VOGONS


Looking for IBM Music Feature Card owners

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First post, by scg

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Hello.
I'm trying to reconstruct a IMFC schematic using photos from the Internet. But not all the details can be seen in public photos. In particular, I was unable to find out the values of some units: capacitors, resistors and ICs.
Maybe someone has this card in the collection and he can see the values that I need? Or take good photos.
At the moment, the circuit is 90% ready and it is very sad that it will not be possible to finish the job due to such smallness.

Last edited by scg on 2023-10-26, 20:48. Edited 7 times in total.

Reply 1 of 67, by DerBaum

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Here is at least one recent owner.

libby wrote on 2022-07-31, 18:17:

found me a computer.,

music.jpg

FCKGW-RHQQ2

Reply 2 of 67, by Shponglefan

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I have one. I can post some high res photos.

See subsequent posts for various close-up photos. If there are any components you need better photos of, let me know and I can take more pics.

Last edited by Shponglefan on 2022-08-04, 20:51. Edited 1 time in total.

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486 DX-33 with 5 sound cards

Reply 8 of 67, by scg

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Shponglefan wrote on 2022-08-04, 20:26:

I have one. I can post some high res photos.

Thank you very much! Your photos have been very helpful to me. Most of the issues have been resolved.
There are only a few questions left that could not be seen.
Values of following units:
- Capacitors: C2, C3 and C4, C6
- Capacitor C67
- Resistor R35
- U3 - marking is applied very poorly and is not shown in any photo.
- resistors array: RA1 and RA2
Also interested in marking on a large disk capacitor С5 ((placed near the MIDI connector).
Near it is a similar disk capacitor: interesting its name and value.
There is no need to take pictures. It will be enough if you look at the markings of these parts and write in text.

Reply 9 of 67, by libby

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scg wrote on 2022-08-05, 19:34:
Thank you very much! Your photos have been very helpful to me. Most of the issues have been resolved. There are only a few quest […]
Show full quote
Shponglefan wrote on 2022-08-04, 20:26:

I have one. I can post some high res photos.

Thank you very much! Your photos have been very helpful to me. Most of the issues have been resolved.
There are only a few questions left that could not be seen.
Values of following units:
- Capacitors: C2, C3 and C4, C6
- Capacitor C67
- Resistor R35
- U3 - marking is applied very poorly and is not shown in any photo.
- resistors array: RA1 and RA2
Also interested in marking on a large disk capacitor С5 ((placed near the MIDI connector).
Near it is a similar disk capacitor: interesting its name and value.
There is no need to take pictures. It will be enough if you look at the markings of these parts and write in text.

C2, C3:

103KY

The attachment IMG_1970.jpeg is no longer available

C5, C70:

SR
104M
16V

The attachment IMG_1968.jpeg is no longer available

C4, C6:

222
JA

The attachment IMG_1969.jpeg is no longer available

C67:

16V 100uF

RA1, RA2:

RML S8 103J

R35:

The attachment IMG_1971.jpeg is no longer available
The attachment IMG_1972.jpeg is no longer available

Reply 10 of 67, by libby

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U3:

The attachment IMG_1973.jpeg is no longer available

Reply 11 of 67, by scg

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Thanks for the comprehensive answer. I will try to process this information. I hope that I have no more questions about the components.

Reply 12 of 67, by DaveJustDave

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scg wrote on 2022-08-24, 19:53:

Thanks for the comprehensive answer. I will try to process this information. I hope that I have no more questions about the components.

Very excited for this! and thanks to @Shponglefan for posting those photos! As a kid I've never even SEEN the music feature card apart from a few blurry magazine photos. I've always seen the option on the setup menus for Sierra SCI games and wondered what it would be like to own one.

I have no clue what I'm doing! If you want to watch me fumble through all my retro projects, you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrDavejustdave

Reply 13 of 67, by scg

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Preliminary version (pre1) of the IMFC scheme.
Now, only one thing remains unclear: what is the pin 2 of the resistor matrix RA1 connected to?
Almost completed PCB layout. As soon as I deal with the last issue, I will order the production of a test PCB.

Reply 14 of 67, by Pierre32

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Really cool project. Looking forward to seeing the first prototype, and I hope this eventually allows some more people to experience the card. Game support might be limited but it's fun to explore, and there are tools for musicians too like this: https://archive.org/details/mvle-imf

I've only been able to experience it in Yamaha FB-01 form, thanks to SoftIMFC.

Reply 15 of 67, by libby

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scg wrote on 2022-09-04, 07:36:

Now, only one thing remains unclear: what is the pin 2 of the resistor matrix RA1 connected to?

Pin 2 of RA1 is NC unless this is a three layer board but I don't think it is.

Reply 16 of 67, by scg

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libby wrote on 2022-09-05, 19:22:

Pin 2 of RA1 is NC

It turns out that I do not understand the purpose of the wire, which I marked in red in the photo. I assumed that one end of it is connected to pin RA1-2.

The attachment unk_wire.jpg is no longer available
libby wrote on 2022-09-05, 19:22:

unless this is a three layer board but I don't think it is.

I assume there are four layers: signal-GND-POWER-signal. 😀
At least I don't see the ICs being powered through the outer layers.

Reply 17 of 67, by scg

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In this photo, it looks like a wire is connected to pin 2 of the RA1.

The attachment RA1-2_2.jpg is no longer available

Reply 18 of 67, by Shponglefan

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DaveJustDave wrote on 2022-08-24, 21:53:

Very excited for this! and thanks to @Shponglefan for posting those photos! As a kid I've never even SEEN the music feature card apart from a few blurry magazine photos. I've always seen the option on the setup menus for Sierra SCI games and wondered what it would be like to own one.

To be perfectly honest, it's a bit of novelty item. It's not really well supported and even among the games that do support it (e.g. Sierra games), most of the music wasn't written for it. Consequently, a lot of the game music used by it just doesn't sound good, especially compared to something like a Roland MT-32 / LAPC-I.

On the other hand, there are some game soundtracks (e.g. Silpheed) which show that it is capable of decent-sounding FM synthesized music.

In a way it's a shame it wasn't better supported with proper game music written for it.

Pentium 4 Multi-OS Build
486 DX4-100 with 6 sound cards
486 DX-33 with 5 sound cards

Reply 19 of 67, by scg

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scg wrote on 2022-09-17, 19:50:

In this photo, it looks like a wire is connected to pin 2 of the RA1.
RA1-2_2.jpg

I'm assuming that pin pin 2 of the RA1 is connected to pin 13 U5. This doesn't make sense, however I can't explain the wire I've marked red in the picture above.
Can anyone check if this is true?