I just had to comment, that first really weird sounding prince of persia music reminds me of 70s sci-fi like Logans Run hahah

Thanks for inspiring me, i've completed the Adlib clone card,a project that took me many hours of my free time.
I've decided to use the Malinov schematics, since it was relatively easy to print the front and the back layer with Kicad and a laser printer.Made 5 or 6 bad attempts in transferring the toner to the copper board, until i obtained a decent result.
Never tried making a 2 layer board until now. Alignment must be precise, and the the 1st layer of toner risks to melt and smear if you apply the 2nd layer on the opposite side.

Finally i did etch the PCB with a lot of efforts, as you can see it isn't perfect and needed some minor adjustments, broken track repairs

Drilling time! Used 0.8 , 1 and 1.5 mm tip for the bigger holes

Then i faced the harsh reality. All connections with pass-through holes, were obviously isolated (and that's why you should buy this pcb from Malinov or print it professionally) so i had to put a thin wire and solder it on both sides.

Harsh reality part 2: Socket Nightmare. As you can see , i had to solder on the top side and the bottom side where needed, since solder does not flow through the 2 layers, through the holes. So i had to raise all sockets to allow soldering even on the upper side.

As you can see, the central socket was mostly impossible to reach with the soldering iron, and i did mess up and destroyed a couple of copper tracks. Managed to repair it with a couple of external wires.
I did scavenge many components for this card, 50% of capacitors, resistors connectors and sockets is second hand.

The board is finally complete , i checked with a multimeter all missing connections and eventual shorts between gnd and vcc (found a couple of missing connections)

I've assembled a p2 400 with isa slot for the testbed, a sacrificable board, hoping not to see the magic smoke.

I've tested it with wolf 3d , since it has a nice splash screen with hw info.

Well, all this work paid off! i have an Adlib sound card , now! It works, It works! I'm so happy

I've also tested it with monkey island,prince of persia, jill of the jungle and a dos profram for playing midi. All ok (since its a p2400 i had to disable cache, processor is too fast!)

I'm planning to put this Adlib on the Olivetti pcs86 i have,which is a nec v30 (8086 pc clone)

Why are people cloning Adlib cards, what is so special about it? Isn't it just a FM synthesizer? As far as i know, every SB and compatible supports it.

On the DIY topic: That PCB was not designed for production in home conditions, spaces between ICs makes it impossible to reach the top layer pads with soldering iron, also, pads themselves should be prolonged, so that socketing would be possible. Personally, i wouldn't even bother reproducing THAT, more time and nerve would be saved by just retracing whole thing.

adlibs sound superior to most from that time, sb may be programmatically compatible but it sounds nothing like the original imho

SSTV2 wrote:

Why are people cloning Adlib cards, what is so special about it? Isn't it just a FM synthesizer? As far as i know, every SB and compatible supports it.

well,probably because here where i live 8bit isa sound blaster cards are impossible to obtain. I've never seen one in my entire life, 🤣

Ebay has ludicrous prices, the only option i had was to make this relatively simple adlib clone
. All went fine,also i've learned lots of stuff in the making.

Now my Ibm Pc clone will be equipped with an Adlib clone. Attack of the clones! 😀

I'm curious - does the AdLib or this clone sound the same as the Rainbow Arts Soundman ?
http://www.amoretro.de/2011/12/rainbow-arts-s … amaha-opl2.html

SSTV2 wrote:

Why are people cloning Adlib cards, what is so special about it? Isn't it just a FM synthesizer? As far as i know, every SB and compatible supports it.

The Adlib was the first of it's kind on PC which is what makes it special, SB and compatibles came later.

Something that adds to its unique sound is that is has proper low-pass reconstruction filter at the DAC output which may not exist on other cards. Also the LM386 speaker amp may add something to it's characteristic sound.

Also because it is so simple and part markings are clearly visible it is easy to clone with off-the-shelf components, or even get better parts.
You can't clone a SB so easily.

Not that many Adlibs available for purchase either, while SB and compatibles are plentiful.

So I am not surprised about cloning the Adlib at all(even wanted to build one myself back in the day), but I am just surprised how many people have done the effort of cloning it themselves it instead of settling for a clone that already exists.

i had an adlib card - i got into sierra games in summer of 1987 when i bought kings quest II that had just came out.. i think... and then i went nad got kings quest 1 after i beat II.

made my dad buy me a paradise card + a adlib card for my tandy Computer...
they are probably sitting in a landfill now because my dad threw out my tandy + monitor + all diskettes sometime in the last 20 years 🤣

Jepael wrote:

Something that adds to its unique sound is that is has proper low-pass reconstruction filter at the DAC output which may not exist on other cards. Also the LM386 speaker amp may add something to it's characteristic sound.

Thanks, that makes sense. My father and me used to tinker a lot with that chip, too. It's a bit like the 555 counterpart of the speaker amps, I think.
I wonder how different an AdLib sounds compared to any other YM3812 equipped sound cards of it's time..
Like a Thunder Board, Sound Master Plus/II, SB 1.x, 2.0, or ATI VGA Stereo F/X.

Jepael wrote:

Also because it is so simple and part markings are clearly visible it is easy to clone with off-the-shelf components,
or even get better parts. You can't clone a SB so easily.

Nah, there's an ideal homemade companion card* for these AdLib replicas.. 🤣
http://www.deep-shadows.com/hax/wordpress/?page_id=364

(*But seriously, that dude did a good job back then!)

Jepael wrote:

So I am not surprised about cloning the Adlib at all(even wanted to build one myself back in the day),
but I am just surprised how many people have done the effort of cloning it themselves it instead of settling for a clone that already exists.

If I could, I would do the same as them, I'm afraid.. An AdLib replica with some miniature tubes would be really cool! 😄