(Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
(Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
Hello Spectrum Computing's music loving community. Please forgive my long first post.
In the last 12 months or so, I've been studying Yamaha's FM synthesizer chips from the 90's, how they've been used back then in PC AdLib/SoundBlasters, in Japanese NEC and Fujitsu PC's, in the Sega Megadrive etc, and finally how these chips could be used with a ZX Spectrum.
I already knew about the ZX Next expanding a previous "Turbosound" standard to handle 3x AY PSG chips, which is awesome, but only about 6 months ago I learned about the TSFM produced by NedoPC group. Now I understand that NedoPC introduced the 2x AY concept to the Speccy world around 2005. But what surprised me the most, was that 14 years ago their TSFM version also introduced the possibility of FM synth programming and music generation from the ZX Spectrum, with its' 2x YM2203 chips.
From my research, it looks like today a TSFM expansion board is still available from Zaxon and Velesoft, and is also included in Jan Kucera's FPGA products. Although the multiple-AY concept became an established standard, unfortunately it seems that the FM synth part never achieved the same success. Maybe because the hardware was expensive or difficult to obtain, maybe because FM music programming on a Speccy is too difficult, or maybe simply because there's still today too few games or demos showcasing the FM sound capabilities.
Going further with my own project, I've painstakingly translated NedoPC's documentation by copying each paragraph to Google Translator and back to MS Word, so I could understand it's details. What at first glance seemed like very good technical documents, after the still imperfect translation was revealed to me as an awesome documentation job by [mention]Alone Coder[/mention] and other authors. Although many years late, I'd like to congratulate him and all NedoPC team for their impressive work and continued support for the Speccy worldwide community.
I've just signed in to this Forum to express my gratitude directly to the original creators, and also to ask around for some help to further developing my own project, where I want to keep as much compatibility as possible to the original TSFM. So here we go:
(1) My goal is to develop a new expansion board for the ZX Spectrum (48K and above), with YMF262 (OPL3) and/or YMF288 (OPN3) chip(s). Although FPGA reproductions could be available, my interest is on the original SOP chips, which can be found cheaply as NOS. The YMF262 is well documented as it's used in AdLib/SoundBlaster cards. The YMF288 is very poorly documented, but basically it's the latest member of the OPN family, compatible with the YM2203 and still have the SSG (AY-compatible) included. Even if this new hardware is successfully implemented on the Speccy, it's crucial to have software to explore its' capabilities. As a first step, I'm counting on the few existing Speccy programs I know that play OPL (as a subproduct of Mick Labs' ZXM-Moonsound) and OPN (TSFM's FM-compatible programs as found in the ZXDB).
(2) The TSFM documentation mentions the YM2612 used in the Sega Genesis/Megadrive and how to convert music from that chip to the 2x YM2203 in the TSFM. Does anyone know about any past attempt to use the YM2612, or any other Yamaha OPN, OPL or other series' FM synth chips from the ZX Spectrum or compatible models? I've already gathered lots of references, specifications, hw schematics for general projects, but anything specific for the ZX Spectrum would be appreciated.
(3) Does anyone know about a VGM Player software, released or in development for the Speccy? If not yet, I'd like to suggest this as an exciting project for [mention]emook[/mention] or other music-oriented Spectrum software developers. Grauw's open-source VGMPlay for MSX could be a starting point for such project. A basic Speccy version could start allowing VGM files targeting the AY PSG to be played on a Spectrum 128K and above (or a 48K with AY add-on), then later allowing to play YM2203 and possibly later OPN2 music (Sega Genesis/Megadrive etc) through the TSFM. If my own little project becomes a reality in the future, it may allow a vastly expanded range of OPL and OPN music VGM files to be played too...
(4) Another music file format of interest is the S98, for OPN (YM2203/YM2608) music ripped from games for the Japanese PC88/PC98 computers. Recently [mention]LMN128[/mention] published a video of a S98 Player from [mention]NEO SPECTRUMAN[/mention], playing on his own hardware. I couldn't get this software anywhere yet, so I'd appreciate if someone could clarify a few points: does this software run on a basic ZX Spectrum with an original TSFM installed? Or does it really require the FM chip(s) mirrored on ports 7F3B and 7E3B as stated on screen? Does the MB03/eLeMeNtZX FPGA cores reproduce 2x YM2203 chips as in the original TSFM, or does it really reproduce the more advanced YM2608 as also stated on screen?
