Sound chips come in different forms and use a variety of techniques to generate audio signals. This is a list of sound chips that were produced by a certain company or manufacturer, categorized by the sound generation of the chips.
Programmable sound generators (PSG)
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! style="width:15%" | Manufacturer
! style="width:15%" | Chip
! Year
! Channels
! Applications
! Notes
! class="unsortable" |
|-
| rowspan="4" | Atari, Inc.
| Television Interface Adaptor (TIA)
| 1977
| 2
| Atari 2600 and Atari 7800 video game consoles, Video Music (music visualizer for TV)
| Combined sound and graphics chip, (MOS) integrated circuit
|
|-
| POKEY
| 1979
| 4
| Atari 8-bit, Atari 5200, some Atari arcade machines, certain Atari 7800 cartridges
|
|
|-
| Atari AMY
| 1983
| 64/8
| Intended for 65XEM (never released)
| HMOS (depletion mode NMOS) chip, additive synthesis chip (64 oscillators, 8 frequency ramps)
|
|-
|Atari MIKEY
|1989
|4
|For the Atari Lynx
|Combined sound and LCD driver, has 4-channels with an 8-bit DAC
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | General Instrument
| AY-3-8910
| 1978
| 3
| Arcade boards (DECO, Taito Z80, Konami Scramble, Irem M27, Konami 6809, Capcom Z80), computers (Colour Genie, Oric 1, MSX, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum 128, Elektor TVGC, Mockingboard, Speech/Sound Program Pak (TRS-80 Color Computer)), Intellivision
| N-type MOS (NMOS) large-scale integration (LSI) chip
|
|-
| SP0250
| 1981
| 1
| Sega G80 arcade system board
| Linear predictive coding (LPC) speech synthesis NMOS chip
|
|-
| SP0256
| 1984
| 1
| Intellivoice (Intellivision), MicroSpeech (ZX Spectrum), Datel Electronics Vox Box (ZX Spectrum), Tandy Voice Synthesizer (TRS-80), VIC-20 and Atari 8-bit serial-connected and homebrew kits, Fuzzbuster radar detector
| LPC speech synthesis NMOS LSI chip
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Konami
| RC
| 1981
| 1
| Konami Scramble and Gyruss arcade system boards
|
|
|-
| VRC6
| 1989
| 3
| Certain Konami-produced Famicom cartridges
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | MOS Technology
| VIC (6560 / 6561)
| 1977
| 4
| VIC-1001 and VIC-20
| Combined sound and graphics NMOS chip
|
|-
| SID (6581 / 8580)
| 1981
| 3
| Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 computers, Elektron SidStation synthesizer sound module
| NMOS chip (6581) / HMOS-II chip (8580)
|
|-
| TED (7360 / 8360)
| 1983
| 2
| Commodore 16, Plus/4
| HMOS chip
|
|-
|Microchip Technology
|AY8930
|1989
|3
|Covox Sound Master Card
|
|
|-
| Oki Electric Industry
| Oki MSM5232
| 1983
| 8
| Arcade games (particularly Taito games), Korg Poly-800 polyphonic synthesiser
| Complementary MOS (CMOS) chip
|
|-
| Philips
| Philips SAA1099
| 1984
| 6
| SAM Coupé, Creative Music System (also known as Game Blaster)
|
|
|-
| Ricoh
| Ricoh 2A03 / 2A07
| 1983
| 5
| Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) home console (hardware expandable), arcade game Punch-Out!!
| NMOS chip, delta modulation channel (DMC) is for pulse-code modulation (PCM) sampling, 7-bit DAC.
|
|-
| Sega
| Sega Melody Generator
| 1981
| 1
| Sega G80 arcade system board
|
|
|-
|rowspan=2 | Sharp Corporation
| Sharp LR35902
| 1989
| 4
| Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance
| In Game Boy Advance, it's used for Game Boy/Game Boy Color mode and supports software-mixed PCM as a secondary function.
|
|-
| Sharp SM8521
| 1997
| 1
| Game.com
| Noise generator
|
|-
| Sunsoft
| Sunsoft 5B
| 1992
| 3
| Famicom cartridge Gimmick!
