X68000

The YM3526 was made by Yamaha and is used in the Commodore 64 Sound Expander aswell as several Arcade Games. It’s also known as the OPL (FM Operator Type-L). It was superseded by the YM3812 (OPL2), which adds 3 new Waveforms for the Synthesis but it otherwise identical.

Technical Specifications

• Channels: 9
• Channel 1-9: FM Sound Synthesis with 2 Operators per Voice. Can be configured either as 9 Tone Channels or 6 Tone Channels + 5 Rhythm Channels. The Drums in the Rhythm Channels are made with the same operators that would otherwise be used for the Tones.
• Waveforms: Sinewave
• Stereo: No
• DAC: External Y3014 DAC by Yamaha (8 Pins)

The original Incarnation of Bubble Bobble uses the YM3526

Used in

• Commodore 64 Sound Expander
• Several Arcade Games, like Ikari Warriors, Athena or Bubble Bobble

Special Applications

• Bubble Bobble uses the YM3526 together with an YM2203 (OPN)
• Psycho Soldier uses the YM3526 together with an Y8950 and is, btw, the first video game with a vocal soundtrack.
• Other Games use it together with an Y8950 aswell, for example Ikari Warriors, Fighting Golf or Athena.

Variants

• Y8950

Emulation

• Arcade | Since the YM3526 is used in many 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.

Psycho Soldier running inside M1

Music Creation

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