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docs(audio): record the episodic half of the $D418 static - #274

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docs/dac-static-episodic-half
Aug 12, 2026
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docs(audio): record the episodic half of the $D418 static#274
kfox merged 1 commit into
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docs/dac-static-episodic-half

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@kfox kfox commented Aug 12, 2026

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docs/architecture/audio.md presented the DAC table/chip mismatch as the whole answer to the audible static on the 4-bit path. It was the steady half.

The episodic half — bursts of 0.5-1.5 s lifting the noise floor 4-10 dB, arriving irregularly, with the floor creeping upward across a long capture — is the Ultimate's Bus Operation Mode sitting at its Quiet firmware default with a TeensyROM+ in the cartridge port. Writes (or Dyn. & Writes) clears it, and nothing under [audio] / [dsp] or in the write path moves it.

The end-user framing already ships in caveats.md and troubleshooting.md, where it reads as a TeensyROM+ link symptom. This adds the architecture side and links across to it, because the two are the same finding seen from different ends: burst statistics gathered under that setting are what made a traffic-coupled mechanism look plausible on the host write path, and so are why the halt-splitting work in the sections above was pursued as an audio-quality fix at all.

With both components accounted for — and neither being bus-halt tick loss — a future measurement that finds episodic noise on this class of rig should check the bus mode before treating the number as being about anything in audio.py.

Also softens the opening sentence of "A DAC table only applies to the chip it was measured on", which claimed the mismatch was the static.

Docs only, no code change. make site-check and tests/test_architecture_index.py pass.

The architecture note presented the DAC table/chip mismatch as the whole
answer to the audible static. It was the steady half. The episodic half —
0.5-1.5 s bursts lifting the noise floor 4-10 dB, with upward creep across
a capture — is the Ultimate's Bus Operation Mode at its `Quiet` default with
a TeensyROM+ in the cartridge port, which `Writes` clears.

The end-user framing already lives in caveats.md and troubleshooting.md,
framed as a TeensyROM+ link symptom. What was missing is the architecture
side: those burst statistics are what made a traffic-coupled mechanism look
plausible on the host write path, and so are why the halt-splitting work was
pursued as an audio-quality fix. Recording it here keeps a future measurement
from re-attributing the same bursts to audio.py.
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kfox merged commit 53e8ce1 into main Aug 12, 2026
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kfox deleted the docs/dac-static-episodic-half branch August 12, 2026 18:53
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