Most complex sounds possible with AY without using samples?

[ChiptuneFan]

Hello, I'll admit straight up I am not really a "ZX Spectrum guy", more of a fan of a wide variety of old computers, consoles and their games and music. I'm interested in the AY-3-8910 sound chip and while at first glance it seems like a fairly simple 3 voice square wave chip, the envelope capability sounds promising.

Just how complex can music/sound on the AY chip get and do you have any favourite examples of songs that use its full capabilities for it? Also, is there any good tool I can use to make AY chiptunes on PC natively like Famitracker does for NES audio?

Thank you all in advance!

[Sparky]

I think the demo scene in the Atari ST which uses the same sound chip has the best demos for this chip.

[ChiptuneFan]

I think the demo scene in the Atari ST which uses the same sound chip has the best demos for this chip.

Eh, tbh, most of the good AY songs I found on Youtube were from Russian Spectrum users. Also, I'd like to ask, what is the best Windows player of AY music files in formats like .pt2, .pt3, .stc, .ayl and such?

[Einar Saukas]

This is a good place to start:

https://zxart.ee/eng/music/top-100/

I especially recommend MmcM, these are some of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCT6B5Gcg4s

Also Yerzmyey, these are some of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taQnXaYZlvM

And many others...

[ChiptuneFan]

Thank you. Any good players for AY music files though? For Windows I mean.

[Guesser]

I use http://bulba.untergrund.net/emulator_e.htm

On the same site you'll find Vortex Tracker II for composing stuff which works, but it's a bit clunky. There's a newer continuation of it by another coder called Vortex Tracker 2.5. It has an improved UI and possibly a few new features, but the repository is no longer online.
I grabbed a copy via the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20200621220 ... downloads/

[azesmbog]

Any good players for AY music files though? For Windows I mean.

https://zxtune.bitbucket.io/
Better crossplatform chiptunes player

https://zxtune.bitbucket.io/info/comparison/#

[catmeows]

I think the demo scene in the Atari ST which uses the same sound chip has the best demos for this chip.

Eh, tbh, most of the good AY songs I found on Youtube were from Russian Spectrum users. Also, I'd like to ask, what is the best Windows player of AY music files in formats like .pt2, .pt3, .stc, .ayl and such?

TBH, you should search harder. Tao or Scavenger (and many other) do miracles with AY on Atari ST.

On ZX, DigiSid borrowed some tricks from Atari ST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7xfv6BnP_A

[ChiptuneFan]

Any good players for AY music files though? For Windows I mean.

https://zxtune.bitbucket.io/
Better crossplatform chiptunes player

https://zxtune.bitbucket.io/info/comparison/#

Thanks, should I set the AY frequency in it to Spectrum or Pentagon 128, seeing as I presume many AY tunes are made on enhanced Russian Spectrum clones? Does it matter?

[XTM]

This is one of my favourite AY tunes, but it's on the Atari ST:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le674us1FGw

[emook]

We've been working on a similar effect as AtariSID for the Next, aka NextSID.

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLXi_mPALZ0[/media]