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19 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
19 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
# Atari Lynx/MIKEY
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the Atari Lynx is a 16 bit handheld console developed by (obviously) Atari Corporation, and initially released in September of 1989, with the worldwide release being in 1990.
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while it was an incredible handheld for the time (and a lot more powerful than a Game Boy), it unfortunately meant nothing in the end due to the Lynx being a market failure, and ending up as one of the things that contributed to the downfall of Atari.
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although the Lynx is still getting (rather impressive) homebrew developed for it, that does not mean the Lynx is a popular system at all.
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the Atari Lynx has a 6502-based CPU with a sound part (this chip is known as MIKEY). it has the following sound capabilities:
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- 4 channels of LFSR-based sound, which can be modulated with different frequencies (×0, ×1, ×2, ×3, ×4, ×5, ×7, ×10, and ×11) to create square waves and wavetable-like results.
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- likewise, when a lot of the modulators are activated, this can provide a "pseudo-white noise"-like effect, which can be useful for drums and sound effects.
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- hard stereo panning capabilities via the `08xx` effect command.
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- four 8-bit DACs (Digital to Analog Converter), one for each voice. this allows for sample playback (at the cost of CPU time and memory).
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- a variety of pitches to choose from, and they go from 32Hz to "above the range of human hearing", according to Atari.
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# effects
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- `3xxx`: **load LFSR.** this is a bitmask with values ranging from `000` to `FFF`.
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- for it to work, duty macro in instrument editor must be set to some value. without it LFSR will not be fed with any bits.
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