So I had a thought that was running through my mind, I have an AV famicom, and was feeling the need to play gimmick. Unfortunately i dont' want to spend alot on importing the original cart.

So i figure I'd pick up a reproduction copy of Mr. Gimmick but one with the full audio capabilities. If I got the game, and used a NES to FAMICOM Adapter, would it work with its full expansion audio?

Pic for reference

Bonus question, if i got the Everdrive N8 for my famicom would it be able to run it with its expansion audio, or any other game with expansion audio for that matter

The Everdrive N8 is not very good at expansion audio currently.

You'll have to check your adapter to see if NES pin 54 (EXP 6) is connected to Famicom pin 46 (audio to RF) in some way. Most NES to FC adapters usually don't.

The easiest way to modify a typical adapter is to first ensure NES pin 54 and FC pins 45 and 46 are isolated from other pins, then connect 45 and 46 together with a 10k ohm resistor. Then you connect NES pin 54 to FC pin 46 with another 10k ohm resistor.

http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.ph...

Hi Guntz. My appologies for the bump. I've been wondering about it too. I have an adapter to play NES games on my famicom. I think the audio pins are bridged on all games that don't use expansion audio, and on the adapter as well. The NES mod specifies a 47kohm resistor. I used a 10k audio taper pot on my NES between EXP6 and ground, with the center connected to Aux input. It sounds balanced with the pot in the 2/3 position.

I guess the dual 10k resistors are to mix the signal voltage levels evenly without having the Famicom and cart audio fight for supremacy, correct? Looks like I'll have to cut the thick trace connecting pin 45 and 46 then. 

The Everdrive N8 (I have the FC model) expansion audio is inferior to PowerPak and I want to get PowerPak expansion sound on my AV Famicom. I also ordered a Mr Gimmick full audio repro online, as a "upgrade" to the old RetroUSB repro I just sold (or "downgrade" from a collector standpoint ), and may want the option to play it on both systems.

Also the pins on the adapter don't extend that far onto the PCB. I wouldn't want the solder to interfere with the pin connector on the Famicom. My adapter is the new Tototek model that allows the NES cart to face frontwards on the Famicom. Great for playing Xmas carts!
 

stardust4ever,

Have you tried the recent #69 mapper unofficialy released for the Everdrive N8? I made a proto Mr. Gimmick (72Pin) a few days ago that has all the sounds, but doesn't use the expanded audio. I then tried the expanded audio with my N8/FC AV and I thought it sounded pretty good.

My current plans are to mod one of my front loaders for expanded audio and make an expanded audio Mr. Gimmick so I can compare the three.

Thanks for the link. I'll download it later, and the updated VRC6 mapper. Castlevania III is far superior on the Famicom.

I still need to tweak my NES <-> Famicom adapter to get expansion audio into my AV Famicom. I might even add a 10k linear trim pot (instead of two 10k resistors) to control the balance between the expansion and system audio. I'm a "tweaker" if anyone didn't notice.

Necromancing this thread!

Ran into a similar issue myself recently by way of a NES Gimmick repro. I'm trying to play this thing on an AV Famicom with both this generic NES to Famicom adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-N...

As well as the Retro Freak Famicom to NES adapter:
https://www.play-asia.com/nes-car...

In both cases, the game boots and plays fine, but the expansion audio is missing. Expansion audio works properly on a modded NES, so I am guessing that the expansion audio isn't working on the Famicom due to the pin mapping across the NES and Famicom not lining up.

Has anyone successfully completed this mod on a NES to Famicom adapter? If so, could you post some images of what you did?

Thanks!

Honestly, I just use the AVS 99% of the time now unless I'm playing lightgun games. I stopped fooling around with cart adapters a while ago.

And I do still have my nes and av famicom but I never modded my adapters. A bunch of famicom adapters are improperly wired and will fail on Memblers GT ROM homebrews. Games with 4-screen mirroring and/or use A13 address pin (MMC5) both tend to fail on clone systems. Many noac systems have certain pins internally bridged preventing advanced mappers from working. Sadly many cheap adapters follow these bogus designs so games that refuse to operate on clones may not operate on real hardware with a modern adapter. Ironically many vintage adapters were in fact wired properly for real hardware.

If anything, my av famicom has slightly cleaner audio/video compared to my nes toaster, however the nes has slightly deeper bass, likely due to a bigger filter cap. I've noticed this on chiptune carts which use the triangle waveform as a bassline, the nes bass is slightly more thumpy when played over a hifi sound system, compared to the av famicom.

Obviously if I use the AVS, the analog filter issues are nonexistent.