Sunsoft 5B audio

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The Sunsoft 5B is a superset of the Sunsoft FME-7. It is identical to the FME-7 except it contains extra audio hardware. This audio hardware was only used in one game, Gimmick! Because this game did not use many features of the chip (e.g. noise, envelope), its features are often only partially implemented by emulators.

Registers

The audio hardware is a type of Yamaha YM2149F, which is itself a variant of the General Instrument AY-3-8910 PSG.

Audio Register Select ($C000-$DFFF)

7......0
----RRRR
    ++++- The 4-bit internal register to select for use with $E000

Audio Register Write ($E000-$FFFF)

7......0
VVVVVVVV
++++++++- The 8-bit value to write to the internal register selected with $C000

Internal audio registers

The YM2149F has 16 internal audio registers, selected with $C000 and written to with $E000.

Register Bitfield Description
$00 LLLL LLLL Channel A low period
$01 ---- HHHH Channel A high period
$02 LLLL LLLL Channel B low period
$03 ---- HHHH Channel B high period
$04 LLLL LLLL Channel C low period
$05 ---- HHHH Channel C high period
$06 ---P PPPP Noise period
$07 --CB Acba Noise disable on channels C/B/A, Tone disable on channels c/b/a
$08 ---E VVVV Channel A envelope enable (E), volume (V)
$09 ---E VVVV Channel B envelope enable (E), volume (V)
$0A ---E VVVV Channel C envelope enable (E), volume (V)
$0B LLLL LLLL Envelope low period
$0C HHHH HHHH Envelope high period
$0D ---- CAaH Envelope reset and shape: continue (C), attack (A), alternate (a), hold (H)
$0E ---- ---- I/O port A (unused)
$0F ---- ---- I/O port B (unused)

Sound

There are three channels that output a square wave tone. In addition there is one noise generator, and one envelope generator, both of which may be shared by any of the three channels.

The 5B's audio is driven by the CPU clock (1.78977267 MHz), but like the NES's APU, the YM2149F has an optional clock divider which halves the internal clock speed. By comparison of the produced pitches in Gimmick! with the register values used, it appears that the 5B is a YM2149F operating in this mode. To use an AY-3-8910 as a substitute, you would need an external divider to reduce the clock speed by half.

The frequency formulas given below assume the standard 1.78977267 MHz as the Clock value; note that each formula includes an additional divide by 2 to compensate for the YM2149F's internal divider.

Tone

The tone generators produce a square wave with a period controlled by the CPU clock and the 12-bit period value in registers $00-05.

  • Frequency = Clock / (2 * 16 * Period)
  • Period = Clock / (2 * 16 * Frequency)

Register $07 controls the mixing of tone and noise components of each channel. A bit of 0 enables the noise/tone on the specified channel, and a bit of 1 disables it. If both bits are 1, the channel outputs a constant signal at the specified volume. If both bits are 0, the result is the logical and of noise and tone.

If bit 4 of registers $08-$0A is set, the volume of the channel is controlled by the envelope generator. Otherwise, it is controlled by the 4-bit value in bits 3-0 of the same register.

Noise

The noise generator produces a 1-bit random wave with a period controlled by the CPU clock and the 5-bit period value in register $06.

  • Frequency = Clock / (2 * 16 * Period)
  • Period = Clock / (2 * 16 * Frequency)

Envelope

The envelope produces a ramp that can be directed up or down, or to oscillate by various shape parameters.

Period

The ramp has a frequency controlled by the CPU clock and the 16-bit period value in registers $0B-0C. Note this formula is the frequency of a single ramp, and not individual steps in it.

  • Frequency = Clock / (2 * 256 * Period)
  • Period = Clock / (2 * 256 * Frequency)

The YM2149F subdivides divides each ramp into 32 steps. Note that where alternating envelope shapes are used (triangle wave), the resulting pitch of the envelope is one octave down, since one wave cycle requires two ramps (up and down). Because the envelope is primarily intended for low (sub-audio) frequencies, its pitch control is not as accurate in audio frequency ranges as the tone channels.

The AY-3-8910 instead subdivides the ramp frequency by 16, and as a result has half the resolution for its envelopes. Because they both subdivide the same ramp frequency, the ramp's pitch will be the same as long as the clock speeds are equivalent.

Shape

Writing register $0D resets the envelope and chooses its shape. The shape has four parameters: continue, attack, alternate, and hold.

