19 replies to this topic

[Tesla]

So, if I was going to try my first Alt-Sound mod to a table, what VPX v10.8.x table would yall suggest I try first? Which ones show-off the technology best? If it's relevant, I tend to gravitate towards to 1990's Williams and Bally Tables.

 

Also, I'm curious ... what is the different between an Alt-Sound modded table and something like XenonPH's nice Flash Gordon table?

 

https://www.vpforums...&showfile=18234

 

 

[digitalarts]

"alt-sound" is a replacement of the "rom-internal" Sounds.
It's still based on vpinmame, so the table(Script) itself don't know anything about this "Upgrade". For using a altsound, you need NO Script modify, but
a) the folder with all Sound replacements
b) rename this folder exactly as the Rom Name
c) place the folder inside vpinmame/altsound folder
d) in vpinmame settings of the Rom, Set "alt. Sound mode (0-3)" from 0 to 1 or 2 (try to find the best one)

So, vpinmame replaces "on-the-fly" the access of the rom-internal Sound (it's adress in Rom) with the dedicated external soundfile.

XenonPH used a different way... He muted the Rom Sounds in Script and imported his own Sounds into the table and triggered them in the Script.

Edited by digitalarts, 21 June 2026 - 04:53 PM.

[Tesla]

All good info that I need to know, thanks.

 

So, since with have all the resources of a traditional Visual-Pinball cabinet, we can compensate for "barely adequate" discrete controllers of the time. Replacing the audio-tracks like in Flash Gordon (but in a slightly different way). Also, doesn't really change the game-play.

 

So, I wonder which one I should do first? One that is considered "well done".

 

Like I would NOT do Star Trek - TNG because it has the (capable) DSC Audio System and the audio is fine.

 

I was thinking a recreated arcade table from a popular movie or TV franchise (so there would be plenty of good samples).

 

Casual searching just now reveals Guns and Roses (Data East 1994) might be a good candidate to start with. I've never played it IRL, and I don't have it on my cabinet yet.

Edited by Tesla, 21 June 2026 - 06:20 PM.

[Tesla]

OK, I found a stash of Alt-Sound files over at vpin24. 

I wonder what the difference is between Original and Enhanced?

 

Anyway, I got some Originals (I hope they are best/current versions).

 

These look to be for one of my currently installed Tables that I like to play regularly on my cabinet (I only have 19).

Star Trek 25th Anniversary, Apollo-13, The Addams Family, Indiana Jones, Gilligans Island, Batman.

 

And Guns and Roses but I have to get that Table and Rom installed first (and see what's it's like before I start Alt-Sound modding it). 

[Katmandoo22]

If you are looking for suggestions, Data East Batman is completely transformed into a more tense experience just from the change in the Alt-sound.  Another absolute to try is the Alt-sound for Data East Jurassic Park.  Much better after the change.  I also like to use an alt-sound with Black Rose.  It uses a bit of music from Pirates of the Caribbean. There are many more good ones to try, but these are some of the best.  If you use pup-packs though, sometimes the two won't compliment each other.  Hope that helps

[xenonph]

OK, I found a stash of Alt-Sound files over at vpin24. 

I wonder what the difference is between Original and Enhanced?

 

Anyway, I got some Originals (I hope they are best/current versions).

 

 

The difference is...

The "Original" ones have the exact same music and sound effects that the original rom has.

[Tesla]

If you are looking for suggestions, Data East Batman is completely transformed into a more tense experience just from the change in the Alt-sound.  Another absolute to try is the Alt-sound for Data East Jurassic Park.  Much better after the change.  I also like to use an alt-sound with Black Rose.  It uses a bit of music from Pirates of the Caribbean. There are many more good ones to try, but these are some of the best.  If you use pup-packs though, sometimes the two won't compliment each other.  Hope that helps

 

I have Batman, but haven't migrated it into my VPX v10.8.0 (parallel) install yet, so I'll do that one next, and add the AltSound. Same applies to Jurassic Park.

 

I DID do Indiana Jones and it seems like a whole new (fun-er) Table now ... maybe I never gave it a chance before? It's my AltColor tester.

 

So, I got Guns N Roses VPW from VPU with HauntFreak's B2S ... and iDigStuff's G-Sound AltSound-2.0 pack for it. Wow.

In all these years ... How did I not have this Table already (ever)?

 

Thanks for all the recommendations ... I really appreciate it. 

 

OK, I found a stash of Alt-Sound files over at vpin24. 

I wonder what the difference is between Original and Enhanced?

 

Anyway, I got some Originals (I hope they are best/current versions).

 

 

The difference is...

The "Original" ones have the exact same music and sound effects that the original rom has.

 

 

Oh, I see. For like the "pure-ist" .

 

So, I'll get enhanced when possible. That might be closer to what you are doing.

As I'm checking out the sound and music on these Tables ... adjusting my PinVols ... I couldn't wheel past your Flash Gordon tonight without playing a quick game ... it's just so cool.