| Derivative of Yamaha YM2149F
|
|-
| rowspan="9" | Texas Instruments
| SN76477
| 1978
| 1
| Space Invaders arcade system board, ABC 80
|
|
|-
| LPC Speech Chips
| 1978
| 1
| Speak & Spell, Speak & Math, Speak & Read, arcade games
| Pitch-excited LPC (PE-LPC) speech synthesizer, digital signal processor (DSP), P-type MOS (PMOS) chip
|
|-
| SN76489 (DCSG)
| 1979
| 4
| Various arcade system boards, Master System console, BBC Micro home computer, Sharp MZ-800, IBM PCjr and TI-99/4A computers
|
| rowspan="2" |
|-
| SN76489A (DCSG)
| 1982
| 4
| ColecoVision and SG-1000 consoles
|
|-
| SN76496
| 1982
| 4
| Tandy 1000 computer
|
|
|-
| TMS3615
| 1981
| 2
| Arcade games
|
|
|-
| TMS3617
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| TMS3630
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| TMS3631-RI104 / RI105
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Toshiba
| Toshiba T7766A
| 1988
| 3
| Some MSX models (MSX-Engine)
| AY-3-8910 compatible chip (has the same pinout)
|
|-
| Unisonic Technologies Company
| UM66, TXXL series
|
| 1 or 2
|
| 3-pin CMOS LSI based chip that contains pre-programmed read-only memory (ROM)
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | Yamaha
| Yamaha YM2149 (SSG)
| 1983
| 3
| Various arcade boards, MSX computers (including Yamaha CX5M), Atari ST computer
| NMOS LSI chip based on AY-3-8910
|
|-
| Yamaha / Sega VDP PSG (SN76496)
| 1984
| 4
| SG-1000 II, Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis and Pico consoles, Game Gear handheld game console
| Based on Texas Instruments SN76496. Integrated into the Yamaha YM2217, Yamaha YM2602, and Yamaha YM7101 VDP chips.<br>In Mega Drive/Genesis, it is both secondary to the Yamaha YM2612 FM chip and for Master System mode.
|
|-
| Yamaha YM3439 (SSGC)
| 1991
| 3
| Atari Falcon and MSX computers
| CMOS LSI variant of YM2149
|
|}
Wavetable synthesis
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! style="width:10%" | Manufacturer(s)
! style="width:15%" | Chip
! Year
! Channels
! Applications
! Notes
! class="unsortable" |
|-
| rowspan="2" | Atmel / Dream
| SAM9407
| 1993
| 4
| Quasimidi digital synthesizers (Caruso, Quasar, Technox, Raven, Raven MAX), computer sound cards (Guillemot Maxi Sound 64 Dynamic 3D, Maxi Sound Home Studio 64 Pro, Hoontech ST128 Gold & Ruby and Soundtrack Digital Audio, TerraTec AudioSystem EWS64L/XL/XXL/SHome Studio Pro 64, Home Studio)
| High-speed CMOS (HCMOS) chip
|
|-
| SAM9707
| 1998
| 4
| Quasimidi digital synthesizers (Rave-O-Lution 309, Sirius, Polymorph)
| Digital signal processor (DSP) core
|
|-
| Ensoniq
| Ensoniq 5503
| 1984
| 32
| Mirage synthesizer and Apple IIGS computer
|
|
|-
| Hudson Soft / NEC / Epson
| Hudson Soft HuC6280
| 1987
| 6
| NEC's PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) console
| CMOS chip
|
|-
| Konami
| Konami SCC
| 1987
| 5
| Certain arcade system boards, game cartridges for MSX
|
|
|-
| rowspan="6" | Namco
| Namco WSG (Waveform Sound Generator)
| 1980
| 3
| Several Namco arcade system boards (including Namco Pac-Man and Namco Galaga)
|
|
|-
| Namco 52xx (Audio Processor)
| 1981
| 1
| Namco Galaga and Namco Pole Position arcade system boards
|
|
|-
| Namco CUS30
| 1984
| 8
| Namco Pac-Land, Namco Thunder Ceptor, System 86 and Namco System 1 arcade boards
| Similar to the earlier 15xx WSG, but capable of stereo sound.
|
|-
| Nintendo
| VSU-VUE
| 1995
| 6
| Virtual Boy portable console
| Silicon-gate CMOS chip
|
|-
| Ricoh
| Ricoh 2C33
| 1986
| 1
| Famicom Disk System
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Sharp Corporation
| Sharp LR35902
| 1989
| 1
| Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance
| In Game Boy Advance, it's used for Game Boy/Game Boy Color mode and supports software-mixed PCM as a secondary function.
|
|-
| Sharp SM8521
| 1997
| 2
| Game.com
|
|
|-
|}
Frequency modulation (FM) synthesis
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Manufacturer
! style="width:15%" | Chip
! Year
! Total FM operators
! Max FM channels
! Max ops / channel
! Applications
! Notes
! class="unsortable" |
|-
| ESS Technology
| ESFM synthesizer
| 1994
| 72
| 18
| 4
| Most ESS Tech sound chips (ES1868/69 being most common)
| Based on Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3) silicon-gate CMOS chip. Includes wavetable interface. Two modes, one "OPL2/3 compatible" and the other the native superset.
