Sound Channel 4 is whisper-quiet in *MFC1490 and others

[Joshington]

Edit: MFC 1490, not SVN.

 

I've noticed Channel 4 in all the M builds I've tested (including 1490) is relatively quiet compared to both a real GBA and the parent VisualBoyAdvance emulator, listening through either speaker/s or headphones. Channel 4 seems to be responsible for sounds resembling a mixture of percussive and "swishing" noises in games like Sonic Advance. It is most notable in the aforementioned game's character menu, when toggling left or right.

 

I would just like to know if there's a setting I could tweak to remedy the volume deficiency of this particular channel, or if it's a known issue that simply can't be overcome for whatever reason. I could go back to the original VBA if I really had to, but I'm really liking VBA-M's xBRZ pixel filter and easy fullscreen toggle. Due to save state incompatibility I'd like to decide which one is best to continue using sooner rather than later.

 

Thanks.

[jmc92]

My settings seem to work somewhat, but I know what you mean.

 

Under Audio>Configuration

I uses 44.1 sample rate, OpenAL, Maximum sound buffer. About 15% Echo, Full Stereo, 75%Sound Filtering

 

Then under the basic settings with the checkmarks, play around with those, but I recommend restarting the rom each time you make a change.

Also, try turning off your "display filter" by setting it to none. Idk why but on some roms the filter seems to mess with the sound.

[Joshington]

Thankyou kindly for your input. Unfortunately those tweaks didn't make any difference to my ear. I experimented with MFC 1490 (not "SVN" 1490 as I incorrectly stated) and "Wx 2.0.0 beta 2", resetting the emulator after changes, disabling filters/pixel filters, etc. Upon closer comparison with the last original VBA, "1.8 SVN", I've noticed that channel 4 in the "M"s is also very flat-sounding. Perhaps that's more the issue? In any case I think I'll just stick with VBA 1.8 and get the kids and I used to no xBRZ filters, ha.

 

Based on how you described those settings I'm guessing you're using a Wx version. Does your display also pin itself to the top edge of your monitor when in full screen?

[jmc92]

Yes, I use Win7. I believe it does pin itself in that manner, where the buttons themselves become invisible and the game takes the whole screen. Would be nice to have the buttons visible as an option.

 

On the old VBA versions, these settings usually looks ok if I recall.

[Joshington]

Ah ok. I feel compelled to note that enabling Interframe Blending on mine appears to make horizontally-moving graphics flicker. Might be a compromise for low frame rates? I'm not certain about "Disable MMX", but some reading hints that it may be a legacy option for very old CPUs which lack the feature.