 

 

OK, I found a stash of Alt-Sound files over at vpin24. 

I wonder what the difference is between Original and Enhanced?

 

Anyway, I got some Originals (I hope they are best/current versions).

 

 

The difference is...

The "Original" ones have the exact same music and sound effects that the original rom has.

 

 

Wait a minute.

 

Is that why trek_201 (Star Trek 25th Anniversary) sounded mostly the same with the (original) AltSound?

 

As I listen to the ogg files from Windows, they sound about the same as the machine in vpx. So, what is the point of that?

Edited by Tesla, 16 July 2026 - 12:36 AM.

[xenonph]

 

If you are looking for suggestions, Data East Batman is completely transformed into a more tense experience just from the change in the Alt-sound.  Another absolute to try is the Alt-sound for Data East Jurassic Park.  Much better after the change.  I also like to use an alt-sound with Black Rose.  It uses a bit of music from Pirates of the Caribbean. There are many more good ones to try, but these are some of the best.  If you use pup-packs though, sometimes the two won't compliment each other.  Hope that helps

 

I have Batman, but haven't migrated it into my VPX v10.8.0 (parallel) install yet, so I'll do that one next, and add the AltSound. Same applies to Jurassic Park.

 

I DID do Indiana Jones and it seems like a whole new (fun-er) Table now ... maybe I never gave it a chance before? It's my AltColor tester.

 

So, I got Guns N Roses VPW from VPU with HauntFreak's B2S ... and the new G-Sound AltSound-2.0 pack for it. Wow.

In all these years ... How did I not have this Table already (ever)?

 

Thanks for all the recommendations ... I really appreciate it. 

 

OK, I found a stash of Alt-Sound files over at vpin24. 

I wonder what the difference is between Original and Enhanced?

 

Anyway, I got some Originals (I hope they are best/current versions).

 

 

The difference is...

The "Original" ones have the exact same music and sound effects that the original rom has.

 

 

Oh, I see. For like the "pure-ist" .

 

So, I'll get enhanced when possible. That might be closer to what you are doing.

As I'm checking out the sound and music on these Tables ... adjusting my PinVols ... I couldn't wheel past your Flash Gordon tonight without playing a quick game ... it's just so neat.

 

This AltSound stuff is like a whole nother level of coolness.

 

OK, I found a stash of Alt-Sound files over at vpin24. 

I wonder what the difference is between Original and Enhanced?

 

Anyway, I got some Originals (I hope they are best/current versions).

 

 

The difference is...

The "Original" ones have the exact same music and sound effects that the original rom has.

 

 

Wait a minute.

 

Is that why trek_201 (Star Trek 25th Anniversary) sounded mostly the same with the (original) AltSound?

 

As I listen to the ogg files from Windows, they sound about the same. So, what is the point of that?

 

 

Well for me, I used the original NFL altsound for my NFL Team mods, and muted the music in the altsound folder, so NFL Films music plays, and kept all of the other sound effects. (The main reason for using the altsound method for me was to keep all of the original voice sound fx from rom.) Also added unique Touchdown calls for each team.

 

So someone wanting to make their own sound mod would use the original altsound file as a base.

 

They are sound dumps of original rom.

Edited by xenonph, 22 June 2026 - 05:59 AM.

[Tesla]

 

 

 

OK, I found a stash of Alt-Sound files over at vpin24. 

I wonder what the difference is between Original and Enhanced?

 

Anyway, I got some Originals (I hope they are best/current versions).

 

 

The difference is...

The "Original" ones have the exact same music and sound effects that the original rom has.

 

 

Wait a minute.

 

Is that why trek_201 (Star Trek 25th Anniversary) sounded mostly the same with the (original) AltSound?

 

As I listen to the ogg files from Windows, they sound about the same. So, what is the point of that?

 

 

Well for me, I used the original NFL altsound for my NFL Team mods, and muted the music in the altsound folder, so NFL Films music plays, and kept all of the other sound effects. (The main reason for using the altsound method for me was to keep all of the original voice sound fx from rom.) Also added unique Touchdown calls for each team.

 

So someone wanting to make their own sound mod would use the original altsound file as a base.

 

They are sound dumps of original rom.

 

 

It's becoming clearer to me.

 

So, the AltSound Original file-sets are truly just sound dumps of original rom. You can now change one or more audio files, THEN COPY into VPX and that one new sound will play (along with all the rest unchanged) ... without changing the script.

 

Would you say that is true? Do I understand better now?

Edited by Tesla, 22 June 2026 - 04:18 PM.

[xenonph]

 

 

 

It's becoming clearer to me.

 

So, the AltSound Original file-sets are truly just sound dumps of original rom. You can now change one or more audio files, THEN COPY into VPX and that one new sound will play (along with all the rest unchanged) ... without changing the script.

 

Would you say that is true? Do I understand better now?

 

 

 

You might also need to hit F1 while table is running, and you will see an "Alt. Sound Mode" section in upper right. Change from 0 to 1.

