Audio quality lower after reinstall

[EGRyan]

In order to install the Add On Pack (with Medieval Madness and Funhouse), the demo of Pinball Arcade must be reinstalled. The install of the Add On Pack was successful, but now the game audio has changed. Before the reinstall, the game audio (all the audio, including sound effects and music) was full fidelity, high quality sounding, and I believe in stereo.

Now after the reinstall, the audio quality is much lower, the overall volume is also lower, and is in mono. Anyone else experience this?

 

[brakel]

No. I am kind of an audio geek so I'm pretty sure I'd notice. Wonder if a re-re-install is in order?

 

[spoonman]

I thought it sounded off to me. I remember the newer tables such as Theater of Magic sounding great with neat stereo effects and haven't noticed it last time I played.
So why would they turn it into mono?! It seems like Farsight takes 2 steps forward and 1 back with everything.
I guess they will eventually get there, but it's never good to see quality on the PS3 take a back seat to casual iOS devices.

They should really hire a few more people at Farsight. It seems like they are in over their heads with all of the ports and customer support.

It's really the little things that makes them come off a bit green when compared to the Zen. They really have a lot of polish on their front-end and a ton of options as well. I sometimes find myself playing Zen when I really would rather be playing TPA just so I can listen to my own music or play online with friends. Farsight needs to
get their PS3 version options/front-end up to par.

 

[Dumahim]

I know it's very quiet, but I don't remember how it compares to how it was before.

 

[DarkAkatosh]

The audio has always been awful for me. It's practically mute.

 

[dtown8532]

I haven't noticed any difference in the music but I'm playing it through tower speakers with built in powered subs. Many of these tables carry a sound design that's pushing 20 years old. It's no Blu-Ray but Funhouse still thumps the floor with its bass.

 

[starck]

The audio quality was absolutely awful before the update (and for some reason, it was supposidly in stereo, but would output the sound in DTS or Dolby Digital - I forget). Either way, it's obviously not mixed for surround sound.

After the update, it's now sending a stereo signal- and not DTS- good start....I thought the sound quality *might* have dropped, but again it was bad to begin with so...? And this is also coming from someone who's an 'audio geek'. I don't mess around when it comes to my audio setups. I don't call speakers 'tower speakers' if you get my drift.

The SQ on these is lacking; look up some high def YouTube recordings of these tables. Even the mediocre YouTube recordings will elude to the fact that the effects aren't being emulated correctly. It sounds compressed and possibly overdriven. Lacks imaging and (correct) full frequency response.

Agree that the quality really really needs improvement ASAP. Why have high def graphics and low def audio?

 

[EGRyan]

Prior to reinstalling the game (done to install one of the Add On game Packs), I'm pretty sure the game audio was either Dolby Digital or DTS (one of the digital surround audio formats) and was in stereo. I was surprised at how high the audio quality was, especially the amount of bass rumbling out of my subwoofers.

After reinstalling the game, the sound is now clearly mono (sound is only coming out of my center channel speaker) and is NOT in either digital surround format (the display on my receiver will show what format audio is being decoded). And the low bass is definitely missing now.

So I'm thinking the game update (the "reinstall" to add the Add On game Packs) is either missing the digital surround audio or has caused the game to default to the mono audio.

 

[starck]

Well, before, it would show UP as a surround format, but it wasn't feeding any info to any of the surround speakers, IIRC. It was simply stereo/mono/whatever sent over a DTS or DD signal. So technically we shouldn't have been seeing the DTS/DD encoding anyways as pinball machines have yet to incorporate surround sound (note to self...new idea..create surround sound pinball machine...heh)

EGRyan-Might want to check the settings on your receiver just to make sure, but on my NAD T-763, I have no surround settings enabled, just optical directly into the receiver. It shows the signal coming in as stereo, 2/0.0 (stereo). I have nothing coming through my center channel. BUT that being said, every damn surround sound/new receiver is different and handles things differently. What are you using?

This also isn't to say that I think the audio is or isn't mono; it's pretty hard to tell. It could be a mono signal that's simply being shown as stereo on mine, for whatever reason. For instance: I just tried playing with headphones the correct way, and then reversed R and L earbuds. I honestly couldn't tell any difference between the two sides, other that the fact that they both stink.

