Switching to mono sound in Dungeon Explorer

[Dracula]

Just curious if this is possible. I use an old CRT to play my retro games and it just has the one speaker. I inflict this on myself by choice, but usually it doesn't make much difference...in DE's case, though, the sounds get weaker on one side of the screen depending on how I have the component cables arranged.

I noticed that sometimes the word "STEREO" pops up on the right side of the title screen for a few seconds, and I was wondering if there was some way to mess with that.

Incidentally, my setup goes Old TV > Coax > VCR > Component cables. My system is a Core Grafx in a briefcase.

[esteban]

Just curious if this is possible. I use an old CRT to play my retro games and it just has the one speaker. I inflict this on myself by choice, but usually it doesn't make much difference...in DE's case, though, the sounds get weaker on one side of the screen depending on how I have the component cables arranged.

I noticed that sometimes the word "STEREO" pops up on the right side of the title screen for a few seconds, and I was wondering if there was some way to mess with that.

Incidentally, my setup goes Old TV > Coax > VCR > Component cables. My system is a Core Grafx in a briefcase.

The sound effects, I believe, are in stereo, which is something we talked about many, many years ago but it hasn't come up recently.


EDIT: apparently, you should never use a Y-connector to combine audio signals! So DO NOT do what I said below!
If there is no hidden menu to make the game mono, I would invest in stereo->mono RCA cables from monoprice (a few dollars).

[ClodBuster]

I'd check for broken/loose connections and cold solder joints first. Both console, cable and screen.

[Black Tiger]

When the TurboDuo came out, I had to run the video/audio through a vcr when playing in my bedroom. I got all of the sound with a 2-RCA to 1-RCA adapter.

I'd suggest getting a small pair of speakers or a speaker bar though.

[esteban]

^ I just noticed that the avatars for B_T and Clod share several similarities! Ha!

[Dracula]

When the TurboDuo came out, I had to run the video/audio through a vcr when playing in my bedroom. I got all of the sound with a 2-RCA to 1-RCA adapter.

I'd suggest getting a small pair of speakers or a speaker bar though.

Yeah a small speaker bar wouldn't be a bad idea. I'm usually fine with the sound output on my old Zenith but every now and then there's a game like this that actually has issues.

[esteban]

I've always read that the white cable should be used to provide mono audio.  Have i been living a lie?  All this time, missing out on one channel?

That is left-channel-only, and it has been a rule of thumb  (since the intro of stereo?) to use the left channel if only mono input-output is available, I think. But, you lose the right channel.

Hmmmmm....I wonder if a "balanced mono" output is activated by some circuitry? None of the devices I've ever used ever had this (I simply lost either L or R channel, but perhaps fancier gear could detect for mono-out and switch to balanced mono via left channel?)

[xelement5x]

I've always read that the white cable should be used to provide mono audio.  Have i been living a lie?  All this time, missing out on one channel?

That is left-channel-only, and it has been a rule of thumb  (since the intro of stereo?) to use the left channel if only mono input-output is available, I think. But, you lose the right channel.

Hmmmmm....I wonder if a "balanced mono" output is activated by some circuitry? None of the devices I've ever used ever had this (I simply lost either L or R channel, but perhaps fancier gear could detect for mono-out and switch to balanced mono via left channel?)

I had a TV that if you just did video and the white input it would provide "dual mono" to the speakers when in use.  But it would not work the same way if you just used the red input with video instead of white.

[Dracula]

I've always read that the white cable should be used to provide mono audio.  Have i been living a lie?  All this time, missing out on one channel?

That is left-channel-only, and it has been a rule of thumb  (since the intro of stereo?) to use the left channel if only mono input-output is available, I think. But, you lose the right channel.

Hmmmmm....I wonder if a "balanced mono" output is activated by some circuitry? None of the devices I've ever used ever had this (I simply lost either L or R channel, but perhaps fancier gear could detect for mono-out and switch to balanced mono via left channel?)

I had a TV that if you just did video and the white input it would provide "dual mono" to the speakers when in use.  But it would not work the same way if you just used the red input with video instead of white.

I have actually tried this, incidentally. It just flip-flopped the side of the screen where the SFX were muted.

[pdiggitydogg]

EDIT: apparently, you should never use a Y-connector to combine audio signals! So DO NOT do what I said below!
If there is no hidden menu to make the game mono, I would invest in stereo->mono RCA cables from monoprice (a few dollars).

Why?

[Necromancer]

Why?

The correct technical answer would probably be something about low impedance signals rubbing against each other and starting a fire, but the real world answer is a newer TV for free off craigslist is a better investment than a $3 cable that'll still be mono.

[ClodBuster]

Sorry, I misunderstood your setup ininitally. So you use composite video cables, not component. And the issue is not a loose connection, but a dead TV speaker of two or even only one speaker built in to the TV.

If one of the speakers is dead, find somebody who fixes it for you. Usually it really is just a broken convention, and that's easy to fix with just a soldering iron.

In case there no way to do that, a Y-RCA-cable for adding the two stereo channel to one mono channel is just fine. One the one hand, this is recommended in many older console manuals (SNES, N64, etc.), on the other hand when I did TV repairs a decade ago, we also provided such cables for customers who wanted them.

I'm not saying there no better way to mix two sound channels into one, but I guess you wouldn't like to pay the price for a true electronic mixing device or have that bulk hardware set aside next to your TV.