Information AboutAtari Pokey |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ATARI POKEY | |
| sound chips | |
| integrated circuits | |
| atari 8-bit family | |
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Atari POKEY (C012294) pin-out The Atari POKEY is a digital I/O Chip found in the Atari 8-bit Family of home computers and many Arcade Game s in the 1980 s. Its name comes from '''PO'''tentiometer and '''KEY'''board, as it was commonly used to sample ( ADC ) Potentiometer s (such as game Paddle s) and scan matrices of switches (such as a computer Keyboard ). POKEY is also well known for its sound effect and music generation capabilities, producing a distinctive Square Wave sound popular among Chip Tune aficionados. The LSI chip has 40 pins and is identified as '''C012294'''. The USPTO granted U.S. Patent 4,314,236 to Atari on February 2, 1982 for an "Apparatus for producing a plurality of audio sound effects". This referred to POKEY's sound generation abilities. The inventors listed were Steven T. Mayer and Ronald E. Milner . No longer manufactured, POKEY is emulated in software by classic arcade emulators (e.g. MAME ) and Atari 8-bit emulators. FEATURES
POKEY MUSIC The design of the POKEY made it possible for games to have Polyphonic music and Sound Effect s of up to four channels. One of the sound-engines developed for the Atari 8-bit family was called the AMP Engine (Advanced Music Processor). This was used by the musician Gary Gilbertson . Now it is possible to emulate the POKEY's sound capabilities in software. This can be done with the SAP player {Link without Title} . SEE ALSO
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