Lordmonkus Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 Over the last week or so there have been a couple of things added to the Core Options for the Genesis GX core that significantly improves the sound quality of it. These changes bring it more in line with a Model 1 Genesis which is known to be better sounding than the later revisions. Edit: There is a catch to this though, the "nuked opn2" setting will increase your CPU requirements for this core. If you have your frame delay set higher than the default of 0 try bringing that back down to 0 or try a number lower than what you had to see if it fixes your sound and frame rate using this option. I had my frame delay set to 10 before but I had to drop it all the way down to 2 to fix the audio glitching and frame rate. The mame option is still very good with the low pass audio filter on and set to 40%. These are the settings you will want to have to get the best sound quality right now (until the next round of improvements lol)Here is a couple of comparison videos of how the various models of the Genesis actually sounded. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dov_EL Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 You re n1° in the world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mothergoose729 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 The new driver proved too much for my little handheld, but enabling the other features helped a lot. It is less authentic to my childhood ( I am pretty sure I had a model 2 genesis), but so much easier on my ears :). Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 Yeah the "nuked opn2" setting is a real hit to the CPU but having it set to "mame" with the low pass filter at 40% is really close and very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted October 6, 2017 Author Share Posted October 6, 2017 The latest downloadable core now as overclocking and sprite limit removal options. Though it is recommended for now to leave the clock set to 100% and the sprite removal to off and to only adjust those settings on a per-game basis and per game override for games that benefit it. Certain games may run into issues, one such issue is the title screen of Sonic the Hedgehog, notice his body showing over top of the Sonic banner. Master System games will certainly benefit more from these features than the Genesis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted October 13, 2017 Author Share Posted October 13, 2017 The latest Genesis GX core has more settings in the core options and the settings for most accurate to the Model 1 Genesis is: YM2612, Stereo, Low-pass, 55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted October 13, 2017 Author Share Posted October 13, 2017 Copy / Pasting from the Retroarch forums: https://forums.libretro.com/t/genesis-plus-gx-where-is-the-audio-lowpass-filter/12169/111 Discrete YM2612 appeared on all Model 1 except the badly distorted VA7. ASIC YM3438 was integrated into the main chip on the majority of Model 2 except VA2 and VA2.3 which had Discrete YM2612 like Model 1. YM3438 has better DACs and sounds cleaner with less ‘ladder effect’ (google it) distortion and noise than YM2612. BUT, some games actually use the YM2612 ‘ladder effect’ noise to their advantage therefor sound more correct on the 2612 than on the 3438. Discrete YM3438 never appeared in any Genesis console but it sounds similar to the ASIC YM3438 and can be installed in a Model1. Mame core is the most pristine sounding with no emulation of the ladder effect distortion, and no DAC Quantization (if Off), it is a pure FM synthesizer. This option is actually what Sega engineers would have preferred but had to live with the distorted and noisy real hardware. Pick your choice on how you want it to sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mothergoose729 Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 I had a chance to mess around today with the sound drivers and here is my opinion. The default MAME driver with no DAC Quantanization and no low pass filter definitely sounds the cleanest, as in has the least amount of audio distortion. Unfortunately this makes everything sound extremely tinny and flat. The YM2612 sounds the best to my ear with no DAC and the low pass filter enabled. Compared to the default MAME driver, the sound is a lot fuller and the bass is much more pronounced. There is also a subtle buzzing background on some frequencies and everything sounds just a bit like it is being played out of a blown out speaker. I thought about it more today, and I am pretty sure I grew up with the model 1 genesis. The YM2612 feels more authentic too me, and I think it genuinely sound better. The MAME driver with the low pass filter and the DAC turned on sounds pretty close to the YM2612, and it is a lot less resource intensive. Compared to the YM2612 though, MAME with DAC sounds a just a bit muddier to my ear and retains a touch more of the tiny quality on the high end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 "DAC quantization is for Mame core only. All the Nuked cores have all the proper emulation of the electronics already." From the above link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mothergoose729 Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Oh for Sega CD games it is probably better to use the default settings with MAME driver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 Yeah, if you don't want to emulate the Model 1 sounds. Edit: I should say if you don't want the Model 1 sound emulation interfering with the Sega CDs CDDA audio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mothergoose729 Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Anything that is sampled will sound better without any distortions, especially the sublime redbook audio on some of the sega CD games. This is probably true for the mega drive too (not that I can think of any decent sampled audio on the mega drive, but still). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 Unfortunately you cannot easily separate the Genesis and Sega CD cores from each other in Retroarch. You have 2 options, either have 2 installs of RA or setup game over rides which would be easiest to do for the Sega CD stuff since that presumably would be the platform with the least games. Personally I just don't care that much about it affecting my Sega CD music so I won't be bothering with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drakkorcia Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 I forgot how to access the core options in Retroarch. I need to turn off the FM sound in Genesis Plus GX. Any help would be much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOS76 Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Start a Genesis game with RA hit F1 and go down to options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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