OPLL also spawned a few derivative chips, the best known of these is:
- the famous Konami VRC7. used in the Japan-only video game Lagrange Point, it was **another** cost reduction on top of the OPLL! this time just 6 channels...
- a drum/percussion mode, replacing the last 3 voices with 5 rhythm channels, with drum mode tones hard-defined in the chip itself, like FM instruments. only pitch might be altered.
- drum mode works like following: FM channel 7 is for Kick Drum, which is a normal FM channel but routed through mixer twice for 2× volume, like all drum sounds. FM channel 8 splits to Snare, Drum, and Hi-Hat. Snare Drum is the carrier and it works with a special 1 bit noise generator combined with a square wave, all possible by overriding phase-generator with some different synthesis method. Hi-Hat is the modulator and it works with the noise generator and also the special synthesis. channel 9 splits to Top-Cymbal and Tom-Tom, Top-Cymbal is the carrier and only has the special synthesis, while Tom-Tom is basically a 1op wave.
- special synthesis mentioned already is: 5 square waves are gathered from 4×, 64× and 128× the pitch of channel 8 and 16× and 64× the pitch of channel 9 and they go through a process where 2 HH bits OR'd together, then 1 HH and 1 TC bit OR'd, then the two TC bits OR'd together, and those 3 results get XOR'd.
- **Ignore top/hi-hat frequency changes**: in drums mode, makes the top/hi-hat channels not write frequency since they share it with snare and tom.
- **Apply fixed frequency to all drums at once**: sets the frequency of all drums to that of a fixed frequency OPLL drums instrument when one note with it is reached.
