Stuart Ross (NES Driver)
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Stuart Ross is an unofficial name of the sound driver used at Absolute Entertainment, as well as their division Imagineering. The driver was programmed by Stuart Ross of New Potato Technologies.
Mark Van Hecke was mainly the only one to use the sound driver, but Scott Marshall used it for the two games he worked on. Mark used the Atari ST version of Dr. T's KCS, while Scott wrote his music on a Yamaha DOM-30 sequencer. The composers then used a program to convert their sequenced files to the sound driver.
Contents
Release History
The driver has been used in games from North America, Europe, and Japan. The first game by Absolute (A Boy and His Blob) was the first and only game to get a release in Japan, though some of their other titles did get a European release.
Output
The sound driver outputs to the RP2A03 in North America/Japan and the RP2A07 in Europe. The driver also uses the DPCM channel for percussion in some games.
Frank Covitz seems to have provided the DPCM drum samples, as each game that uses them credits him as a sound consultant (except Heavy Shreddin', which doesn't have credits at all.)
Games
| Released | Title | Sample |
|---|---|---|
| 1989-??-?? | A Boy and His Blob: Trouble On Blobolonia (NES) | |
| 1990-??-?? | Heavy Shreddin' (NES) | |
| 1990-??-?? | Race America (NES) (Corvette ZR-1 Challenge) | |
| 1990-02-?? | Destination Earthstar (NES) | |
| 1990-04-?? | Ghostbusters II (NES) | |
| 1990-09-?? | Battletank (NES) | |
| 1991-??-?? | Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (NES) | |
| 1991-??-?? | Flight of the Intruder (NES) (Phantom Air Mission) | |
| 1991-02-?? | The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants (NES) | |
| 1991-11-?? | Space Shuttle Project (NES) | |
| 1991-12-?? | Barbie (NES) | |
| 1991-??-?? | The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World (NES) | |
| 1992-??-?? | Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (NES) | |
| 1992-03-?? | Fisher Price: Firehouse Rescue (NES) | |
| 1992-03-?? | Ghoul School (NES) | |
| 1992-12-?? | The Simpsons: Bartman Meeta Radioactive Man (NES) | |
| 1992-12-?? | Swamp Thing (NES) | |
| 1993-09-?? | Star Trek: The Next Generation (NES) | |
| 1993-11-?? | The Ren & Stimpy Show: Buckeroo$ (NES) |
Technical
Frequency Registers
B-5 = 39 A#5 = 3A A-5 = 3D G#5 = 41 G-5 = 46 F#5 = 4A F-5 = 4E E-5 = 53 D#5 = 58 D-5 = 5E C#5 = 63 C-5 = 69 B-4 = 70 A#4 = 76 A-4 = 7D G#4 = 85 G-4 = 8D F#4 = 95 F-4 = 9E E-4 = A8 D#4 = B2 D-4 = BD C#4 = C8 C-4 = D3 B-3 = E0 A#3 = EE A-3 = FB G#3 = 10C G-3 = 11B F#3 = 12B F-3 = 13D E-3 = 150 D#3 = 164 D-3 = 179 C#3 = 190 C-3 = 1A8 B-2 = 1BF A#2 = 1DB A-2 = 1F8 G#2 = 216 G-2 = 235 F#2 = 25D F-2 = 280 E-2 = 29F D#2 = 2CC D-2 = 2F2 C#2 = 321 C-2 = 34F B-1 = 37F A#1 = 3B5 A-1 = 3EE G#1 = 42D G-1 = 46B F#1 = 4B9 F-1 = 500 E-1 = 53E D#1 = 598 D-1 = 5E4 C#1 = 644 C-1 = 69E B-0 = 6FE A#0 = 76A A-0 = 7EC
Addresses
A Boy and His Blob: $4602-$467F
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: $1155B-$115D8
Barbie: $1149F-$1151C (X) $114A1-$1151E (3)
Bart vs. the Space Mutants: $12898-$12915 (U) $12862-$128DF (E)
Bart vs. the World: $2859F-$2861C
Bartman Meets Radioactive Man: $343E9-$34466
Battletank: $2935-$29B2
Destination Earthstar: $36EE-$376B
Fisher Price Firehouse Rescue: $5FD3-$6050
Flight of the Intruder: $1F021-$1F09E
Ghostbusters II: $1C7B3-$1C830
Ghoul School: $10482-$104FF
Heavy Shreddin': $73EB-$7468
Home Alone 2 Lost in New York: $143F5-$14472
Race America: $1A440-$1A4BD
Ren & Stimpy Show Buckeroo$: $14417-$14494
Space Shuttle Project: $1EA7F-$1EAFC
Star Trek The Next Generation: $143FE-$1447B
Swamp Thing: $C3F5-$C472
Source Code
Home Alone 2, which uses the sound driver, had its data found on an old hard drive. All of the game's source code was on it, including the music source code. However, the original MIDI files aren't present; only the converted files.
