The sound card, Z50AYMSound, is now available.

[Jon Langseth]

Decided to make a dedicated "launch" post, to keep things clear, and to have a spot where questions can more easily be directed...

As I talked about in the thread about the upcoming addon card at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/linc80/38kU9VmVKbY/w-TBfl_jEgAJ, the sound card has now been completed, and as of yesterday, is available for purchase at https://www.tindie.com/products/linc/z50aymsound-ay3-8910ym2149-sound-card

Note: I will only supply this kit without the YM/AY chip

The Z50AYMSound is a chip-sound card designed around the General Instuments AY3-8910 and the compatible Yamaha YM2149 sound chips. Being based on the sound chip from the ZX Spectrum (and addons) and Atari ST, it is a well-understood sound chip, with much existing music and easily ported software. The design of this card is built around my own address-decode logic, combined with a standard implementation of the AY/YM chip it self, and an output stage based on a third-party addon for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. The card is (because of the sound chip, method of generating audio clock, and the output stage) closely related to Ed Brindley's sound card for the RC2014 (see https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/rc2014-z80/AX3ykQC0B9c/nyVix6jsDAAJ).

Features of the card:

• Z50Bus interface, designed to work with LiNC80 SBC1 and other Z50Bus based microcomputers.
  
• Stereo line out, user selectable ABC/ACB.
  
• Header for the two 8-bit digital I/O ports that the sound chip has built-in.
  
• I/O address fully decoded to any even base address.
  
• Generous prototyping area where you can build your own clock- or filter-circuits, or anything else you want.
  
• The audio frequency clock is by default derived from the CPU clock, and can be set to Clk/4 (YM) or Clk/4 (AY).
  
• The clock jumper can be omitted, letting you provide your own audio-frequency clock from the prototype area.
  

The schematics and software are all openly available at https://github.com/linc80/Z50AYMSound

The official product page is located at http://linc.no/products/z50bus-ay3-8910-ym2149-sound-card/

The store page, where it may be purchased is located at https://www.tindie.com/products/linc/z50aymsound-ay3-8910ym2149-sound-card/