twisted electrons AY3 Operation & User’s Manual

some good old 8-BIT nostalgia! The AY3 features two 8912 chips boasting 6 voice polyphony. You can apply sequences, arpeggiators, noise, envelopes and pitch modulation to each voice with a click of a button. Take the video AY3 Tour! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcXeGEhGb5I About the AY-8912: The AY-3-8912 and its variants became popular chips in many arcade games, and were used on, among others, the Intellivision and Vectrex video game consoles and the MSX, Amstrad CPC, Oric 1, Colour

Mockingboard sound card for the Apple II family. 1- Connectivity & Power The AY3 features two 1/4” audio outputs, a MIDI input and a power socket The AY3 is equipped with a bridge rectifier so can be powered by any AC or DC voltage source between 8v and 15v, 4 between 500mA and 2000mA.

The AY3 can hold 64 presets in 8 banks of 8 presets. 2-1 Load: Press the data wheel down to toggle between preset and bank mode (displayed above the data wheel). Roll the data wheel to load a preset. 2-2 Save: Hold the data wheel down for 3 seconds to save a preset (count-down displayed on leds 8 thru 1).

each voice. Cycle through these sub-modes by tapping row button 1. The led matrix will announce the selected sub-mode by displaying the letters E, V or T. 3-1 Enable: Enable/disable a voice via buttons a thru f. 3-2 Volume: Select a voice via buttons a thru f. Adjust the selected voice’s volume with the data wheel. Volume is displayed on leds 1 thru 8 3-3 Tune: Select a voice via buttons a thru f. Transpose the selected voice with the data wheel.

button 2 to enter lfo/arp mode. There are 4 modes for both lfo and arp. Enable or diable the arp/lfo on each voice by clicking the buttons a thru f. Scroll through them with the data wheel. 4-1 lfo: The icons above leds 1 thru 4 indicated the selected lfo shape. Use the speed and depth knobs to adjust the lfo accordingly 4-2 arp: The 4 arp modes are up, down, up/down & random. The speed knob will adjust the arp’s rate and the depth knob changes it’s range in octaves Note: The arp loves to slave itself to midi time code!

Click row button 3 to enter noise mode. The overall noise frequency can be adjusted by rolling the data wheel. Noise frequency is represented by leds 1 thru 8

env mode. There are 8 envelope shapes represented by icons above led 1 thru 8. Scroll through them with the data wheel. Adjust the speed of the envelopes via the env/seq speed knob Note: at high speeds the envelope will self-oscillate!

and noise on/off. Tap row button 5 to enter env mode. Apply the sequencer to a voice using buttons a thru f. Adjust the speed of the sequencer via the env/seq speed knob Programming the sequencer: Hold row button 5 for 3 seconds to enter sequencer program mode (count- down displayed on leds 1 thru 8). Now simply roll the data wheel to select a step to edit (1-16 displayed on led matrix) then play a key on your midi keyboard to input the note. Tap the row 1 button to toggle the voice on and off. Tap the row 3 button the toggle the noise on and off. The led rows 1 and 3 indicate that voice and/or noise are activated for the selected step. Hold row button 5 for 3 seconds to exit sequencer program mode (count-down displayed on leds 1 thru 8). Note: The sequencer loves to slave itself to midi time code!

8-1 Detune/chord: The detune/chord knob has multiple modes: At 0%: hold all voices to perfect unison. Between 1-50%: detune the 6 voices (Aka fatness). 51 - 99%: choose between 7 voicing chords (displayed on leds 1 thru 8). at 100% the AY3 becomes a polysynth. You can play up to 6 voices simultaneously on your midi keyboard. 8-2 Glide: The glide knob has multiple modes adds glide aka portamento to the synth’s pitch. More glide=longer portamentos. Note: try gliding between the chords!

Midi Message Range Result Note On/Off CH1 1-127 Unison/Poly Voice Note On/Off CH2 1-127 AY3#1, Voice1 Note On/Off CH3 1-127 AY3#1, Voice2 Note On/Off CH4 1-127 AY3#1, Voice3 Note On/Off CH5 1-127 AY3#2, Voice1 Note On/Off CH6 1-127 AY3#2, Voice2 Note On/Off CH7 1-127 AY3#2, Voice3 Note On/Off CH8 1-127 Polyphonic mode Note On/Off CH9 1-127 Noise on/off AY3#1, Voice1 Note On/Off CH10 1-127 Noise on/off AY3#1, Voice2 Note On/Off CH11 1-127 Noise on/off AY3#1, Voice3 Note On/Off CH12 1-127 Noise on/off AY3#2, Voice1 Note On/Off CH13 1-127 Noise on/off AY3#2, Voice2 Note On/Off CH14 1-127 Noise on/off AY3#2, Voice3 Control CC#2 0-127 Lfo/arp speed Control CC#3 0-127 Lfo/arp depth Control CC#6 0-127 Detune amount Control CC#7 0-127 Glide Amount Control CC#8 0-127 Sequencer Speed Control CC#9 0-127 Noise Frequency

The AY3 supports firmware updates via midi system exclusive messages (sysex). To enter update mode aka bootloader: -unplug the unit’s power cord. -hold the encoder button down while plugging the unit power back in. Three bright stripes will show on the led matrix indicating that bootloader mode is active. Now you are ready to send the sysex to the AY3 via your computer. 10-1 Pc: For a windows pc, we recommend MIDI-OX. It is a free and very useful app! 1. Launch MIDI-OX 2. In the Sysex window, choose Command > Window > Load File and navigate the location where you stored the file. 3. Choose Command Window > Send Sysex IMPORTANT: the buffer settings must be 2/64 byte buffers to avoid transfer corruptions, (thanks Joel for pointing this out) 10-2 Mac: For a mac, we recommend SysEx Librarian. It is also free! 1. Launch SysEx Librarian. 2. Select your MIDI interface in the dropdown menu at the top (if it's not already selected) 3. Drag the MIDI SysEx file from the Finder into the frame of SysEx Librarian (if it's not already in there). 4. Select it with the mouse. 5. Click Play.

will boot into the new software.