Editing POKEY (section)

{{Short description|Atari digital I/O chip}}
{{other uses|Pokey (disambiguation)}}

[[File:POKEY chip on an Atari 130XE motherboard.jpg|thumb|POKEY in an Atari 130XE]]

'''POKEY''', an acronym for '''Pot Keyboard Integrated Circuit''',<ref name="service-manual-name">{{cite manual |title=Atari Home Computer Field Service Manual - 400/800 |section= I. Theory of Operation |publisher=Atari, Inc. |pages=1–11}}</ref> is a digital [[input/output|I/O]] [[Microprocessor|chip]] designed by [[Doug Neubauer]] at [[Atari, Inc.]]<ref name=halcyon>{{cite web | url=https://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/NEUBAUER.HTM | title=Interview with Doug Neubauer | last1=Hague| first1=James | work =Halcyon Days | date=2002-06-01 | accessdate=January 14, 2008 }}</ref> for the [[Atari 8-bit computers]]. It was first released with the Atari 400 and Atari 800 in 1979 and is included in all later models and the [[Atari 5200]] console. POKEY combines functions for reading [[paddle (game controller)|paddle controller]]s ([[potentiometers]]) and [[computer keyboard]]s as well as sound generation and a source for [[Pseudorandom number generator|pseudorandom numbers]]. It produces four voices of distinctive [[Square wave (waveform)|square wave]] audio, either as clear tones or modified with distortion settings.<ref name="dere">{{cite book|title=De Re Atari|publisher=Atari, Inc.|chapter=Chapter 7: Sound|url=http://www.atariarchives.org/dere/chapt07.php|date=1982}}</ref> Neubauer also developed the Atari 8-bit [[killer application]] ''[[Star Raiders]]'' which makes use of POKEY features.

POKEY chips are used for audio in many arcade video games of the 1980s including ''[[Centipede (video game)|Centipede]]'', ''[[Missile Command]]'', ''[[Asteroids Deluxe]]'', and ''[[Gauntlet (1985 video game)|Gauntlet]]''. Some of [[Atari System|Atari's arcade systems]] use multi-core versions with 2 or 4 POKEYs in a single package for more audio channels. The [[Atari 7800]] console allows a game cartridge to contain a POKEY, providing better sound than the system's audio chip. Only two licensed games make use of this: the ports of ''[[Ballblazer]]'' and ''[[Commando (video game)|Commando]]''.

The [[Integrated circuit#LSI|LSI]] chip has 40 pins and is identified as C012294.<ref>Michael Current, [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq/section-12.html "What are the SALLY, ANTIC, CTIA/GTIA, POKEY, and FREDDIE chips?"], Atari 8-Bit Computers: Frequently Asked Questions</ref> 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".<ref name=uspto>{{cite web | url=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=4314236 | title=Apparatus for producing a plurality of audio sound effects | date=1979-01-24 | author = Atari, Inc. | work=United States Patent | accessdate=January 14, 2008}}</ref> The inventors listed are Steven T. Mayer and Ronald E. Milner.