Yamaha

Yamaha Corporation (ja: ヤマハ株式会社) is a company founded in 1887 in Hanamatsu, Japan.

In the VGM scene, Yamaha is famous for their FM sound chips.

Sound Chips

This is an incomplete list of Yamaha sound chips.

OPN family

All OPN chips use 4 operators per FM channel. Most chips also have a built-in YM2149 core (SSG, AY-3-8910 clone, 3 SSG channels with dual 8-bit GPIO ports). The YM2612 and its derivatives do not contain the YM2149, but the envelope generator remains.

YM2203 - (OPN) 3 channels of FM, built-in SSG (adding 3 channels and dual 8-bit GPIO ports).
YM2608 - (OPNA) 6 channels of FM, built-in SSG, sampled ROM drums, as well as a single ADPCM codec.
YM2610 - (OPNB) 4 channels of FM, built in SSG. Contains one ADPCM channel with a variable sample rate, and six ADPCM channels with a fixed 18.5 kHz sample rate.
YM2610B - (OPNB) Similar to YM2610, only with 6 FM channels.
YM2612 - (OPN2) 6 channels of FM. Does not contain the SSG.
YM3438 - (OPN2C) CMOS variant of YM2612, with minor differences.
YMF288 - (OPN3) 6 channels of FM, built in SSG. Does not contain ADPCM or GPIO ports.

OPL family

Earlier OPL chips are only capable of 2 operators per channel, YMF262 and later chips can use 4 operators per channel while keeping the total amount of operators (slots). That is, a channel is lost for each channel with 4 operators enabled. The OPL chips can also sacrifice 3 melody channels for 5 rhythm channels.

YM3812 and later chips allow for different waveforms for each operator, not just sine waves.

YM3526 - (OPL) 9 melody channels, or 6 melody and 4 rhythm channels. Only sine waves.
YM3801 - (Y8950, MSX-Audio) YM3526 derivative, contains a 4-bit ADPCM codec (Similar to the YM2608).
YM3812 - (OPL2) 9 melody channels, or 6 melody and 4 rhythm channels. Four available waveforms.
YM2413 - (OPLL) YM3812 derivative, 15 instrument presets and one custom instrument.
YMF262 - (OPL3, FA1006) 36 slots: 18 2op melody channels, or 15 2op melody channels and 5 rhythm channels. Two 2op channels can be exchanged for a 4op channel, for up to 6 4op melody channels.
YMF278B (OPL4) FM part similar to YMF262, includes up to 24 PCM channels.

Other

YM2149 - (SSG) AY-3-8910 clone.
YM3439 - (SSG) CMOS version of YM2149.
YMZ284 - (SSGL) SSG in a smaller package.
YMZ294 - (SSGLP) SSG in a smaller package, supports higher frequencies via a clock divider pin.
YMZ705 - (SSGS) Includes two SSGs and 8 ADPCM channels, as well as a built in sequencer.

YM2151 - (OPM) 8 voice, 4 operator FM chip.
YM2164 - (OPP) similar to YM2151.
YMF271 - (OPX) 48 slots, each group of 4 slots can enable one 4op FM channel, two 2op FM channels, one 3op FM channel and one PCM channel, or four PCM channels.
YMZ280B - (PCMD8) 8 channel stereo PCM/ADPCM decoder.

Custom ASICs

Yamaha produced custom ASICs for other companies. Here's an incomplete list of these chips:

YM6626 - (GA20) 4 channel PCM chip used by Irem.
YM6630 - (5B) Famicom mapper used by Sunsoft, contains a built in YM2149 core.
DS1001? - (VRC7, K053982) Famicom mapper used by Konami, contains a YM2413 derivative, differences being: no rhythm channels, 6 melody channels only, different instrument presets.
YM7101 - (315-5313) Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Model 1 VDP. Contains an SN76489A PSG core.
FC1004, FF1004 - (315-5487, 315-5570, 315-5700) Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Model 2 VDP. Contains a PSG and an improved YM3438 core.
YMW258 (GEW8) 28 channel PCM chip. Similar to YMF278B. Used in the Sega System 32 Multi, Model 1 and early Model 2 boards.
YMF292 (SCSP) 32 channel PCM/FM chip, built in DSP. Used in the Saturn as well as the Model 2 and Model 3 arcade boards.
G21003/FQ1003 (AICA) 64 channels of PCM/ADPCM, built-in DSP, built-in ARM7 sound processor. Used in Sega Dreamcast and NAOMI.

Links

[1] Big list of various Yamaha chips used in various synthesizers/sound cards/keyboards, etc.