μCOM-87: The Strangest Architecture You've Never Worked With
A short article about NEC's strange and mostly forgotten μCOM-87 processor architecture, as well as the Casio CZ-101 synthesiser that it powers.
ajxs.me
Ajxs blog
Latest posts
How Does Ada's Memory Safety Compare Against Rust?
A comparison of how well Rust and Ada prevent the most common memory-related software errors.
Introduction to Reverse-Engineering Vintage Synth Firmware
A gentle introduction to reverse-engineering vintage synthesiser ROMs using the Ghidra disassembler.
The Identity of The Sanctimonious Kid
Exploring the historic background of Jack Black's 'You Can't Win', and investigating the identity of The Sanctimonious Kid.
How Far Back in Time Can I Take My Website's Design
A look back through web-browser history, as I test my site against the browsers of the past.
Hacking the Yamaha DX9 To Turn It Into a DX7
A brief account of hacking the Yamaha DX9's firmware ROM to make its functionality more closely match the DX7.
How the Yamaha FM Synth Cassette Interface Works
A technical overview of how the cassette interface used in Yamaha's FM synthesisers encodes, and decodes patch data for external storage.
Yamaha DX7 Official Technical Analysis
A chance discovery on eBay has surfaced some of Yamaha's original technical documentation for the DX7 synthesiser.
Yamaha DX7 Firmware ROM Disassembly
A brief update regarding the reverse-engineering of the Yamaha DX7's firmware ROM.
Yamaha DX7 Technical Analysis
An introductory technical analysis of the Yamaha DX7, detailing some of the known information about the synthesiser’s engineering.
Giving Ada a Chance
An in-depth look at the Ada programming language, its history, and what it has to offer developers today. As well as a fistful of my humble opinions.
Casio CZ-101 Review
A review of the Casio CZ-101 synthesizer, from the charitable perspective of someone with experience in ugly, digital noise: An industrial musician.