I picked up one of these cards on ebay because it has a PC Speaker input, some thing that is sadly uncommon on non Creative ISA cards. The build quality is damn good, all the electrolytics are high quality Nichicons (probably dry as the Atacama in midsummer, so I'll be swapping them out for Nichicon Muse Audio caps). Anyone ever populated the wavetable header or have a pic of a card with it added? That's about the only thing it's missing and I'm interested in trying to add it.
Not on this card, but have done so on the Terratec Solo-1 (ESS Solo 1-based PCI card). There it was as simple as just adding the header, "it just worked". Here I'm a bit concerned by resistors like R29, R34 and that bunch above the connector.
I did a lot of Compaq sound card hunting last year and have wondered this, as well as wondering how it would fly with the seemingly missing components.
Useless contribution to the thread, sorry! But I'm curious to hear if anyone has done it. Clearer pic for reference:
Not on this card, but have done so on the Terratec Solo-1 (ESS Solo 1-based PCI card). There it was as simple as just adding the header, "it just worked". Here I'm a bit concerned by resistors like R29, R34 and that bunch above the connector.
Yeah, I did the same thing to my Solo 1 and it basically just worked as well. Thing is, as another commenter pointed out there's more than a few components unpopulated on the Compaq card. Not sure what if anything needs to be populated on the card. Also saw some stuff implying the pinout is not the standard waveblaster one, in which case its a waste of time.
Also saw some stuff implying the pinout is not the standard waveblaster one, in which case its a waste of time.
Seeing those two bigger traces on the right side of the missing header, I'm guessing it might either be routed to +5V or +12V. As I just placed a WT header on one of my designs, those would be the wrong spots for either. The whole upper rows are AGND and GND:
I added a wavetable header to it and it works.
You need to bridge R29 and R34 on the card in the first post.
The wavetable audio will be on the AUX2 input of the cards mixer which is muted by default.
I was already rechecking the WT footprint I made against the documentation... but luckily my mistake was only thinking the silkscreen marking was suggesting the board orientation 😁
I added a wavetable header to it and it works.
You need to bridge R29 and R34 on the card in the first post.
The wavetable audio will be on the AUX2 input of the cards mixer which is muted by default.
Nice work! Plug a Serdaco E-Wave into that and you've got yourself a DIY Compaq Business Wavetable card 😎
I added a wavetable header to it and it works.
You need to bridge R29 and R34 on the card in the first post.
The wavetable audio will be on the AUX2 input of the cards mixer which is muted by default.
Cool! Just bridge them with wire? No resistors needed? I might buy one of the McFly boards for mine. Looks like it would be sized ideally for it.
I added a wavetable header to it and it works.
You need to bridge R29 and R34 on the card in the first post.
The wavetable audio will be on the AUX2 input of the cards mixer which is muted by default.
Nice work! Plug a Serdaco E-Wave into that and you've got yourself a DIY Compaq Business Wavetable card 😎
Heh, I've actually got one of those too. I was gonna use it on the 486DLC build I'm working on, but I might just use it on the fast 286 I'm finishing up.
Forgot to mention what type pair of capacitors also added to this modifications to this compaq ES1868?
Cheers,
I think they're just zero ohm smd resistors, basically jumpers I think. I used some capacitor offcuts to bridge those points, but you could probably bridge them with solder. As far as recapping my card: I used 100uf 25v Elna Tonerex caps throughout except right above the header where I used a 100uf 25v UFW Nichicon which I laid horizontal to clear the wavetable board. I'm just guessing, though that all of the electrolytics are audio related. If I get weird behavior I'll start replacing some of them with Mobo VRM grade caps.
I'm talking about the two capacitors located at: C50 and C51 or C1 and C6 these are coupling capacitor to connect to the ESS1868 chipset from the two resistors at the wavetable connector.
On cards with these two capacitors are not populated.
I'm talking about the two capacitors located at: C50 and C51 or C1 and C6 these are coupling capacitor to connect to the ESS1868 chipset from the two resistors at the wavetable connector.
On cards with these two capacitors are not populated.
Cheers,
Ah, I see what you mean. I don't know. Let me look at my other Audiodrive cards, I'll take a look at the datasheet and see if that gives any hint, too (It's on Phil's page).
I'm talking about the two capacitors located at: C50 and C51 or C1 and C6 these are coupling capacitor to connect to the ESS1868 chipset from the two resistors at the wavetable connector.
On cards with these two capacitors are not populated.
Cheers,
The capacitors are marked with KJ5 and are identical to ones on the CD audio input.
I'm talking about the two capacitors located at: C50 and C51 or C1 and C6 these are coupling capacitor to connect to the ESS1868 chipset from the two resistors at the wavetable connector.
On cards with these two capacitors are not populated.
Cheers,
The capacitors are marked with KJ5 and are identical to ones on the CD audio input.
KJ5 = 220nF
This value is confirmed in the ESS1869 datasheet.
Nice to know. What's the voltage rating needed? Will 6.3 be ok?
The capacitors are marked with KJ5 and are identical to ones on the CD audio input.
KJ5 = 220nF
This value is confirmed in the ESS1869 datasheet.
Nice to know. What's the voltage rating needed? Will 6.3 be ok?
220 nano-farad. I don't think you will get caps of that capacity with a voltage that low. Use any decent-quality ceramic cap (NP0 is good, Y5V and Z5U is bad, X7R is meh). The bad classes are not meant for audio, but for supply decoupling (and they are good enough for that).
so I'll be swapping them out for Nichicon Muse Audio caps
Nichicon Muse for 100uF starts at 10mm diameter. You can probably fit 8mm caps, but 10mm is really pushing it. Audio caps don't really have any special qualities, save your money and use something equivalent to the originals (and from what I see, Nichicon is phasing out all of their audio capacitors series). The UCC KME caps have around 140mA ripple rating and 2.5 Ohms (@120hz, not 1khz). Find something similar.
edit:I tested the NCC KME series capacitors, they show 1.42Ohms at 120Hz (the datasheet specifies 2.321 "Maximum ESR (Ω) at 20C,120Hz"). I'm replacing them with Nichicon PM which is 0.660mOhm @ 120Hz.
The instructions are as follows:
1) Lay electrolytic capacitor C70 6.3mm x 11mm 25V 100uF in a horizontal position to create clearance for the wavetable board
2) Bridge resistor positions R29 and R34 as shown with wire, or install SMD (1205 size) 0 Ohm resistors
3) Clear soldered wavetable pads and install header. I used a manual pump and a soldering iron at around 330c, and clearing the pads went very easy. The solder is leaded and is sucked away easily.
The card is working perfectly with the wavetable. As was mentioned, make sure you set a number to the "/a" parameter with ESSVOL.EXE (I use "/a 14").
Last edited by mockingbird on 2023-08-28, 04:34. Edited 6 times in total.
I have a Compaq 4704 whose motherboard contains a wavetable header, and the part replacement info for it lists a part number for a wavetable header, so I've been curious about the compaq wavetable for a while...
Until I heard it. It's bad. Really bad. I've attached Doom's E1M1 and some pics of it that I found online.