(5) I'd like to submit my automated English translations of "tfm_c" and "tfm-prg" documents to [mention]Alone Coder[/mention] for his revision, and with his approval, release them for the ZXDB. Maybe the translated documents will help sparking renewed interest in the TSFM in the western world. Please let me know what you think.
Thank you all for your patience reading all this, and thanks in advance for any answers and suggestions you may have.
In the last 12 months or so, I've been studying Yamaha's FM synthesizer chips from the 90's, how they've been used back then in PC AdLib/SoundBlasters, in Japanese NEC and Fujitsu PC's, in the Sega Megadrive etc, and finally how these chips could be used with a ZX Spectrum.
I already knew about the ZX Next expanding a previous "Turbosound" standard to handle 3x AY PSG chips, which is awesome, but only about 6 months ago I learned about the TSFM produced by NedoPC group. Now I understand that NedoPC introduced the 2x AY concept to the Speccy world around 2005. But what surprised me the most, was that 14 years ago their TSFM version also introduced the possibility of FM synth programming and music generation from the ZX Spectrum, with its' 2x YM2203 chips.
From my research, it looks like today a TSFM expansion board is still available from Zaxon and Velesoft, and is also included in Jan Kucera's FPGA products. Although the multiple-AY concept became an established standard, unfortunately it seems that the FM synth part never achieved the same success. Maybe because the hardware was expensive or difficult to obtain, maybe because FM music programming on a Speccy is too difficult, or maybe simply because there's still today too few games or demos showcasing the FM sound capabilities.
Going further with my own project, I've painstakingly translated NedoPC's documentation by copying each paragraph to Google Translator and back to MS Word, so I could understand it's details. What at first glance seemed like very good technical documents, after the still imperfect translation was revealed to me as an awesome documentation job by [mention]Alone Coder[/mention] and other authors. Although many years late, I'd like to congratulate him and all NedoPC team for their impressive work and continued support for the Speccy worldwide community.
I've just signed in to this Forum to express my gratitude directly to the original creators, and also to ask around for some help to further developing my own project, where I want to keep as much compatibility as possible to the original TSFM. So here we go:
(1) My goal is to develop a new expansion board for the ZX Spectrum (48K and above), with YMF262 (OPL3) and/or YMF288 (OPN3) chip(s). Although FPGA reproductions could be available, my interest is on the original SOP chips, which can be found cheaply as NOS. The YMF262 is well documented as it's used in AdLib/SoundBlaster cards. The YMF288 is very poorly documented, but basically it's the latest member of the OPN family, compatible with the YM2203 and still have the SSG (AY-compatible) included. Even if this new hardware is successfully implemented on the Speccy, it's crucial to have software to explore its' capabilities. As a first step, I'm counting on the few existing Speccy programs I know that play OPL (as a subproduct of Mick Labs' ZXM-Moonsound) and OPN (TSFM's FM-compatible programs as found in the ZXDB).
(2) The TSFM documentation mentions the YM2612 used in the Sega Genesis/Megadrive and how to convert music from that chip to the 2x YM2203 in the TSFM. Does anyone know about any past attempt to use the YM2612, or any other Yamaha OPN, OPL or other series' FM synth chips from the ZX Spectrum or compatible models? I've already gathered lots of references, specifications, hw schematics for general projects, but anything specific for the ZX Spectrum would be appreciated.
(3) Does anyone know about a VGM Player software, released or in development for the Speccy? If not yet, I'd like to suggest this as an exciting project for [mention]emook[/mention] or other music-oriented Spectrum software developers. Grauw's open-source VGMPlay for MSX could be a starting point for such project. A basic Speccy version could start allowing VGM files targeting the AY PSG to be played on a Spectrum 128K and above (or a 48K with AY add-on), then later allowing to play YM2203 and possibly later OPN2 music (Sega Genesis/Megadrive etc) through the TSFM. If my own little project becomes a reality in the future, it may allow a vastly expanded range of OPL and OPN music VGM files to be played too...
