YM2149 Sound Card

Description

The YM AY Sound Card Module allows you to add 8 bit chip tunes to your RC2014. It is based around the YM2149 / AY-3-8910 3 channel sound chip as used in the ZX Spectrum 128, Atari ST, MSX and other classic computers and consoles. An AY-3-8912 chip can also be used via an adapter PCB.

• Stereo Line out, with golden ratio mixer. If you only want mono, jumpers can be used in place of the mixing resistors
• Header for the 2 8-bit I/O ports. These could be used for reading from joysticks, additional serial ports, LED indicators etc
• Either YM2149F and AY-3-8910 ICs may be used or AY-3-8912 with adapter PCB
• Jumperable to the same IO port as the ZX Spectrum AY, making it easier to play ripped Spectrum music.
• Compatible with all RC2014 models
• Divides the RC2014 clock by 2 or 4 using flip flops to bring it under the 2Mhz max clock speed of the AY.
• Additionally supports enabling the YM2149F’s internal clock divider. This means that bus speeds up to 16Mhz could be supported without overclocking the chip. (AY does not have this feature)
• Simple to program from BASIC, or assembly code.
• Play PT3 files via Player in CP/M or via Tunes included in RomWBW.

Note the the YM and AY chips are both end of life. eBay often has these available, which are either pulled from old hardware or Chinese clones. Because of this, I will only supply this module without the YM/AY chip, and you will have to source this yourself. This article is useful when looking for a chip to go in this module.  Also consider the Why Em-Ulator Sound Module to remove the worry about finding good YM or AY chips.

ZXTT Module

Whilst this sounds excellent with the onboard clock divider options, the ZXTT addon will give you a 1.7734MHz clock. This is the same as used on the ZX Spectrum 128k and onwards. So if you want your chip tunes to sound exactly as they did on your Speccy, consider adding one of these.

Is this compatible with the Minstrel 4th from Tynemouth Software?

Yes, this will plug in to the RC2014 Expansion header on the Minstrel 4th. George Beckett has details of the settings you need and a sample FORTH program on GitHub.

This product was designed by Ed Brindley and is sold here under licence

For PCB Only YM AY Sound Card, see Expansion Module PCB listing

Documentation

Bill of materials