List of sound chips

Sound chips come in different forms and use a variety of techniques to generate audio signals. This is a list of sound chips that were produced by a certain company or manufacturer, categorized by the sound generation of the chips.

Programmable sound generators (PSG)

Manufacturer Chip Year Channels Applications Notes Atari, Inc. Television Interface Adaptor (TIA) 1977 2 Atari 2600 and Atari 7800 video game consoles, Video Music (music visualizer for TV) Combined sound and graphics chip, (MOS) integrated circuit POKEY 1979 4 Atari 8-bit, Atari 5200, some Atari arcade machines, certain Atari 7800 cartridges Atari AMY 1983 64/8 Intended for 65XEM (never released) HMOS (depletion mode NMOS) chip, additive synthesis chip (64 oscillators, 8 frequency ramps) Atari MIKEY19894For the Atari LynxCombined sound and LCD driver, has 4-channels with an 8-bit DAC General Instrument AY-3-8910 1978 3 Arcade boards (DECO, Taito Z80, Konami Scramble, Irem M27, Konami 6809, Capcom Z80), computers (Colour Genie, Oric 1, MSX, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum 128, Elektor TVGC, Mockingboard, Speech/Sound Program Pak (TRS-80 Color Computer)), Intellivision N-type MOS (NMOS) large-scale integration (LSI) chip SP0250 1981 1 Sega G80 arcade system board Linear predictive coding (LPC) speech synthesis NMOS chip SP0256 1984 1 Intellivoice (Intellivision), MicroSpeech (ZX Spectrum), Datel Electronics Vox Box (ZX Spectrum), Tandy Voice Synthesizer (TRS-80), VIC-20 and Atari 8-bit serial-connected and homebrew kits, Fuzzbuster radar detector LPC speech synthesis NMOS LSI chip Konami RC 1981 1 Konami Scramble and Gyruss arcade system boards VRC6 1989 3 Certain Konami-produced Famicom cartridges MOS Technology VIC (6560 / 6561) 1977 4 VIC-1001 and VIC-20 Combined sound and graphics NMOS chip SID (6581 / 8580) 1981 3 Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 computers, Elektron SidStation synthesizer sound module NMOS chip (6581) / HMOS-II chip (8580) TED (7360 / 8360) 1983 2 Commodore 16, Plus/4 HMOS chip Microchip TechnologyAY893019893Covox Sound Master Card Oki Electric Industry Oki MSM5232 1983 8 Arcade games (particularly Taito games), Korg Poly-800 polyphonic synthesiser Complementary MOS (CMOS) chip Philips Philips SAA1099 1984 6 SAM Coupé, Creative Music System (also known as Game Blaster) Ricoh Ricoh 2A03 / 2A07 1983 5 Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) home console (hardware expandable), arcade game Punch-Out!! NMOS chip, delta modulation channel (DMC) is for pulse-code modulation (PCM) sampling, 7-bit DAC. Sega Sega Melody Generator 1981 1 Sega G80 arcade system board Sharp Corporation Sharp LR35902 1989 4 Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance In Game Boy Advance, it's used for Game Boy/Game Boy Color mode and supports software-mixed PCM as a secondary function. Sharp SM8521 1997 1 Game.com Noise generator Sunsoft Sunsoft 5B 1992 3 Famicom cartridge Gimmick! Derivative of Yamaha YM2149F Texas Instruments SN76477 1978 1 Space Invaders arcade system board, ABC 80 LPC Speech Chips 1978 1 Speak & Spell, Speak & Math, Speak & Read, arcade games Pitch-excited LPC (PE-LPC) speech synthesizer, digital signal processor (DSP), P-type MOS (PMOS) chip SN76489 (DCSG) 1979 4 Various arcade system boards, Master System console, BBC Micro home computer, Sharp MZ-800, IBM PCjr and TI-99/4A computers SN76489A (DCSG) 1982 4 ColecoVision and SG-1000 consoles SN76496 1982 4 Tandy 1000 computer TMS3615 1981 2 Arcade games TMS3617 TMS3630 TMS3631-RI104 / RI105 Toshiba Toshiba T7766A 1988 3 Some MSX models (MSX-Engine) AY-3-8910 compatible chip (has the same pinout) Unisonic Technologies Company UM66, TXXL series 1 or 2 3-pin CMOS LSI based chip that contains pre-programmed read-only memory (ROM) Yamaha Yamaha YM2149 (SSG) 1983 3 Various arcade boards, MSX computers (including Yamaha CX5M), Atari ST computer NMOS LSI chip based on AY-3-8910 Yamaha / Sega VDP PSG (SN76496) 1984 4 SG-1000 II, Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis and Pico consoles, Game Gear handheld game console Based on Texas Instruments SN76496. Integrated into the Yamaha YM2217, Yamaha YM2602, and Yamaha YM7101 VDP chips.In Mega Drive/Genesis, it is both secondary to the Yamaha YM2612 FM chip and for Master System mode. Yamaha YM3439 (SSGC) 1991 3 Atari Falcon and MSX computers CMOS LSI variant of YM2149

