I bet someone harvested the 68k chip out of that module. I would also put block tape or stickers over the windows on those EPROM chips.

Edit:
I decided to take apart my E-MU SoundEngine Music Module since it is practically a WaveBlaster as well. It actually uses the standard 26-pin connection that WaveBlaster compatible cards use. I wonder if this thing would work on a sound card and if I could use a different card in this enclosure.

Yours actually looks like a WaveBlaster II.

The pinout should be determined first, or very least VCC and GND pins. There could be 68000 or there could be 68EC000 and they have slightly different pinouts and there is a very real change of damage if wrong one is used.

Ok, so I checked out the pinouts, thank you very much Tiido for pointing on that! It should be MC68EC000 chip. So I snapped one in, and powered up the unit. And it works!
Although there were no sound on the left channel. But I realized that the JRC4558 op amp was the cause. Ordered one.
I'll record some samples, as soon as I get this unit fully operational!

Very nice ~

Do you intend to revive that dead Waveblaster ?

This seems quite interesting, as it is basically an AWE32 on an external MIDI module, and the PCB looks like it could be reproduced by someone with the right equipment and resources to do so. The only thing that would be missing is the SoundFont capabilities seen on internal (and some PCMCIA) E-mu sound cards.

That being said, does it respond to MIDI NRPN messages used by the EMU8000 and later (10K1, 10K2, 20K1, 20K2) sound devices?

Sorry for the long silence…
Finally I made this module fully functional! In the end it was not only a bad opamp, one of the RAM chips, KM681000BLP, was also faulty.
I recorded some audio samples, see the attachements. The module itself is very noisy output (curse 4558 amps) — you could hear humming at the begining of some tracks.

Tiido wrote on 2021-06-27, 20:43:

Do you intend to revive that dead Waveblaster ?

May be in some distant future =)

grommit2007 wrote on 2021-07-29, 18:48:

This seems quite interesting, as it is basically an AWE32 on an external MIDI module, and the PCB looks like it could be reproduced by someone with the right equipment and resources to do so. The only thing that would be missing is the SoundFont capabilities seen on internal (and some PCMCIA) E-mu sound cards.

That being said, does it respond to MIDI NRPN messages used by the EMU8000 and later (10K1, 10K2, 20K1, 20K2) sound devices?

Indeed, the PCB is not very hard to replicate, it's double sided, and all the components are on one side. I assume the sounds are stored in SME9516000-01…04 chips, they seem to be regular EEPROM chips, I can solder them out and try to dump them. But there is another trouble — two GAL chips, labeled as IC8 “Loggic” and IC9 “Counter”.

Could you please explain, how to check if it espond to MIDI NRPN messages? I tried to send CC098 and CC099 via the PocketMIDI program. The “MIDI In” LED on the module is blinking. But I do not know what exactly should happen =)

asp_id wrote on 2021-12-06, 02:05:

Sorry for the long silence… Finally I made this module fully functional! In the end it was not only a bad opamp, one of the RAM […]
Show full quote

Sorry for the long silence…
Finally I made this module fully functional! In the end it was not only a bad opamp, one of the RAM chips, KM681000BLP, was also faulty.
I recorded some audio samples, see the attachements. The module itself is very noisy output (curse 4558 amps) — you could hear humming at the begining of some tracks.

Tiido wrote on 2021-06-27, 20:43:

Do you intend to revive that dead Waveblaster ?

May be in some distant future =)

grommit2007 wrote on 2021-07-29, 18:48:

This seems quite interesting, as it is basically an AWE32 on an external MIDI module, and the PCB looks like it could be reproduced by someone with the right equipment and resources to do so. The only thing that would be missing is the SoundFont capabilities seen on internal (and some PCMCIA) E-mu sound cards.

That being said, does it respond to MIDI NRPN messages used by the EMU8000 and later (10K1, 10K2, 20K1, 20K2) sound devices?

Indeed, the PCB is not very hard to replicate, it's double sided, and all the components are on one side. I assume the sounds are stored in SME9516000-01…04 chips, they seem to be regular EEPROM chips, I can solder them out and try to dump them. But there is another trouble — two GAL chips, labeled as IC8 “Loggic” and IC9 “Counter”.

Could you please explain, how to check if it espond to MIDI NRPN messages? I tried to send CC098 and CC099 via the PocketMIDI program. The “MIDI In” LED on the module is blinking. But I do not know what exactly should happen =)

Apologies for the delay as well.

There are MIDI files which can be used to check for the NRPN functions, which work on AWE32 and successors based on the same EMU8K/10K1/2/20K1/2 architecture.

I have attached a MIDI which can be used to test for it.

There should be a squelch sound (which is caused by the NRPNs manipulating the filter) upon playing this MIDI.