(4) Another music file format of interest is the S98, for OPN (YM2203/YM2608) music ripped from games for the Japanese PC88/PC98 computers. Recently [mention]LMN128[/mention] published a video of a S98 Player from [mention]NEO SPECTRUMAN[/mention], playing on his own hardware. I couldn't get this software anywhere yet, so I'd appreciate if someone could clarify a few points: does this software run on a basic ZX Spectrum with an original TSFM installed? Or does it really require the FM chip(s) mirrored on ports 7F3B and 7E3B as stated on screen? Does the MB03/eLeMeNtZX FPGA cores reproduce 2x YM2203 chips as in the original TSFM, or does it really reproduce the more advanced YM2608 as also stated on screen?
(5) I'd like to submit my automated English translations of "tfm_c" and "tfm-prg" documents to [mention]Alone Coder[/mention] for his revision, and with his approval, release them for the ZXDB. Maybe the translated documents will help sparking renewed interest in the TSFM in the western world. Please let me know what you think.
Thank you all for your patience reading all this, and thanks in advance for any answers and suggestions you may have.
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
Thanks for the translation! Of course, you can spread the documentation for the sake of compatibility!
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
S98_Player now is completely ALFA
I did not wait a feedback
(hardware implementation of balance SGG\FM part are highly critical
as well as undocumented 2203 timings...)
and development was stoped...
...also i planned add VGM\TFM support in future...
but without testing on real hardware...
but 512k ram is not enough for .s98 files
in 128k they not fit at all...
only player takes 64K
it need at less 1024k (4M max possible but not yer implement)
also i planed add Shift-JIS fonts to display text data (50K+)
now it supported only angry russian pentagon and kay extended ram
later i will add support for other ram standarts...
also capacity of 640k trdos disc are not enough for huge 3M+ .s98 files
and there is no? tool to add "big" (over 64k) files to trd images...
....
also I don't hear it before...
I did not wait a feedback
(hardware implementation of balance SGG\FM part are highly critical
as well as undocumented 2203 timings...)
and development was stoped...
...also i planned add VGM\TFM support in future...
but without testing on real hardware...
damm it! it play with completely wrong FM/SGG part balance!
it can be run on 128+trdos...
but 512k ram is not enough for .s98 files
in 128k they not fit at all...
only player takes 64K
it need at less 1024k (4M max possible but not yer implement)
also i planed add Shift-JIS fonts to display text data (50K+)
now it supported only angry russian pentagon and kay extended ram
later i will add support for other ram standarts...
also capacity of 640k trdos disc are not enough for huge 3M+ .s98 files
and there is no? tool to add "big" (over 64k) files to trd images...
....
its mb03 version of S98_Player with 7F3B\7E3B TSFM support
also I don't hear it before...
the more advanced YM2608 is slightly emulating by spectrum with 2x2203
and all their TSFM are burned 7 years ago or so
Last edited by NEO SPECTRUMAN on Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:20 am, edited 6 times in total.
Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
As far as I know (as for LMN and MB03 eLeMeNt hardware)...Szk wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:33 pm (4) Another music file format of interest is the S98, for OPN (YM2203/YM2608) music ripped from games for the Japanese PC88/PC98 computers. Recently @LMN128 published a video of a S98 Player from @NEO SPECTRUMAN, playing on his own hardware. I couldn't get this software anywhere yet, so I'd appreciate if someone could clarify a few points: does this software run on a basic ZX Spectrum with an original TSFM installed? Or does it really require the FM chip(s) mirrored on ports 7F3B and 7E3B as stated on screen? Does the MB03/eLeMeNtZX FPGA cores reproduce 2x YM2203 chips as in the original TSFM, or does it really reproduce the more advanced YM2608 as also stated on screen?
- it is a 2608 emulation for the TSFM
- the software needs Pentagon 1024SE and more than 512K memory
- there is a special MB03+ version in this video
- the MB03+ provides both, original and mirrored ports
- this software runs on original ports and does not need mirrored ones
Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
Hm, it seems to be a stereo output, which the original TSFM has not.NEO SPECTRUMAN wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 10:44 am damm it! it play with completely wrong FM/SGG part balance!
