A sound chip is an integrated circuit (i.e. "chip") designed to produce sound (see chiptune). It might be doing this through digital, analog or mixed-mode electronics. Sound chips normally contain things like oscillators, envelope controllers, samplers, filters and amplifiers.
Overview
- See also: Arcade system board
In the early 1970's, there were no sound chips, so the sound usually consisted of either simple digital bleeps generated from the discrete circuitry or explosion sounds generated through electro-mechanical methods.
In the late 1970's, sound boards and sound chips began to be used, leading to the introduction of chiptune music.
In the 1980's, sound chips capable of FM synthesis and PCM sampling were introduced, along with audio playback from the Laserdisc and CD formats.
During the late 1980's to 1990's, sound chips became more sophisticated, with more advanced FM synthesis, dozens of PCM channels, MIDI support, and playback of compressed audio files.
List of sound chips by audio capabilities
- See also: Arcade system board and Instructions per second
This is a list of sound chips, as well as sound cards/boards (for arcade systems and home computers), which often used multiple sound chips.
| Year | Sound chip / card / board | System(s) | Output | PSG channels | PSG waveforms | Sampling | Max sample channels | Max sample bit depth | Max sample rate (kHz) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Taito 597-907 Logic Board | Arcade (Taito Discrete Logic, Midway 8080)[1] | Mono | 2 | Noise, Pulse | No | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1977 | Atari TIA | Atari 2600, Atari 7800 | Mono | 2 | Noise, Pulse | No | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sega Tone Generator | Arcade (Sega Vic Dual) | Mono | 2 | Noise, Pulse | No | ||||
| 1978 | Intel 8244 | Magnavox Odyssey² | Mono | 2 | Noise, Pulse | No | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TI (Texas Instruments) SN76477 | Arcade (Taito 8080, Midway 8080) | Mono | 2 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse | No | ||||
| 1979 | Atari POKEY | Arcade, Atari 8-Bit, Atari 5200, Atari 7800 | Mono | 4 | Noise, Square | No | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GI (General Instrument) AY-3-8914 | Arcade, Intellivision, Intellivision II | Mono | 4 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Square | No | ||||
| Namco Galaxian Sound Section | Arcade (Namco Galaxian)[2] | Mono | 5 | Noise, Pulse, Square | No | ||||
| Sega Oscillator IC Sound Board | Arcade (Sega Discrete Logic)[3] | Mono | 6 | Noise, Pulse | No | ||||
| 1980 | Digitalker MM54104 | Arcade (Namco Galaxian, Zaccaria Scorpion) | Mono | 1 | Filter | DM (DPCM) | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| Namco King & Balloon Sound Section | Arcade (Namco Galaxian)[4] | Mono | 6 | Filter, Noise, Pulse, Square | DM (DPCM) | ||||
| GI AY-3-8910 | Arcade, DECO Cassette System, Colour Genie, Oric 1, Elektor TV Games Computer | Mono | 4 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Square | Virtual PCM | 1 | 4 | 11 | |
| Taito Z80 Board | Arcade (Taito Z80)[5] | Mono | 6 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Square | Virtual PCM | ||||
| Konami The End Board | Arcade (Konami Scramble)[6] | Mono | 8 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Square | Virtual PCM | 2 | |||
| MOS Technology VIC | Commodore VIC-1001 / VIC-20 | Mono | 4 | Noise, Square | No | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Namco WSG | Arcade (Namco Pac-Man, Namco Galaga, Namco Pole Position) | Mono | 4 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Sawtooth, Square, Triangle | No | ||||
| 1981 | GI SP0250 | Arcade (Sega G80) | Mono | 0 | N/A | LPC | 1 | 8 | 10 |
| Sega USB (Universal Sound Board) | Arcade (Sega G80)[7] | Mono | 3 | Noise, Pulse, Square | LPC | ||||
| Harris HC-55516 CVSD | Arcade (Irem M27, Williams Midway Y Unit) | Mono | 0 | 0 | CVSD (ADM) | 1 | 4 | 24 | |
| Irem M27 Board | Arcade (Irem M27)[8] | Mono | 8 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Square | CVSD (ADM) & Virtual PCM | 3 | |||
