Something is Very Wrong With the AY-3-8913 Sound Generator
1 min read
Summary
The General Instruments AY-3-8910 was a popular Programmable Sound Generator (PSG) for arcade games and early sound cards in home computers, such as the Mockingboard, which was used in the Apple II.
Two cut-down versions were created, the AY-3-8912 and AY-3-8913, the only difference being the number of GPIO banks.
However, it has been discovered that the AY-3-8913 has some hardware issues that cause issues with sound quality.
This has been demonstrated in a YouTube video, which shows a distorted output compared to the YM2149, which is another PSG chip.
It is thought that this issue was not picked up earlier as members of the current chiptune scene are pushing the hardware in ways it was not designed for.
As a solution, the French Touch project has created an adapter to allow the replacement of an AY-3-8913 with an AY-3-8910 or YM2149.
