We recently discovered that many AY-3-8910 soundchips that currently can be obtained, are actually YM2149 soundchips, but ‘blacktopped’ and ‘remarked’ as AY-3-8910, most probably because of a demand for the AY-3-8910.
YM2149’s are indeed pincompatible and do work just fine instead of a AY-3-8910, but sound a little different (check out this video).
If you want to check that the soundchip on e.g. your sound system is an ‘original’* AY-3-891x (-8910 / -8912 / -8913) or remarked YM2149 chip, you can use this free detection tool: https://velesoft.speccy.cz/other/aydete.zip
Big thanks to George Velesoft for this tool, and Peter Smith for the testing.
* The currently obtainable chips, mostly from China, are often blacktopped and remarked, but under the new layers of paint it might still or may not be be an original chip.
So IT CAN STILL BE SOME CLONE! We can’t tell for sure for all the chips on the market.
This applies to:
- ZX Spectrum 128K models with integrated AY-3-8912
- Harlequin / Nuvo / Omni with either AY-3-8912 or AY-3-8910 (later models) or ‘File’-brand clone
- ZX-AY or other external sound add-on with e.g. AY-3-8912 or AY-3-8910
Some more background info based on our experience and the people we discussed this with:
- AY-3-8912’s often seem to be legit, and working (we had about 2% defective ones, for which we claim a refund since these chips now cost about €7 each).
- AY-3-8913’s seem to be fake or semi-defective since the noise generator doesn’t work with *ALL* that we tested, but these might also be some other sound chip that is pin compatible but not sound-equal, costing about €1 only.
- AY-3-8910’s seem to be remarked YM2149’s mostly: pincompatible, fully working, but sound slightly different. Many people prefer the YM over the AY chips because of improved features, costing about €1 only.