| Konami Scramble Logic Board | Arcade (Konami Scramble)[9] | Mono | 8 | Envelope, Filter, Noise, Square | Virtual PCM | 2 | 4 | 11 | |
| Mockingboard (AY-3-8910) | Apple II | Mono | 4 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Square | Virtual PCM | 1 | |||
| Namco Galaga Board | Arcade (Namco Galaga)[10] | Mono | 4 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Sawtooth, Square, Triangle | No | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sega 834-0123 Sound Board | Arcade (Sega VCO Object) | Stereo | 5 | Noise, Pulse, Square | No | ||||
| TI SN76489 DCSG | Arcade, TI-99/4A, BBC Micro, ColecoVision, Sega SG-1000 | Mono | 4 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Square | Virtual PCM | 1 | 4 | 8 | |
| 1982 | GI AY-3-8912 | Arcade, Vectrex, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC | Mono | 4 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Square | No | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Namco Audio II Board | Arcade (Namco Pole Position)[11] | Quad | 8 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Sawtooth, Square, Triangle | DAC | 1 | |||
| Sega SN76496 | Arcade (Sega Z80, Sega System E), Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive | Mono | 4 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Square | PWM & Virtual PCM | 1 | 4 | 8 | |
| Sega Z80 Board | Arcade (Sega Z80)[12] | Mono | 8 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Square | PWM & Virtual PCM | 2 | |||
| MOS Technology SID | Commodore MAX, CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 | Mono | 3 | Envelope, Filter, Noise, Pulse, Sawtooth, Triangle | Virtual PCM | 1 | 4 | 4 | |
| Oki MSM5205 | Arcade (Irem M52, Data East Z80, Taito Unique, Capcom 68000), NEC PC Engine CD-ROM² | Mono | 0 | N/A | ADPCM | 1 | 12 | 32.1 | |
| Irem M52-SOUND-C Board | Arcade (Irem M52)[13] | Mono | 6 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Square | ADPCM & Virtual PCM | 4 | |||
| 1983 | Konami KT-2304-2 Sound Board | Arcade (Konami 6809)[14] | Stereo | 20 | Envelope, Filter, Noise, Square | Virtual PCM | 5 | 4 | 11 |
| Sega CN2 Audio Board | Arcade (Sega Laserdisc) | Stereo | 0 | N/A | Laserdisc | 2 | 16 | 44.1 | |
| Yamaha YM2149 | Arcade, MSX, Atari ST | Mono | 4 | Envelope, Noise, Pulse, Sine, Square | Virtual PCM | 1 | 4 | 21 |
Notes
- ↑ Taito 597-907 Logic Board includes two sound chips:
- Taito Sound Generator
- Taito Amplifier
- ↑ Namco Galaxian sound section includes seven sound chips:
- Namco Tone Generator
- Namco LFSR
- Namco NE555 x5
- ↑ Sega Oscillator IC Sound Board includes six custom Sega sound chips
- ↑ King & Balloon sound section includes eight sound chips:
- Namco Galaxian sound section
- Namco Tone Generator
- Namco LFSR
- Namco NE555 x5
- Digitalker MM54104
- Namco DAC
- Namco Galaxian sound section
- ↑ Taito Z80 Board includes three sound chips:
- Taito DAC
- General Instrument AY-3-8910
- Texas Instruments SN76477
- ↑ Konami's The End board includes:
- 2x General Instrument AY-3-8910 @ 1.78975 MHz
- ↑ Sega USB (Universal Sound Board) includes:
- Sega 8255
- Sega Melody Generator
- Sega DAC
- General Instrument SP0250
- ↑ Irem M27 arcade system board includes two sound boards:
- Irem M-27B Audio Board
- 2x General Instrument AY-8910
- Irem UE-17B Voice Board
- Harris HC-55516 CVSD
- Irem DAC
- Irem M-27B Audio Board
- ↑ Konami Scramble Logic Board includes:
- 2x General Instrument AY-3-8910 @ 1.78975 MHz
- 6x Konami RC @ 1.78975 MHz
- ↑ Namco Galaga board includes four sound chips:
- Namco WSG @ 3.1 MHz
- Namco 50xx Sound Sequencer @ 1.6 MHz
- Namco 52xx Audio Processor @ 1.6 MHz
- Namco 54xx Sounds @ 1.6 MHz
- ↑ Namco Audio II board includes four sound chips:
- Namco WSG @ 48 kHz
- Namco 52xx Audio Processor @ 1.6 MHz
- Namco 54xx Sounds @ 1.6 MHz
- Namco DAC
- ↑ Sega Z80 board includes two sound chips:
- Sega SN76496 @ 4 MHz
- Sega SN76496 @ 2 MHz
- ↑ Irem M52-SOUND-C board includes four sound chips:
- 2x Oki MSM5205 @ 384 kHz each
- 2x General Instrument AY-3-8910 @ 895 kHz each
- ↑ Konami KT-2304-2 Sound Board includes:
- 5x General Instrument AY-3-8910 @ 1.789772 MHz
- 6x Konami RC @ 1.789772 MHz