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The Namco 163 (also called N163, Namco C163, Namco 106 [sic], Namco 160 or Namco 129) 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 (TDM) 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.

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Waveform Load Position vs Waveform Position

In Furnace, waveform load position/length is different from the waveform position/length.
  • When placing a note, the load pos/len and the pos/len are set to the values specified in the instrument
  • Waveforms are loaded in the region set by the load pos/len, which you can change using effects 15xx and 16xx
  • The region that will play is set by the waveform pos/len, which you can alter using effects 11xx and 12xx
  • The waveform pos/len macros only change the pos/len, and not the load one
  • If the waveform changes (e.g. ins change, wave macro or wave synth), or the load pos/len changes, the wave is written to memory

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Memory Management

  • 256 nibbles (128 bytes) of internal RAM
  • RAM is shared between channel state and waveforms
  • At least 128 nibbles (64 bytes) can be dedicated to waves
  • More waveform RAM available when fewer channels are used
  • Each active channel consumes 8 bytes for registers

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Effects

EffectDescription
10xxSet waveform for playback
11xxSet waveform position in RAM for playback
Position is in nibbles
12xxSet waveform length in RAM for playback
x goes from 04 to FC in steps of 4
15xxSet waveform load position
Position is in nibbles
16xxSet waveform load length
x goes from 04 to FC in steps of 4
180xSet channel limit
Range: 0-7 (1 is added to get results of 1 through 8)
1AxxSet waveform load and playback position
Position is in nibbles
1BxxSet waveform load and playback length
x goes from 04 to FC in steps of 4
20xxLoad a waveform to RAM
x is the waveform
The length is determined by the wave’s width (snapped to a multiple of 4)
Make sure to use 21xx first!
21xxSet position for 20xx

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Chip Configuration

The following options are available in the Chip Manager window:
  • Clock rate: Sets the rate at which the chip will run
  • Fix channel count / Give me more channels: When loading files created in earlier versions of Furnace, there may be a warning specifying that the legacy channel limit isn’t equal to the channel count. These options allow you to adjust accordingly.
    • Fix channel count: Changes Channels to match the track. Note that this is a destructive operation!
    • Give me more channels: Adjusts the chip to an appropriate channel count
  • Disable hissing: Remove TDM artifacts by mixing. Sacrifices some accuracy!
  • Scale frequency to wave length: Automatically adjusts note frequency to account for differing waveform lengths
    • If disabled, note frequencies ignore waveform length. This is how FamiTracker behaves
  • Waveform position latch: When enabled, effects that change the wave position will “lock” it in place; new notes, instrument changes, and macros will not change the position while locked. To “unlock” it, use a wave position effect with values FE or FF
  • Channels: Sets the number of channels, from 1 to 8. Higher values reduce volume and make TDM artifacts more noticeable

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Instrument Editor

This chip uses the Namco 163 instrument editor.

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