X68000

The AY-3-8910 was made by General Instruments and was used in lots of old Arcade Games aswell as several Homecomputers (see below for a list). It was later licensed to Yamaha with little changes, and got renamed to YM2149 / YM3439.

Technical Specifications

• Channels: 3
• Channel 1-3: Squarewave and/or Noise Synthesis
• Supports 10 different envelopes for the generated tones.
• Supports 16 Volume Levels
• DAC: Build-in
• Datasheet for the AY-3-8910 / AY-3-8912 / AY-3-8913 is available here (PDF).
• Datasheet for the YM2149 is available here (PDF).
• Datasheet for the YM3439 is available here (PDF).

Used in

Homecomputers

• Amstrad CPC (AY-3-8912)
• Atari Falcon 030 (YM3439)
• Atari ST (YM2149)
• EACA Colour Genie (AY-3-8910)
• Fujitsu Micro 7 (FM-7) (AY-3-8910)
• Mitsubishi Multi 8
• MSX (AY-3-8910)
• NEC PC-6001 / MK2 / MK2 SR / 6601 (AY-3-8910)
• Oric 1 (AY-3-8912)
• Oric Atmos (AY-3-8912)
• Oric Telestrat (AY-3-8912)
• Samsung SPC-1000 (AY-3-8910)
• Sharp MZ5500 (AY-3-8912)
• Sharp X1 (AY-3-891x)
• Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128/+2/+3 (AY-3-8912)
• Timex Sinclair 2068 / 2048 (AY-3-8912)

Sound Cards

• Applied Engineering Phasor (for Apple II) (AY-3-8913)
• AY-Magic (for ZX-Spectrum) (AY-3-8910 or YM2149F)
• Didaktik Melodik (for ZX-Spectrum) (AY-3-891x)
• EME Sound Box (for Jupiter Ace) (AY-3-8910)
• HAL GSX-8800 (for PC-8001 and PC-8801) (AY-3-8910)
• Sweet Microsystems Mockingboard (for Apple II) (AY-3-8913)
• Sweet Microsystems Sound I (for Apple II) (AY-3-8910)
• Sweet Microsystems Sound II (for Apple II) (AY-3-8910)

Video Game Consoles

• Amstrad GX 4000 (AY-3-8912)
• Bandai Supervision 8000 (AY-3-8910)
• Elektor TV Games Computer (AY-3-8910)
• Mattel Intellivision (AY-3-8914)
• Vectrex (AY-3-8912)

Arcade Systems

• Irem M-27 (AY-3-891x)
• Irem M-52 (AY-3-891x): 10 Yard Fight..
• Irem M-62 (YM-2149): Lode Runner, Spelunker
• Irem M-63 (AY-3-891x): Atomic Boy, Fighting Basketball..
• Scramble Hardware (AY-3-8910 x2): Scramble, Amidar..
• Taito System SJ (AY-3-891x): Elevator Action, Jungle Hunt…
• many other Arcade PCBs..

Special Applications

• Applied Engineering Phasor | Uses 4x AY-3-8913 aswell as an SSI-263 speech chip
• HAL GSX 8800 | Uses 2x the AY-3-8910
• Irem M-52 & M-62 | Uses 2x YM-2149 – The M-52 either the same or 2x AY-3-8910 – together with 2x MSM5205. The latter one for SFX and speech
• Irem M-63 | The Game Atomic Boy (aka Willy Tower) uses 2x the AY-3-8910. Fighting Basketball however uses only one.
• Sweet Microsystems Mockingboard | Uses 2x AY-3-8913, an upgrade that adds an SSI-263 Chip was available. Versions with this chip already build-in also exist
• Sweet Microsystems Sound II | Uses 2x AY-3-8910
• Taito System SJ | Arcade Board using 4x AY-3-8910

Variants

• AY-3-8910 | Has got two I/O Ports and 40 pins
• AY-3-8912 | Reduced to one I/O Port and 28 pins
• AY-3-8913 | Reduced to zero I/O Ports and 24 pins
• AY-3-8914 | Like AY-3-8910, but with a different register layout
• YM2149 | Yamaha-version of the Chip with some smaller changes
• YM3439-D | CMOS version of the YM2149, 40-pin DIP
• YM3439-F | CMOS version of the YM2149, 44-pin QFP

Emulation

• Amstrad CPC | CPC Music can be ripped into AY Files. AY Files basically contain the real Z80 Code aswell as Header Information. A good ressource on these files including Sound Archives and Players is Project AY (Link).
• Arcade | Since the Arcade Boards are emulated in MAME, they work fine in M1. M1 is a music player which is based on MAME and thus supports a lot of Arcade Games. More about M1 can be found here. Hoot is also an option.

Irem M-62 Music running in BridgeM1

• Atari ST | There are several Formats from the Atari ST that can be ripped and/or replayed on a PC. One good example would be the SNDH Format, more info on that is avalable at the Atari YM2149 Music Archive.
• Fujitsu Micro 7 (FM-7) | Emulated in Hoot
• MSX | Emulated in Hoot
• Sharp X1 | Emulated in Hoot
• ZX Spectrum | ZX Music can be ripped into AY Files. AY Files basically contain the real Z80 Code aswell as Header Information. A good ressource on these files including Sound Archives and Players is Project AY.

Music Creation

• Sounds in MSX Basic Part 1
• Sounds in MSX Basic Part 2