I think that's actually a Soundscape II. It is missing the Elite's ESP daughterboard. It would be attached on the connectors beside the Motorola 68EC000 microcontroller. Otherwise identical though AFAIK. It could also be an Elite just missing the DB and it would work fine I believe.

Replacing the missing components should get the other channel working. Clear photos of the area would be nice...

Thank you for this optimistic feedback! I am not sure myself as to the exact model. The dB could have been there. Od there a way to make sure about what model is it?

Amazing find you got there and the best of luck.

Thank you!

getting rare retro and working hardware (and for me isa soundcards in particular) cheap is the best and most exciting thing in this hobby.

This is probably my best deal since getting mint Gravis Ultrasound Classic for almost no money. I just hope I will get this channel to work, but it seems highly probable now.

My initial judgement: for some reason I like AWE32 patches more, not to mention the way Yamaha SW60XG sounds. Still, I will keep this card as a valuable addition to my collection.

Small update - as swaaye correctly noticed, this is Soundscape II and not Elite, judging by the chipset indications (it has Otto R2 and not R2C chip).

Could someone please recommend me the best capacitators out there to use for replacement? As far as I see, all the caps on that card are 10uF 16V caps (third figure being probably some serial number).

For SMD parts it's important to choose the right form factor, or else they won't fit on the solder pads (too small or too big). I would measure one of the other caps with a gauge that can read 1/10mm precision, and post the size so we can help you choose the right capacitor

Most common sizes are 0402 which is 1x0.5mm, 0603 which is 1.6x0.8mm, 0805 which is 2x1.2mm, 1206 which is 3.2x1.6mm.

I have mesured the plastic feet of those caps with my regular gauge. They seem to be 4.3mm x 4.3mm.

Now, there are two types of them, as it appears:

- 10 16S 5C3

- 10 16S 3DB

I don't actually know what does the last designation stand for, but probably lot number (so insignificant)

I think with those sizes you were referring to rectangular caps, and mine are like this in terms of form:

I got all the damaged caps replaced and the card is fully working! I sourced the caps from some AGP Matrox card which I didn't really needed. They even seem to be the same brand as those on Ensoniq. They did a very good job. You simply cannot tell that some caps were replaced - and this is how I wanted it done. So it looks as new.

Here are some photos of the whole card and the section where the caps were replaced:

Here next to my SW60XG (a MUCH better sounding synth):

And here are the caps:

Pretty cool card.

Surprised that it was able to be fixed since it has "DYING" printed directly on the PCB on the left side in the first picture... (lulz)

It badly tried to die and I got it from some parts butcher. But for now seems rescued. Will try to keep it that way, even though I dont find too much use for it 😀