Can you support the esxDOS, please? It is a quite popular, modern, with POSIX based API, easily ASM and C programmable system.NEO SPECTRUMAN wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 10:44 am also capacity of 640k trdos disc are not enough for huge 3M+ .s98 files
and there is no? tool to add "big" (over 64k) files to trd images...
Nihirash has already "forced" our speccys to load megabyte-files (amiga music modules) in this way:
https://github.com/nihirash/general-sound-control
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
angry Russians are so angry that they never supported the esxDOS-es
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
In addition SSG part is playing an octave lowerSamC wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:27 amHm, it seems to be a stereo output, which the original TSFM has not.NEO SPECTRUMAN wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 10:44 am damm it! it play with completely wrong FM/SGG part balance!
wrong divider emulation?
in elementzx?
in unreal?
Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
well, good news is that also good Russians existNEO SPECTRUMAN wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:48 am angry Russians are so angry that they never supported the esxDOS-es
At least, please share some details of your data-handling interface or make a basic loader entry...
could be the player speed the issue?NEO SPECTRUMAN wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:58 am In addition SSG part is playing an octave lower wrong divider emulation? in elementzx? in unreal?
should it be 7 MHz?
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
2608 adpcm drums are software played samples with fixed speed
therefore 3,5 MHz only!
no more no less
why not separated 7MHz version?
but it will require more ram
Last edited by NEO SPECTRUMAN on Sat Jun 26, 2021 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
player have data_pages_list
256\512\100500 bytes with values for ports
with 16k pages list available for music data (may be fragmented)
just need to load data and run player (maybe)
there is routines for memory management
mount_ram_a
(also store page number in current_ram_page)
next_ram_page
(also store page number in current_ram_page)
mount_current_page
and routines like
mount_tabs_page
(NOT store page number in current_ram_page)
mount_screen_page
(NOT store page number in current_ram_page)
etc...
memmap
4000...7FFF - reserved \ disc catalog \ trdos/system variables - (NOT a visible screen)
8000...BFFF - player \ int
C000...FFFF - samples \ tabs \ screen+screen routines \ .s98 \ anything else
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
https://anonfiles.com/9dt1m831u6/S98_Player_r0056_7z
https://dropmefiles.com/1QreV
https://anonfiles.com/L3t4m237u6/S98_Music_Pack_7z
https://dropmefiles.com/f3Rrw
there is no reflesh button yet
to change disc
open any file
?????
and return back
also there is no is the TSFM installed check
https://dropmefiles.com/1QreV
https://anonfiles.com/L3t4m237u6/S98_Music_Pack_7z
https://dropmefiles.com/f3Rrw
there is no reflesh button yet
to change disc
open any file
?????
and return back
also there is no is the TSFM installed check
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
Thank you [mention]Alone Coder[/mention]!Alone Coder wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 9:15 am Thanks for the translation! Of course, you can spread the documentation for the sake of compatibility!
Starting with your original Russian document, please compare with my Google-automated, translated English version and make any corrections as you see fit.
Note: tables and diagrams (chapter 4.1 etc) will be garbled if you open the document online in your browser. Download the DOC file and open it in your MS-Word, then it will be fine.
Now, I am not a native English speaker either, so we will need help from the community to further revise the text for the correct grammar and consistency. For example, the automated translation sometimes gave "low byte of..." and next time gave "least significant byte of...".
We'd appreciate the help of a native English speaker experienced in programming, to make the final revision for accuracy. When done, the final document can be published in the ZXDB so anyone interested in this subject can benefit from this work.
Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
[mention]NEO SPECTRUMAN[/mention] thank you for the download links! I'll try your program in an emulator (is there other options than Unreal that support the Pentagon and TSFM?) and on my Spectrums (a variety of models from the 128K up to the Next) when I have assembled a prototype of my project (that may take many weeks/months) and will give my feedback here. Please keep us updated of your work too.
It's sad to see Speccy fans and more so Speccy developers fighting each other about useless arguments about good/bad hardware, software, politics, cultures or nationalities. I can only hope that as adults and developers we can leave aside our different opinions and preferences, and focus on just creating and delivering interesting things to keep our niche community thriving.
