AY
| AY-3-891x | |||||
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| Developer: | Patrik Rak | ||||
| Header: | Custom | ||||
| Content: | Programmatic | ||||
| Instruments: | Combined | ||||
Target Output
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| Released: | 199?-??-?? | ||||
| First Game: | N/A | ||||
| Extensions |
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- This page is about the rip format. For the chips, see AY-3-8910.
AY is the format used to house the ripped audio code for the AY-3-8910 series of audio chips. These 3-voice programmable sound generators were developed by General Instrument. The AY-3-8910 series was the most popular audio chip of the early 1980s and was featured in the majority of the home computers, arcade cabinets, slot machines, and sound boards of the day. AY files contain machine code and data that is sent to the 8910 chip. Although the AY-3-8910 was used on many different platforms, the AY format itself only supports those which used a Zilog 80 processor, in particular, the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum home computers.
Before the appearance of the AY format, music from ZX Spectrum was ripped into VTX and AYM formats. However, AY has superseded these formats, and they're both now obsolete.
Players
- Audio Overload - Linux, Macintosh, Windows
- DeliPlayer - Windows
- Game Emu Player - foobar2000
- NEZ Plug - Winamp
Converters
AY to ?
- Audio Overload - Linux, Macintosh, Windows - WAV
- Game Emu Player - foobar2000 - WAV
- NEZ Plug - Winamp - WAV
? to AY
Games
Any games released for the ZX Spectrum or Amstrad CPC synced at 50 Hz can have their soundtrack ripped to AY format.
Missing
The majority of popular ZX Spectrum 128 and Amstrad CPC games have their music ripped to AY, or outdated AYM and VTX, or even just tracker formats like ASC, PT2, PT3, STC, but this list includes games that either don't have a rip, or have an incomplete rip in any of the formats mentioned above:
- 4x4 Off-Road Racing (ZXS) - lacks Taps
- Boulder Dash (CPC)
- Clever & Smart (CPC)
- Highlander (CPC)
- Midnight Resistance (CPC)
- Mortadelo y Filemón II: Safari callejero (CPC)
- Sigma Seven (ZXS) - AY-3-8913 version plays incorrectly
- Thanatos (ZXS) - AY-3-8913 version plays incorrectly
- The Rocky Horror Show (CPC)
- The Rocky Horror Show (ZXS) - lacks PC Speaker 48k version of Time Warp
How to Obtain
Ripping AY files is an arduous process that requires an intimate knowledge of the platforms CPU and sound chip. A lot of the more popular games have already had their soundtracks ripped to AY and can be downloaded from the following sites:
- worldofspectrum.org/projectay - Project AY.
- File:Project AY archive.zip - because as of December 2019 Project AY files downloading seems to be very slow and unstable, a backup on VGMPF has to be made.
- ZX-Art.ee - ZX-Art.
Links
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Instrument_AY-3-8910 - Wikipedia.
