Overview

VT2i is a VSTi plug-in that emulates AY-3-8910/12 and YM2149F sound chip,
along with the Vortex Tracker II instruments (called Samples) and arpeggio
macros (called Ornaments). You can create those in the tracker, save into
the regular TXT format, then load by the plug-in and use in a modern DAW.

The emulated chip is close to original by the capabilties, including
volume and frequency range limitations. The main difference is that there
is way more channels in the emulated chip, for greater polyphony, and each
one has its own noise and envelope generators, unlike the real thing where
the only set of the generators shared between all channels.

As AY/YM chiptune tends to change the ornaments quite often, the plug-in is
capable to switch between the presets by the Program Change MIDI event.



Controls

Sample

   Touch this knob to load a VTII sample file, which is a regular plain text
   file. The data will be loaded into the plugin, file can then be moved or
   deleted, it won't break the project.
    
Ornament

   Touch this knob to load a VTII ornament file. If an ornament is already
   loaded, a dialog will appear, asking whether would you like to remove the
   ornament. Yes clears the ornament, no brings file dialog to load another
   one.
    
Envelope type

   Set envelope generator waveform, Saw or Triangle, normal or inverted.
   To actually hear envelope generator, a Sample with enabled envelope has
   to be loaded.

Envelope offset

   Set envelope pitch offset from the base note. This replaces the original
   direct envelope counter values or automatic ratio calculation in VTII.
   Can be set as Velocity target, in this mode velocities below 100 will
   affect the envelope pitch by adding the velocity value.

Noise pitch

   Base noise pitch that affects all noise-based samples. This is equivalent
   of the noise column in VTII. Can be set as Velocity target, in this mode
   the value will be multiplied by the velocity, i.e. higher the velocity
   means lower noise pitch, up to the point set by this parameter.

Chip type

   Select between AY-3-8910/12 and YM2149F chip emulation. This affects to
   the volume table and envelope generator resolution. The most difference
   can be heard in envelope-based samples.
   
Chip clock

   Clock frequency of emulated sound chip. This affects to the frequency range
   and resolution. Mostly noticeable with envelope-based samples and
   samples that use tone pitch offsets and/or accumulation, such as snare
   drum.

Frame rate

   Sets internal frame rate frequency, which defines how fast the software
   envelopes and ornaments runs. I.e. lower frequency means longer samples
   and slower ornaments, higher frequency shorter samples and faster
   ornaments.
  
One shot

   This option allows to disable note off event. It is more convinient with
   short one-shot sounds such as drums, as there would be need to give their
   notes enough of duration to play properly in the normal mode, to prevent
   them cutting to early. With this option enabled, an instrument will always
   play till end (or loop indefinitely).
   
Drums mode

   This mode turns the plugin into a drum synth, mapping current and next
   11 presets to 12 note keys, C to B. Octave of a pressed note will be
   considered, and pitch will be set to one of 12 pitches selected by this
   option. So you can load, say, a kick drum to current preset, hat to the
   next one, and snare to the next one, then play them with notes C (kick),
   C# (hat), and D (snare). You can also play C# at higher octaves if your
   hat instrument contains tone. This option is normally used with the One
   shot, although you may want to not use One shot for hat and cymbal
   instruments, to be able to control their duration.

Polyphony

   Select between polyphonic and monophonic modes. The latter also enables
   automatic portamento.
   
Porta speed

   Set portamento speed, only affects monophonic mode.
   
Velocity target

   Defines how the velocity of the notes will be interpreted. It can be
   applied in the regular way, to the (emulated, i.e. rough steps) volume, or
   to the Noise pitch, or to the Envelope offset (see above). Note that the
   envelope volume is always fixed, just like with the actual chip, so
   velocity can only affect to the tone/noise volume.

Output gain

   Set output gain. You may need to set it lower, if plug-in plays a lot of
   notes at once, to avoid clipping.


   
Source code 

The code was written and compiled with VC++ 2008 Express. Project file
configured to use VST SDK 3.6.0 located at C:\VST3 SDK\, only VST2 part 
of the SDK is used. When everything is installed correctly, plug-in will 
compile without any additional actions, just with Build Solution. 



License 

The plug-in and its source code comes without any warranty. You can 
redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the WTFPL. See 
http://www.wtfpl.net/ for more details. 



History

v0.12 03.06.19 - x64 support
v0.11 14.04.17 - Saving preset names, minor optimizations
v0.1  11.04.17 - Initial release



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