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Making a MIDI daughterboard from scrap parts

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First post, by brunobox99

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Good evening fellow Vogons members,

I have seen that a lot of users are buying newly made MIDI daughterboards made by Serdaco, and I would like to buy one for myself but due to the euro being very expensive on my country, I can't afford one, not even the least expensive.

So I thought that I could build myself a poor man's daughterboard from scrap parts, and I have a pair of chips from a defective laptop motherboard that I had laying around. The laptop was a Compaq Armada, and the pair of chips are just in opposite sides of the board, so I cut the board to a small size, I have some experience with soldering/desoldering, but I'm not an electronic engineer nor an expert in digital electronics.

Could anybody with more knowledge and experience guide me on what can I do to convert this piece to a do-it-yourself daughterboard? I'm attaching two photos of the board I cut.

Thanks in advance, if I'm succesful with this, I would be very happy, and if not... Well at least I wanted to try.

Please excuse any gramatical error in my post, english is not my native language (I speak spanish), but I'm trying to write the best I can without using an online translator.

Bruno

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Reply 1 of 10, by DerBaum

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maybe you could get a ESS ES1868F card with missing wavetable chips like this one for example : http://www.amoretro.de/2012/09/labway-ess-aud … soundkarte.html

That would be the option involving the least amount of work.

If you have a look at the datasheet i have attached, you will see you have 2 options.

Use the chips with a soundcard that is missing these chips, OR using these chips as midi only with a DAC to convert the digital output to sound.

It doesnt seem very complicated when you get the missing parts like a dac and a crystal...

Attachments

  • Filename
    ES689F.zip
    File size
    60.35 KiB
    Downloads
    20 downloads
    File license
    Public domain

FCKGW-RHQQ2

Reply 2 of 10, by brunobox99

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DerBaum wrote on 2023-11-28, 02:35:

...OR using these chips as midi only with a DAC to convert the digital output...

Hi, thanks for the suggestion, I was thinking more about using a DAC, because those cards you said are non-existant here. I think the Y1 component of the 1st photo is a crystal. What DAC chip could I use? I could try to find the required chip in my pile of broken/damaged motherboards.

Reply 3 of 10, by DerBaum

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brunobox99 wrote on 2023-11-28, 02:59:
DerBaum wrote on 2023-11-28, 02:35:

...OR using these chips as midi only with a DAC to convert the digital output...

Hi, thanks for the suggestion, I was thinking more about using a DAC, because those cards you said are non-existant here. I think the Y1 component of the 1st photo is a crystal. What DAC chip could I use? I could try to find the required chip in my pile of broken/damaged motherboards.

oh yes. thats the crystal.

The Datasheet is a little bit confused with the naming:
We need a I2S Stereo DAC.
We have 3 Signals:
MSD (SD) = Data
MCLK (BC) = Data Clock
LR (LR) = Left/Right Clock

I am not an expert with I2S or DACs but i would guess most of the cheapo china DAC boards can handle these 3 signals.

FCKGW-RHQQ2

Reply 4 of 10, by brunobox99

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DerBaum wrote on 2023-11-28, 03:38:
...The Datasheet is a little bit confused with the naming: We need a I2S Stereo DAC. We have 3 Signals: MSD (SD) = Data MCLK (BC […]
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...The Datasheet is a little bit confused with the naming:
We need a I2S Stereo DAC.
We have 3 Signals:
MSD (SD) = Data
MCLK (BC) = Data Clock
LR (LR) = Left/Right Clock
...

Thanks, I will search for DAC chips in those junk boards I have here and will report back.

Reply 5 of 10, by brunobox99

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Good evening Der Baum, I found a Philips DA1311A, could this DAC work?

Here is the datasheet.

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  • Filename
    TDA1311AT.pdf
    File size
    138.41 KiB
    Downloads
    17 downloads
    File license
    Public domain

Reply 6 of 10, by DerBaum

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brunobox99 wrote on 2023-11-29, 02:06:

Good evening Der Baum, I found a Philips DA1311A, could this DAC work?

Here is the datasheet.

I dont know. But its worth a try.
It looks promising from the datasheet.

FCKGW-RHQQ2

Reply 7 of 10, by zwrr

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You'll need to find a sound card with ES689F and ES982 blank soldering positions, which IMHO can be a difficult thing to do.
My suggestion is, why don't you try making your own wavetable MIDI board? Like this one, it's easy to make and low cost.
https://github.com/hkzlab/DWAVE_MIDI_Wavetable

Cyrix 486DLC-40, 386-VC-H, 16MB, GD5422, ES1868F

Intel 486DX4-100EW, VI15G, 16MB, WD90C33, ES1868F

AMD5x86-133, HIPPO-15, 32MB, S3 Vison 964, ES1868F

K6-3+ 500, T2P4, 128MB, Millennium II, Voodoo 2 12MB, SoundBlaster AWE32

Reply 8 of 10, by Tiido

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You're probably gonna have to get a new PCB made, the little piece is unlikely to have all the connections intact and you definitely need to add stuff to it so it can even be interfaced with some other device.

As far as DAC goes, the datasheet isn't clear what format the output is, but I imagine it is Right Justified 16bits for which TDA1311 should be perfect for.

T-04YBSC, a new YMF71x based sound card & Official VOGONS thread about it
Newly made 4MB 60ns 30pin SIMMs ~
mida sa loed ? nagunii aru ei saa 😜

Reply 9 of 10, by zwrr

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Seeing this in the thrift market, judging by the number of pins in the empty space, this should be what you need.

1.jpg
Filename
1.jpg
File size
604.05 KiB
Views
465 views
File license
Public domain
2.jpg
Filename
2.jpg
File size
425.8 KiB
Views
465 views
File license
Public domain

Cyrix 486DLC-40, 386-VC-H, 16MB, GD5422, ES1868F

Intel 486DX4-100EW, VI15G, 16MB, WD90C33, ES1868F

AMD5x86-133, HIPPO-15, 32MB, S3 Vison 964, ES1868F

K6-3+ 500, T2P4, 128MB, Millennium II, Voodoo 2 12MB, SoundBlaster AWE32

Reply 10 of 10, by brunobox99

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Tiido wrote on 2023-11-29, 10:21:

You're probably gonna have to get a new PCB made, the little piece is unlikely to have all the connections intact and you definitely need to add stuff to it so it can even be interfaced with some other device [...]

Hello Tiido, thanks for the suggestion, I know that making a new PCB would be the ideal... But I lack the knowledge and the funds neccesary for doing it. I will try to attach the DAC to the board this weekend. I must find some eschematics first, in order to know what other components are required.

zwrr wrote on 2023-11-30, 00:17:

Seeing this in the thrift market, judging by the number of pins in the empty space, this should be what you need.

Hi, thanks for the suggestion, those cards would make my life easier, definitely. But probably shipping one of these cards to South America would be as expensive as the card itself, if not more.

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