Sine Wave
Freq: 20Hz - 20KHz
Amp: 0.0 - 1.0
Sawtooth Wave
Freq: 20Hz - 20KHz
Amp: 0.0 - 1.0
White Noise
-
Amp: 0.0 - 1.0
This page has been created by Sebastian Tomczak. Please email stomczak@e-access.com.au for questions / comments. You can visit my main little-scale blog.
You may also be interested in my video game collection page.
A changelog of this page can be found at the micro-scale blog under the label "n.h.c.c.".
The current unit count is 35. The last updated 2 May 2007.
This page is divided into the following sections:
Herbert Weixelbaum has made a very good gameboy comparison page with clear waveform pictures and plenty of text.
http://www.herbertweixelbaum.com/comparison.htm
GB |
Original GameBoy | 1989 |
|---|---|---|
GBP |
GameBoy Pocket |
1996 |
GBC |
GameBoy Color |
1998 |
GBA |
GameBoy Advance |
2001 |
GBA SP |
GameBoy Advance SP |
2003 |
GBM |
GameBoy Micro |
2005 |
NDS L |
Nintendo DS Lite |
2006 |
SGB |
Super GameBoy * | 1995 |
SGB2 |
Super GameBoy 2 * | 1996 |
* although not actually handheld devices, these machines do not use emulation to achieve software and sound support.
Xtal
The internal crystal resonator has been replaced.
The GameBoy is now running at a different clock speed.
The default clock speed for an Original GameBoy is 4.194304MHz.
Sound Examples
An mp3 of the gameboy in question.
These recordings have been made with the same gain level.
These recordings have not been normalised.
Waveform
The diagram represents the very first part of the very first note in the sound example.
The recordings that these diagrams are based upon have not been normalised.
Sonogram
The graph shows frequency on the vertical axis against time on the horizontal axis.
The colour indicates the amplitude of a certain frequency.
Exactly the first five seconds of the example audio has been analysed (including musical silence).
The recordings that these diagrams are based upon have not been normalised.
Source wave recordings at a quality of 16 bits / 44.1 KHz have been used for analysis (not mp3 files).
For the sake of reference, here are three five-second example graphs
|
|
|
Sine Wave |
Sawtooth Wave |
White Noise |
One thing that is obvious after having heard all of the GameBoy models is that each type and each unit does have its own unique sound. The original GameBoy is often cited as having the best sound quality. However, after listening to a number of units I have come to the conclusion that although the original has the potential for the best sund quality, defects and inconsistancies brought about perhaps by age on a unit-by-unit basis mean that a certain GameBoy might not sound all that good. Areas in which the original model often differs on a unit-by-unit basis is the balance between the left and right channels and the quality of sample playback.
This is in contrast to the GameBoy Pocket (GBP) which, although it is lacking in the low end when compared to the original, has a much higher consistancy of quality on a unit-by-unit basis. The GameBoy Color (GBC) on the other hand has neither of these qualities, with a high level of high frequency noisy areas in the spectrum.