If I understood correctly, you developed this S98 player on emulator, without real FM hardware to test it? If so, I'm even more amazed of your work, and I'd really like to collaborate providing (sometime in the future) a new hardware expansion that could then be added to any Spectrum clone to play top quality FM music.
Do you know the YMF288? It's very hard to find technical data about this chip, but basically it's the same as a YM2608 with PSG included but missing the ADPCM part. I believe any software for the original TSFM can run on it with little adaptation. I already got some samples (it can be found cheaply on eBay/AliExpress) and soon I'll try some protoboarding.
It's sad to see Speccy fans and more so Speccy developers fighting each other about useless arguments about good/bad hardware, software, politics, cultures or nationalities. I can only hope that as adults and developers we can leave aside our different opinions and preferences, and focus on just creating and delivering interesting things to keep our niche community thriving.
If I understood correctly, you developed this S98 player on emulator, without real FM hardware to test it? If so, I'm even more amazed of your work, and I'd really like to collaborate providing (sometime in the future) a new hardware expansion that could then be added to any Spectrum clone to play top quality FM music.
Do you know the YMF288? It's very hard to find technical data about this chip, but basically it's the same as a YM2608 with PSG included but missing the ADPCM part. I believe any software for the original TSFM can run on it with little adaptation. I already got some samples (it can be found cheaply on eBay/AliExpress) and soon I'll try some protoboarding.
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
https://anonfiles.com/h5B5tc36u7/us0.39 ... ed_0001_7z
https://dropmefiles.com/VgoeR
for "S98_Player r0056 Pentagon for Unreal (Deathsoft).trd"
Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
Hmm, what do you wanna do? Produce in-game music? For a Spectrum with an exotic card, that nobody has?Szk wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:33 pmIn the last 12 months or so, I've been studying Yamaha's FM synthesizer chips from the 90's, how they've been used back then in PC AdLib/SoundBlasters, in Japanese NEC and Fujitsu PC's, in the Sega Megadrive etc, and finally how these chips could be used with a ZX Spectrum.
If it's for producing music in general, I'd suggest getting a (4 octave mini keys) midi controller keyboard and using a DAW with freeware plugins. Sure sounds better than OPL3-chips. You can even emulate one or more DX7 (Yamaha's famous 6 operator 2000$ FM-synth of 1983) (depending on your processor power) pretty well for free with "Dexed". Best freeware DAW for Windows would be this one.
Or maybe I'm not getting the point.
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
you can put BIG(>65280 bytes) trdos files in trd with nedotrdhood wrote: How can I convert music, so that your player will play them?
http://nedoos.ru/svn/filedetails.php?re ... edotrd.exe
nedotrd.exe "S98_Player rXXXX XXXXX.trd" -a "file1.s98" -a "file2.s98" -a "file3.s98"
nedotrd.exe "S98_Player rXXXX XXXXX.trd" -a "file4.s98" -a "fileN.s98"
but now S98 player not adhered trdos big files specification
you can slice file to parts size of multiple of 256 bytes (max single trdos file size is 65280 bytes)
and put it in trd with any trdtool
therefore now is not possible to put files with the same name in a row...
Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
Didn't I specify enough what I want to do in the first post?FFoulkes wrote: ↑Fri Jul 02, 2021 10:17 pm Hmm, what do you wanna do? Produce in-game music? For a Spectrum with an exotic card, that nobody has?
If it's for producing music in general, I'd suggest getting a (4 octave mini keys) midi controller keyboard and using a DAW with freeware plugins. Sure sounds better than OPL3-chips. You can even emulate one or more DX7 (Yamaha's famous 6 operator 2000$ FM-synth of 1983) (depending on your processor power) pretty well for free with "Dexed". Best freeware DAW for Windows would be this one.
Or maybe I'm not getting the point.
The Spectrum world had many exotic expansion devices over the years, some more popular than others, and if I'm going to create something new, I'll certainly try to build upon past projects, keeping compatibility as much as possible, for a better chance of success.
