furnace/papers/doc/7-systems/n163.md

# Namco 163 (also called N163, Namco C163, Namco 106 (sic), Namco 160 or Namco 129)

this is one of Namco's NES mappers, with up to 8 wavetable channels.

it has 256 nibbles (128 bytes) of internal RAM which is shared between channel state and waves.

wavetables are variable in size and may be allocated anywhere in RAM. at least 128 nibbles (64 bytes) can be dedicated to waves, with more available if not all channels are used - waveform RAM area becomes smaller as more channels are activated, since channel registers consume 8 bytes for each channel.

Namco 163 uses time-division multiplexing for its output. this means that only one channel is output per sample (like OPLL and OPN2). therefore, its sound quality gets worse as more channels are activated.

Furnace supports loading waveforms into RAM and waveform playback simultaneously, and channel limit is dynamically changeable with effect commands.

you must load waveform to RAM first for playback, as its load behavior auto-updates when every waveform changes.

both waveform playback and load command work independently per each channel columns.
(Global) commands don't care about the channel columns for work commands and its load behavior is independent with per-channel column load commands.

# effects

- `10xx`: set waveform for playback.
- `11xx`: set waveform position in RAM for playback (single nibble unit).
- `12xx`: set waveform length in RAM for playback (04 to FC, 4 nibble unit).
- `130x`: set playback waveform update behavior (0: off, bit 0: update now, bit 1: update when every waveform is changed).
- `14xx`: set waveform for load to RAM.
- `15xx`: set waveform position for load to RAM (single nibble unit).
- `16xx`: set waveform length for load to RAM (04 to FC, 4 nibble unit).
- `170x`: set waveform load behavior (0: off, bit 0: load now, bit 1: load when every waveform is changed).
- `180x`: set channel limit (0 to 7, x + 1).
- `20xx`: (Global) set waveform for load to RAM.
- `21xx`: (Global) set waveform position for load to RAM (single nibble unit).
- `22xx`: (Global) set waveform length for load to RAM (04 to FC, 4 nibble unit).
- `230x`: (Global) set waveform load behavior (0: off, bit 0: load now, bit 1: load when every waveform is changed).
i guess to anybody who bothers reading the contents of this commit: who cares? you promised me C163 would become the name but nobody has bothered to call it C163 for an entire week. there's no point on pushing a dead idea forward! 2022-08-09 19:53:31 +00:00			`# Namco 163 (also called N163, Namco C163, Namco 106 (sic), Namco 160 or Namco 129)`
Add Namco 163 Support 2022-03-22 16:48:45 +00:00
lots of doc updates 2022-10-16 05:53:05 +00:00			`this is one of Namco's NES mappers, with up to 8 wavetable channels.`

			`it has 256 nibbles (128 bytes) of internal RAM which is shared between channel state and waves.`

			`wavetables are variable in size and may be allocated anywhere in RAM. at least 128 nibbles (64 bytes) can be dedicated to waves, with more available if not all channels are used - waveform RAM area becomes smaller as more channels are activated, since channel registers consume 8 bytes for each channel.`
Add Namco 163 Support 2022-03-22 16:48:45 +00:00
further polish Namco 163 doc 2022-09-18 05:26:51 +00:00			`Namco 163 uses time-division multiplexing for its output. this means that only one channel is output per sample (like OPLL and OPN2). therefore, its sound quality gets worse as more channels are activated.`
Add Namco 163 Support 2022-03-22 16:48:45 +00:00
Update n163.md Fixed horrible grammar 2022-06-04 21:09:51 +00:00			`Furnace supports loading waveforms into RAM and waveform playback simultaneously, and channel limit is dynamically changeable with effect commands.`
lots of doc updates 2022-10-16 05:53:05 +00:00
			`you must load waveform to RAM first for playback, as its load behavior auto-updates when every waveform changes.`

			`both waveform playback and load command work independently per each channel columns.`
			`(Global) commands don't care about the channel columns for work commands and its load behavior is independent with per-channel column load commands.`
Add Namco 163 Support 2022-03-22 16:48:45 +00:00
			`# effects`

			- `10xx`: set waveform for playback.
lots of doc updates 2022-10-16 05:53:05 +00:00			- `11xx`: set waveform position in RAM for playback (single nibble unit).
			- `12xx`: set waveform length in RAM for playback (04 to FC, 4 nibble unit).
			- `130x`: set playback waveform update behavior (0: off, bit 0: update now, bit 1: update when every waveform is changed).
Add Namco 163 Support 2022-03-22 16:48:45 +00:00			- `14xx`: set waveform for load to RAM.
lots of doc updates 2022-10-16 05:53:05 +00:00			- `15xx`: set waveform position for load to RAM (single nibble unit).
			- `16xx`: set waveform length for load to RAM (04 to FC, 4 nibble unit).
			- `170x`: set waveform load behavior (0: off, bit 0: load now, bit 1: load when every waveform is changed).
			- `180x`: set channel limit (0 to 7, x + 1).
Add Namco 163 Support 2022-03-22 16:48:45 +00:00			- `20xx`: (Global) set waveform for load to RAM.
lots of doc updates 2022-10-16 05:53:05 +00:00			- `21xx`: (Global) set waveform position for load to RAM (single nibble unit).
			- `22xx`: (Global) set waveform length for load to RAM (04 to FC, 4 nibble unit).
			- `230x`: (Global) set waveform load behavior (0: off, bit 0: load now, bit 1: load when every waveform is changed).