AY-3-8912/8910 Hardware Emulation – Part 3

This continues my series looking at hardware emulation of the AY-3-8912/8910: Part 1: Introduces the AVR-AY projects and available boards and how they go about using an AVR microcontroller, usually an ATMega48, to emulate an AY-3-8910 device. It walks through the functionality of the provided firmware. Part 2: My own experimenter PCB based on an overclocked … Continue reading AY-3-8912/8910 Hardware Emulation – Part 3 →

AY-3-8912/8910 Hardware Emulation – Part 2

Having explored how an AVR can be used to emulate the AY-3-8912/8910 in AY-3-8912/8910 Hardware Emulation I wanted to have a go at using the very common ATMega328P to do the same. But rather than wire things up on breadboard, I put together a quick PCB to allow me to do some experiments. Spoilers: This … Continue reading AY-3-8912/8910 Hardware Emulation – Part 2 →

AY-3-8912/8910 Hardware Emulation

The 40-pin AY-3-8910 devices I've been playing with are no longer newly available, but they are pretty available if you are happy with a certain questionable quality (more on that here: Arduino and AY-3-8910). But the slightly shorter version (with fewer general purpose I/O pins), the 28 pin AY-3-8912, seems a lot harder to find, … Continue reading AY-3-8912/8910 Hardware Emulation →

Z80 and AY-3-8910 – Part 2

I've spent a bit of time looking at the "Tester" part of the AY driver code for Tim Follin's music archive that I talked about in Z80 and AY-3-8910. This is documenting what I think I've worked out so far for the tester code. The Sound Tester As previously mentioned, there are essentially three parts … Continue reading Z80 and AY-3-8910 – Part 2 →

Microrack – First Impressions

When I first heard about the Microrack concept, I was still playing around with my own Educational DIY Synth Thing so naturally I was really interested in seeing what it would be about. That was back-end of 2024. It has taken until now to realise that from the original Kickstarter. Now that I have one in … Continue reading Microrack – First Impressions →

TD4 4-bit Sound

Over on my other blog, I spentt a fair bit of time looking at the TD4 4-bit CPU. One of the things I wanted to do with my NAND Oscillators and Logic Sequencer PCB was hook up the address/select pins to something else. And with three select pins, allowing the choice between 8 notes, what better … Continue reading TD4 4-bit Sound →

SP0256A-AL2 Sings the Twelve Days of Christmas

Partly prompted by a programming challenge by Futzle on Mastodon, I thought it might be interesting to try to get my Arduino and SP0256A-AL2 to sing the Twelve Days of Christmas. https://makertube.net/w/diBkzrhkh3tekAPBhGzrVj Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! … Continue reading SP0256A-AL2 Sings the Twelve Days of Christmas →

Atari Synth Cart Controller

This project uses my Atari 2600 Controller Shield PCB in reverse, to allow the Arduino to act as an Atari keypad controller and thus allow it to control the Atari Synth Cart. https://makertube.net/w/ryCciwFyQQpcs1Q4Wwy52x Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive … Continue reading Atari Synth Cart Controller →

Mini Listening Post

One of the most fascinating pieces of electronic artwork I've seen is Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin's Listening Post when it was on display at the Science Museum, London. Designed in the early 2000s it was on display from around 2008 for a number of years, but unfortunately it has been packed away in storage … Continue reading Mini Listening Post →

Arduino AY-3-8910 Shield Build Guide

Here are the build notes for my Arduino AY-3-8910 Shield Design. Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! If you are new to electronics and microcontrollers, see the Getting Started pages. Bill of Materials Arduino AY-3-8910 Shield PCB (GitHub link below) … Continue reading Arduino AY-3-8910 Shield Build Guide →