::|CONTENTS
- Chip capabilities overview
- Can you play samples in aym?
- So how do I make sure an entry with samples is legal?
- About Furnace and VGM entries
- Tools
- See also
You might have heard of the AY 3-8910 chip, AY 3-8912 or maybe of their Yamaha clone the YM2149, and of that the former practically resides in the NEC PC98's chip, the YM2608 ... Well, bad news - even though you see the name of a respected music tech manufacturer here, you're not gonna use FM synths or anything close to it in this format! D:
Chip capabilities overview
Just three channels, basically designed to output a square wave. There is a noise generator, that can be used on any channel along with the tone, and a hardware envelope (A.K.A. buzzer), designed to control volume but actually used as an alternate audio oscillator offering sawtooth and triangle waveforms (with approximate tuning). The noise and envelope can be used on any channel but cannot be used with different settings at once on different channels. For instance if you have a noise swell on channel A, and hi-hat on channel B, one will override the other.
Can you play samples in aym?
As you might know, the SNDH format can play samples. There are two ways a SNDH can handle sample replay. One is using the YM to replay samples (called
digidrums), at a 4-bits resolution, generally used for percussion sounds. The other way is to use the DMA channels (Atari ST only feature). This method is considered illegal by most, for it would be similar to submitting a nsf+ entry to a nsf competition.
So how do I make sure an entry with samples is legal?
Only the SNDH format can venture into controversial territory. So all .ym/.ay files are legal.
During creation:
Only Blipp Blopper and
maxYMiser can play DMA samples. If using the latter, only use the leftmost 3 channels. You can as well go to the
Config menu and click the
STe DMA box until it says "off". This way the DMA channels won't even show up. If using Blipp Blopper, what is your problem?
During replay:
With AY_emul: Before you start plqying the track, go to the
ABC menu and at the bottom right of the window, under Atari ST emulation select
ST, instead of
STe. This will prevent DMA playback. If you still hear the samples, it means they're played by the YM. If you've changed the settings while the track was already playing, you need to stop playing and start the track again.
With JAM: The 4 speaker buttons are the track mutes. The rightmost mutes the DMA channels. If you still hear the samples, it means they're played by the YM.
About Furnace and VGM entries
Furnace Tracker is able to produce VGM files containing samples, but you need to be careful about two tricky points.
Exporting samples
You will usually go to File > Export > VGM to export any AY entry. In addition, if the entry contains samples, you need to activate the "direct stream mode" option or the samples won't be included in the resulting VGM file!
Using stereo
By default, Furnace plays AY sound as mono. To enable the use of stereo, you need to open the Chip Manager, collapse the AY-3-8910 menu, then activate the "Stereo" option.
This applies panning on each channels in this way:
- Channel 1: full left
- Channel 2: center
- Channel 3: full right
Note that even though panning effects are shown in the effects list, they actually won't work. This means you have to keep the default channels panning all along your song.
Tools
Windows only:
-
Vortex Tracker II. Focused on ZX spectrum, it has the limitations of these computers, but the advantage of not requiring an emulator. More info:
I am new to Vortex Tracker!
On Windows/Linux/Mac OS:
-
Arkos Tracker 2 Tracker by the Amstrad CPC demo group Arkos. Exports to *.ym.
-
Arkos Tracker (aka Arkos Tracker 3) More recent version of Arkos Tracker, adds *.vgm export.
Note: as its predecessor, it handles samples. However these won't be kept neither in the *.ym nor in the *.vgm export, so you can't use samples with Arkos Tracker for aym entries on BotB.
-
Furnace Tracker Multi-system chiptune tracker, use it with only one AY-3-8910 chip.
On Atari ST (hardware or emulated): maxYMiser,
MusicMon 2.5e,
TTrak. These trackers use the powerful m68K processor to allow 4-bits sample replay and software-generated waveforms. More info:
I am new to ST YM trackers
On Amstrad CPC: STarkos.
See also
-
aym (format)
-
AY YM (soundchip)
-
.snd (file)
-
.ym (file)
