Lower sound than my other games

DarkAkatosh · Dec 23, 2012

Well since the Sony side of things isn't going to have anything to talk about for a month or two I would like to take this opportunity to try and resolve this problem I've been having with the sound on my game. When I play it I have to turn up the volume a few notches to get the sound somewhat comparable to my other games. Then of course when I play my other games I have to turn the sound down of course.

But I seem to be the only one having this problem. People I've talked to here say this isn't a problem for them, in fact, some say its too loud! It leads me to believe that it's my 32 inch LG LCD TV. I tried to futz around with the settings and there has been SOME improvement but still quite a noticeable difference when it comes to my other games.

Anyone have any possible solutions? It seems that something's wrong on my end. I get great sound when demoing tables on my ipad 3 and Galaxy Tab 10.1. If that helps any.

shutyertrap · Dec 24, 2012

I've noticed the sound isn't quite as loud as other games, but my theory with that is because it's in mono. most other games are stereo to be sure, and often full surround. Just a theory.

smbhax · Dec 24, 2012

It probably just depends on what games you're used to playing, ie TPA may be relatively loud or quiet compared to them. Like, currently I mostly just use my PS3 for TPA and Netflix, neither of which have volume control!!! (really what is wrong with developers :|

) and TPA is a bit louder than Netflix, generally.

starck · Dec 24, 2012

It's on farsight's end. The sound quality emulation software they're using on 90%of the tables is just awful and sounds terrible- distorted, crackly, etc. Just be glad you're listening to the game through your tv and not an actual stereo, which would be more revealing...

DarkAkatosh · Jan 3, 2013

I highly doubt it's on their end since other people don't have this problem.

Jeff Strong · Jan 3, 2013

It'd be really nice if there were sound slider settings in the options.

SKILL_SHOT · Jan 3, 2013

I listen on surround and CRANK IT! but by volume control standards its medium compared to GT5 where as double dragon HD is waaay laoud all at the same volume. so maybe its your TV. I also play with headphones but that has a volume slider , but even still its quieter than other games and youtube,pandora.

starck · Jan 5, 2013

DarkAkatosh said:
I highly doubt it's on their end since other people don't have this problem.

Pretty sure everyone else just doesn't care all that much. I've brought it up in at least 1-3 threads. It's definitely on farsight's end, not mine. My audio equipment is excellent and is just really revealing of poor sources.

arttq · Jan 7, 2013

I like how Pinball Arcades volume level is lower than other games. I have my PS3 hooked up to stereo amplifier and the lower volume allows me to play Pinball Arcade with very low volume before total cut off. When I need higher volume I can just crank it up.

brakel · Jan 7, 2013

starck said:
Pretty sure everyone else just doesn't care all that much. I've brought it up in at least 1-3 threads. It's definitely on farsight's end, not mine. My audio equipment is excellent and is just really revealing of poor sources.

I also have a good home theater setup and am particular with how my audio sounds. I find TPA not so much lower in volume but rather mostly lacking in dynamic sound. There aren't really any highs or lows, pretty much everything is at the same volume. For that matter there aren't many high highs or deep bass sounds either. I just got a new Onkyo receiver and did the Audessey setup last night. I'm interested in hearing how some of my games sound on the new receiver. TPA will probably sound flat in comparison to some of my other games that more dynamic sound.

Another factor is that almost all of my other games are 7.1 and I have a 7 speaker setup plus a sub woofer so I take advantage of the sound in most games. TPA on the other hand is just sending out mono sound to the stereo pair. On my settings on the PS3 and receiver that means that I'm only getting sound to the front pair. Many people with home theater in a box types of setups are probably outputting some kind of matrix sound to their speakers and they have their surrounds going even with TPA. That is going to add to their perceived sound level as compared to those of us that have things setup so that we're hearing just what the game is sending out.

Alex Atkin UK · Jan 11, 2013

Nobody here seems to be considering the obvious, its emulating the original pinball tables.

Why is the sound crackly?
Because it was low bitrate to fit into the tiny ROMs of the original table and/or operate on the primitive DSPs back then.

Why is it quiet and doesn't have fancy 7.1 sound effects?
Because its simulating how it would sound if you were playing at the real table.

The goal of Pinball Arcade was always to emulate as close as possible to the feel of playing the physical tables themselves. That is very different from such as Zen Pinball where its a pure console game and doesn't even worry about sticking to what would be physically possible to build into a real pinball table.

This is why Pinball Arcade has so many bugs/issues, because its a lot harder to try and emulate the original ROMs while also simulating the physics of the table itself - than to just write all that stuff from scratch.

starck · Jan 21, 2013

brakel said:
I also have a good home theater setup and am particular with how my audio sounds. I find TPA not so much lower in volume but rather mostly lacking in dynamic sound. There aren't really any highs or lows, pretty much everything is at the same volume. For that matter there aren't many high highs or deep bass sounds either. I just got a new Onkyo receiver and did the Audessey setup last night. I'm interested in hearing how some of my games sound on the new receiver. TPA will probably sound flat in comparison to some of my other games that more dynamic sound.