Then reboot table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tesla]

For: Star Trek 25th Anniversary (Data East 1992)

I got this (Enhanced) Alt-Sound set by Kapterb

 

https://vpuniverse.c...st#review-43660

 

He did real good (it's retro as it should be).

 

But surprisingly, no-one (I evaluated a few sets) has ever fixed Spock saying "Live Long and Prosper" instead of what sounds like "Live Long and Proper" . Even playing the actual pinball machine back then, I always disliked that (as it was kinda the last thing you heard). 

 

So, I created a new ogg file for that. You just overlay it on top of Kapterb's set. Works fine. It is here if anyone wants it also:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1op7Hz0j_8JqWaXO-wqIud8ovwDMGFRUr?usp=drive_link 

 

Note: I got his set over there as I could not really find any "Enhanced" Alt-Sound file-sets here.

Edited by Tesla, 15 July 2026 - 08:35 PM.

[Tesla]

 

So someone wanting to make their own sound mod would use the original altsound file as a base.

 

They are sound dumps of original rom.

 

 

So, (I'm thinking) that is why a very early SS machine like Flash Gordon (or Pink Panther) had to be done the way you did it.

 

They barely had any "talking or voices" to begin with. And what little digital audio they did originally have, you could tell the discrete synth control-boards where maxed out and barely dealing with it.

Edited by Tesla, 27 June 2026 - 07:57 PM.

[Tesla]

For Back to the Future (Data East 1990) I found Apophis' enhanced Alt-Sound file-set and it seems good.

 

I'm finding that a good Alt-Sound file-set can re-vitalize a good older table on my cabinet, just like a good B2S can.

 

Speaking of that, the best B2S Backglass I found is HauntFreaks's with the metallic artistic look, and the B2S-DMD (with Jackpot-Box) is the Time-Machine display on DMD/Screen-3 ... it's very cool and retro.

 

This table on my 3-screen cabinet (now migrated into my v10.8 64bit-DX install ... and upgraded as above) is now back in my Top-20.

Edited by Tesla, 28 June 2026 - 05:56 PM.

[Tesla]

If you are looking for suggestions, Data East Batman is completely transformed into a more tense experience just from the change in the Alt-sound.  

 

I found iDigStuff's Enhanced Alt-Sound for Batman (Data East 1991). Very nice, thanks for the recommendation.

Looks like iDigStuff also did the popular Alt-Sound 2.0 (G-Sound) for Guns N' Roses.

 

I think I might have come across a small bug when Alt-Sound is used on Data East tables (I heard it on BTTF and Batman). However, I'm not sure who to report it to, or how.

Edited by Tesla, 29 June 2026 - 03:00 PM.

[digitalarts]

Because altsound depends on vpinmame, my suggestion for you is to open a new issue at vpinball/pinmame GitHub.

[Katmandoo22]

Another absolute to get is for Tales of the Arabian Knights. Fits the table so well and makes it feel even more modern. Another absolute to get is Fathom. Use it on the Frankenstein version of Fathom.  Love the haunting music and siren calls.

[Tesla]

I found a cool Table I didn't even know existed: X-Files (Sega 1997)

 

I used:

X-Files VPX Table by TastyWasps v1.29

HauntFreaks' B2S-file

rom sets: xfiles2 (v2.x) and xfiles (v3.03)

X-Files Enhanced Alt-Sound file-set by iDigStuff

 

3-Screen cabinet with SSF-7.1 & DOF

VPX v10.8.0 64bit-DX

Edited by Tesla, 08 July 2026 - 12:03 AM.

[Tesla]

Because altsound depends on vpinmame, my suggestion for you is to open a new issue at vpinball/pinmame GitHub.

 

Sounds accurate. I recently finally signed-up for a GitHub account, but I mostly just Download and lurk over there .

 

The bug or glitch I observed with the Data East tables (BTTF and Batman) is:

 

When vPinMame's Alt-Sound-Mode is left on 0 (default)

The table's initial spoken words ("I'm Batman" or "Back to the Future") sound fine when the rom is doing its default thing.

 

But after setting Alt-Sound-Mode = 1 (and using an Enhanced Alt-Sound file-set) both phrases get clipped and chopped-off (even though the new recorded phrases are equally short and sound fine when tested outside VPX).

It's like the Alt-Sound engine and table concurrently initializing interfere with each other. It's OK after that initial start of both.

It's not a big problem, but it comes-off as being a little-broken and amateurish (since the whole point of Alt-Sound is BETTER sound-samples and sound rendering). 

Edited by Tesla, 08 July 2026 - 05:10 AM.

[Tesla]

For G5K's Addams Family I used PinballLizard's (Remastered) Enhanced Alt-Sound file set ... version 1.0.3.

 

Sounds good.

[deadmanworking]

I can highly recommend the altsound for Guns and Roses, tastefully done and enhanced just at the right places. 
(you'll notice right at startup.)