  • Continue specifies whether the envelope continues to oscillate after the attack. If it is 0, the alternate and hold parameters have no effect.
  • Attack specifies whether the attack goes from high to low (0) or low to high (1).
  • Alternate specifies whether the signal continues to alternate up and down after the attack. If combined with hold it provides an immediate flip after the attack followed by the hold.
  • Hold specifies that the value shall be held after the attack. If combined with alternate, the value at the end of the attack will be immediately flipped before holding.
Value Continue Attack Alternate Hold Shape
$00 - $03 0 0 x x \_______
$04 - $07 0 1 x x /_______
$08 1 0 0 0 \\\\\\\\
$09 1 0 0 1 \_______
$0A 1 0 1 0 \/\/\/\/
$0B 1 0 1 1 \¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
$0C 1 1 0 0 ////////
$0D 1 1 0 1 /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
$0E 1 1 1 0 /\/\/\/\
$0F 1 1 1 1 /_______

Output

The tone channels each produce a 5-bit signal which is then converted to analog with a logarithmic DAC. (The AY-3-8190 is a 4-bit signal, but with a similar conversion.)

Disch's Notes

 Sound:
 ---------------------------
 
 Sunsoft 5B appears to be identical to the AY 3-8910 (or a similar chip -- possibly a different AY 3-891x or a
 YM2149).  The only game to use the sound, Gimmick!, does not use the envelope or noise functionality that
 exists on the AY 3-891x, however, through testing it has been shown that such functionality does in fact
 exist.
 
 The sound info below is a simplified version of the behavior.  Envelope and Noise are not covered (aside from
 the noise shift formula), and registers relating to those areas are not mentioned.  However the information
 below is enough to satisfy Gimmick!  If you want further information and full register descriptions, consult
 an AY 3-8910 datasheet or doc.
 
 Sunsoft 5B has 3 Square channels (no configurable duty cycle -- always play at 50% duty).  Each operate
 similarly to the native NES sound channels.  They output sound at 1 octave lower than what may be expected,
 though (see below).
 
 
 Sound Regs:
 ---------------------------
 
   $C000:  [.... AAAA]   Address for use with $E000
 
   $E000:  [DDDD DDDD]   Data port:
 
       R:0 ->   [FFFF FFFF]   Chan 0, Low 8 bits of Freq
       R:1 ->   [.... FFFF]   Chan 0, High 4 bits of Freq
       R:2 ->   [FFFF FFFF]   Chan 1, Low 8 bits of Freq
       R:3 ->   [.... FFFF]   Chan 1, High 4 bits of Freq
       R:4 ->   [FFFF FFFF]   Chan 2, Low 8 bits of Freq
       R:5 ->   [.... FFFF]   Chan 2, High 4 bits of Freq
 
       R:7 ->   [.... .CBA]   Channel disable flags (0=enabled, 1=disabled)
            C = Disable Chan 2
            B = Disable Chan 1
            A = Disable Chan 0
 
       R:8 ->   [.... VVVV]   Chan 0, Volume
       R:9 ->   [.... VVVV]   Chan 1, Volume
       R:A ->   [.... VVVV]   Chan 2, Volume
 
 
 Operation:
 ---------------------------
 
 For tone generation, a counter is counted up each CPU cycle.  When it reaches the given 'F' value, it resets
 to zero, and another step through the duty cycle is taken.  These squares' duty cycles are fixed at 50%
 (AY 3-8910 docs say 8/16, but see below).
 
 Emulating in this fashion, with a 16-step duty, these channels play 1 octave higher than they should!
 Therefore, either channels are only clocked every other CPU cycle... or (what I find to be easiest to
 emulate) the duty is actually 16/32 instead of 8/16, or something else is going on.  I do not know which is
 actually happening.
 
 The generated tone in Hz can be calculated with the following:
 
        CPU_CLOCK
 Hz = -------------
       (F+1) * 32
 
 
 When the duty cycle outputs high, 'V' is output, otherwise 0 is output.  When the channel is disabled (see
 R:7), 0 is forced as output for the channel.
 
 
 Non-linear volume:
 ---------------------------
 
 Output volume is non-linear... increasing in steps of 3 dB.
 
 Output can be calculated with the following pseudo-code:
 
   vol = 1.0;
   for(i = 0; i < 0x10; ++i)
   {
     sunsoft_out[i] = vol * base;
     vol *= step;
   }
 
 Where 'base' can be adjusted to match your native NES sound channel levels, and 'step' is "10^(dB/20)".
 
 For 3 dB, 'step' would be ~1.4125
 
 
 Noise Formula:
 ---------------------------
 
       >>             >>
 +-->[nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn]->output
 |                   |  |
 |                   | ++
 |                   | |
 |                   v v
 +-------------------XOR
    
 
 - 16-bit right-shift reg
 - bits 0,3 (before shift) XOR to create new input bit
 - bit 0 is shifted to output
 - initial feed is 1

References

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