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A “portable” video game console made by Nintendo in the ’90s. It supposedly was the beginning of virtual reality… nah, instead it failed to sell well because you use it for 15 minutes and then you get a headache. Its sound generation chip is called Virtual Sound Unit (VSU), a wavetable chip that is a lot like PC Engine, but unlike that, the waves are twice as tall, it doesn’t go too low in terms of frequency (~D-2), and the last channel (yep, it has 6 channels) is a noise one. Additionally, channel 5 offers a modulation/sweep unit. The former is similar to FDS’ but has much reduced speed control.

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Channel Configuration

  • 5 wavetable channels
  • 1 noise channel (channel 6)
  • Channel 5 has modulation/sweep capabilities
  • Waveforms are twice as tall as PC Engine

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Effects

EffectDescription
10xxSet waveform
11xxSet noise length (noise channel only)
Range: 0-7
12xySetup envelope
x: Enable/loop
• 0: Disabled
• 1: Enabled
• 3: Enabled and loop
y: Speed and direction
• 0-7: Down
• 8-F: Up
13xySetup sweep (channel 5 only)
x: Speed (0 and 8 are “speed 0” - sweep is ineffective)
y: Shift (0-7, 8+ will mute the channel)
14xySetup modulation (channel 5 only)
x: Enable/loop
• 0: Disabled
• 1: Enabled
• 3: Enabled and loop
y: Speed (0 and 8 are “speed 0” - modulation is ineffective)
15xxSet modulation wave
xx points to a wavetable (range: 0-FF)
This is an alternative to setting the modulation wave through the instrument
Hardware Bug: If the envelope or modulation ends, you will not be able to trigger another envelope/modulation until you reset the channel’s phase! Setting a phase reset macro at the beginning will do.

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Channel Status Icons

When channel status is enabled in the pattern view, the following icons are displayed:
  • Envelope off: Hardware envelope is disabled or running OK
  • Envelope warning: Hardware envelope has finished - attempting to write a new envelope won’t work without phase reset!
  • Envelope error: Can’t start hardware envelope - please reset phase

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Chip Configuration

The following options are available in the Chip Manager window:
  • Waveform storage mode: Selects how waveforms will be loaded
    • Static: Loads the first 5 waves only
    • Dynamic: Allows switching between more than 5 waves, but loading a new wave forces all channels off and back on again, usually with an audible click
      • Disable anti-phase-reset: Disables the workaround to a phase reset that occurs on all channels when the waveform of any channel is changed
      • I don’t care about hardware: Ignores the 5-wave limitation and allows dynamic waveforms without channel resets or clicking. Note: This is not hardware accurate!

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Instrument Editor

This chip uses the Virtual Boy instrument editor.

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