Difference between revisions of "Willy"

Revision as of 21:43, 12 June 2024

Willy - MIDI and OPL3 Soundcard adapter for CPC

Demonstrations of Willy

• Willy OPL3 on a real CPC demoed by Prodatron
• Willy MIDI and Willy OPL3 emulated on ACE demoed by Offset
• Willy OPL3 emulated on ACE-DL demoed by Roudoudou

Weblink

https://pulkomandy.github.io/shinra.github.io/willy.html

Cost

The cost for a Willy soundcard adapter is 10€. This does not include any soundcard, you have to buy those separately.

Technical information

2 ports are used to control the MIDI soundcard: &FEAC for data, and &FEAD for control and status.

3 ports are used to control the OPL3 soundcard: &FEBC and &FEBE are register select ports, and &FEBD is the data port.

OPL3 offers 18 FM 2-op chans in its standard mode, but that can be configured:

• One setting converts 3 of the FM channels into a 5-channel percussion set (Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Tom-Tom, Cymbal, Hi-Hat)
• Another setting pairs 12 of the FM channels into 6 FM 4-op channels
• Both settings can be used at the same time

Also, The base waveform of each FM chan can be chosen between 8 waveform types, including a square waveform. So the OPL3 can play square waves like the PSG.

Compatible Serdaco soundcards

• S2P soundcard aka General MIDI Wavetable Synth
• OPL3LPT soundcard aka Sound Blaster 16
• OPL2LPT soundcard aka AdLib
• CMSLPT soundcard aka Creative Music System or Game Blaster
• TNDLPT soundcard aka Tandy Sound
• CVX4 soundcard aka Covox