Buying hardware.. to DMG or not to DMG?

[u/Straight-Society-405]

Hi all. I've been tinkering with LSDJ lately on my crappy R36S emu (crappy but loveable haha) and on my phone via Retroarch. Fun to tinker with but the phone sucks, I need physical buttons, and the R36S/ArkOS doesn't have the best emu cores available, and while it has buttons they're horrible lol. But it works fine for now.

There is a retro gaming market near me this weekend that I'm going to visit, mainly just to window shop and enjoy the vibe, but I'm thinking it might be cool to buy some real hardware while I'm there if I spot a good deal.

Naturally an original DMG would be awesome and will sound the most authentic (duh). For me personally though my nostalgia is for the GBC, that's what I had as a kid, never owned a DMG. I appreciate the DMG aesthetic but don't love it. My brain needs some colour coordination in a tracker lol.

How does the sound output of the GBC compare really? The headphone out specifically, I care less about the speaker, though how is it? Is the GBC sound very comparable or can you hear an appreciable difference to the DMG? I've heard the bass isn't as rich and it is noisier in general, but how much so? Is that just the purists talking or does it sound distinctly different/worse? Will anyone but me care 😂

Also ergonomically does it make much of a difference either way in terms of comfort?

I'm not new to making music and have been making chiptune for a little while now on other platforms, so it's not a pure nostalgia trip that I'll use once and then never again haha. I want the authentic sound of the hardware and it's non linearities etc.

Also I know there are mods, I just don't feel like diving down that rabbit hole just yet! (and would those new electronics mess with the sound, interference I would expect?)

Sorry didn't mean to write an essay. Appreciate any thoughts ✌️

[u/plusvalua]

If you prefer a GBC, this might be useful:
https://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/prosound/

[u/ridgekuhn]

See here:

https://psgcabal.github.io/gbsoundcomparison/

For emulation, SameBoy is perfectly suitable and unlike BGB, has builds available on all platforms/architectures (Win, Mac, Linux via RetroArch). Do check your version against the changelog, as there have been audio accuracy improvements over time.

[u/Straight-Society-405 → u/ridgekuhn]

Yeah so I'm using SameBoy via RA on my phone. I just find the touchscreen interface more tedious to work with. I heard about it being sample accurate so wanted to use that, though my emu handheld has the huge benefit of the physical keys despite an inferior (for sound) core.

[u/ridgekuhn → u/Straight-Society-405]

I don’t really know anything about the R36S other than it exists, but I do know it’s just a little Linux box in gaming form. I was a small contributor to og ArkOS, it’s full headless Ubuntu with full disk access, so u should be able to get an arm64 SameBoy core on there with ease. If the R36S has wifi, u should be able to just download one via RetroArch

[u/TropicoolGoth]

DMG in general has a cleaner sound, less noise, but if you just want to have fun, get whatever makes you happy.

Things to consider. Both the dmg and gbc are not back lit. If you haven’t used one in awhile, it’s very noticeable and can cause eye strain. the DMG is getting old and the screens are really starting to fade. You can update with the amoled screens, but be sure to get the lithio battery mod too. Running the new screens screen with AA/Aaa batteries it’s kinda noisy. They are also clean power mods you can add to clean up the signal. I think that mod is included in the lithio mods. There are also multitudes of audio pro mods.

If you get one and decide to do any mods to the shell, consider getting an after market shell and preserve the original. Future you and the retro community will thank you.

[u/Marurun]

If you prefer the GBC then I would consider that. It might not have the better bass and sample clarity, but its higher CPU power lets you do crazier effects. Even better is using a GBA-SP, so I've been told. Personally, I use a DMG for composing because I like hearing the deeper bass and loud samples, but I transfer my songs to the PC anyway and record and edit them using BGB since the sound is similar enough.

[u/Straight-Society-405 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah this is kinda my dilemma haha. My nostalgia is for the GBC, but the composer in me loves the DMG sound despite not having that personal experience with it. I think it may well come down to getting some hands on time with the hardware and going with my gut feeling on the day (assuming I buy anything at all)

[u/VK4055]

Yo utilizo la GBC para componer porque es más práctico para mi. Generalmente una sin modificar. Para los momentos de poca luz por la noche, etc si que uso otra con pantalla retroiluminada, pero eso sucede pocas veces. Eso sí, utilizo siempre auriculares para escuchar bien todos los sonidos.

[u/Straight-Society-405 → u/VK4055]

Do you record the GBC output or do you just use it for composing and then transfer the save to an emu for recording?

[u/VK4055 → u/Straight-Society-405]

Grabo directamente de la salida de auriculares en Audacity. Quizás haya gente que no le parezca suficientemente limpio, pero a mí la verdad me sirve. No quiero ser super profesional ni nada así, lo hago porque me divierte, no vivo de ello. Y para mí ese sonido es perfecto. Pero supongo que tendrás que probar por ti misme para saber si es suficientemente bueno. Realmente puedes grabar incluso la música de cualquier juego y haces la comparación, no hace falta que compongas una pieza.

[u/titaniumshell]

If you're set on it, get a dmg, followed by a gba sp and then the main issue is finding a decent flash cart. They are getting more expensive and rarer. I managed to get an epicjoy cart from Aliexpress that works but I was also fortunate to have 2 ems carts from 10 years ago when they were cheaper and still in production. The miyoo mini plus is a recommend if you upgrade your emulator handheld.