Is it a Speech Thing?

Says VMDMA 1.2 Covox on the PCB
Maybe Covox Voice Master?

From looking at the pictures:
- has an 8-bit A/D converter so it can record audio
- needs +12V
- can use DMA 1 and/or 3
- can use IRQ 7 and/or 3
- uses the 14.3MHz clock of the ISA bus
- has a 82C54 timer chip to generate the timing

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

Says VMDMA 1.2 Covox on the PCB Maybe Covox Voice Master? […]
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Says VMDMA 1.2 Covox on the PCB
Maybe Covox Voice Master?

From looking at the pictures:
- has an 8-bit A/D converter so it can record audio
- needs +12V
- can use DMA 1 and/or 3
- can use IRQ 7 and/or 3
- uses the 14.3MHz clock of the ISA bus
- has a 82C54 timer chip to generate the timing

I think it is a DMA-enabled enhanced Covox Voice Master. Compare this card with the one listed here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/200463358452?

This one is called VM-PCY 1.1. Due to a lack of a music chip, it is no Sound Master.

Yeah, the Covox Voice Master VMPCY is DMA-less (schematic at http://www.415.spb.ru/page.php?60)

Great Hierophant wrote:

I think it is a DMA-enabled enhanced Covox Voice Master. Compare this card with the one listed here: […]
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h-a-l-9000 wrote:

Says VMDMA 1.2 Covox on the PCB Maybe Covox Voice Master? […]
Show full quote

Says VMDMA 1.2 Covox on the PCB
Maybe Covox Voice Master?

From looking at the pictures:
- has an 8-bit A/D converter so it can record audio
- needs +12V
- can use DMA 1 and/or 3
- can use IRQ 7 and/or 3
- uses the 14.3MHz clock of the ISA bus
- has a 82C54 timer chip to generate the timing

I think it is a DMA-enabled enhanced Covox Voice Master. Compare this card with the one listed here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/200463358452?

This one is called VM-PCY 1.1. Due to a lack of a music chip, it is no Sound Master.

Great Hierophant...so the "Mystery Card" has no music chip...is that right?

No, there are no music chips on the card. I define music chips as ICs that ordinarily do not rely on digital samples or sampling to produce the sound (although all can be hacked to provide some crude level of digitized sound playback). The only ones ever known to be used by on an IBM PC compatible include

Texas Instruments SN76496 (IBM PCjr., Tandy 1000, IBM PS/1)
Yamaha YM3812 + YM3014 OPL2 (Adlib, Sound Blaster 1.0-Pro 1.0)
Yamaha YMF-262 +YAC512 OPL3 (Adlib Gold, Creative Sound Blaster Pro 2.0)
Phillips SAA1099 (Creative Game Blaster and Sound Blaster 1.0-2.0)
MOS Technology 6581 SID (SSI Innovation 2001 sound card)
General Instruments AY8930* (Covox Sound Master sound card)

This list does not include clones, emulations or function-alikes,

This list would exclude all DAC-based devices (Covox Speech Thing, Covox Voice Master & Disney Sound Source), the digital sound capabilities of all sound cards and chips, sound devices that use ROM or RAM samples (midi synthesizers, Sound Blaster AWE32 and Gravis Ultrasound.)

The PC Speaker can also be considered a music chipset, although primitive, by the combination of the 8253/8254 and 8255/8048. Those ICs were not intended to be used in that manner, but IBM needed the machine to computer to provide some audible feedback.

* - The card that came with the Bank Street Music Writer used dual AY-3-8910s, which is what the AY8930 is based on. However, as only one program ever used it, I do not include it here.

Based on this discussion, it does seem likely the card is a DMA-enhanced version of the Covox Voice Master, as suggested earlier. Absence of a music chip, and perhaps more glaring, absence of joystick ports, seems to rule out the possibility of it being a member of the Sound Master line of cards.