X68000

The Flipper was developed by Nintento and ArtX for the Gamecube. Being a GPU the Chip handles all the Graphics and also features a DSP, which again was developed by a company called Macronix.

The Flipper Chip was later superseded by the “Hollywood” Chip found inside the Nintendo Wii.

Technical Specifications

• Channels: 64
• Channel 1-64: ADPCM Sound playback with 32 or 48 kHz in 16-bit
• Stereo: Yes (incl. Dolby Pro Logic II)
• DSP Features: 256 Volume Levels for both the left and the right signal
• DAC: External, 48 kHz
• Software: The Gamecube API also features MIDI File Support incl. DLS 1.0,  see “File Formats” further down.
• Runs at 81 MHz

Used in

Videogame Consoles

• Nintendo Gamecube

Arcade Systems

• Namco Triforce
• Sega Triforce

Special Applications

• Game Boy Player | allows you to play GB, GBC and GBA Games on the Gamecube. It comes with the ARM7TDMI afaik, which is the GBA CPU (and the build-in Soundchip).

File Formats

As most Gamecube Games use Streams for their Sounds, there is no file format designed to play back Gamecube sequenced music. It is always possible that a games uses an internal softsynth though, which passes a stream to the DSP.

Some formats you might encounter, see further down for a way to play those:

ADX

• Popular format used for streams. An advantage is that you can, for example, easily define start- and endpoints to have the music looped.
• Used in: Phantasy Star Online 1-3, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Heroes, Viewtiful Joe 2, F-Zero GX, and more..

DSP-ADPCM

• The official Nintendo Format that is intended for streams and used by many developers. The SDK features a tool called dspadpcm.exe which converts and compresses 16-bit WAV and AIFF to the DSP-ADPCM Format. A test song with 22,6mb was reduced to 6,46mb after the compression.
• The default extension is .dsp and the format supports loop points.
• Used in: Metal Gear Solid – Twin Snakes, Metroid Prime 1 & 2, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Wario World, and more..

SPT/SPD

• Its Nintendos official format for packed DSP Files.
• Used in: BloodRayne, Bust-a-Move 3000, and more..

OGG Vorbis

• Open Source Format used for streams.
• Used in: Mega Man X Collection, Time Splitters – Future Perfect, True Crime – New York City, and more..

MIDI

• As for sequenced Music, the Gamecube provides a softsynth which can replay standard MIDI Files with a Wavetable that the programmer provided. The Wavetables are converted from DLS 1.0 Files and should be inside a .wt and a .pcm file. There are also a few effects to further work with the sound like an LFO, ADSR or Panning.
• Supported Events: note on, note off, program change, pitch wheel and “some controller events”.
• Used in: Donkey Konga 3, maybe more?

Playback

vgmstream

• vgmstream is a plug-in for Winamp which supports numerous streaming formats from many videogame consoles. As for the gamecube, it supports DSP aswell as ADX and many others. You can grab it from this link.