For Sale : FM PAK Lite - Blue Edition

Por ericb59

Paragon (1042)

17-11-2020, 14:12

Hello,

I have 3 FM PAK Lite Blue Edition for sale.
100 % Compatible FM PAC clone (No SRAM) with YM2413 inside.

Price 50 Euros Free Shipment world wide.

Do you want one ?
Send me a PM

See you ;)

Por sdsnatcher73

Paragon (1511)

17-11-2020, 16:18

Nice, I have one of these in a grey case with audio out. Nice piece of kit! (And a nice NMS8250 in the background).

Por ericb59

Paragon (1042)

17-11-2020, 18:44

sdsnatcher73 wrote:

Nice, I have one of these in a grey case with audio out. Nice piece of kit! (And a nice NMS8250 in the background).

Thanks.

These one do not have the audio out. But final user can easily add one (easy soldering). The fact Is, I do not want to make a hole in the Blue Cartridge case !!

Por syn

Paragon (2014)

18-11-2020, 00:48

ive read there were some problems with the sound being too loud in FM Paq. Does this apply to these as well?

https://msx.org/forum/msx-talk/hardware/reduce-fm-paq-volume

Por sdsnatcher73

Paragon (1511)

18-11-2020, 06:12

Well that discussion is related to usage on an unmodified NMS8250 and later Omega tested on a modified NM8250. Now to be honest I do not know the quality of the audio on a modified NMS8250 as I never had one. From my experience my FM-PAQ lite sounded quite similar to the original FM-PAC. But it was some time ago so I will test again today on my Sanyo PHC-35J which I’ve come to know as the MSX with the most balanced audio mixer (on par with a Yamaha CX5 and slightly better than the CX7). I will make 2 recordings to compare.

Por Meits

Scribe (6209)

18-11-2020, 12:25

Perhaps, but it goes for way more MSXes on which any other MSX-Music cartridge behaves. So I hope Eric did swap out the old resitor value for the new resistor. A small fix for so much joy

Por sdsnatcher73

Paragon (1511)

19-11-2020, 10:36

I have not heard the 33kOhm variant as I do not have it. I have made recordings of 2 tracks using vgmplay from the Tower of Gazzel. Tracks 5 and 7 (Woods and Ground Floor). Below you can listen to the 2 tracks in 3 different ways, the mono recordings of FM-PAC (in middle position), FM-PAQ (unmodified) and Stereo (FM-PAQ on the left, FM-PAC on the right).

The FM-PAQ imho is a little louder but not by a lot. It also seems to have a slightly higher low pass filter than the FM-PAC (but my ears may be tricked by the higher volume and as such pick up the higher frequencies better).

To the tracks:
The Tower Of Gazzel - 05 - Woods (FM-PAQ)
The Tower of Gazzel - 07 - Ground Floor (FM-PAQ)
The Tower Of Gazzel - 05 - Woods (FM-PAC)
The Tower of Gazzel - 07 - Ground Floor (FM-PAC)
The Tower Of Gazzel - 05 - Woods (Stereo)
The Tower of Gazzel - 07 - Ground Floor (Stereo)

Por syn

Paragon (2014)

20-11-2020, 22:48

thanks for the uploads it seems significant.. in Ground Floor the softer PSG is very notable.

Por sdsnatcher73

Paragon (1511)

23-11-2020, 07:25

Yes it is noticeable in these recordings. Of course on MSX’s that have different mixing levels the outcome will be different. Of course that is why the original FM-PAC had the switches to change the volume.

I agree that changing the resistor is probably a good idea and can of course be done after purchase. If your MSX has bad mixing and there is no known audio fix (many models still don’t have a fix) you might be better off with an external mixer.

I will bring mine to Omega and upload new recordings after the change.