AURA FPGA: the replacement of the Yamaha YM2151 synth chip
Jaroslav Sýkora was looking for a solution to perform FM sound synthesis in the Commander X16 and on an x65 computer. Replacements for the Yamaha YM2151 sound chip and the YM3012 DAC were needed.
I call the FPGA device implementing the compatible FM-synthesis “AURA”, from AUdio Retro Adapter. It is Lattice ice40up5k-sg48 FPGA, the same type used for VERA, so the x65 has twice the same FPGA on the board – for audio and for video. The emulation main part is done by IKAOPM project, which is a verilog synthesizable replica of the YM2151.
Jaroslav concludes the solution with AURA FPGA has the following advantages:
the same or better cost,
direct interfacing with the 3.3V LVTTL logic used in the x65 design,
good availability of chips at distributors,
not requiring +/- 12V for the DAC,
smaller total footprint size on the PCB because of small component packages.
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