For this project I'm not interested in MIDI, keyboards, FPGA or software emulators. I'm focused on 2 previous exotic devices made in Russia that produced FM music on the Speccy (TSFM and ZX-Moonsound, see my first post), maybe independently or joint in a single device, with improved features and low cost, so owners of a broader range of Spectrums, old and modern, can reproduce FM-quality music as heard on other retro-platforms like the Sega Genesis/Megadrive, PC Soundblaster etc. Just that, a device with OPL3 and/or OPN3 class Yamaha original chips, cheaply available now, with a few music demo and tracker software already available for the Spectrum or at least on other Z80 systems, so we can have a jumpstart and hopefully stimulate more music/game developers to create or adapt more software to run on the ZX Spectrum or its' clones.
My motivation is further fueled by developments such as the VGM players for several retro-platforms, the recently released S98 player for the TSFM and other general chiptune cross-emulation projects like AtariSID and NextSID. It will take some time, but hopefully I can make a small contribution to this scene.
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
s98_Player r0057 for NedoOS UltraMegaALFA! version
https://anonfiles.com/J3n5If5eue/s98_Pl ... athsoft_7z
https://dropmefiles.com/CTIir
use command line
or put
to nv.ext
to create file association with player
and open s98 directly from Nedovigator
https://anonfiles.com/J3n5If5eue/s98_Pl ... athsoft_7z
https://dropmefiles.com/CTIir
use command line
Code: Select all
s98_play file.s98
Code: Select all
s98: s98_play.com
to create file association with player
and open s98 directly from Nedovigator
Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
Thanks. After years, the TSFM is certainly not rare, it has been produced several times in Poland and in other Central European countries, available in the past on the Sellmyretro, the last batch is from here: https://translate.google.com/translate? ... 26t%3D9131
At least in the case of the basic YM2203 it appears this hardware is also pretty small and easy to build into new clones and interfaces, also incl. those that have a large capacity of their FPGAs.
That needs an explanation, pls
Better sound, improved file handling,... ?
Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
Well, for a tiny ZXUno, you can also add TSFM support:
https://youtu.be/sQQzFKkUaSM?t=5870
With great difficulty, but it is possible, especially when almost! there is no limit on the number of cores, and you can download any
And which implementation is better, completely iron, software, or in FPGA - everyone decides for himself.
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Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
Thanks for that tip. For the past 30 years, some amazing things for the Spectrum and clones have been created by homebrew enthusiasts around the world in their local communities. Software creations have spread more easily to other countries, especially with the internet. But hardware homebrew creations have a bigger hurdle to become known outside of the original communities.SamC wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 6:19 amAfter years, the TSFM is certainly not rare, it has been produced several times in Poland and in other Central European countries, available in the past on the Sellmyretro, the last batch is from here: https://translate.google.com/translate? ... 26t%3D9131
Here in Brazil, the Speccy community is generally aware of recent developments like the ZX Spectrum Next (especially as some Brazilians are involved in its' creation) but many other things like Pentagons, ATMs, Profis etc. are still completely unknown.
The YM2203 is a 40-pin DIP chip like the Z80 and the original TSFM uses 2 of them, so it can't fit easily inside a Sinclair or Amstrad machine, replacing the AY-3-8912 in the motherboard. I guess that's not a problem in a Pentagon or other clones in bigger enclosures. Zaxon's TSFM is just as big, but it's an external board for the standard ZX expansion port.At least in the case of the basic YM2203 it appears this hardware is also pretty small and easy to build into new clones and interfaces, also incl. those that have a large capacity of their FPGAs.
I'm designing my version around the YMF288 (see it here as a reference), which is a 28-pin SOP chip, with twice the FM channels as the YM2203, plus a Rythm (sampled percussion) generator and the SSG(PSG) is still embedded but without the GPIO ports.
Some adaptation to the TSFM driving software will be needed, but a single YMF288 shall be able to replace both YM2203's keeping the same total 6 FM channels, in a much smaller PCB. The drawback will be in the SSG(PSG) side, as only one will be available in that case. The bonus will be the Rythm generator (the same as in the YM2608), which could become a Specdrum on steroids...
Re: (Re)discovering the Turbosound FM
LMN128 improved the turbosound's FM part (in MB03+ and eLeMeNt ZX FPGA),
let's listen to this new recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9hsbqRNDkA
let's listen to this new recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9hsbqRNDkA