IRQ based).

[mic_]

Isn't the N106 just a wavetable synth? Seems strange then that the result would come out noticably different in different emulators (if their DPCM output sound alike). I can understand why that could happen with a more complex chip like the one on the VRC7.

[Memblers]

Yeah, I don't get why it would sound different either. I guess it has to do with the DAC and mixing on the cart? As for the VRC7, it also is 100% digital, though it's more complex it's also pretty well understood (unless there is an LFSR in there that isn't 100% figured out, I don't know, I'm pretty sure the built-in instruments were extracted though).

Also, BTW I guess it's not much help but there is a version of the N106 chip that isn't a gloptop. I've seen a picture of it on a Japanese site, I'm pretty sure it's not as common though.

[Bregalad]

Well pretty much everything is 100% digital. I guess sound is harder to emulate accurately, because it is much more likely there is an error no human ear can tell than with graphics for example. (if the image isn't like the real HW image you notice it, but if the sound is slightly different you don't).

It's a shame so much (all ?) N106 carts are epoxy blobs, because if you ask me, it's ex-echo with MMC5 the "ultimate" mapper. It has PRG and CHR switching with fine granularly, support dual CHRROM+CHRRAM carts, battery backup, CPU-cycle based IRQ counter and has overkill extra sound. If the NES had to have only one mapper it'd be without a doubt either this one or the MMC5 I don't know.

I'd still miss the scanline-based counter, multiplier, EX-RAM and crazy amount of SRAM supported by the MMC5.

[blargg]

I think the N106 is well-understood. Two likely reasons why emulators might differ: the relative volume of the N106 to the APU isn't well-documented, and the N106 generates significant high-frequency harmonics that stress an emulator's low-pass filter. If an emulator doesn't use a low-pass filter that attenuates strongly above the Nyquist limit, the aliasing will muddy the sound. This won't be noticed as much with the APU, since it doesn't have as rich waveforms.

[Doommaster1994]

Would anybody here happen to know how to write music on N106 on MML? I've been desperately searching for a way to find out how but I can't find a way. Any help would greatly be appreciated!

[Memblers]

Use PPMCK. Copied from here:

#EX-NAMCO106 <num>

Enables Namco106 channels P,Q,R,S,T,U,V, and W.

<num> (1 to 8)
This is the number of channels you want to enable simultaneously. For example, entering 3 will enable P, Q and R only. Entering 8 will enable all of its channels: P through W.

I'm sure there should be some example files around somewhere. When I made my Squeedo cartridge originally, that's how I tested the sound synth, by hacking PPMCK and replacing the N106 channels.

[B00daW]

N106 doesn't sound like anything extra, the N163 does. ;P

[Doommaster1994]

Thanks, Memblers, you're always there for me whenever I need help. I have encountered one last problem. Here's what I put in my mml file:

#TITLE Song
#COMPOSER D1994
#PROGRAMER Copyright
#EX-NAMCO106 8

@v0 = {12 8 }

@N03 = {00, 0 10 9 10 9 10 11 10 8 15 10 13 4 7 8 9 7 9 8 7 4 14 10 15 8 10 11 10 9 11 9 10 }

ABCDEPQRSTW t150

A l16 o3 @02 @v0
A [c d e f g a b o4 c]2

P l16 o3 @N03
P [c d e f g a b o4 c]2


But then it won't export an NSF. If I remove the P channel, it will work. What am I doing wrong?

[ionustron]

aha, I completely missed this!

Was trying to surf for more untranslated info regarding the @t command on one of BouKiCHi's modifications to PPMCK...

Doommaster, you need to call the patch using @@, NOT @N, even though you DO define it as @N. It's rather silly.