|
|-
| rowspan="27" |Yamaha
| YM2128 (OPS) / YM2129 (EGS)
| 1983
| 96
| 16
| 6
| Yamaha digital synthesizers (DX7, DX1, DX5, DX9, TX7, TX216, TX416, TX816)
| Chipset (OPS operator chip, EGS envelope generator chip)
|
|-
| Yamaha YM2151 (a.k.a. OPM)
| 1983
| 32
| 8
| 4
| Mid-1980s to mid-1990s arcade systems (the most prolific FM chip used in arcades), Sharp X1 and X68000 computers, MSX (CX5M, Yamaha SFG-01 and SFG-05 FM Sound Synthesizer Unit), Yamaha digital synthesizers (DX21, DX27, DX100)
| NMOS chip (depletion-load)
|
|-
| Yamaha YM2203 (a.k.a. OPN)
| 1984
| 12
| 3
| 4
| Some 1980s arcade games, NEC computers (PC-88, PC-98, NEC PC-6001mkII SR, PC-6601 SR)
| 3 additional Yamaha YM2149 SSG square wave channels, silicon-gate NMOS LSI chip
|
|-
| Yamaha YM2164 (a.k.a. OPP)
| 1985
| 32
| 8
| 4
| Yamaha FB-01 MIDI Expander, IBM Music Feature Card, MSX (Yamaha CX5M and SFG-05), Korg DS-8 and 707 digital synthesizers
| Based on Yamaha YM2151 (OPM)
|
|-
| Yamaha YM2608 (a.k.a. OPNA)
| 1986
| 24
| 6
| 4
| NEC PC-88 and PC-98 computers
| 3 additional Yamaha YM2149 SSG square wave channels, 7 additional ADPCM channels, silicon-gate NMOS LSI chip
|
|-
| Yamaha YM3438 (a.k.a. OPN2C)
| 1989
| 24
| 6
| 4
| Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console (later models), FM Towns computer, Sega arcade systems
| Improved Yamaha YM2612, PCM supported on one of the channels, silicon-gate CMOS LSI chip
|
|-
| Yamaha YMF262 (a.k.a. OPL3)
| 1990
| 36
| 18
| 4
| Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 and later cards for PC (including Sound Blaster 16, AdLib Gold 1000 and AWE32)
| Silicon-gate CMOS chip
|
|-
| Yamaha YMF292 (a.k.a. SCSP)
| 1994
| 32
| 32
| 32
| Sega Saturn console, Sega ST-V, Model 2A/2B/2C CRX and Model 3 arcade systems
| PCM supported
|
|-
| Yamaha YMF288 (a.k.a. OPN3)
| 1995
| 24
| 6
| 4
| NEC PC-98 computer
| Based on Yamaha YM2608 (OPNA)
|
|-
| Yamaha YMF7xx (a.k.a. OPL3-SA)
| 1997
| 36
| 18
| 4
| Embedded audio chipset in some laptops and sound cards (including PCI, ISA and Yamaha Audician 32)
| Integrates Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
|
|-
| Yamaha YMU757 (a.k.a. MA-1)
| 1999
| 8
| 4
| 2
| Some 2000s and 1990s cellphones, PDAs
|
|
|-
| Yamaha YMU759 (a.k.a. MA-2)
| 2000
| 32
| 16
| 2
| Some 2000s cellphones, PDAs
| 8 channels for 4 operators, an additional ADPCM channel
|
|-
| Yamaha YMU762 (a.k.a. MA-3)
| 2001
| 64
| 32
| 2
| Some 2000s cellphones, PDAs
| 16 channels for 4 operators, 8 additional PCM/ADPCM channels
|
|-
| Yamaha YMU765 (a.k.a. MA-5)
| 2003
| 64
| 32
| 2
| Some 2000s cellphones, PDAs
| 32 PCM/ADPCM channels, 16 channels for 4 operators
|
|-
| Yamaha YMF825 (a.k.a. SD-1)
| 2011
| 32
| 16
| 4
|
|
|
|}
Pulse-code modulation (PCM) sampling
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! style="width:10%" | Manufacturer(s)
! style="width:15%" | Chip
!Year
! Max PCM channels
! Max sample depth (bits)
! Max sample rate (Hz)
! Applications
! Notes
! class="unsortable" |
|-
|Analog Devices
|AD1848
|1992
|Multiple stereo channels, unlimited
|16
|48,000
|Original Windows Sound System card by Microsoft, Ensoniq Soundscape S-2000 and Elite cards
|Digital-to-analog codec chip, 2-channel stereo input/output
|
|-
| ARM Ltd.
