X68000

The YM2151 was made by Yamaha and is used in many Arcade Games, Sharp Homecomputers, Synthesizers and even more Systems. It the the first time that Yamaha implemented FM Synthesis into a single chip. It’s also known as the OPM (FM Operator Type-M).

Technical Specifications

• Channels: 8
• Channel 1-8: FM-Sound synthesis with 4 Operators
• Channel 8: Noise synthesis
• Stereo: Yes
• DAC: External, the YM3012
• Has an LFO that can generate 4 Waveforms (Saw, Square, Triangle, Noise)
• Datasheet for the YM2151 is available here (PDF)
• Datasheet for the YM3012 is available here (PDF)

Used in

Homecomputers

• Sharp X1turboZ (earlier models could be upgraded with the CZ-8BS1 Sound Card)
• Sharp X68000
• Yamaha CX5M (an MSX Computer)

Arcade Systems

• Atari G1
• Atari GX2
• Atari System 1 (Asteroids, Marble Madness…)
• Capcom Play System (Final Fight, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Street Fighter 2…)
• Irem M-72
• Irem M-73
• Irem M-75
• Irem M-77
• Sega System 16A / B (Alex Kidd, Shinobi…)
• Sega System 24 (Bonanza Bros., Gain Ground, Crack Down…)
• Sega X Board (After Burner, Thunderblade…)
• Sega Y Board (Galaxy Force, Power Drift…)
• Namco System 1 (Dragon Spirit…)
• Namco System 2 (Metal Hawk…)
• Namco System 21 (Starblade…)
• Namco System 86 (Rolling Thunder…)
• Konami Twin 16 (Gradius II…)
• Williams T Unit
• Williams Y Unit (Mortal Kombat..)
• Williams Z Unit

Sound Cards

• Sharp CZ-8BS1 (Sharp X1)
• Yamaha SFG-01 (MSX)
• Yamaha SFG-05 (MSX)

Synthesizer Keyboards

• Yamaha YPR-7
• Yamaha YPR-8
• Yamaha YPR-9

Special Applications

Looks like the hardware manufacturers added all kinds of random PCM Chips on their PCBs:

• Atari G1 | Adds an OKI MSM6295
• Atari System 1 | Adds 2 x Pokey and 1x TMS5220 for Speech Synthesis
• Capcom Play System | Adds an OKI MSM6295
• Sega System 16A / B | Adds an NEC uPD7751 for ADPCM Playback
• Sega X / Y Board | Adds a custom Sega PCM Chip.
• Sharp X68000 | Adds an OKI MSM6258
• Namco System 86 | Adds a custom Namco 4-bit WSG
• Namco System 2 | Adds a C140 24 channel stereo PCM Sample player
• Namco System 21 | Adds a C140 24 channel stereo PCM Sample player
• Konami Twin 16 | Adds an uPD7759C and a Custom Konami Chip called K007232

Emulation

• Sharp X1 | Emulated in Hoot
• Sharp X68000 | Emulated in Hoot
• Arcade | Since the YM2151 is used in lots of Arcade Systems, it works 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.

Music Creation

• The sounds of the YM2151 are emulated by the VOPM VST. To keep it authentic it shouldn’t be used more than 8 times .