Afternoon all - after years without any way to play my old Megadrive cartridges (Megadrive II I owned had died some years back), I bit the bullet this month and bought a Mega Retron HD console (info here: https://www.hyperkin.com/megaretron-hd-gaming-console-for-genesis-mega-drive-hyperkin.html). So far really impressed with it - it even plays Virtua Racing - but I am finding some audio differences in a few of the games. For example, S3&K's Knuckles music sounds odd when played through the speakers. Can't quite say why, but it doesn't sound perfectly like that I remember from my childhood. is this a case of me not remembering it fully from decades ago, or is the superior audio output producing the games sound quality differently? Other than that, it's been a perfect recreation of my PAL format memories as a kid in the 90s. I am currently using the controller that came with it - any suggestions for a Mega Retron HD compatible controller that is a closer match to the large Megadrive II controllers I had back then? Hope this finds everyone safe and well and enjoying their gaming despite the global pandemic. Stay safe! Best Wishes, Simon
It probably is just a case of bodged emulation or configuration. If this is anything like their recent Game Boy "console", it's running a bootlegged copy of RetroArch. If that is the case, you might be able to plug a USB keyboard in during gameplay and mess with the settings (by pressing F1 I believe), maybe something is up with the audio config they're using.
Odds are the specific issue is that fm is being resampled awkwardly. Yamaha's FM generators run at pretty weird sample rates (something weird like 47315kHz but probably not that exact value), and the easiest ways to convert those into common audio stream formats (44.1, 48 kHz, etc) usually involves some pretty nasty aliasing, resulting in audio with very weird effects, especially when high-frequency interference is part of the sound. Then there are also sound effects that use the alternate envelopes (SSG-EG), and while most decent emulators these days do a good job of handling them, not everything does, and the documentation of how they work has mostly come down to testing the direct signal output from the chip rather than direct knowledge of the method. (That's also become less true given we have decapped dye scans of the 2612, but not many people understand how to read chip circuitry from a non-schematic image). My understanding is the main emulators in retroarch (assuming that's what they've done here) do in fact have decent SSG-EG support (testing something like Comix Zone ep 1 page 2-2 should verify this, as the start should have a light cymbal sound in the right channel and not a harsh beeping sound) but I don't use retroarch's Genesis emulators on a regular basis to say for certain.
The Retron HD is an MD on a chip clone like the Fei Hao units, rather than emulation... And just like pretty much every MDOAC, it has inaccurate sound. Thankfully not AtGames bad, but it's perceivable. Notably on the PSG, which is on the loud side.
Thank you all for the replies. That's really interesting, I will look into this. I am glad I am not going mad in my old age regarding the sound! Was really surprised at how good Virtua Racing is after all these years and on this console has been running really smoothly. S1, S2 and S3&K are all noticeably "PAL" in terms of music/speed but as I've got used to the slower pace again, it no longer jars as much as it did when I used the mobile phone version of S2 and then straight to the Mega Retron after!
