Dreamcast Microphone Successfully Hacked

Post by **BlueCrab** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:26 am

Well, this evening (heh, evening), I've managed to successfully hack together some code to access/use the Dreamcast Microphone (the one you'd get with Seaman). More info will be forthcoming in the morning, when I get up.

I'd like to leave you with this little sound clip I recorded off my mic:
http://www.ljsdcdev.net/dcmic2.ogg
This sound clip is what I believe to be the 2nd ever thing recorded off of a dreamcast mic using homebrew code.

PS, I wasn't quite sure where to post this one, so, I figured I'd post it here.

PPS: You'll probably have to turn the volume on your speakers up pretty loud, its kinda faint.

Hawke · Post by **Hawke** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:27 am

I am the first EVAR !!!

EDIT: To hear crabbie that is ^_^

APE · Post by **APE** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:31 am

Now when people fap while playing a game everyone will hear it.

GPF · Post by **GPF** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:37 am

awesome, "You dont want to hear the first one, it sounded like a dying cat" lol

Good Job

GyroVorbis · Post by **GyroVorbis** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:37 am

Whoah! That's great news. Let us know when you post more info tomorrow.

Now I really have to get a Seaman Mic...

Hawke · Post by **Hawke** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:38 am

APE wrote:Now when people fap while playing a game everyone will hear it.

...so.... you "fap" while playing games?

MrSiggler · Post by **MrSiggler** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:42 am

APE wrote:Now when people fap while playing a game everyone will hear it.

I don't know about you.. but I keep my hands on the controller when playing video games..

Also, and does this look like null to you?

Don't make me kick yer arse!

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:19 am

Interesting (and disturbing) accent you've got there.

Anyway, good job. Now you just need to come up with something to actually use the microphone for.

Hawke · Post by **Hawke** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:44 am

BlackAura wrote:Interesting (and disturbing) accent you've got there.

Anyway, good job. Now you just need to come up with something to actually use the microphone for.

oh just you wait. I'm sure crabbie will think of something uber to do with it. like.. uhm... something! Just you wait!

MrSiggler · Post by **MrSiggler** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:39 am

A homebrew seaman game!

(And no APE, I did not say semen, so stop that)

Skynet · Post by **Skynet** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:59 am

I wish I had seaman.

Darksaviour69 · Post by **Darksaviour69** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 6:22 am

loads of 2nd hand shops sell the mic with planet ring (which is unplayable, because its online only) for a few ?

Imerion · Post by **Imerion** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 6:40 am

That is really neat news! I got a good idea of what could be done : A Singstar like game! Now thats something I could pay a lot for to see on my DC...

Sir Savant · Post by **Sir Savant** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:40 am

How bout a karaoke game?

What is Singstar?

baron of badness · Post by **baron of badness** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:52 am

Wish I never sold my Alien Front Online.

law · Post by **law** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:54 am

hmm is the modem driver hacked ? how about a viocechat ?

or a simple phone software using dc as speaker and mic ?

Sir Savant · Post by **Sir Savant** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:02 am

Not yet, law. Maybe soon though. But I don't doubt that it will be one day.

Post by **Quzar** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:14 am

law wrote:hmm is the modem driver hacked ? how about a viocechat ? or a simple phone software using dc as speaker and mic ?

That already exists if you have a DreamCamera (i can't remember the real name). It comes with a mic and software for video conferencing (over bba or modem iirc).

Post by **BlueCrab** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:22 am

There is a working modem driver in KOS. It just hasn't been used for anything yet, and it only works at 33.6kbps.

Anyway, more about the Microphone for those who like technical details:

The Microphone uses an (as of now) undocumented (by any homebrew developer) Maple command to communicate. The microphone uses command 0x0F (KallistiOS only shows commands -5 through 0x0E) (yes I know I mixed decimal and hex there).

Using this command you can do just about anything that you want with the Microphone. Sending a Maple packet containing this particular command, along with two data words will accomplish just about anything. The first of these words will always be the Maple Microphone function number 0x10000000. The second word is where the magic happens.

Here's kinda a chart of what I know / have tested so far:

Code: Select all

2nd word               What it does:
0x0000??01          Sets the amplifier gain, ?? can be from 00 to 1F
0x00008002          Enables recording
0x00000001          Returns sampled data while recording is enabled
                    While not enabled, returns status of the mic.
0x00000002          Disables recording

Without fooling around with any other settings, the samples returned are 16-bit PCM @11025Hz, making them quite easy to feed into (say) an ogg encoder, like the sound I posted above. You have to continuously poll the mic to get any useful sound data back, and this is where a good driver will come into play.

Speaking of a driver, I have a mostly working S.I.P. (Sega's terminology here for the mic) driver for KOS that I wrote as I went along. After I get a chance to clean it up a little, I shall be releasing it.

Feel free in the mean time to play around with what I've stated above.

MetaFox · Post by **MetaFox** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 12:00 pm

Wooty pants. BlueCrab is the man - I told you that you could get it working.