Wavetable synthesis

Manufacturer(s) Chip Year Channels Applications Notes Atmel / Dream SAM9407 1993 4 Quasimidi digital synthesizers (Caruso, Quasar, Technox, Raven, Raven MAX), computer sound cards (Guillemot Maxi Sound 64 Dynamic 3D, Maxi Sound Home Studio 64 Pro, Hoontech ST128 Gold & Ruby and Soundtrack Digital Audio, TerraTec AudioSystem EWS64L/XL/XXL/SHome Studio Pro 64, Home Studio) High-speed CMOS (HCMOS) chip SAM9707 1998 4 Quasimidi digital synthesizers (Rave-O-Lution 309, Sirius, Polymorph) Digital signal processor (DSP) core Ensoniq Ensoniq 5503 1984 32 Mirage synthesizer and Apple IIGS computer Hudson Soft / NEC / Epson Hudson Soft HuC6280 1987 6 NEC's PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) console CMOS chip Konami Konami SCC 1987 5 Certain arcade system boards, game cartridges for MSX Namco Namco WSG (Waveform Sound Generator) 1980 3 Several Namco arcade system boards (including Namco Pac-Man and Namco Galaga) Namco 52xx (Audio Processor) 1981 1 Namco Galaga and Namco Pole Position arcade system boards Namco 54xx (Audio Generator) 1982 8 Namco Pole Position arcade system board Namco 15xx (WSG) 1982 8 Namco Super Pac-Man arcade system board Namco CUS30 1984 8 Namco Pac-Land, Namco Thunder Ceptor, System 86 and Namco System 1 arcade boards Similar to the earlier 15xx WSG, but capable of stereo sound. Namco 163 (N163) 1987 8 Namco-produced Famicom games Nintendo VSU-VUE 1995 6 Virtual Boy portable console Silicon-gate CMOS chip Ricoh Ricoh 2C33 1986 1 Famicom Disk System Sharp Corporation Sharp LR35902 1989 1 Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance In Game Boy Advance, it's used for Game Boy/Game Boy Color mode and supports software-mixed PCM as a secondary function. Sharp SM8521 1997 2 Game.com

