Months ago I had demoed a beta version of the app. Now - I can say it is finally truly finalized.
crt_synthesizer for anyone interested.
Months ago I had demoed a beta version of the app. Now - I can say it is finally truly finalized.
crt_synthesizer for anyone interested.
Ooh, I remember this! Incredibly cool project - I still find the idea slightly horrifying, but I'm increasingly of the view that a lot of fundamental intangibles are just missing from emulating older systems on modern displays. This covers a pretty important one of them, even if it was always considered a bad thing at the time.
Bravo for finishing it!
Thank you very much for your feedback and support! š
Since weāre talking about the sound of a CRT, I want to add that watching a movie and emulating the touch, smell, sound, etc of a movie THEATRE are two totally different things. Iām not criticizing the app or saying itās bad or pointless, Iām politely haggling with the idea in the comment of surrounding context being part of the thing emulated, because the game and game-hardware is different from the physical experience.
(For clarity, I insist on and use CRT shaders, for visual art and perception reasons rather than ānostalgiaā or anything like that.)
The exact reason I started this project is because CRT shaders are a thing in the first place.
I found CRT shaders to be amazing, and I made use of them, but after months of use, I felt like something was off.... I noticed there is an aspect missing, like, quite literally, emulation is too "2-dimensional", and in order to give an added perception, sound was required, and to me, the sound of a CR'T' is what constituted the core of a CRT's experience. By no coincidence the category is named after the tube.
An added dimensionality, because indeed, you have to add 'z' coordinate to the dimensionality of CRT TV/monitor era emulation; with x and y represented by the games themselves along with shaders, z, represented by CRT audio profile.
Now if you want to emulate touch (perhaps static?) and smell (?) of a CRT display..... not sure how it can be achieved, but hey, I am not for limitations!
Oh damn i will fire this up today
Ayo this comment is LIT!
Let's go, emulation has reached the point where flyback whine analysis is a thing š
I cannot send you a chat message. How can I?
I've never really noticed a CRT whine that was varying over time, it was always a constant pitch for me.
The thing I really noticed though was a rather loud buzz from the Luma/composite signal bleeding into the audio signal. I didn't hear anything like that in the demonstration video.
Thanks for your feedback! I will try to explain best as I can!
CRT whineĀ isĀ a constant-frequency signal (15.625 kHz PAL / 15.734 kHz NTSC), but theĀ audibleĀ pitch often drifts variably according to brand, size, model, aging, due to thermal expansion, ferrite core behavior, and HV load changes, which most notably on several sets showed up as variations tied to brightness/movements/imagery - especially on older European sets like Seleco, Philips, Neckermann, etc.
Sony Trinitron, which I also remember, amongst perhaps other brands tended to be more stable, so your experience could be more in line with those models. Keep in mind 15.734 kHz is also slightly less audible than the PAL TV sets.
As for composite/luma buzz, thatās a separate artifact caused by interference in the baseband signal path rather than the flyback circuit itself. Itās something I may simulate in the future, but the current focus is specifically on flyback/HV behavior.
HV regulation itself is something that would be interesting for CRT shaders to simulate. Some sets would visibly bloom (the picture would get larger in all directions and defocus slightly) when a lot of white was on screen. TVs (and to a lesser extent computer monitors) have always been made cheaper with tradeoffs like that. Today it's that LCDs have really poor contrast, so movies with a lot of darker scenes turn into gray mush.
Audio buzz from video bleed was usually only a thing with RF. One of the reasons hooking the NES up with a composite cable was so much better if your TV supported it.
I mean bloom is already simulated quite well in some shaders, I believe one of them being CRT Royale, though I am not sure how close to technical fidelity they get.