There are some synth rom dumps here: https://dbwbp.com/index.php/9-misc/37-synth-eprom-dumps

It seems that soundscape roms are somewhat selfcontained: https://gitlab.com/dmo2118/read_sdgi

mkarcher wrote on 2023-11-20, 19:37:

I'm surprised that the media fx sounds OK with the 1MB ROM. The ROM only contains the raw sample data. The ROM layout (which instrument is stored where) is part of the firmware that gets loaded to RAM using SSINIT. Did you notice that SSINIT uploaded a different SNDSCAPE.COx file after you swapped the ROM?

Yes it’s using different firmware. With the original ROM SNDSCAPE.CO0 is used, with the 1MB ROM from the Odie card it’s using SNDSCAPE.CO4.

florian3 wrote on 2023-11-19, 23:41:

2MB ROM (1350901601)

please, could you confirm, that "1350901601" has CRC32 hash of 9FDC4825

I can confirm the 1MB "1351000501" ROM has CRC32 as per the attached picture:

plus it's controlled by "SNDSCAPE.CO1" firmware.

So, lets build a collection of ROMs - by that I mean, which ROM what CRC32 has and which COx firmware controls it (you can easily determine that with "trials and errors" in DOS, i.e. deleting COx files one by one and see which one causes no MIDI sound anymore, i.e. that is the COx file for that particular ROM).

I hope one day someone to make emulator of S-2000 in projects like 86box, because not only all chips datasheets are available, but the main Synth chip has emulation in MAME:

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/s … ound/es5506.cpp

last, but not least, what EEPROM chip you're using - 27C160?

florian3 wrote on 2023-11-19, 23:41:

This is obviously a downgrade, but I'm thinking of replacing the ROM on the Odie card and trying to upgrade it to the 2MB ROM. Has anyone tried this before?

I think main 1st questions is if the Odie card uses 3.3V or 5V ROM chip, because 2MB (or 16MBit) 5V in SOP44 package - I think it will be very hard to find. So, you will need to so some modification, i.e. adding 3.3V voltage regulator and use 3.3V ROM chip for replacement.

OK, what I can gather so far:

* ROM: 1350901601 (2MB), CRC32: 9FDC4825, FW: SNDSCAPE.CO0

* ROM: 1351000501 (1MB), CRC32: 46F809AF, FW: SNDSCAPE.CO1 is the firmware that controls it

* ROM: 1351000801 (1MB), CRC32: 1B696EFE , FW: SNDSCAPE.CO4

I can confirm the CRC32 of the 1350901601 ROM.
ROM 1351000801 has CRC32 1b696efe here.

As EPROM I used a ST Micro M27C160-100F1.
Since then I desoldered the ROM from my Odie card and installed a SOP44 socket. I tried using a MX29F1610MC-10 instead of the original ROM and that didn't work (SSINIT fails, the rom dumper from https://www.os2museum.com/wp/dumping-ensoniq- … oundscape-roms/ also gives garbage), so I will try to get some M27C160-100M1 OTP EPROMs.

florian3 wrote on 2023-11-20, 21:59:

I can confirm the CRC32 of the 1350901601 ROM.
ROM 1351000801 has CRC32 1b696efe here.

thanks! I am updating the "table" in my previous post with the CRC.

florian3 wrote on 2023-11-20, 21:59:

As EPROM I used a ST Micro M27C160-100F1.

thanks for that confirmation as well.

florian3 wrote on 2023-11-20, 21:59:

Since then I desoldered the ROM from my Odie card and installed a SOP44 socket. I tried using a MX29F1610MC-10 instead of the original ROM and that didn't work (SSINIT fails...

your failure is expected - M27C160 in SOP44 is very hard to find (if you found and ordered one - that's good). Also, I am not sure Odie card is 5V or 3.3V (pin 22 on the SOP-44 pads on the board - you need to measure the voltage).

In any case, if everything else fails, you can use more modern replacements like MX29L3211 or 29F1610, but it requires additional modification, you can read for example here:

https://wolfsoft.de/wordpress/?p=2798

to get some idea for how to make such modifications.

I did connect the /WE pin 1 for the MX29F1610 to VCC but that didn't help but I never checked if it's actually using 5V 😀.
I ordered some M27C160-100M1 from questcomp.com.

florian3 wrote on 2023-11-20, 22:16:

but I never checked if it's actually using 5V 😀.

if it's 3.3V then it has to be easier.

florian3 wrote on 2023-11-20, 22:16:

I ordered some M27C160-100M1 from questcomp.com.

good to know. unfortunately for many of us, shipping to Europe will most likely be astronomical.

Turns out I had actually I had pin 1 of the 29F1610 low and not high. After correcting this the Odie card is detected by SSINIT according to the content on the 29F1610. Dumps made using ssdump are also correct but the music in Doom is distorted. Tested using 1MB and 2MB ROMs. The original ROM chip still works, so I didn't break the card in the process. Maybe the flash chips are not fast enough?

florian3 wrote on 2023-11-20, 23:39:

Turns out I had actually I had pin 1 of the 29F1610 low and not high. After correcting this the Odie card is detected by SSINIT

I am very glad to hear 29F1610 is actually working now. I believe the problem now is different - Odie has no Motorola 68000 micro-controller and that means it cannot do like S-2000 card loads FW "SNDSCAPE.CO0" instead "SNDSCAPE.CO4" - what I am trying to say is that most likely on Odie card the "SNDSCAPE.CO4" is hard-coded somewhere and hence it cannot read ROM that format requires firmware "SNDSCAPE.CO0". I hope someone has card with "1351000301" and be able to tell that 2MB ROM, which Firmware requires - maybe that one is compatible with "SNDSCAPE.CO4" or the other option - where on Odie card "SNDSCAPE.CO4" is stored and if it's possible to be changed to "SNDSCAPE.CO0".

