My ancient mystery Covox box \ VOGONS

My ancient mystery Covox box

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First post, by Pierre32

Posted on 2021-03-08, 03:43

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A few weeks ago I was browsing the old auction site, and came across a curious listing. It was described as a "Custom Built Hand Made Software Midi to Hardware Converter." You already know what it turned out to be thanks to my thread title. But at the time it was a mystery purchase, and I couldn't wait to see what was in it.

Here's what landed. There's a pair of red/brown wires separate to the ribbon cable (with bare ends) which I took to be the audio output:

The attachment Mystery Box.jpg is no longer available

First things first: Check out the internals. Take a look at that charming 90s DIY!

The attachment Internals 1.jpg is no longer available

The attachment Internals 2.jpg is no longer available

I did a quick test with Star Control 2 to confirm that it functioned as a Covox Speech Thing. Then made a small improvement to tidy up that audio connection:

The attachment Improved.jpg is no longer available

I know that Covox audio is not new or interesting to the forum, but I captured some samples to share elsewhere so I'll share them here too. They're compiled into a video, but I'll attach the audio files in the next post.

Last edited by Pierre32 on 2021-03-08, 03:50. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 6, by Pierre32

Posted on 2021-03-08, 03:45

Pierre32 Offline

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Robbo title music:

The attachment Robbo.mp3 is no longer available

Pinball Fantasies - Speed Devils table:

The attachment PinballF SpeedDevils.mp3 is no longer available

Obligatory Star Control 2 - Commander Hayes theme:

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And a brief grab from Space Adventure: JFK and some very muddy Mars flyover music.

The attachment SpaceAdventure.mp3 is no longer available

Reply 2 of 6, by BetaC

Posted on 2021-03-08, 05:18

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That's cool as all hell, purely for just how obviously homebrew it is.

Reply 3 of 6, by weedeewee

Posted on 2021-03-08, 09:26

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Neat

standard R-2R DAC network.
If you had two parallel ports, you could have stereo output and
there are versions which allow stereo on one parallel port.
made a few myself over twenty years ago.

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Reply 4 of 6, by Big Pink

Posted on 2021-03-08, 15:47

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It's amazing how just a bunch of resistors in the right formation can yield working audio. It's up there with crystal radios in terms of simplicity.

I thought IBM was born with the world

Reply 5 of 6, by darry

Posted on 2021-03-08, 16:06

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It is indeed cool to see and hear that .

I am a complete new on these things, but is that board actually acid etched (for that single trace, which I assume to be ground) ? If so, it seems like it's actually a more professional DIY job than using something like a perfboard .

Incidentally, I just realized that https://www.radioshack.com/ is still a thing, that they actually still sell perfboards and that they pay enough to Google to actually have one of their ads for that perfboard show up for me as the first option when I googled "perfboard" . 🤣

Reply 6 of 6, by weedeewee

Posted on 2021-03-08, 16:58

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darry wrote on 2021-03-08, 16:06:

It is indeed cool to see and hear that .

I am a complete new on these things, but is that board actually acid etched (for that single trace, which I assume to be ground) ? If so, it seems like it's actually a more professional DIY job than using something like a perfboard .

Incidentally, I just realized that https://www.radioshack.com/ is still a thing, that they actually still sell perfboards and that they pay enough to Google to actually have one of their ads for that perfboard show up for me as the first option when I googled "perfboard" . 🤣

Pretty sure this Radioshack incarnation only came into existence last year.

Right to repair is fundamental. You own it, you're allowed to fix it.
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Do not ask Why !
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Serial_port

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