FM sound on SMS games... interesting video

[cyBORG]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgm-sbANHfI

I thought this was neat; this fellow has made an adapter that allows him to plug an SMS game into a Genesis and use FM sound.   Could something like this be possible with the Mega ED?  What an amazing firmware update that would be!

[Kyle]

He has stated this will work with the Master ED. So at least there's that. I'm looking forward to getting one.

[cyBORG]

I figured since the board shown in the video just acts like some kind of translator / passthrough to the genesis FM stuff, how hard would it be to patch this in to the Mega ED?  It would be another great feature to have.

[phoenixdownita]

This comes up time and again.
MegaED was supposed to have enough juice to "emulate" the FM chip for SMS games, it hasn't happened so far it probably won't.
Can an actual SMS FM chip be put into a "MegaED FM edition"? ... sure but I don't see that happening either.

Given the contraption is to play SMS games with FM over a sn MD you can't use it with a MegaED, it surely would be possible to have something like it as a "pass-thru" but unless you make it for flash carts it would not make sense per se and at that it would be hard to make sure it is compatible with all of them.

In short use that with a MasterED, not sure if Krikzz would be interested in manufacturing one.

[Assman]

I figured since the board shown in the video just acts like some kind of translator / passthrough to the genesis FM stuff, how hard would it be to patch this in to the Mega ED?  It would be another great feature to have.

I think you're confused about what this device does. The Genesis FM chip isn't being used at all; this converter has the SMS FM chip (which originally was only available as an add-on for the JP SMS) built into it. Only a couple dozen or so SMS games support FM sound.

[cyBORG]

Right you are, I'm back from vacation and did some more reading up about the device.  He does say he's put a YM2413 onboard; there appears to be 40+ games listed on his site as supporting FM sound (I wasn't aware there were that many!)

I still wonder if something can be done with the onboard MegaED chip though to duplicate this kind of behavior (Edit : ie - make something that can translate the YM2413 instructions to be compatible with the YM2612?  I know they're different chips but I have heard some people talking about trying to emulate 2413 sound through a 2612)

[wilykat]

It's probably easier to hack a real FM chip onto ED carts.  Also it'd be safer to hack only SMS ED because FM chip could cause problem when you're trying to run Genesis or 32x roms.

[Assman]

There's been plenty of talk about using the FPGA in the Mega ED to emulate the FM chip (you can probably find a few threads about it around here), but it's still just talk at this point. I don't think Krikzz has been too interested in making it happen.

I guess our best bet right now is either getting one of these converters and a Master ED, or getting a Neo-Myth-MD flash cart (which actually has the SMS FM chip built into it).

[tertu]

If/when Krikzz releases the Mega Everdrive programming docs, somebody could probably port the existing VM2413 core to it, use the onboard DAC, and write an SMS launcher that would support FM.

[reprep]

Krikzz, please consider FM sound for Mega Everdrive, this will be a huge selling point.

[rouken]

I'm waiting for a Mega EverDrive with a SMS FM Sound Unity for a long time.

Krikzz can use the same scheme of the FM Power Base converter to add this function in a new version of the Mega ED, with an option to turn on/off the FM Unity in the EverDrive menu.

[The_Atomik_Punk!]

I'm waiting for a Mega EverDrive with a SMS FM Sound Unity for a long time.

Krikzz can use the same scheme of the FM Power Base converter to add this function in a new version of the Mega ED, with an option to turn on/off the FM Unity in the EverDrive menu.

+1, the people want it Krikzz, FM sound with the Mega Everdrive!

[tertu]

It actually takes work. Either a new MED revision would have to be made with a YM2413 on board ("the same scheme of the FM Power Base Converter"), which takes work and would mean older MEDs wouldn't get FM support, or the VM2413 core would have to be integrated into the FPGA code for the next firmware version, which also takes work. He can't just speak incantations and magically get FM out of the thing, and he's working on other projects anyway as far as I can tell.

[Sgt.Wafer]

Every time the Mega Everdrive gets an OS or firmware update I hope that It includes FM sound for Master System games.

[TheRetromancer]

Viletim of NESRGB fame makes an FM expansion module for the SMS - admittedly, the first one I ordered didn't work, so he replaced it for free, but the second one was brilliant.

I've never really liked playing SMS games on the Genesis/MegaDrive.  It may just be my OCD talking, but there's something very wrong with playing games from one system on another - it's probably why I can't play virtual console games, either.