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OPL4 Shockwave extra batch

OPL4 Shockwave extra batch

by rogerio.belarmino on 21-08-2016, 18:55
Topic: Hardware
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The sound cartridge OPL4 Shockwave from Tecnobytes is a Moonsound a-like MSX sound extention. A batch of 10 new units is being sold, right now.

OPL4 Shockwave features

  • Total of 42 audio channels, 18 FM synthesis and 24 wave-tables
  • The samplers may be 8, 12 and 16 bits to 44 kHz (CD quality)
  • 2Mb ROM samplers containing 12 bits of various musical instruments (standard MIDI)
  • 1Mb SRAM for temporary storage of samplers
  • a true DAC which provides better sound quality and low noise.
  • Sound output through RCA connectors

To buy yours, you can access the product page from their website. Shipping will start in September.

Relevant link: www.tecnobytes.com.br

Comments (3)

By rjp

Master (194)

rjp's picture

24-08-2016, 21:50

Nice!

By ro

Scribe (4964)

ro's picture

31-08-2016, 09:07

According to rogerio.belarmino:

Quote:

Mission Accomplished

The Tecnobytes Classic Computers

We thank our customers for their purchases, all shipments of the second batch of Shockwave cartridge (OPL4) were successfully sent traces were sent by paypal system.

By meits

Scribe (6544)

meits's picture

31-08-2016, 13:26

How does this cartridge fit in the clone-quality-comapared-to-the-original-Moonsound list?

1) Moonsound:
Soundwise the benchmark for all clones.
Has some quirks in durability which have been fixed in the last revision.
My version 2.0 has died a few times. As the ex-Sunrise hardware man told me there are still a few weak points, but they're all ironed out in the last batch.

2) Dal-So-Ri:
The sound quality is very good. Comparable to Moonsound. Slightly less volume and slightly softer tone. The latter is rather pleasant.
The hardware is of extremely high end quality and the soldering looks like it's not being done by a human. It will undoubtedly outlive my Moonsound.

3) FM-Blaster (and maybe its example Woz-Blaster):
The sound is not good. The volume is way too low. And as you might know noise is a constant factor. If you turn the volume of your amplyfier up to hear the OPL4 tunes, the noise will be amplyfied as well. I hope the version after the first batch got upgraded with the four resistors fix. The soldering is ok'ish. Could be done better, but it works.

All the above have a DAC which is called inferior by people I trust on their opinion. Personally I have no clue. Neither do I know if this is the reason of them clicking when a note follows a previous note which makes channel switching mandatory and leaves you with less channels.

I'd like to know how this Shockwave compares to Moonsound. So if there's someone with both Moonsound and Shockwave, please make a recording of both with exactly the same recording settings on the same gear and share it.
The cartridge looks huge. I don't know if this is because of the availability of cartridge cases or if bigger (and maybe high end) components were used.
As I am a sound cartridge collector and I got this itching urge to buy this beast sometime in the future, I'd like to know these things ;)