I also flashed the content of the original Odie ROM to a 29F1610 (twice to fill the 2MB ROM) and also got distorted music with SNDSCAPE.C04. My Odie card also has a Motorola 68000.
With both ROMs I can also identify what comes out of speaker as Doom music, it's not just noise.

mattw wrote on 2023-11-21, 00:00:

I hope someone has card with "1351000301" and be able to tell that 2MB ROM, which Firmware requires - maybe that one is compatible with "SNDSCAPE.CO4" or the other option - where on Odie card "SNDSCAPE.CO4" is stored and if it's possible to be changed to "SNDSCAPE.CO0".

According to the original post there are 6 known ROMs and 1351000301 was only used on a daugherboard, which probably has the firmware onboard? So 5 ROMs that were used on Soundscape cards. That matches the 5 different SNDSCAPE.CO* files. That still doesn't guarantee that the firmware is fully compatible between all versions.

florian3 wrote on 2023-11-21, 00:30:

the firmware is fully compatible between all versions.

each ROM requires different firmware, that is to reflect the structure of the ROM. so, if CO4 is somehow hard-coded on Odie card (as we know on Spea/S-2000) its original ROM is handled by CO4, then you cannot just put CO0-formatted ROM - at least that is my thinking. So, the question is how you can tell (if possible at all), the Odie card to use CO0 ROM?

I tried to use the 29F1610 SOP44 on the media fx using the SOP44-DIP adapter from my programmer and both (2MB and 1MB) work, similar to using 27C160.

florian3 wrote on 2023-11-21, 00:09:

My Odie card also has a Motorola 68000.

could it be that 68000 is different model and it has hard-coded firmware inside, i.e. that it has build-in flash and it's permanently flashed with "SNDSCAPE.CO4"?

I don’t know. There is also the “COW” chip.
But I’m pretty sure SSINIT is still required and complains if SNDSCAPE.CO4 isn’t there.
And I also can’t get the original ROM content to work on a flash chip (with bodge wire between pin 1 and Vcc) on that card.

I received the SOP44 M27C160-100M OTP EPROMs, and it looks like upgrading the "Odie" card from the 1MB ROM (1351000801) to the 2MB ROM (1350901601) works using those chips. Only tested a bit of General MIDI in DOOM and Duke Nukem 3D.

Still looking for the 2MB ROM from the Elite 😀 and the daughterboard 😀.

florian3 wrote on 2023-12-02, 01:43:

works using those chips

oh, I missed to read about that great success, congrats! BTW, what is the SOP SMD socket model number you're using?

I recently found very cheap Yamaichi such socket and bought it, it's new, but it was missing the "black cap" - I don't know how to call it - the black rectangle on your picture that holds the chip in the socket. So, if anyone knows if it's possible to buy just such "black cap" that completes the socket - It also will be helpful.

florian3 wrote on 2023-12-02, 01:43:

Still looking for the 2MB ROM from the Elite 😀 and the daughterboard 😀.

I second that request! please, help to fully preserve those cards.

mattw wrote on 2023-12-04, 18:04:

oh, I missed to read about that great success, congrats! BTW, what is the SOP SMD socket model number you're using?

I recently found very cheap Yamaichi such socket and bought it, it's new, but it was missing the "black cap" - I don't know how to call it - the black rectangle on your picture that holds the chip in the socket. So, if anyone knows if it's possible to buy just such "black cap" that completes the socket - It also will be helpful.

I am using the Yamaichi IC179Z-44600 socket. I have never seen the covers sold separately, but I also found very few places that still sold those sockets anyway.

mattw wrote on 2023-12-04, 18:04:

florian3 wrote on 2023-12-02, 01:43:

Still looking for the 2MB ROM from the Elite 😀 and the daughterboard 😀.

I second that request! please, help to fully preserve those cards.

The Elite ROM should be easy to dump using the SSDUMP tool. The daughterboard ROM might require soldering, I wouldn't want to do that if I had a working one.

florian3 wrote on 2023-12-05, 15:21:

I am using the Yamaichi IC179Z-44600 socket.

thanks and mine, the one without the cover, is the same Yamaichi 179-series.

florian3 wrote on 2023-12-05, 15:21:

I have never seen the covers sold separately

their datasheet is talking about "with and without dummy cover":

I think what i have is "with dummy cover", because it has a cover, but to protect the socket pins, not cover to hold the chip in the socket. So, I guess the variant "without dummy cover" has the chip cover, which I guess serves both to protect the socket pins during transportation and to hold the chip in place.

mattw wrote on 2023-12-04, 18:04:

The Elite ROM should be easy to dump using the SSDUMP tool.

exactly, that makes it so easy and safe and it's 5 minutes at best. so, it's a shame, no one has done it already. after all the biggest advantage of preserving those are the Synth chip has both datasheets available and emulation in MAME:

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/s … ound/es5506.cpp

which means some day all those cards can have full emulation in projects like 86box.

mattw wrote on 2023-12-04, 18:04:

The daughterboard ROM might require soldering, I wouldn't want to do that if I had a working one.

I can understand that, but still much more rare and expensive devices ROMs were dumped, i.e. there were people to take the small risk and do it in the name of preserving the hardware in emulators.