Another factor is that almost all of my other games are 7.1 and I have a 7 speaker setup plus a sub woofer so I take advantage of the sound in most games. TPA on the other hand is just sending out mono sound to the stereo pair. On my settings on the PS3 and receiver that means that I'm only getting sound to the front pair. Many people with home theater in a box types of setups are probably outputting some kind of matrix sound to their speakers and they have their surrounds going even with TPA. That is going to add to their perceived sound level as compared to those of us that have things setup so that we're hearing just what the game is sending out.

Yeah agreed, there's no dynamics.

RE- the crackly sound on some tables- If you actually listen to the original sound files from the roms, you'll discover that many (most?) are actually pretty darn clear sound samples. I used MM sound clips found online as an example in a previous post a while ago. TPA's MM sound reproduction kinda stinks.

brakel · Jan 22, 2013

starck said:
Yeah agreed, there's no dynamics.

RE- the crackly sound on some tables- If you actually listen to the original sound files from the roms, you'll discover that many (most?) are actually pretty darn clear sound samples. I used MM sound clips found online as an example in a previous post a while ago. TPA's MM sound reproduction kinda stinks.

After one week my Onkyo stopped completing HDMI handshaking so it went back to the store. I replaced it with a Pioneer in their elite series. After the initial setup and configuration I have found that overall sound is better than my almost 10 year old Denon was. Although I still find that the tables in TPA sound flat and dry, if I crank up the volume I do get sound that sounds more like the tables. Gorgars heartbeat really does thump. I think ambient arcade sounds would go a long way to improving the sounds for those of us with surround sound setups. As is I think the sound is average for a game. Its not blowing me away but its not so bad that its distracting.

starck · Jan 23, 2013

Eh, I have a NAD T-763, NAD T-751, a pair of well-regarded tube monoblocks I've restored from the 50's, and various other audio equipment, including earbuds, open and closed ear headphones, etc., etc. Yeah, gorgar's heartbeat has bass. But overall, and regardless, the overall sound quality of the tables is low compared to what it should be. For me, it's kind of irritating to play particular tables, but then again, I'm pretty anal about sound.

*Certain tables DO SOUND NICE: example = monster bash, for whatever reason.

I wish I could help the folks at farsight out. I would seriously do whatever I could!

smbhax · Jan 23, 2013

brakel said:
I think ambient arcade sounds would go a long way to improving the sounds for those of us with surround sound setups.

I don't have surround sound, but ew, ambient. : P Didn't they have that in Pinball Hall of Fame? I seem to recall it was on by default, and pretty annoying--the best thing about it was you could turn it off!

starck · Jan 23, 2013

yeah, I'm not asking for ambient sounds either- just better reproduction of the original sound files! : )

brakel · Jan 23, 2013

smbhax said:
I don't have surround sound, but ew, ambient. : P Didn't they have that in Pinball Hall of Fame? I seem to recall it was on by default, and pretty annoying--the best thing about it was you could turn it off!

Pinball Hall of Fame isn't one game. I can only talk about the Williams collection for the ps3. It did not have ambient sounds in the tables. There were some ambient arcade sounds in the menus and they were not very good sounding. I would like high quality sounds that represent how the table sounded in the arcade. I'd be happy with that. If they could add onto that a nice surround track that would capture the sounds of the arcade, then even better. Arcade sounds would have to be an option though. No one would want that mixed down into their stereo feed.

Tann · Apr 4, 2013

brakel said:
I also have a good home theater setup and am particular with how my audio sounds. I find TPA not so much lower in volume but rather mostly lacking in dynamic sound. There aren't really any highs or lows, pretty much everything is at the same volume. For that matter there aren't many high highs or deep bass sounds either.

starck said:
Yeah agreed, there's no dynamics.

Same thing here.

The TPA sound is like there is no bass, very very flat. It is more than obvious when I compare to Williams Pinball Classics, where sound FX just make shake my walls.^^

Turn up the volume does nothing, sound stays "poor", no dynamic at all.

And when I play with headset, the TPA sound seems to be in "low MP3 bitrate".

Very disappointing.

I've been having with the sound on my game. When I play it I have to turn up the volume a few notches to get the sound somewhat comparable to my other games

Right, same here. The sound is low by default, and there is no sound settings to fix it.

Jim · Apr 6, 2013

Count me in on the low sound, and I have a fairly good Sony Theater setup.
I learned my lesson about turning the volume up though -- don't do it unless you remember to turn it back down when you're done. It only takes one time of turning the volume up and then scrolling to a game like Lemmings, to give your ears a nasty beating and wake-up everyone in a one-mile radius.

--Jim

Lower sound than my other games

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