| VIDC20
| 1994
| 8
| 16
| 44,100
| Risc PC computer
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Atari Corporation
| Jerry
| 1993
| Variable, limited by software
| 16
| 44,100
| Jaguar console
| DSP, also supports pulse-width modulation (PWM) and wavetable synthesis
|
|-
| SDMA (Sound/DMA)
| 1992
| 8
| 16
| 49,170
| Falcon computer
| Integrates Motorola 56001 DSP
|
|-
| Crystal Semiconductor
| CS4231
| 1992
| 1
| 16
| 48,000
| Windows Sound System compatible, Gravis Ultrasound card
|
|
|-
| Drucegrove
| Digitalker MM54104
| 1980
| 1
| 1
| 13,000
| Namco Galaxian (King & Balloon) and Scorpion arcade system boards, National Semiconductor Digitalker DT1050 speech synthesizer
| Delta modulation (DM) differential PCM (DPCM) speech synthesis chip
|
|-
| Gravis
| GF1
| 1992
| 32
| 16
| 44,100
| Gravis Ultrasound card
|
|
|-
| Harris Corporation
| HC-55516
| 1981
| 1
| 1
| 32,000
| Irem M27 (Red Alert), Sinistar and Midway Y Unit arcade system boards
| Continuously variable slope DM (CVSD) adaptive DM (ADM) speech decoder
|
|-
| Intel
| Intel High Definition Audio (IHDA)
| 2004
| 8
| 32
| 192,000
| IBM Personal Computer, IBM PC compatible computers
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | Konami
| Konami K007232
| 1986
| 2
| 7
| 32,000
| Konami Bubble System, Twin 16 and TMNT based arcade boards
| PCM
|
|-
| Konami K053260
| 1990
| 4
| 12
| 32,000
| Konami TMNT based arcade board
| KDSC
|
|-
| Konami K054539
| 1991
| 8
| 16
| 32,000
| Konami Xexex based, Mystic Warriors based and GX arcade boards
| ADPCM
|
|-
| Macronix
| Flipper
| 2001
| 64
| 16
| 48,000
| GameCube and Wii console
| ADPCM, Dolby Pro Logic II (AC-3)
|
|-
| MOS Technology
| MOS Technology 8364 "Paula"
| 1985
| 4
| 8
| 28,000
| Amiga computer
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | Namco
| Namco C140
| 1987
| 24
| 12
|
| Namco System 2 and System 21 arcade boards
|
| rowspan="2" |
|-
| Namco C219
| 1992
| 16
| 12
|
| Namco NA-1 and NA-2 arcade system boards
|
|-
| Namco C352
| 1992
| 32
| 16
|
| Namco System 22, System FL, NB-1, NB-2, ND-1, System 11, System 12 and System 23 arcade boards
| Linear PCM (LPCM) and μ-law PCM samples supported
| <br> <br>
|-
| National Semiconductor
| LMC1992
| 1989
| 4
| 8
| 50,000
| Atari STE and TT030 personal computers
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |NEC
| μPD7751
| 1985
| 3
| 8
| 8,000
| Sega System 16 arcade boards
| ADPCM, Speech synthesis chip
|
|-
| μPD7759
| 1987
| 1
| 8
| 8,000
| Sega System 16B and System C2 arcade boards, Sega Pico console
| ADPCM, Speech synthesis chip
|
|-
| NVIDIA
| MCPX
| 2001
| 64
| 16
| 48,000
| Microsoft Xbox console
| 3D sound support, Dolby Pro Logic, DTS, DSP, MIDI DLS2 Support
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | Oki Electric Industry
| Oki MSM5205
| 1979
| 1
| 12
| 32,000
| Various arcade system boards (Irem M-52, Data East Z80, Capcom 68000), NEC's PC Engine CD-ROM² (TurboGrafx-CD) game console
| Adaptive DPCM (ADPCM) chip
|
|-
| Oki MSM6258
| 1987
| 1
| 12
| 15,600
| Sharp's X68000 computer
| ADPCM
|
|-
| Oki MSM6295
| 1987
| 4
| 12
| 7,576 (max, 1 MHz)<br>32,000 (max, 4 MHz)
| Various arcade system boards (including Capcom's CP System)
| ADPCM
|
|-
| Oki MSM9810
| 1999
| 8
| 14
| 32,000
| Sammy arcade system boards
| ADPCM
|
|-
| QSound
| QSound DSP16A
| 1992
| 16
| 16
| 24,000
| Capcom's CP System Dash and CP System II arcade system boards, Sony's ZN-1 and ZN-2 arcade system boards
| PCM/ADPCM, positional 3D audio support via QSound
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | Ricoh
| Ricoh 2A03 / 2A07
| 1982
| 1
| 7
| 15,745
| Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) home console (hardware expandable), arcade game Punch-Out!!
