Introduction #
This is an OPL3 sound card for RC2014/RCBus based computers, based on the Yamaha YMF262 and YAC512 ICs. This very popular IC combo was used on many very popular PC sound cards, e.g. the Sound Blaster 16 for music FM synthesis.
If you are interested in the background to the project, see the blog post here
Getting started #
Hardware #
The Kicad project files for the board are available here: https://github.com/electrified/rcbus-opl3. More details about the board can be found in the README in the repo.
Want to get a board made and assemble it? The gerbers and BOM for the board are available here: https://electrified.github.io/rcbus-opl3-site/
Software #
A tweaked version of VGMPlay that is able to play OPL3 VGM files is available here: https://github.com/electrified/vgmplay
PCBWay Sponsorship #
The first run of prototype PCBs was kindly provided by PCBWay! This was the first time I used their service, and I have been impressed with the process and the quality of the boards. I opted for purple boards with a HASL finish - the soldermask is quite opaque, it’s a nice finish though and the quality of the boards is high. They also managed to put their serial number / identifier under an IC footprint so it’s nicely concealed which not all the board houses manage!
I also ordered a stencil to go along with the PCB to allow me to use solder paste and do reflow soldering on a hotplate - this worked well.
I opted for the cheapest post option, and it was still pretty speedy to the UK, I’ll probably use this service in the future unless I am in a real rush.
The board has now also been featured on Sheila Dixon’s YouTube channel - check out her demo here