08277: polepos and clones: Audio mixing tweaks for Pole Position (screech too loud, music too quiet)

ID	Category [?]	Severity [?]	Reproducibility	Date Submitted	Last Update
08277	Sound	Minor	Always	Mar 29, 2022, 05:08	Mar 29, 2022, 22:49

Tester	CYBERYOGI -CO-Windler	View Status	Public	Platform	MAME (Official Binary)
Assigned To		Resolution	Open	OS	Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
Status [?]	Acknowledged			Driver	namco/polepos.cpp
Version	0.241	Fixed in Version		Build	64-bit
		Fixed in Git Commit		Github Pull Request #

Summary	08277: polepos and clones: Audio mixing tweaks for Pole Position (screech too loud, music too quiet)
Description	The terrible skid screech is way too loud! This really spoils the game by deterring from turning the volume louder. (I clearly remember in my childhood in a real Atari cockpit it was way quieter.) Also the explosion is a bit loud. What I remember and see on youtube examples, the screech should not be ear piercing at all, the music is fairly loud, beeps well audible and the speech slightly quieter than the music. It may have partially to do with duller arcade speakers (intensifying bass range, possibly midrange resonance), but the mixing of the MAME version IMO sounds off and not credible at all. The music is way too quiet. Even turning it to 200% is not enough. Perhaps the namco sound also lacks and unemulated analogue filter or distortion that would increase loudness. Each effect sound channel in these games has a left and a right speaker version. Only "Namco" (music) has both channels assigned to different speakers. Polepos Ch.0 = car motor discrete Ch.0 = screech discrete Ch.1 = explosion discrete Ch.2 = ? discrete Ch.3 = speech samples Namco Ch.0, Ch.1 = music, beeps, puddle splat etc. This sounded better, but music/beeps still a bit quiet: Polepos Ch.0 = 0.85 discrete Ch.0 = 0.37 discrete Ch.1 = 0.68 discrete Ch.2 = 0.80 discrete Ch.3 = 0.80 Namco Ch.0 = 2.00 Namco Ch.1 = 2.00 This makes music loud enough (beep is still a bit weak?): Polepos Ch.0 = 0.77 discrete Ch.0 = 0.32 discrete Ch.1 = 0.61 discrete Ch.2 = 0.71 discrete Ch.3 = 0.71 Namco Ch.0 = 2.00 Namco Ch.1 = 2.00 These settings IMO yet sound most reasonable: Polepos Ch.0 = 0.70 discrete Ch.0 = 0.28 discrete Ch.1 = 0.54 discrete Ch.2 = 0.64 discrete Ch.3 = 0.64 Namco Ch.0 = 2.00 Namco Ch.1 = 2.00 Beeps are still faint, which may have to do with different analogue filtering or speakers. The settings were tested successfully in the Namco (default) and Atari version of "Pole Position" and Atari version of "Pole Position II". The internal mixer settings in MAME should be tweaked accordingly.
Steps To Reproduce	Compare the car skid sound and music betweeen MAME and youtube examples of the actual arcade machine. You can test sounds in the service menu of the game (DIP switch) although the motor noises seem to be absend in the self test mode.
Additional Information
Github Commit

Flags
Regression Version
Affected Sets / Systems	polepos and clones

Attached Files