Bad Quality ("Canned") sound for certain games?
#11
Right, I listened to your recording, it sounds ok'ish.
Some samples are just recorded worse than others.
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#12
The sound quality is perfectly fine here in my opinion o.o

"Samples Worse Than Others"
Might be the result of MP3 (lossy) compression xD
Ivy Bridge 3770K @ 3.9GHz - MSI TwinFrozr GTX680 4GB...
...Nerpyderp.
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#13
Perhaps it is just me, or maybe it's the way my PC handles the audio over the television/console or just my own speakers

it just seems "off" to me

Perhaps my headphones is doing some of the screwup? I've been fiddling around with them and found something interesting.

Logitech's G35 Headphones uses Dolby Headphone (iirc) technology that doesn't use complete 7.1 surround sound speakers, but instead, when the surround sound is on, it uses a setup inside of the headphones that allows emulation of surround sound without any loss of quality. I've fallen in love with it because it allows me to play first person shooters and immediately I can shout out to my teammates which cardinal direction the shots came from. I've even had "hax" called on me for it. However, they do come with a standard "stereo" function as well which can be switched to by flipping a switch on the left speaker.

Now, when I turn on PCSX2 and load up God Hand, then switch off my Dolby Headphone 7.1SS, it sounds like the game is unnaturally balanced toward the right speaker. I go into windows options and they are balanced for both equal L and R. No, I'm not deaf in my left ear. So, I think it's just the audio expansion of SPU which detected the 7.1 surround sound and when I switched off it was still in 7.1 mode. I turn off surround sound on my headset, and disable audio expansion, and restart the PCSX2 for good measure. The audio is now balanced. Re-enabling the sound expansion without restarting, but still in stereo balances it towards the right speaker again. Huh.

Now, I start up the next level. Thing is, now the sound quality is even worse and the stereo makes it seem more noticeable. Switching in-game sound settings from stereo, re-enabling sound expansion, and SS7.1 did nothing as well. Curious. All switching to Dolby Pro Logic II setting did was make the game more quiet, but this is Dolby Headphones, so I guess it's not compatible.

So, screw it. Let's try it with the 2.1 speakers, right? Well, as it turns out - since my headphones are significantly more sensitive and higher quality (and closer to my ear) than the old 2.1 speakers I'm using as backup, the quality loss is actually drowned out. This basically means my headphones are making the game sound worse. But why does it only do this for God Hand and not something like, say, FFX which has superb quality sound the entire way through?


What about Resident Evil 4? I got TERRIBLE terrible audio quality on that game. It was absolutely horrendous, and though I didn't test it with my speakers, it was obvious. The problem is I deleted the file in disgust (CD drive doesn't work, I have to burn the image, drag it through the network, and mount it and it takes like 2 hours) so I can't supply a sample. What is it in RE4 that caused the terrible audio? I ended up getting it for PC instead just because it was a cheap $10, and the audio was significantly better (although still worse than the gamecube because the PC version got the shaft end of the porting job, and don't ask why I have 3 versions of the same game - I blame discs as the media distribution standard).


I suppose the best way would be to find out what RE4 and God Hand use as far as file formats when playing cutscenes vs in-game sounds. I wouldn't know how to do it, though, if at all possible. If it were and then done, it could be compared versus a game like FFX or one of the Kingdom Hearts games that have their ordinary quality sounds to perhaps come up with a solution.


I'm just so confused. In a last ditch effort, I'll look for anything regarding my headphones having problems or just play with my desktop speakers when nobody's around to bother with the noise. Perhaps I could mess with the treble and bass and use an winamp plugin or equalizer or something to make it less noticeable, as well. I've already progressed half way through the game anyway, so it's not that bad, I guess.


EDIT: And if you want a more distinct example of the low quality I was talking about. It's not exactly "low" quality, but the "canned" sound like it was slightly muffled and I would like to say "grainy" which is in stark contrast to what I said was "normal" quality a while ago. It sounds like listening to the game voice acting through a GBA speaker. I guess that basically described what low quality is anyway, but whatever.
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#14
Would you happen to have the Speaker Volume set to Headphones in Windows/your sound card driver software by any chance? (If you know what I mean)

Because when I choose "Headphones" for use of my Sennheiser HD-595 Headphones, sound quality is much like how you describe (canned/muffled/grainy).

But if I set it to something else like 7.1 Speakers for use with my Headphones, it actually ends up always sounding MUCH better.
Ivy Bridge 3770K @ 3.9GHz - MSI TwinFrozr GTX680 4GB...
...Nerpyderp.
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#15
Boxes:
I do clearly hear the low quality samples you describe. And yes, it's a grainy, scratchy and thin sound. Has no bass in it either.
The thing is, this might be what it was intended to sound like. SPU2 memory is limited after all.
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#16
SPU2-X is not working AT ALL with the game Escape from Monkey island. It just plays a very loud high pitched sound. Sad
Too bad cause the PS2 version of this game was probably the best version.
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#17
Can you try disabling reverb?
Config > Sound > Disable Effect Processing
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#18
(03-14-2010, 10:31 PM)rama Wrote: Can you try disabling reverb?
Config > Sound > Disable Effect Processing

That did not work Sad
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