Hi guys i just want to show you my project for adlib replicas and also some ideas to make a cheaper one.

First of all i just want to show you my cool replica, based on the project wildly used online you can find here:
http://tubetime.us/index.php/2016/07/22/a-rep … lib-sound-card/

image of the first pcbs i made: https://ibb.co/ik7NjS

i just sligtly edited the pcb to includ ethe logo of my retro hardware italian facebook group, it looks pretty nice.

But seeing those projects i think that there are come changes that can be made to save some money on the parts.

First of all i am using jlc pcbs for the printed circuit boards, because of the low prices, but there is a list of the parts on mouser and seeing the price and the parts used i thougth that it can be improved:

the first thing i think is that tantalum capacitors must go away, every elettronic expert whith which i have talked told me to not use shuch capacitors but to use more reliable polimeric or electrolitic capacitors (of couse from a good brand), so this could allow us to save some money but we have to sligtly edit the electrical scheme and pcb layout.

the second thing is the potentiometer, it alone costs something like 5 euros and it's not the best deal, i think that some money can be saved using a smaller and cheaper potentiometer or reling os speckers to ajust the volume of the sound, i know that dos games produces sound at different volumes, so som ething to regulate that is needed.

the third idea is to use a cheaper electronic shop: basically everyone of those projects i have seen for self made rpelicas and computers uses parts from mouse, but buying small bags of the same parts elesewhere is just cheaper, because you save mo0ney buying on volume and also you will ahve some usefoul speres in case of erros.

the fourth something that could be improved is also the amp section, just to modify it to have a dead silent card when no sound comes from it, but that could make the card more expensibe, but it's a thing for enthusisast who wants a better user experience.

all those ideas are to make a card which doe not looks too different from the original but to have something which will cost less than 30 euros in parts and also to improve the thing a little bit whithout compromising too much the look of it

what do you think about those ideas? how could be saved money to make a cheaper and maybe more reliable adlib replica?

i just want to create a sound card kit for my retro hw enthusiasts group on facebook and offer a cheap version and an origial replica version and to offer both at a very low price. and of couse i started this thread to have make all the schemes and projects pubblic, i am also working on making a small series on youtube about desining and making your own computer component, so i want to have this as a part of this series as well.

nd also if you can hel me with kicad it will be great, i have little to no expericence with that program.