Completely off topic, but after turning my 486 on last night to check something and ending up playing games for two hours, I can't believe how lucky I am to actually own one of these cards. It's everything I could ever ask from a DOS gaming card to be honest.

it makes me happy people enjoying the soundcards 😀

well , after cleaning my storage area I found a tray of some 25ish CMI8330 chips... had no idea we still had some
so most likely a small batch of MK8330s will be made soon-ish, most likely in black to commemorate the real end of this project 😁
I will keep digging, found some other forgotten treasures already 🤣

keropi wrote on 2023-10-22, 12:41:

well , after cleaning my storage area I found a tray of some 25ish CMI8330 chips... had no idea we still had some
so most likely a small batch of MK8330s will be made soon-ish, most likely in black to commemorate the real end of this project 😁
I will keep digging, found some other forgotten treasures already 🤣

Please check your PM!

keropi wrote on 2023-10-22, 12:41:

well , after cleaning my storage area I found a tray of some 25ish CMI8330 chips... had no idea we still had some
so most likely a small batch of MK8330s will be made soon-ish, most likely in black to commemorate the real end of this project 😁
I will keep digging, found some other forgotten treasures already 🤣

Apparently I still can't send a PM. Can you send me one so I can get in contact with you?

I would like to buy one! Declaring interest in one if there is a waitlist or will wait for a sign up form

here is a direct link to the old order form, if anyone uses this then the entry will be added to the queue: < link deleted, card is now a retired project >
thanks!

Guys, this is my favorite sound card bar none, so well rounded and high quality in such a compact package. Don't miss out..

the "really final" TM version of MK8330 is available at www.pcmidi.eu
it is a very limited release, as many as the chips left... 28pcs

Sweet!

I'd been hoping to be able to get one of these cards.

Also noticed that the PCMIDI cards are back in stock too. 😁

keropi - I am waiting to hear back from you 😀

mockingbird wrote on 2023-11-22, 18:28:

keropi - I am waiting to hear back from you 😀

I see you at #4 😀

I made my order around 1AM 😀 today Athens time. Hopefully it ended up inside 28 treshold.

I have question about digital in routing implementation? So CMI8330 is capable mixing main PCM/FM digital signal with SPDIF_IN and outputting digital out without any digital master clock synchronization? How potential sampling rate mismatches are then handled with pure digital signals? It's not Roland M-1000 level professional device after all. What I'm missing here...

It has "nearest neighbor" type resampling, everything is dirtly converted into close to 44100Hz rate (but not exact, the chip lacks a timebase to get exact 44100Hz). Some sample rates will sound better than others because of this type of conversion, there's no filtering/decimation or interpolation of any sort.

it's a budget oriented chip : close enough is good enough 😀

"nearest neighbour" !! Oh well I guess we can say implementation is streamlined for speed 😉

keropi wrote on 2023-11-23, 20:11:

it's a budget oriented chip : close enough is good enough 😀

That's even more cheap and cheerful than I had imagined. A piece of history it is still and a work of art you have made from it.

CMI8330 was probably never intended for digital recording, PCI sound cards were already a thing by then and for a professional recording setup a budget gaming ISA card would hardly have been a good idea even by 1996..

That said, I still have recordings of myself playing the guitar in 1996/97 recorded through a Sound Blaster 16. It sounds attrocious 🤣

Wow! I had that CMI8330 chip in a soundcard when I was a kid! It was my first and beloved soundcard. So much nostalgia!

That chip was very compatible with all the games that I played at those mavelous years.

Congratulations Keropi, your card is a great tribute to this humble but very respectable CMI8330 chip.

Bruno

This is MK8330 with PCMIDI addon, MIDI in and out, X2GS with Roland licensed banks. I use this in one of my systems. Happy with it!
This is nice for systems with limited ISA slots.