| NMOS chip, DM channel (DMC) is for PCM sampling
|
|-
| Ricoh RF5C164
| 1991
| 8
| 8
| 31,300
| Sega CD console add-on
| 1.5 μm silicon-gate CMOS chip
|
|-
| Roland Corporation
| Roland LA32
| 1987
| 16
| 16
| 32,000
| Roland synthesizers (D-50, D550, D10, D20, D110), Roland MT-32 MIDI sound module (X68000, Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC, NEC PC-88, PC-98)
| Linear Arithmetic synthesis (LA synthesis)
|
|-
| Sanyo
| VLM5030 Speech Synthesizer
| 1983
| 1
| 8
| 8,136
| Arcade game Punch-Out!!
| Speech synthesis chip
|
|-
| Sega
| SegaPCM
| 1985
| 16
| 8
| 31,250
| Sega arcade systems (Sega Space Harrier, Sega OutRun, X Board, Y Board)
|
|
|-
| SGI
| Reality Signal Processor (RSP)
| 1996
| 100
| 16
| 48,000
| Nintendo 64 console
| DSP, combined sound and graphics processor, ADPCM, MP3 support
|
|-
| Sharp Corporation
| Sharp SM8521
| 1997
| 1
| 8
| 32,768
| Game.com handheld
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | Sony
| Sony SPC700 (Nintendo S-SMP)
| 1990
| 8
| 16
| 32,000
| Super Nintendo Entertainment System console
| Bit Rate Reduction (BRR) ADPCM
|
|-
| Sony SPU (Sound Processing Unit)
| 1994
| 24
| 16
| 44,100
| Sony PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles
| ADPCM; two cores on PS2
|
|-
| Sony SPU2
| 1999
| 48
| 16
| 48,000
| Sony PlayStation 2 and early PlayStation 3 consoles
| ADPCM, Dual-core sound unit, Supports Dolby Digital (AC-3), DTS; emulated on PS3 for backwards compatible PS1/PS2 games
|
|-
| rowspan="13" | Yamaha
| Yamaha Y8950 (a.k.a. MSX-AUDIO)
| 1984
| 1
| 8
| ~50,000
| MSX-Audio cartridges for MSX
| ADPCM, Speech synthesis chip
|
|-
| Yamaha YM2612 (a.k.a. OPN2)
| 1988
| 1
| 8
| 26,633 (SMD)<br>29,000 (System 32)<br>44,100 (max)
| Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console, FM Towns computer, Sega arcade systems
|
|
|-
| Yamaha YMW258-F (a.k.a. GEW8) (Sega MultiPCM)
| 1991
| 28
| 16
| 44,100
| Sega arcade boards (System Multi 32, Model 1, Model 2), Yamaha instruments (MU-5 and sound modules, Portasound keyboards, QR-10, QY-20 workstation)
| Advanced Wave Memory (AWM) sampling
|
|-
| Yamaha YMF292 (a.k.a. SCSP)
| 1994
| 32
| 16
| 44,100
| Sega Saturn console, Sega arcade systems (Sega ST-V, Model 2A CRX/2B CRX/2C CRX and Model 3)
|
|
|-
| Yamaha AICA
| 1998
| 64
| 16
| 48,000
| Dreamcast console, Sega arcade systems (Sega NAOMI, Hikaru, and NAOMI 2)
| ADPCM
|
|-
| Yamaha YMU759 (a.k.a. MA-2)
| 2000
| 1
| 8
| 8,000
| Some 2000s cellphones, PDAs
| ADPCM
|
|-
| Yamaha YMU762 (a.k.a. MA-3)
| 2001
| 8
| 8
| 48,000
| Some 2000s cellphones, PDAs
| ADPCM supported
|
|-
| Yamaha YMU765 (a.k.a. MA-5)
| 2003
| 32
| 8
| 48,000
| Some 2000s cellphones, PDAs
| ADPCM, Analog Lite, and speech synthesis supported
|
|}
See also
- List of sound card standards
- List of Yamaha sound chips
- Sound recording and reproduction
References
External links
- Sound generators of the 1980s home computers - Has a list of chips, pictures, datasheets, etc. (Archive.org)