FYI for those interested I posted a thread on the audio quality some time ago...let me find a link...

 

[starck]

Here's my thread regarding the need to improve the audio quality of the tables. I don't know if anyone from farsight really saw it or took it seriously; it kind of died out. Maybe the PS3 people can help revive the issue?

http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...e-audio-quality-of-each-table?p=9547#post9547

 

[George Klepacz]

Post links to these threads the next time Jeff Strong starts up a new "Ask Bobby King" thread.

I can't comment on the sound quality because I'm only using tv speakers at the moment. When I got married, I moved into my wife's house and there isn't anywhere for me to set up my home theater equipment which bums me out. All I can say is that on PHOF: WC, the sound is mono and I sent them an email about it. The response I got back was that even though the newer pinball machines had two speakers, they weren't actually in stereo. I'd like to hear from someone with a real machine verify this. How do these tables sound in Visual Pinball?

 

[Dumahim]

If I had an audio out on my laptop I'd do video to compare hooked up to the same speakers, but I don't. Not going to move my desktop or speakers into the same room either. Perhaps someone else could. All I know is, audio in VP through my headphones sounds pretty damn good. Especially with the operator menus so you can adjust the volume, it really helps. With TPA, you turn up the volume and you get louder mechanical sounds as well, which I don't want.

 

[brakel]

I agree that the sound isn't great. I'll have to listen with a more critical ear when I play today. Kind of low on the wish list but similar to the wanted lighting slider would be ambient sound options. I have a 7.1 setup and think it would be cool to hear other people playing other games in the background. Playing pinball or video games in arcades you'd always here other games "calling out" to you from across the arcade while playing another game. But I'd rather they get all the game play aspects worked out first.

 

[starck]

George- True- someone correct me if I'm wrong but most pinball DCS systems were mono, despite the use of multiple speakers.

Regardless, mono or not, the SQ isn't what it has the potential to be. I think the emulation/decoding (?) of the audio needs work.

I have 7.1 as well and to have this in full surround sound, with an option for ambient sounds would be a dream!.... but they need to do major work on the basics first.

Wish I could compare to virtual pinball but I've got a Mac and I'm not set up for dual booting into windows right now.

Also, some of the sounds of where the ball is hitting objects on the table (left, right, lower field vs upper field,,etc.) aren't mono, they're mechanical and should be represented as a localized source when they happen. It would probably be easier to play the game if this was implemented, too.

(Some lengthy reading on DCS by a WMS employee for anyone interested in such things: http://www.edcheung.com/album/album07/Pinball/unclewilly3.htm)

 

[EGRyan]

I think I should clarify. The issue with the audio I'm having is not whether or not it's now in stereo, but rather before I reinstalled the game, I'm pretty sure the game audio was in one of the digital formats (Dolby Digital or DTS). I feel this because of the high fidelity of the sound and the fact my subwoofers were fully active. Now I cannot say for sure if this audio was in stereo, or just high fidelity 2-channel mono. What ever it was, the audio was full-range and the bass shook the room.

After the reinstall, the audio is now much lower fidelity, and the only speaker active is my center channel. The audio has less fidelity and almost no bass (and definitely no bass from my subwoofers).

BTW, I'm running the audio signal from my PS3 Slim to my Yamaha RX-V795 receiver through an optical digital cable.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about the game's audio. It's just that before I did the reinstall, one of the things about The Pinball Arcade that impressed me was how great it sounded and, at certain times during the game, the bass was impressive. Now the audio is just so-so.

 

[Dumahim]

My audio is also only coming out of the center, but I do get bass on the sub. Certainly not as much as there should be sometimes, but it's there.

 

[George Klepacz]

Have you tried reinstalling a second time? Just curious.

 

[EGRyan]

@ George -- yes, I reinstalled a second time. Same result.

 

[George Klepacz]

I just remembered I had to update my PS3 software before downloading TPA again, did you also? Have you checked your
PS3 audio output settings to see if they somehow changed?

I wish i had my preamp here with me so I'd know if I also was having this problem. With tv speakers the game sounds the same as before to me.

 

[spoonman]

I remember the music in title menu being lower quality wih the first release,
but not it all seems the same (lower fidelity).

I believe most pins after '87 should be in stereo either.
Hopefully Farsight can improve this. I listen with headphones when I play
So it's pretty obvious.