Yup. It's been extremely long and difficult getting this thing across the Pacific and into Canada, but thanks to a friend of mine, I am now the proud owner of a TNS-HFC3. For those who haven't heard about it, it's basically a hardware NSF player for the Famicom. Several things distinguish it from the Power Pak:
a) It works on the Famicom, as opposed to the NES;
b) It does not rely on emulation. With the PowerPak, only the 2A03 is authentic, while expansion audio is merely emulated. With the TNS-HFC3, everything is authentic.
c) It does not support multiple expansions, for obvious reasons. Terra Network Systems did at some point produce the HFE4, which let you attach several cartridges together in order to play multiple expansions at once. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued.
d) You get stereo control. Well, not really. But you can adjust left and right volume independently.
e) The TNS-HFC3 has its own 1/8" jack, which means you don't get the hum you normally get when recording from the NES's AV jack, resulting in cleaner recordings. In fact, there's no sound coming out of the Famicom itself at all.
f) No overclocking. This is one of the major downfalls of the TNS-HFC3, sadly. Any overclocked NSF is slowed down to 60 Hz. Similarly, PAL or underclocked NSFs are sped up to 60 Hz (PAL NSFs also play at a higher pitch, due to the difference between the 2A03 and the 2A07's clock speeds).
Anyway, I'll be glad to accept hardware recording requests and post the recordings here.
I don't mind if it was made in FamiTracker or not, but I would prefer you make requests for your own NSFs or NSFs from a publicly available collection (like FamiCompo entries, NSFs from the 2A03.org archive, etc. use common sense), or at least that you seek permission of the original author of the NSF you want recorded prior to asking me. Also, no more than 2 requests at a time. When I've fulfilled your two requests, then feel free to make two more.
Few things to note:
I record using the following cartridges:
VRC6: Akumajou Densetsu
VRC7: Lagrange Point
N163 (1-4 channels): Megami Tensei II
N163 (5-8 channels): King of Kings
MMC5: Just Breed
5B: A custom-made board with a YMZ284 used as a substitute for the Sunsoft 5B (made by Jarhmander)
I don't own a Disk System unit, but I'll be glad to record FDS NSFs on my Power Pak if you want.
If you want a VRC7 tune recorded, make sure you exported it using Famitracker 0.4.1 or later, or attach the FTM so I can export it myself.
Lastly, as mentioned above, no multi-expansion NSFs.
With that in mind, I'll be happy to accept your requests. :)
Note: I was running out of space, since the forum only gives me so many characters to work with, so instead of an embedded list with links to each individual cover, I have to resort to linking to the entire Mediafire folder.
You mean your DC4 entry? Can you wait until the results are in, so I can post the recording here? :p I was planning to make recordings of the top 3 entries like I did for DC1 anyway.
Wow your amazing jrlepage for actually doing this for the people here on the Famitracker forums. I truly have to say that I appreciate everything that you do here on the famitracker forum.
Sure! I've wanted this cart for quite a long time now, so it feels great to finally be able to use it. If I can make other people happy in the process (which is what I'm trying to do with this thread), then that's awesome too. :)
Awesome, jrlepage! The best part is that you're making people happy by doing something you love to do.
I remember seeing the HFC4 on earlier posts; it's sad to see it discontinued. I think you can still hook the HFC3 up to an NES2 toploader if you have some adapter like a Honey Bee adapter or this:
(Yes; you can actually notice a weight difference in some US cartridges because they actually contain a 60-pin adapter, just in case you don't care about buying an adapter.)
This said, that could probably work on a PAL NES, provided the lock-out mechanism's bypassed (that way, you should be able to play proper PAL audio).
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I do have an adapter like this, but using one of these in the top-loader sort of defeats the purpose, since there's no way to mod the NES2 for expansion audio. :p
Using one of these on an NES is extremely impractical anyway, the reason being that since you need a Famicom cart to be plugged into the side of the HFC3, you end up with a setup looking something like this. As you can see, in order to plug this into a front-loading NES you need to unscrew the top, remove the cartridge tray, straighten the connector, use your 60-72 pin converter and pray the weight of the Famicom cartridge doesn't push the HFC3 and adapter too far down that it won't work anymore. :p
I believe the front loader would end up with the daughter-cart connector facing down anyway, so no go.
A top loader can be modded for expansion audio if you like (Bregalad did it) but what you want here is to modify audio out to go to the TNS cart's input so you don't lose the 2A03 sound from the mix. (Or just record both sources at once and mix them later; that might be a lot easier. No modding required.)
I haven't tested it out, but if my reckoning is correct, the daughter cart would end up facing up. Normally when you plug a FC cart into an NES with an adapter, the front of the FC cart (with the title label). Following the same logic, the side of the HFC3 with the DIP switches would end up facing down, meaning the connector with the daughter cart faces up.
It's still not something I'd attempt myself, mind you. :p
icesoldier: your recording is up, along with another I made for Dan earlier today. :)
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