Dennis Intravia (NES Driver)

Dennis Intravia

Released 1990-11 Programmers Dennis Intravia Language 6502 Assembly

Dennis Intravia is an unofficial name of the sound driver used by Mind's Eye. It was programmed in 6502 assembly by Dennis Intravia, who also founded and composed music for the company. It is unknown how Dennis wrote music and sound to the driver, but it is thought that he either use a custom MML, or converted MIDI files.

Release History

The first and only game to use the driver was Muppet Adventure: Chaos At the Carnival, which was exclusively released in North America. Mind's Eye also developed an NES adaptation of the game show Fun House, but it was unreleased, and instead handed to Ironwind Software to develop. It is thought that the unreleased version uses Mind's Eye's sound driver.

Output

The driver outputs to the RP2A03 and uses the DPCM channel for drums. It uses a digitized snare, tom, and open hi-hat for the DPCM. It is also one of the very few NES drivers that doesn't make use of the noise channel for music.

Games

Released	Title	Sample
1990-11-??	Muppet Adventure: Chaos At The Carnival (NES)
Unreleased	Fun House: Mind's Eye (NES)

Technical

The driver uses a 3-byte formula for notation:

1F 01 09

The first byte is the pitch frequency (note E on the 3rd octave), the second byte defines the length of the note (16th note), and the 3rd byte defines the hardware decay instrument built into the 2A03 to be called. The faster the note, the shorter the hardware decay instrument is, similar to the Color Dreams Sound Driver.

Frequency Registers

B-7 = 0E
A#7 = 0F
A-7 = 10
G#7 = 11
G-7 = 12
F#7 = 13
F-7 = 14
E-7 = 15
D#7 = 16
D-7 = 18
C#7 = 19
C-7 = 1B
B-6 = 1C
A#6 = 1E
A-6 = 20
G#6 = 22
G-6 = 24
F#6 = 26
F-6 = 28
E-6 = 2A
D#6 = 2D
D-6 = 30
C#6 = 32
C-6 = 35
B-5 = 39
A#5 = 3C
A-5 = 40
G#5 = 43
G-5 = 47
F#5 = 4C
F-5 = 50
E-5 = 55
D#5 = 5A
D-5 = 5F
C#5 = 65
C-5 = 6B
B-4 = 71
A#4 = 78
A-4 = 7F
G#4 = 87
G-4 = 8F
F#4 = 97
F-4 = A0
E-4 = AA
D#4 = B4
D-4 = BE
C#4 = CA
C-4 = D6
B-3 = E2
A#3 = F0
A-3 = FE
G#3 = 10D
G-3 = 11D
F#3 = 12E
F-3 = 140
E-3 = 153
D#3 = 168
D-3 = 17D
C#3 = 194
C-3 = 1AC
B-2 = 1C5
A#2 = 1E0
A-2 = 1FC
G#2 = 21B
G-2 = 23B
F#2 = 25D
F-2 = 281
E-2 = 2A7
D#2 = 2CF
D-2 = 2FA
C#2 = 327
C-2 = 357
B-1 = 38A
A#1 = 3C0
A-1 = 3F9
G#1 = 435
G-1 = 475
F#1 = 4B9
F-1 = 501
E-1 = 54D
D#1 = 59E
D-1 = 5F4
C#1 = 64E
C-1 = 6AE
B-0 = 714
A#0 = 780
A-0 = 7F2

Note Pitch Macros

These numbers call the corresponding note to be played.

C-8 = 57
B-7 = 56
A#7 = 55
A-7 = 54
G#7 = 53
G-7 = 52
F#7 = 51
F-7 = 50
E-7 = 4F
D#7 = 4E
D-7 = 4D
C#7 = 4C
C-7 = 4B
B-6 = 4A
A#6 = 49
A-6 = 48
G#6 = 47
G-6 = 46
F#6 = 45
F-6 = 44
E-6 = 43
D#6 = 42
D-6 = 41
C#6 = 40
C-6 = 3F
B-5 = 3E
A#5 = 3D
A-5 = 3C
G#5 = 3B
G-5 = 3A
F#5 = 39
F-5 = 38
E-5 = 37
D#5 = 36
D-5 = 35
C#5 = 34
C-5 = 33
B-4 = 32
A#4 = 31
A-4 = 30
G#4 = 2F
G-4 = 2E
F#4 = 2D
F-4 = 2C
E-4 = 2B
D#4 = 2A
D-4 = 29
C#4 = 28
C-4 = 27
B-3 = 26
A#3 = 25
A-3 = 24
G#3 = 23
G-3 = 22
F#3 = 21
F-3 = 20
E-3 = 1F
D#3 = 1E
D-3 = 1D
C#3 = 1C
C-3 = 1B
B-2 = 1A
A#2 = 19
A-2 = 18
G#2 = 17
G-2 = 16
F#2 = 15
F-2 = 14
E-2 = 13
D#2 = 12
D-2 = 11
C#2 = 10
C-2 = 0F
B-1 = 0E
A#1 = 0D
A-1 = 0C
G#1 = 0B
G-1 = 0A
F#1 = 09
F-1 = 08
E-1 = 07
D#1 = 06
D-1 = 05
C#1 = 04
C-1 = 03
B-0 = 02
A#0 = 01
A-0 = 00

Note Length Macros

Number = Length
    01 = 16th
    02 = 8th
    04 = Quarter

Other Macros

Using the numbers 00(?) to 0C calls for one of the many hardware decay settings built into the 2A03.

Addressess

Muppet Adventure: Chaos At the Carnival: $1D359-$1D406