The 1-Bit Forum — MuzCell aka Yacheika Muzikalnogo Sinteza - an obscure sound card

Re: MuzCell aka Yacheika Muzikalnogo Sinteza - an obscure sound card

null@example.com (Shiru) — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 00:17:59 +0000

Probably the first MuzCell song in two decades, by FADE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nXsgoMdg8U

Re: MuzCell aka Yacheika Muzikalnogo Sinteza - an obscure sound card

null@example.com (Shiru) — Wed, 18 May 2022 07:55:24 +0000

Another update, v1.02 now, lots of minor improvements on the usability and stuff. Major improvement is the VGA 80x50 text mode support (DOS and SDL), makes a lot more to be seen on the screen.

Re: MuzCell aka Yacheika Muzikalnogo Sinteza - an obscure sound card

null@example.com (Shiru) — Sun, 15 May 2022 02:49:17 +0000

Fixed some minor and not so minor things there, the download link is the same.

One of issues was a bug in the percussion emulation that made the 'cut' settings to not work properly. Another one was the usual thing with non-latin characters in the file paths. Finally got this figured out how to deal with it within SDL and a multiplatform app, so it'll be fixed in 1tracker too.

Re: MuzCell aka Yacheika Muzikalnogo Sinteza - an obscure sound card

null@example.com (Shiru) — Thu, 12 May 2022 21:10:04 +0000

The tracker is here, along with software emulation of the device, so now we can have some fun with it.

Re: MuzCell aka Yacheika Muzikalnogo Sinteza - an obscure sound card

null@example.com (Shiru) — Thu, 05 May 2022 14:25:01 +0000

Prepared a more informed overview of the cards capabilities.

Re: MuzCell aka Yacheika Muzikalnogo Sinteza - an obscure sound card

null@example.com (Shiru) — Thu, 05 May 2022 02:26:56 +0000

The tracker that is called YACH*PMS (was a joke working title, kept it because I'm lazy yet want to be fancy) for the actual card is now finished. At least it got all features I wanted to put into it. The next things to do is to write some docs, release the DOS version, then work on improving the emulation to make it similar to the real deal, then release the SDL version. Emulation is kinda tricky, as the thing is really got some analog weirdness in it, even though the sound sources all digital.

I also need to sort out some issues with the hardware, the card is missing channel #3 altogether (maybe something with the analog part), the hat section is overly loud (easy to fix with a resistor change), and it bleeds noise from the hat section all the time (curiously, the resistor change does not affect this bleed).

Re: MuzCell aka Yacheika Muzikalnogo Sinteza - an obscure sound card

null@example.com (Shiru) — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 20:37:36 +0000

Thanks! The tracker is getting along, the main editing features are all there (no instrument editor yet), player architecture is coming together, it just started to make some sounds via crude emulation. Once I'll get the basics to work via SDL build and DosBox emulation, I'll move to the real thing on a MS-DOS rig to explore the actual sound possibilities.

At the moment I'm thinking to just drive all the control bits with software envelopes to begin with, to get most flexibility, then experiment with instruments, and maybe remove envelopes that aren't much useful.

Re: MuzCell aka Yacheika Muzikalnogo Sinteza - an obscure sound card

null@example.com (garvalf) — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 16:52:40 +0000

I've listened to the demo, that's quite a thing! Good luck with your tracker!

Re: MuzCell aka Yacheika Muzikalnogo Sinteza - an obscure sound card

null@example.com (utz) — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 16:40:06 +0000

That sounds indeed like a very interesting beast. Quite capable but at the same time distinctly lo-fi. Consider me hyped for this journey of yours.

MuzCell aka Yacheika Muzikalnogo Sinteza - an obscure sound card

null@example.com (Shiru) — Sat, 16 Apr 2022 12:25:44 +0000

My current strong obsession is this piece of obscurity - a late USSR (1990-91) designed sound card for a Soviet Apple II+ clone called Agat-9.

It was virtually unknown to the public until five years back, when it resurfaced. Enthusiasts restored the schematics and made a modern replica of it using the authentic parts, but as Agat-9 in itself is a major obscurity, it didn't catch much attention. A very recently a guy called Tronix286 made another replica that keeps the sound synthesis part intact, but adds a regular ISA-8 bus, so now it can be plugged into any ISA-enabled old IBM PC compatible, which is way easier to get access to.

What is so interesting there? It is kind of a blend between basic 1-bit synthesis and analog sound processing. It uses a couple of the good old i8253 as square wave generators (5 channels originally, 6 for ISA version). Then the signal goes into a very basic, but analog nevertheless, amplitude shaper (can do very crude decay), and a set of passive register-controlled LP/HP filters, then it also gets into a phase inverter to get pseudo stereo output. It also equipped with crude but kinda analog bass/tom synth and a hat synth. Bizarre combo to say the least.

The resulting sound is pretty unique. It is kinda between SID and OPLL to my ear.

So I got very interested in this, got one from Tronix286 himself (huge thanks!), and is currently working on a MS-DOS (and Windows/Linux SDL fork) tracker for the beast. There is no emulation at the moment, but of course I will work on it, too. I'm posting about the progress at my Patreon and Twitter accounts, and when a runnable demo will be available, will post about it here, too.

An old sound demo from ~1991
The ISA replica related stuff in English