Hi All, it must be 8 years since I was last an active member of the UKVAC! Oh well, I'm back and begging for help ;-)
I've just converted a Gravitar to play Space Duel, I have a Space Duel board and control panel so it was pretty much a simple case of chopping the harness. I don't think the sound was 100% for Gravitar but I'm not too familiar with the game - never having played it until I got mine.
There is definately a sound problem with the Space Duel, most sounds are fine, fire, shields, the 'start noise' (dunno what else to call it), the splintering noise as one one player's ship is destroyed when connected to the other - these all work but are maybe a little lower on quality than they should be, a bit crackly here and there.
Sounds that don't work are the explosion when hitting a target, player's ship being destroyed and the fireworks when a high score is achieved. All these sounds are replaced by a short, 'crackly blip' - not an easy sound to describe but it's a pretty lame sound. It seems odd that some sounds work and some don't - it's the lower frequency sounds that don't seem to work - maybe there's a clue there??
Bearing in mind that I don't think the Gravitar sounds were 100% I have to assume there is a problem somewhere in the cab other than the PCB - possibly the Audio/regulator board (?) I remade all solder joints on this board to rule out a dry joint. I've checked all connectors are good and the volume pot appears to be ok, might replace it anyway just to be sure. Speakers are in good nick.
If anyone has any suggestions for what to check next or if anyone has a known good Atari Audio/regulator II board I could borrow for testing it would be most appreciated. Alternatively, any online tech reference would be useful (I have the manual already).
Thanks in advance for any help,
RobH
I've just converted a Gravitar to play Space Duel, I have a Space Duel board and control panel so it was pretty much a simple case of chopping the harness. I don't think the sound was 100% for Gravitar but I'm not too familiar with the game - never having played it until I got mine.
There is definately a sound problem with the Space Duel, most sounds are fine, fire, shields, the 'start noise' (dunno what else to call it), the splintering noise as one one player's ship is destroyed when connected to the other - these all work but are maybe a little lower on quality than they should be, a bit crackly here and there.
Sounds that don't work are the explosion when hitting a target, player's ship being destroyed and the fireworks when a high score is achieved. All these sounds are replaced by a short, 'crackly blip' - not an easy sound to describe but it's a pretty lame sound. It seems odd that some sounds work and some don't - it's the lower frequency sounds that don't seem to work - maybe there's a clue there??
Bearing in mind that I don't think the Gravitar sounds were 100% I have to assume there is a problem somewhere in the cab other than the PCB - possibly the Audio/regulator board (?) I remade all solder joints on this board to rule out a dry joint. I've checked all connectors are good and the volume pot appears to be ok, might replace it anyway just to be sure. Speakers are in good nick.
If anyone has any suggestions for what to check next or if anyone has a known good Atari Audio/regulator II board I could borrow for testing it would be most appreciated. Alternatively, any online tech reference would be useful (I have the manual already).
Thanks in advance for any help,
RobH
