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PinSound any good?

Andy B

Andy B

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Thinking of upgrading sound board on my Data East Star Wars to PinSound +

Anyone installed one of these boards?
Are they any good?
How big an improvement ar they on original sound board?
Anyone installed one of the alternative Star Wars sound schemes?
Does installation help eradicate speaker hum (which is my main driver for considering buying but does seem expensive fix (if it works) for a fairly minor issue?
How does hooking up headphones work (I.e. how is the cabinet modded to accept headphone plug in)?

Thanks

Andy
 
I do personally think these boards are fantastic, provided there is a good remix/score to go along with one. Loads of people recommend the DESW one however as a huge upgrade.

I have one in my T2 with a remix and love it, sounds fantastic:


I'd say even without upgrading the speakers I immediately noticed a huge improvement, in the sound quality, bass produced etc. Not completely sure about speaker hum as it's something I never really notice on it, which may suggest it is improved. I can't comment on a DESW.

Headphones I believe can be hooked straight into the board (but I'd have to check) or you can buy an extender cable that you can then run through the game to put into the coindoor or a place of your choosing? (At least I think, again check their site for details).
 
I see PinSound sell speaker upgrades to go with the board. I already upgraded the cabinet speaker as part of my refurb but I guess backbox speaker swap outs are a good idea too - can’t imagine factory fitted Data East ones are high spec. (Though given the size of the backbox speakers I’m not sure how they would be specc’d up).
 
to get the most out of pin sound you really need upgraded speakers. as you've done that and the updates for pin sound on that game look fantastic - I'd say yes go for it!



Don't tell @strobey though!
 
I had a Pinsound in my old Star Wars running a mix of the move soundtrack and it was incredible :thumbs: One of the better games to put a Pinsound into IMHO
 
Love the hardware, its excellent, the problem is that there are only a few mixes that are really good, I've been disappointed more often than not. When it's good it's very very good.
 
Spadge said:
Love the hardware, its excellent, the problem is that there are only a few mixes that are really good, I've been disappointed more often than not. When it's good it's very very good.
Click to expand...

I think a majority of the mixes are made by fans, much like the coloured dots in ColorDMD displays are coloured by fans. Whereas that is consistant however PinSound can be hit and miss.
 
Andy your doing a great job on your SW, if your wanting to use headphones why don' you look at installing Bluetooth ones.
 
Finally got round to installing pinsound along with new speakers in STTNG

First impressions are good but the call outs are way overpowered by the moooosic

My only other experience with pinsound was Chris Bs T2 restore and the call outs were crystal clear in that , So whilst I’ve had a little play allready does anyone have any tips to balance things up a little?
 
Mark Roberts said:
Finally got round to installing pinsound along with new speakers in STTNG

First impressions are good but the call outs are way overpowered by the moooosic

My only other experience with pinsound was Chris Bs T2 restore and the call outs were crystal clear in that , So whilst I’ve had a little play allready does anyone have any tips to balance things up a little?[/QUOTE

My only issue with pinsound. The hardware is awesome but sound is usually handled by professionals in terms of mixing it properly. Here, as pinsound skirt around licensing there are just a few independtly created and superb mix sets for games, based on availability of sample, quality, mix music v speech etc. It’s actually very hard to do this stuff well and quite easy to make it quite imperfect.

Had good mixes for IJ, GNR, maybe a couple of others but most don’t really rate above average or good but not how it could be.

Pinsound needs someone like a Cleland on stern games (who does great well balanced recordings) but the problem is that they are underground due to the hard fact that it’s illegal due to licensing/distribution.

I’ve worked in video games for 30yrs and this is a very thorny subject as audio licensing divisions are sensitive and don’t understand anything other than $$$$ when they license it to film, tv.

The only way to really hope for balance is to get a sound editor and alter the samples yourself, which isn’t impossible, just considerably tough to get right as there are loads of samples, different looping, different speech samples from various sources at different volumes etc.

If you do find a mix you enjoy, please say so (probably needs a sticky thread of its own)

However I’ve more often than not been disappointed in some of the STNG, TZ, TOM and LOTR mixes.

Sorry to whine.
Click to expand...
 
Additionally and for balance, pinsound is great for replacing dead soundcards that are tough to get, provide better audio and mixing.

Most of the original files are available and sound better, although a few just aren’t looped/mixed properly (eg the STNG one which has the “thank you mr data” at ball end) / not unfixable but a pain to fix.
 
Spadge said:
Additionally and for balance, pinsound is great for replacing dead soundcards that are tough to get, provide better audio and mixing.

Most of the original files are available and sound better, although a few just aren’t looped/mixed properly (eg the STNG one which has the “thank you mr data” at ball end) / not unfixable but a pain to fix.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insight , figured there would be no easy solution to the mixing , my main gripe with MMR was the drowned out callouts so realise it’s difficult to perfect . The ability to swop between original and orchestrated really appealed and as it’s all fully reversible thought I’d have a play with it anyway

By the way that ‘ out of sinc thank you mr data may push my OCD limits over the edge , time will tell. On a positive glad to be rid of the silly humour roms, fighting the Borg is serious **** and not to be taken lightly
 
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