Frequency modulation (FM) synthesis

Manufacturer Chip Year Total FM operators Max FM channels Max ops / channel Applications Notes ESS Technology ESFM synthesizer 1994 72 18 4 Most ESS Tech sound chips (ES1868/69 being most common) Based on Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3) silicon-gate CMOS chip. Includes wavetable interface. Two modes, one "OPL2/3 compatible" and the other the native superset. Konami VRC7 1990 12 6 2 Famicom cartridge Lagrange Point Modified derivative of Yamaha YM2413 (OPLL). Labeled as DS1001 by Yamaha as an internal code.Yamaha YM2128 (OPS) / YM2129 (EGS) 1983 96 16 6 Yamaha digital synthesizers (DX7, DX1, DX5, DX9, TX7, TX216, TX416, TX816) Chipset (OPS operator chip, EGS envelope generator chip) Yamaha YM2151 (a.k.a. OPM) 1983 32 8 4 Mid-1980s to mid-1990s arcade systems (the most prolific FM chip used in arcades), Sharp X1 and X68000 computers, MSX (CX5M, Yamaha SFG-01 and SFG-05 FM Sound Synthesizer Unit), Yamaha digital synthesizers (DX21, DX27, DX100) NMOS chip (depletion-load) Yamaha YM2203 (a.k.a. OPN) 1984 12 3 4 Some 1980s arcade games, NEC computers (PC-88, PC-98, NEC PC-6001mkII SR, PC-6601 SR) 3 additional Yamaha YM2149 SSG square wave channels, silicon-gate NMOS LSI chip Yamaha YM3526 (a.k.a. OPL) 1984 18 9 2 Bubble Bobble arcade game, Commodore 64 SFX Sound Expander Silicon-gate CMOS LSI chip Yamaha Y8950 (a.k.a. MSX-AUDIO) 1984 18 9 2 MSX-Audio cartridges for MSX (Panasonic FS-CA1, Toshiba HX-MU900, and Philips NMS-1205) Very similar to Yamaha YM3526, additional adaptive differential PCM (ADPCM) channel, silicon-gate CMOS LSI chip Yamaha YM2164 (a.k.a. OPP) 1985 32 8 4 Yamaha FB-01 MIDI Expander, IBM Music Feature Card, MSX (Yamaha CX5M and SFG-05), Korg DS-8 and 707 digital synthesizers Based on Yamaha YM2151 (OPM) Yamaha YM3812 (a.k.a. OPL2) 1985 18 9 2 Sound cards for PC (including AdLib and early Sound Blaster cards), Yamaha Portasound keyboards (PSR and PSS series) Silicon-gate CMOS LSI chip Yamaha YM2413 (a.k.a. OPLL) 1986 18 9 2 Japanese Master System, Sega Mark III, MSX (in MSX Music cartridges like the FM-PAC, and internally in several Japanese models by Panasonic, Sony and Sanyo), Yamaha Portasound digital keyboards (PSS-140, PSS-170, PSS-270) Silicon-gate NMOS LSI chip YM2604 (OPS2) / YM3609 (EGM) 1986 96 16 6 Yamaha DX7 II and TX802 digital synthesizers Chipset (OPS2 operator chip, EGM envelope generator chip) Yamaha YM2608 (a.k.a. OPNA) 1986 24 6 4 NEC PC-88 and PC-98 computers 3 additional Yamaha YM2149 SSG square wave channels, 7 additional ADPCM channels, silicon-gate NMOS LSI chip Yamaha YM2414 (a.k.a. OPZ) 1987 32 8 4 Yamaha digital synthesizers (TX81Z, DX11, YS200), Korg Z3 guitar synthesizer Yamaha YM2610 (a.k.a. OPNB) 1987 16 4 4 SNK's Neo Geo console, arcade systems (particularly Neo Geo and Taito games) 7 additional ADPCM channels Yamaha YM2612 (a.k.a. OPN2) 1988 24 6 4 Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console, FM Towns computer, Sega arcade systems PCM supported on one of the channels Yamaha YM3438 (a.k.a. OPN2C) 1989 24 6 4 Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console (later models), FM Towns computer, Sega arcade systems Improved Yamaha YM2612, PCM supported on one of the channels, silicon-gate CMOS LSI chip Yamaha YMF262 (a.k.a. OPL3) 1990 36 18 4 Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 and later cards for PC (including Sound Blaster 16, AdLib Gold 1000 and AWE32) Silicon-gate CMOS chip Yamaha YMF271 (a.k.a. OPX) 1993 36 18 4 12 additional PCM channels Yamaha YMF278 (a.k.a. OPL4) 1993 36 18 4 Moonsound cartridge for MSX computer Yamaha YMF292 (a.k.a. SCSP) 1994 32 32 32 Sega Saturn console, Sega ST-V, Model 2A/2B/2C CRX and Model 3 arcade systems PCM supported Yamaha YMF288 (a.k.a. OPN3) 1995 24 6 4 NEC PC-98 computer Based on Yamaha YM2608 (OPNA) Yamaha YMF7xx (a.k.a. OPL3-SA) 1997 36 18 4 Embedded audio chipset in some laptops and sound cards (including PCI, ISA and Yamaha Audician 32) Integrates Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3) Yamaha YMU757 (a.k.a. MA-1) 1999 8 4 2 Some 2000s and 1990s cellphones, PDAs Yamaha YMU759 (a.k.a. MA-2) 2000 32 16 2 Some 2000s cellphones, PDAs 8 channels for 4 operators, an additional ADPCM channel Yamaha YMU762 (a.k.a. MA-3) 2001 64 32 2 Some 2000s cellphones, PDAs 16 channels for 4 operators, 8 additional PCM/ADPCM channels Yamaha YMU765 (a.k.a. MA-5) 2003 64 32 2 Some 2000s cellphones, PDAs 32 PCM/ADPCM channels, 16 channels for 4 operators Yamaha YMU786 (a.k.a. MA-7)200564322Some 2000s cellphones, PDAs32 PCM/ADPCM channels, 16 channels for 4 operators Yamaha YMF825 (a.k.a. SD-1) 2011 32 16 4

Pulse-code modulation (PCM) sampling