Ensoniq Soundscape S-2000, left channel output only :( \ VOGONS

Ensoniq Soundscape S-2000, left channel output only :(

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First post, by VeryVon

Posted on 2024-05-13, 22:21

VeryVon Offline

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Recently rescued a Gateway 2000 P5-90 Tower with an Ensoniq Soundscape S-2000. Sound only comes out of the left channel in windows 95 & DOS. I tested the speakers with another computer and they work AOK, no issues with the audio jack or cabling.

Other things I checked:
- IRQ's: Checked all the IRQ's against the BIOS and they're clear, control panel in windows is happy and the DOS driver.
- Jumpers: Jumpers are at their default settings according the manual, and correct settings are reflected in windows & dos
- Audio jack & cabling, jack is all the way in and cabling is solid

One thing I noticed, when I load the driver in DOS and bring up the mixer (ALT-M) only the left channel under Playback / "Synth" shows up. The other column is empty (see screenshot below, "99" in red.) Driver loads without error, and I can play wav & midi files just fine, but only left channel outputs sound.

Is there something I need to do in order to activate the right channel with the board or driver??

Reply 1 of 4, by Shponglefan

Posted on 2024-05-13, 23:22

Shponglefan Offline

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My first guess would be corrosion or possibly a broken solder joint in the audio out jack. You could try cleaning the audio jack with some Deoxit or tuning knob cleaner.

If it's not one of those, then my next guess would be a faulty component in the right channel of the audio circuit.

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Reply 2 of 4, by VeryVon

Posted on 2024-05-14, 01:12

VeryVon Offline

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Shponglefan wrote on 2024-05-13, 23:22:

My first guess would be corrosion or possibly a broken solder joint in the audio out jack. You could try cleaning the audio jack with some Deoxit or tuning knob cleaner.

If it's not one of those, then my next guess would be a faulty component in the right channel of the audio circuit.

Sounds good. I checked continuity from an audio cable to pins on the back of the card, and it's good for ground, left and right so I think the jack is solid. I'll try to trace back some of the circuitry, but it's dicey w/o a schematic 😮

Reply 3 of 4, by Rawit

Posted on 2024-05-14, 07:09

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I think this card suffers from bad caps, but I've never seen a mixer reporting 1 channel only. Check this thread on info about the caps: Audio problem with Ensoniq S-2000

YouTube

Reply 4 of 4, by VeryVon

Posted on 2024-05-14, 13:08

VeryVon Offline

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Joined: 2022-01-02, 18:47

Rawit wrote on 2024-05-14, 07:09:

I think this card suffers from bad caps, but I've never seen a mixer reporting 1 channel only. Check this thread on info about the caps: Audio problem with Ensoniq S-2000

Cool thanks for the link! Agree about the caps on this board, they've definitely leaked. I don't see any major damage yet, and it's hard to tell ofc. Will look more into that.

In the meantime I installed the card in a known good motherboard from a gateway E-3000 running win3.1, installed 3.1 drivers. Same issue only one channel active.

Using the jumpers I tried base/midi ports 320,330,340 & 350 as well as wave ports 534, 608, E84 & F44. No change in audio output each time I re-configured the driver.

I'll keep grinding ... 😜

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