cyclone3d wrote on 2026-01-28, 05:16:

Ok, I've got a compiled test initializer for the onboard wavetable. Just have to pull out my test rig, install DOS and the card […]
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Ok, I've got a compiled test initializer for the onboard wavetable. Just have to pull out my test rig, install DOS and the card and the base Jazz16 drivers and then run the program and see what it returns and, if it returns expected data, run a game to see if it works as expected.

It will be a miracle if it works the first try.. ha.

I'll post in the other thread that is specifically about the drivers for this card with detailed results and updates as well as an update here to look at the other thread. I'll only post simple updates here.

Probably will not happen for a day or 2 though as I need to not stay up all night.

This would be nice, do you have the link where this is shown?

The other page is linked near the top of this thread.

There is no link for anything else as I used two different chatgpt instances to help me with the research and the code.

Some of it has to do with the ALSA drivers as well as some other things it was able to find. Hopefully I can get it tested tonight. Provided it actually gives some insite, I will post it here.

I'll release the source as well as soon as it is to the point of working as needed.

Well, I didn't locate the WD drives like that I thought I have. Still have one or two more places to go through though.

Also working on locating the sound card. Been quite a while since I have touched it.

Found the Jazzwave card. Should have some results this evening.

cyclone3d wrote on Yesterday, 04:30:

Found the Jazzwave card. Should have some results this evening.

Looking forward to hearing your results. 😀

It'd be great to get some music out of this card for the first time in probably 30 years.

Found my Jazzwave in a tub yesterday, checked and the cap value at CT6 on mine is 10uF, 16V. At the least the value is the same for CT6, 10 and 11 and all the other caps in that part of the board.

I also got around to testing WFLITE, which is the synth driver written by ICS and used by the Soundforte 32 Wave card, but no joy there (as expected). Screenshot below.

But fingers crossed cyclone or the system disk can yield the needed files to get this show on the road!

JidaiGeki wrote on Today, 06:29:

Found my Jazzwave in a tub yesterday, checked and the cap value at CT6 on mine is 10uF, 16V. At the least the value is the same […]
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Found my Jazzwave in a tub yesterday, checked and the cap value at CT6 on mine is 10uF, 16V. At the least the value is the same for CT6, 10 and 11 and all the other caps in that part of the board.

I also got around to testing WFLITE, which is the synth driver written by ICS and used by the Soundforte 32 Wave card, but no joy there (as expected). Screenshot below.

The attachment IMG_5986.jpeg is no longer available

But fingers crossed cyclone or the system disk can yield the needed files to get this show on the road!

Since we are currently using this thread, I'll just go ahead and post progress and info here. I'll update the original thread that talked about drivers later. I'll probably end up making a complete new thread with instructions, etc IF I get this working. In reality, we could then have an all-in-one utility for the Wavefront cards.

Ok, so the Turtle Beach cards with the Wavefront synths have another ICS chip that controls the Wavefront Synth. The JazzWave does not have this chip. It makes sense that WFLITE doesn't work with this card. This will probably give me a clue. The TBS2000 (Tropez32) ICS chips are also different from the Maui. The datasheet for the chip on the Tropez32 (ICS2302Y) is not available anywhere. The Tropez Classic and Maui use the ICS2116 and Topez Plus uses the ICS2116Y.

The other known cards are the JazzWave (Jazz16), the Anstar (ESS 1688), and the MeidaForte SF-32-WAV (Vibra16), none of which have the ICS Wavefront control chips and are thus controlled by the main chips. The Anstar and MediaForte cards appartently work with the same initialization programs but the JazzWave does not.

So far, I am able to enable and switch between the waveblaster header and the external midi interfaces.

Starting up new research into specifically enabling the wavefront synth (MPU jumper set to disable).

cyclone3d wrote on Today, 20:22:

Since we are currently using this thread, I'll just go ahead and post progress and info here. I'll update the original thread th […]
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JidaiGeki wrote on Today, 06:29:

Found my Jazzwave in a tub yesterday, checked and the cap value at CT6 on mine is 10uF, 16V. At the least the value is the same […]
Show full quote

Found my Jazzwave in a tub yesterday, checked and the cap value at CT6 on mine is 10uF, 16V. At the least the value is the same for CT6, 10 and 11 and all the other caps in that part of the board.

I also got around to testing WFLITE, which is the synth driver written by ICS and used by the Soundforte 32 Wave card, but no joy there (as expected). Screenshot below.

The attachment IMG_5986.jpeg is no longer available

But fingers crossed cyclone or the system disk can yield the needed files to get this show on the road!

Since we are currently using this thread, I'll just go ahead and post progress and info here. I'll update the original thread that talked about drivers later. I'll probably end up making a complete new thread with instructions, etc IF I get this working. In reality, we could then have an all-in-one utility for the Wavefront cards.

Ok, so the Turtle Beach cards with the Wavefront synths have another ICS chip that controls the Wavefront Synth. The JazzWave does not have this chip. It makes sense that WFLITE doesn't work with this card. This will probably give me a clue. The TBS2000 (Tropez32) ICS chips are also different from the Maui. The datasheet for the chip on the Tropez32 (ICS2302Y) is not available anywhere. The Tropez Classic and Maui use the ICS2116 and Topez Plus uses the ICS2116Y.

The other known cards are the JazzWave (Jazz16), the Anstar (ESS 1688), and the MeidaForte SF-32-WAV (Vibra16), none of which have the ICS Wavefront control chips and are thus controlled by the main chips. The Anstar and MediaForte cards appartently work with the same initialization programs but the JazzWave does not.

So far, I am able to enable and switch between the waveblaster header and the external midi interfaces.

Starting up new research into specifically enabling the wavefront synth (MPU jumper set to disable).

Definitely looking forward to seeing what you're able to come up with.

It would still be cool to salvage the data from that old hard drive, but having any way to get these things working would be awesome. 😀

Rubix wrote on 2026-01-27, 19:02:

The drive does spin up, but then can't initialize properly. […]
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The drive does spin up, but then can't initialize properly.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-01-27, 16:04:

Forgot to mention, can you post pictures of the PCB from the hard drive that is not working? If possible remove it from the drive so we can see both sides.

Sure:

Sorry, this is a bit late, but... those two boards look identical to me. They have the same PCB model.

Have you had a chance to back up the data on the working drive yet? There is a very good possibility that swapping the board from the working one to the non-working one will at least get you a step closer to reading it.