Dexter audio quality

[Brad O.]

Hello folks,

I wanted to share the resolution for some audio issues I've been having with Dexter. As far as I know, no one else has complained about this, so either I'm being a picky little jerk or everyone else has their Dexters installed in cabs in noisy arcades so they don't care. If you're perfectly fine with the audio output by the Raspberry Pi with your Dexter, stop right here.... you don't need to do anything.

To make a long story short, I was experiencing two separate audio noise problems with all 3 of my Dexters. The audio sounded like there was a bunch of electrical interference plus some intermittent hiss. I was able to reproduce this behavior outside of my cabs. My cabs are not in noisy arcades, so the static and hiss coming through the speakers was really annoying to me. Based on all my testing, I believe anyone would have this same problem.... but I am only speaking based on my own experience here.

Here's what I did to resolve this audio noise issue:

1. Make sure you have a Dexter that had the ground fix. (Dexters that have the ground fix are rev 3f and above. Most people should already have this... I believe only 20 or so early revs were made that didn't have the ground fix.)

2. Get a DC Barrel Jack to Micro-USB B Male Connector Adapter
https://www.amazon.com/JacobsParts-Barr ... SB+adapter

And plug it into the Raspberry Pi power port on your Dexter and plug your Dexter power supply into that. No need to connect power to the Dexter.

At this point, you will notice that the audio is wayyyy cleaner now. But we're not quite done yet. You'll notice that when the video seeks, stops, or the audio is just generally quiet, a very audible hissing sound can be heard. This is a result of the Raspberry Pi's dithering "feature."

To disable audio dithering:

3. Take the SD Card out of the Raspberry Pi and put it in a card reader on your PC. Edit the config.txt file with Notepad++ or similar. Add the following line to the bottom:

Code: Select all

disable_audio_dither=1

Put the SD Card back into your Raspberry Pi and start the game.

That's it.... you will have some far cleaner audio now!

I hope this helps someone else out. It took me awhile to finally come up with a solution for this.

[Bumblebrow]

Wow, thanks for the detailed information! Can you tell me how to check my Dexters to see if they have the ground fix you mentioned in #1?

[Brad O.]

Wow, thanks for the detailed information! Can you tell me how to check my Dexters to see if they have the ground fix you mentioned in #1?

Dexters that have the ground fix are rev 3f and above. Most people should already have this... I believe only 20 or so early revs were made that didn't have the ground fix.

[Matt Ownby]

Wow, thanks for the detailed information! Can you tell me how to check my Dexters to see if they have the ground fix you mentioned in #1?

Almost everyone has a Dexter rev 3f which has the ground fix. The revision is printed on the bottom PCB near the reset button, underneath the raspberry pi.

[ginazz]

Brad,
Thanks for this info.I have a prototype that was noisy and using the pi power input took care of most of the noise. I would like to use the edit in the config file. I looked at the file and noticed at the botom the last comand is ### End Custom Settings. Do you enter the audio comand above that line or below it. I just want to be sure before I edit and save.

[Brad O.]

Brad,
Thanks for this info.I have a prototype that was noisy and using the pi power input took care of most of the noise. I would like to use the edit in the config file. I looked at the file and noticed at the botom the last comand is ### End Custom Settings. Do you enter the audio comand above that line or below it. I just want to be sure before I edit and save.

You can just put the audio command right after the ### End Custom Settings. It can be the very last line in the file.

[ginazz]

Brad,
Thank you for the reply. Nice work on this issue much appreciated.

[erwing]

what cause this?
i hvent' notify any distorsion sound,cab is almost new.

[Brad O.]

what cause this?
i hvent' notify any distorsion sound,cab is almost new.

I thought I explained what causes it and how to fix it in the very first post in this thread.

[erwing]

oh this is real assistance!
i try to forgot who you are at evry post but then you reply.
you say 'i hear a noisy'
so i think you are the only one have this problem,
try with psichiatric cure

[Brad O.]

oh this is real assistance!
i try to forgot who you are at evry post but then you reply.
you say 'i hear a noisy'
so i think you are the only one have this problem,
try with psichiatric cure

WTH? I explained the issue in great detail in the first post. I don't know what more I could say to make you understand. Maybe have someone help you translate... because I don't know Italian. I even said "If you don't notice a problem, you don't need to do anything." So I don't know why you're getting all upset over this.

Brad O.