inversephase
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Which sound chip goes on the synth next?
🕑 Added 2018-04-01 01:24:36 +0000 UTC Hey folks, I'm going to have some new synth boards soon, so get excited with me now, and get ready to vote with your phones (or whatever)!Some background info quick:
There are two revisions of the board. The first revision (technically "Revision --") was originally designed with the POKEY in mind as a first-chip, and has a 40-pin socket. I figured that would be enough for most chips, and okay sure it is, but then when Charles was in the mood to update the design to Revision B, I decided there were a few chips that are 48-pin that would be fun to control (the Konami SCC and VRC6 come to mind, also the Namco N163 used in some Famicom cartridges) so we extended it a bit and fixed some things.
Anyway, I already have an SCC on a board, and I will soon have three more 48-pin boards, which I intend to populate with a VRC6, an N163, and lastly shoutouts to ImATrackMan who drafted a custom adapter to make the OPNA (YM2608) work on my boards.
So after all that mess what am I asking exactly?
I've found an old original-revision board (40pin max) and I can put one of four different chips on it, I'll build more in the future but I don't have the money or the parts at the moment, so I need to prioritize. I figure you all should have a crack at influencing what goes on the board.
A quick recap of what I already have on a board...
- 6581 SID
- Atari 2600 TIA
- Atari 800 POKEY
- Yamaha YM2149
- Konami SCC
And a quick description of what I have to put on this board and what challenges I'd face:
RCA CDP1869: If you recognise the names RCA Cosmac ELF or RCA Studio II, you'd be on the right track, but actually this chip appears in the related but even more obscure COMX, Telmac TMC-600 and Pecom 64. Anyway, the chip is kind of like a TIA; it can do both sound and video things, and it's only got two channels, one each of tone and whitenoise. It has more frequency precision than a TIA, though, so it's possible that it could be good for music, and the whitenoise....in emulation at least...? sounds more tonal than noisy. Drivers would probably be easy to write.
Another SID revision: I have an 8580 SID graciously donated by chip scene buddy Amplitude Problem, and I miiiight have an incoming replacement SID-alternative (ARMSID; similar to SwinSID I guess?). Drivers already exist for SID, other revisions of SID will simply sound different when handed the same instructions.
MOS TED: Yet another TIA-like chip, this is one of Bil Herd's babies and did video+sound in the Commodore Plus/4. It's a bit more capable, but whether it's anything to phone home about sound-wise is to be debated. Here's a newish game released for the Commodore Plus/4. Impressive for the machine! But I already have a lot of sounds like these, so maybe it's not quite so interesting. The kicker is that I would probably be able to show Bil at VCF East... [edit: I'm dumb and didn't actually visually inspect my TED before putting this on the list; it's DIP48 so it will go on one of the *other* boards, new poll coming soon]
Lastly, a chip that probably needs no introduction, I have a YM2612 I pulled from a dead-as-a-doornail Sega. That means the chip might be dead too, and the drivers for this would be harder to write than any of the other chips. Anyway, I intend to support this down the road if I don't do it now, but I could maybe be convinced to implement support earlier rather than later....hmmm..............
So there we have it, which one would you most like to see on the board?
Comments
Inverse Phase
totally fine, and glad you're here! can't wait to show everyone some better tunes made with this thing.
Dave Krzy
I have no idea! I'm just here for your music. lol. The project looks cool though.
Inverse Phase
Both chips are OPN series, so the operator layout is exactly the same. And there's a lot of interplay in that arena: For example even though people might associate, say, the Streets of Rage / Bare Knuckle soundtrack with the 2612, it was written (and the official soundtrack release is) using the 2608.
Michael Tedder
I'm actually not familiar with the YM2608 (had to go look it up on Wikipedia), although it does look like it has a fairly powerful feature set. I guess I'd rather first hear stuff that I'm used to hearing. :)
Inverse Phase
Curious: Is there any reason you want to see 2612 since I'm going to put a 2608 on a 48pin board?
Michael Tedder
Definitely a YM2612 vote from me. I know it's not on your roadmap, but I think the YM3812 or YMF262 would be a nice addition too!
