Mark Cooksey (NES Driver)
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Mark Cooksey is the unofficial name of two NES sound drivers that Mark Cooksey created for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Unlike his earlier music, Mark Cooksey didn't program the music by hand. Instead, he would create MIDI files in Notator for the Atari ST, and then programmed a conversion tool to convert MIDI commands to the NES. Mark worked for Elite Systems, their subsidiary MotiveTime, and NMS Software, and as a result, all their NES games use his sound driver.
Mark programmed two drivers for the NES. The first two have a much simpler sound. This particular driver was actually a conversion of one of his Commodore 64 drivers. This one was used in Cybernoid and Hoppin' Mad (the former title Mark doesn't think is his work and the second was unreleased). The second driver may also be based on a Commodore 64 driver of his, but it is currently unknown. The second driver uses upgraded instrumentation, and one title (Joe & Mac) even uses the DPCM channel for drums.
Some of his soundtracks use arpeggios. It is unknown if he actually wrote the MIDI files like that, or if he wrote chords on a single MIDI channel, which the driver converted to an arpeggio. It is most likely that in the original MIDI files, a single note was placed, and an arpeggio effect was assigned to the instrument patch when converted to the NES.
According to Cooksey, the instruments in his driver were meant to sound like flutes.
Contents
Release History
The first game to use Mark Cooksey's NES sound driver was Dragon's Lair, which was also the only game released in Japan to use his driver. The last game to use his NES sound driver was the European-exclusive Aladdin. A few unreleased games also utilized his driver. In the game Joe and Mac, his sound driver utilized DPCM drums, which Mark said may have been supplied by Richard Frankish.
Output
Mark Cooksey's NES sound driver outputs to both, the RP2A03 in North America and Japan, and RP2A07 in Europe.
Games
| Released | Title | Sample | Driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989-12-?? | Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine (NES) | |
1 |
| 1990-12-?? | Dragon's Lair (NES) | |
2 |
| 1992-11-?? | Prince of Persia (NES) | |
2 |
| 1993-06-?? | Joe & Mac (NES) | |
2 |
| 1993-11-?? | Cliffhanger (NES) | |
2 |
| 1993-11-?? | Jimmy Connors Tennis (NES) | |
2 |
| 1993-12-?? | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Ubisoft (NES) | |
2 |
| 1994-??-?? | Aladdin (NES) | |
2 |
| Unreleased | The Adventures of Dr. Franken (NES) | |
2 |
| Unreleased | Hoppin' Mad (NES) | |
1 |
Technical
Frequency Registers
B-8 = 07 A#8 = 07 A-8 = 07 G#8 = 08 G-8 = 08 F#8 = 09 F-8 = 0A E-8 = 0A D#8 = 0B D-8 = 0B C#8 = 0C C-8 = 0D B-7 = 0E A#7 = 0E A-7 = 0F G#7 = 10 G-7 = 11 F#7 = 12 F-7 = 14 E-7 = 15 D#7 = 16 D-7 = 17 C#7 = 19 C-7 = 1A B-6 = 1C A#6 = 1D A-6 = 1F G#6 = 21 G-6 = 23 F#6 = 25 F-6 = 28 E-6 = 2A D#6 = 2C D-6 = 2F C#6 = 32 C-6 = 35 B-5 = 38 A#5 = 3B A-5 = 3F G#5 = 43 G-5 = 47 F#5 = 4B F-5 = 50 E-5 = 54 D#5 = 59 D-5 = 5F C#5 = 64 C-5 = 6A B-4 = 71 A#4 = 77 A-4 = 7F G#4 = 86 G-4 = 8E F#4 = 97 F-4 = A0 E-4 = A9 D#4 = B3 D-4 = BE C#4 = C9 C-4 = D5 B-3 = E2 A#3 = EF A-3 = FE G#3 = 10D G-3 = 11D F#3 = 12E F-3 = 140 E-3 = 153 D#3 = 167 D-3 = 17C C#3 = 193 C-3 = 1AB B-2 = 1C4 A#2 = 1DF A-2 = 1FC G#2 = 21A G-2 = 23A F#2 = 25C F-2 = 280 E-2 = 2A6 D#2 = 2CF D-2 = 2F9 C#2 = 327 C-2 = 357 B-1 = 389 A#1 = 3BF A-1 = 3F8 G#1 = 435 G-1 = 475 F#1 = 4B9 F-1 = 501 E-1 = 54D D#1 = 59E D-1 = 5F3 C#1 = 64E C-1 = 6AE
Addresses
Adventures of Dr. Franken: $C50A-$C58A
Aladdin: $54D5-$5555
Cliffhanger: $C4F6-$C576
Dragon's Lair: $C4D1-$C551
Hoppin' Mad: $394D-$39CD
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: $184F7-$18577
Jimmy Connor's Tennis: $1450A-$1458A
Joe & Mac: $16631-$166B1
Prince of Persia: $1AE1E-$1AE9E
