VOGONS


First post, by yawetaG

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Several manuals for Intel LPX main boards with integrated sound mention that the wavetable header on those boards can be connected to a wavetable daughter card that takes the shape of a separate ISA MIDI card (that plugs into an ISA slot) and then connects to the main board's wavetable connector with a flat cable.

What do these look like and what models are there?

Or is Intel confused between actual wavetable daughter boards that plug onto the wavetable connector and ISA MIDI interface boards?

Reply 2 of 12, by RJDog

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Not sure if this is what you're talking about, but I've seen a couple motherboards with a "wavetable" header that's just a 2x3 or 2x4 pin header, rather than the "proper" 2x13 pin header that is the usual WaveBlaster header. Presumably this header has just the bare minimum of signal pins (5V, GND, AUDIO_L, AUDIO_R, MIDI_IN), and would need some sort of adapter to use a normal WaveBlaster compatible card. I think it's reasonable to assume that the adapter might be in the form of an ISA card, or at least that form factor, on which would be the usual 26 pin header to mount the WaveBlaster card.

Reply 3 of 12, by badmojo

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RJDog wrote:

Not sure if this is what you're talking about, but I've seen a couple motherboards with a "wavetable" header that's just a 2x3 or 2x4 pin header, rather than the "proper" 2x13 pin header that is the usual WaveBlaster header. Presumably this header has just the bare minimum of signal pins (5V, GND, AUDIO_L, AUDIO_R, MIDI_IN), and would need some sort of adapter to use a normal WaveBlaster compatible card. I think it's reasonable to assume that the adapter might be in the form of an ISA card, or at least that form factor, on which would be the usual 26 pin header to mount the WaveBlaster card.

Maybe for a Creative Goldfinch? They have a 2x3 header from memory.

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Reply 4 of 12, by yawetaG

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PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Link so we can take a look?

http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/Archive/POWER_U … el/28297101.pdf, pages 11, 23, 27-28. The connector is a 8-pin connector. I now see there are two example cards listed: ICS Wavefront and CrystaLake Series 2000.

I wonder if the ISA adapter could be custom-made...although that main board also lacks a MIDI/gameport.

Reply 5 of 12, by yawetaG

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yawetaG wrote:

I now see there are two example cards listed: ICS Wavefront and CrystaLake Series 2000.

Except I can't find any ICS Wavefront cards that are MIDI-only, and the CrystaLake cards appear to be very rare, not helped by the CrystaLake website being pre-Internet Archive and therefore not archived properly.

Reply 6 of 12, by cyclone3d

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badmojo wrote:
RJDog wrote:

Not sure if this is what you're talking about, but I've seen a couple motherboards with a "wavetable" header that's just a 2x3 or 2x4 pin header, rather than the "proper" 2x13 pin header that is the usual WaveBlaster header. Presumably this header has just the bare minimum of signal pins (5V, GND, AUDIO_L, AUDIO_R, MIDI_IN), and would need some sort of adapter to use a normal WaveBlaster compatible card. I think it's reasonable to assume that the adapter might be in the form of an ISA card, or at least that form factor, on which would be the usual 26 pin header to mount the WaveBlaster card.

Maybe for a Creative Goldfinch? They have a 2x3 header from memory.

The goldfinch is a 2x4 with a key so it really only has 7 pins. I saw an old Dell listed with one hooked up like that before. I really wonder if it will work plugged into a SB16 goldfinch header. I'll have to do a bit of research before I try. Don't want to burn anything out.

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Reply 7 of 12, by bristlehog

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Here's CrystaLake Series 2000 with 8-pin connector. It is a 8-bit ISA card by itself.

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Reply 8 of 12, by cyclone3d

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bristlehog wrote on 2020-01-15, 15:21:

Here's CrystaLake Series 2000 with 8-pin connector. It is a 8-bit ISA card by itself.

Do you actually have that card? I tried to buy one a year or so ago and the seller never shipped it.

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Reply 9 of 12, by bristlehog

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cyclone3d wrote on 2020-01-15, 15:34:

Do you actually have that card? I tried to buy one a year or so ago and the seller never shipped it.

Not mine. A person from phantom.sannata.org forums recently bought one: topic (all in Russian)

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Reply 10 of 12, by SirNickity

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cyclone3d wrote on 2018-10-16, 15:49:

The goldfinch is a 2x4 with a key so it really only has 7 pins. I saw an old Dell listed with one hooked up like that before. I really wonder if it will work plugged into a SB16 goldfinch header. I'll have to do a bit of research before I try. Don't want to burn anything out.

I've never seen a Goldfinch header on an SB16 -- I'm guessing that would have to be an OEM version? I just connected mine via a custom ribbon cable to the wavetable header on an SB16. Works great!

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Reply 11 of 12, by gex85

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On my recently acquired Tulip TC76 mainboard I found an 8-pin header labeled "WAVE" as well.
See the attached picture.

I think it should be doable to trace back the connections to the Vibra 16X chip with a high-res photo and then figure out whether it is possible to build a simple 8-to-26-pin adapter cable.

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I have done research but apart from this very thread here on Vogons (where else...) I did not find a single hint to this connector, let alone its pinout.

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Reply 12 of 12, by Deano

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Sorry for the necropost but researching my next build which is on a PPro Apollo build, I noticed it has the 2x4 wave header and the manual has the pin out.

I don't have a wavetable card yet to try and will be last thing to do on the system.

But I intend to give this a go (either buying card with this header or a custom cable).

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