NCD - Nintendo CD Player?

gmunchkin · Post by **gmunchkin** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:14 pm

Hello. I am new to the community and new to the hacking scene overall. I enjoy 8-bit music, and was wondering if I could turn an NES into a CD player that played 8-bit music. My three questions are:

1. Is it possible?
2. If so, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get it started?
3. If not, does anyone have an 8-bit synthizyzer or something of the like?

Thanks!

Sincerely,

Tomi

Klefmung · Post by **Klefmung** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:15 pm

you could get a rather small noac with rather good sound and hook the audio into an audio amp, going to a headphone port or small speaker.

gmunchkin · Post by **gmunchkin** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:16 pm

Well, what I wanted to do was put it in an actual NES so it looked like an NES until you ejected the CD and then *gasp*, you realize that it is not.

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:16 pm

Get a CopyNES it can play the music.

gmunchkin · Post by **gmunchkin** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:45 pm

vb_master, you probably posted before you had a chance to read this, but I repeat:

gmunchkin wrote:Well, what I wanted to do was put it in an actual NES so it looked like an NES until you ejected the CD and then *gasp*, you realize that it is not.

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:48 pm

Yeah, but that's the closest you can get unless you put a CD Drive or something into a NES and burnt a CD with music. You could do it, but you would need a CD burnt with music. I'm saying it's possible, but you could just use the CopyNES to have a NES and music play all in one.

gmunchkin · Post by **gmunchkin** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:52 pm

vb_master, that is exactly what I want to do! I want to be able to put CDs in the NCD, and have lovely 8-bit music come out. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions on, for example, how to wire it.

Post by **marshallh** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:57 pm

1. Get a cheap used CD reader drive from an old PC with headphone jack and track buttons. Not hard to find
2. Install in NES case so tray comes out toaster hole.
3. Cut hole for headphone jack, and add buttons for the play/stop buttons on the cd reader.

Most people don't know what CD drives can run seperate from a PC. They just need 12v and 5v, I'm sure you can find pinouts for the Molex power connector.

You can use an old hacked up PC power supply, or get a 12v wall wart and wire a 7812 and 7805 to it.

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:58 pm

Yeah, it should be as simple as what marshallh said.

gmunchkin · Post by **gmunchkin** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:59 pm

marshallh wrote:1. Get a cheap used CD reader drive from an old PC with headphone jack and track buttons. Not hard to find
2. Install in NES case so tray comes out toaster hole.
3. Cut hole for headphone jack, and add buttons for the play/stop buttons on the cd reader.

Most people don't know what CD drives can run seperate from a PC. They just need 12v and 5v, I'm sure you can find pinouts for the Molex power connector.

You can use an old hacked up PC power supply, or get a 12v wall wart and wire a 7812 and 7805 to it.

But would it play in 8-bit? That is kind of the whole point of my NCD project.

Post by **marshallh** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:03 pm

You'd have to use WinAmp and have a NSF player plugin convert the the songs to MP3, then burn them to an audio CD.

I'm sorry, but you'd need to be an electronics god to play NSF music from an ATAPI CD drive all in one.

My post above is about the only way you're going to be able to do it.

If you are adventerous you can get a CopyNES board by Kevin Horton and install it in a working NES, but it's gotta be hooked up to a PC to do anything.

Could you rephrase your question (Are you sure you understand what 8-bit means? It has nothing to do with NES music.)

Post by **gannon** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:03 pm

A quick few questions:
1: Do you just want it to be a regular cd player and load the cd up with 8-bit ripped sound files?
2: Do you want to load the cd up with actual 6502 8-bit ASM sound code (NSF) and then process it to play on the nes?
The former is easier but not as accurate, while the latter is extremely hard yet 100% accurate if you do it right.

gmunchkin · Post by **gmunchkin** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:04 pm

Adventurous? I repeat what I said in my first post:

I am... new to the hacking scene overall

So there is no way to hook the CD player output to the sound system of the NES?

EDIT:

A quick few questions:
1: Do you just want it to be a regular cd player and load the cd up with 8-bit ripped sound files?
2: Do you want to load the cd up with actual 6502 8-bit ASM sound code (NSF) and then process it to play on the nes?
The former is easier but not as accurate, while the latter is extremely hard yet 100% accurate if you do it right.

Gesundheit?

Post by **marshallh** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:07 pm

gmunchkin wrote:So there is no way to hook the CD player output to the sound system of the NES?

No. That choppy synthesized sound you get from a NES is produced by a sound chip inside it, by code written specifically for it.

There's no way to make normal music sound like NES music unless you want to build your own DSP to lower the bitrate and some other crazy stuff to the music.

Post by **bicostp** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:07 pm

You will have to record the music from an NES or by some other means that we cannot discuss here.

After you get the music from the console or the *coughnotgonnasaycough*, just burn them like regular music tracks.

Trust me, it's the easiest way.

If you want something that can play the music from files off the internet (Besides traditional digital audio formats) or even cartridges, you will have to build an NSF player. You do NOT want to do this unless you are VERY proficient with integrated circtuis and complex wiring. <a href="http://www.tripoint.org/kevtris/Project ... html">Look at this one, it does what you want it to, but you'd probably be in way over your head.</a> One to play carts would probably be even mroe complex than this.