[MicroMinded] took us way back to our childhoods with his experiments and subsequent YMstream music player based on the Yamaha YM2149 sound generator used in old arcade systems, computers, and even phones (think chiptune). This reminds us of the Chipophone, only this time the sound is achieved from ICs used back in the day, rather than MCU waveforms.
There is still some work to be done to make the music player have a bit more functionality, but for now source is available if you want to make your own. Of course you might come across a small problem; finding an SSG is a tad bit more difficult than say, an Arduino. If a good resource is found, please share it in the comments!
[Thank you Andrew Kretschmer for sending in the chiptune mp3s]
There’s a few variants of that family.
The YM2149 is Yamaha’s version, but it’s a clone of the General Instrument AY-3-891x family. AY-3-8910 should even be pin compatible.
And, there’s tons of these chips (the 8910 or the 2149) on eBay.
Still, in my opinion, the YM2203 and 2608 are more interesting – derived from the 2149, and code compatible (and, I believe they use the YM2149’s sound generation logic for the SSG channels,) but they add some 4-operator FM channels (three in the case of the YM2203, six in the case of the 2608,) and the 2608 also adds an 8-bit PCM channel. Far rarer, though, especially the YM2608.
This is a complete “homemade” YM2149 player:
http://www.tolaemon.com/hplayer
But I preffer SID. Is better than YM2149.
SID plz.
I love the project, but I never go for these old chips, they are hard to find and some people will scarifice a working vintage system just to make some fart noises
its a shame chips like these dont exist anymore they are loads of fun, best we get now is a “like” project based around a MCU more powerful than the computers these types of things were installed in with lots of extra hardware that is designed in these old chips
SID is cool but nobody uses it right. they just want to make chiptune nintendo sounds. with a SID! the SID has ANALOG FILTERS which is the SIDs knockout punch! it’s a shame nobody ever uses them right.