Tiido wrote on 2022-01-08, 05:38:

SB has quite strong LPF at its output so it'll definitely round out those squarewaves.

Considering that many games of that time used 11kHz samples, so every signal above 5.5kHz is unwanted aliasing (i.e. noise), the quite strong LPF on the classic sound blasters actually is a quite good idea. OTOH, for that purpose, it would have been enough to filter the DAC output, and mix in the music output (which should be free of audible aliasing) after the filter. Taking the harshness from the square wave CMS output might be a good reason to have that one filtered, too, though.

OK, so I'm looking at building one of these things but I'd like to know about some parts substitutions:
1.Substitution of most of the 74LS logic to 74F because they're actually available at Mouser and Digikey.
-The U7, U8 (74LS138) and U17 (74LS139) appear to be available, so they'll stay as they are on the BOM
-Additionally, I may swap out U29 (74LS14) for a 74ACT14 depending on availability when I order my board
2. I plan to use the PLCC-44 equivalent of the recommended microcontroller with a soldered in DIP-40 to PLCC-44 adaptor because of availability and the possibility of using an original Creative DAC if I ever come across one.
3.Also, I plan to use TDK FG and FA (for the .1 UF caps) series MLCCs throughout for all of the ceramics except for the 2 30 pfs attached to the crystal: I'll use either Kemet Goldmax MLCCs or Kyocera AVX SR Series caps. Any suggestion where I should try putting Film caps in to maximize the sound quality. I should have audio grade Nichicons on hand for the electrolytics.

Thanks!

Everyone, I hope this thread isn't too cold. I built a snark barker ISA and having problems (no sound from SB, Adlib etc....just a hum).
1. Does the snark barker require a volume knob/wheel installed on the potentiometer for me to hear anything from either the SB or Adlib on the board?
2. Will the potentiometer work without installing wires? I saw some blue wires soldered to the unit on one of the first postings in this thread and don't know what that's all about.
Thanks in advance for your advice. Can't wait to solve the problem.

As for the knob: no, it's just a mechanical part to make it easier to turn the pot.

Not too sure about the wire, but it is on the schematic, so probably a good idea. Mine is buried deep in a case I can't reach right now, and my pics aren't clear on that part, so can't check what I did exactly.

There's definitely sound without any wires around the pot (I don't have any patch wire there), so there's probably some other issue at work.

thanks for checking about patch wires around the pot. I'm going to start fresh again(sigh) and socket every IC. I'm hoping it was a bad IC off ebay (TEA, DAC, etc. )
last question on the pot for now...so without the wheel how do I turn the pot to increase the volume? Thanks again.

Klench wrote on 2023-02-06, 01:14:

thanks for checking about patch wires around the pot. I'm going to start fresh again(sigh) and socket every IC. I'm hoping it was a bad IC off ebay (TEA, DAC, etc. )
last question on the pot for now...so without the wheel how do I turn the pot to increase the volume? Thanks again.

Please check backwards on this thread, I have inquired about this and gotten some feedback.

Start reading here: Re: Tube Time: Announcing The Snark Barker, a 100% Compatible SB 1.0 Replica!

You will need to solder a few resistors to set volume at a fixed level without the potentiometer. Reading back on the discussion leads me to believe no potentiometer would result in no sound.

That's also correct: no potentiometer is going to be no sound. If the pot is placed (and not broken, wrong type, or turned all the way down), there should be some sound, even without any patch wire (in fact, I also didn't see one in the schematic -there's a dotted line between the two pots shown there, but that just suggests to me that the two pots shown there are driven together as one - that line also doesn't run to any pin of the pot, unless I'm totally cross-eyed now 😁).

As I understood Klench, he does have the pot installed, but is missing the knob and was wondering about the patch-wire that can be seen it the picture in the first post.

As for the latest question: Without the knob, the alps pot I got for this is indeed a bit difficult to adjust as it's threaded for a screw. Even just using some washers under the screw might simply block it. It might work just tightening the screw and trying to carefully turn it afterwards by the screw (which is what I did, before I printed the knob) - after all, when it's set once and with using external speakers, there's usually not much need to touch it again.

The better way would probably be to find someone with a 3D printer and having them print the part for you - it's a small thing with no big associated costs.

Maybe, if you'd want to hint where you're from, someone could also help you out with it. As long as it's not international shipping, I wouldn't mind sending you one.

Otherwise, you could let e.g. JLCPCB print one for you - the part itself is going to be 1 USD and with shipping, etc. it might come up to about 5 or 6 USD (unless you have more things to order).

Hey I just wanted to thank everyone involved in the Snark Barker project. I built one a while ago and just tested it today, worked awesome straight up. It was somehow a much bigger soldering job than I expected so it had me worried after so much time invested but I'm happy in the end 😁. Not sure I'm up for building any more but I'll enjoy this one.

I still have to build mine, haven't found the time yet but I do have all the components, except for a bracket. What did you do for the bracket? looking for a proper metal one, not a 3D printed one.

Post a photo of yours. 😀

pan069 wrote on 2023-04-18, 10:58:

I still have to build mine, haven't found the time yet but I do have all the components, except for a bracket. What did you do for the bracket? looking for a proper metal one, not a 3D printed one.

Post a photo of yours. 😀

Hey, I haven't installed the bracket yet but I'm using a metal one. All my tools to cut it are back at my parents house so I'll bring it with me on my next visit. I have a couple other brackets to do on the picoGUS also. I'll post you a picture when I have the bracket on. It's a very long build, actually equally as long as an entire 8 bit computer. It took me three long sessions over 3 days to complete one card. But it's excellent and well worth the effort.

I know this is more or less a dead thread but I just wanted to thank Tube Time and the rest of the steely eyed missile men (he'll get that reference if he ever reads this, 🤣) for this project. I finally got a chance to test the two I built and they both work really well. I have both DSPs so I plan to do a bit of testing. Also, I built one with Wima film caps instead of MLCCs just to see if it made a difference. All that'll have to wait a bit though, because school starts back up today. I'll add a couple of pics to the post later this afternoon, though!!!

I have a firmware question.

It seems like the latest one for SB1 was DSP 2.00 adding some specific DMA modes, while SB2 had DPS 2.01+ allowing additional sample rates (up to 44.1 kHz mono if memory serves, even more on BlasterBoard clone).

On the other hand, SB2.0 has almost the same schematics and the same "DSP" chip (just an ordinary 8051).

So was it possible to use DSP 2.01 on SB 1.0? Or is it possible to use DSP 2.01 on SnarkBarker at least? Like, Creative wanted to sale new cards, not to improve existing ones via releases of the new firmware.

I thought about making it green but eventually went black, Audigy like.

Not really happy with plastic backplate but it's better than nothing. Will see how it looks assembled.

That makes me want to build a black one now 😁 I actually have the parts, no PCB though. Let me know if you have any extra PCBs you are willing to let go 😉

Lol, sorry, I'm buying components on AliExpress, they have magical attachment to number 5 😀 So I got all components to build 5 boards and already found friends for remaining ones.

Hello.
I just finished my two first SB.
I must report that all my 89S51 from mouser were defective (bad checkid FF FF on a T48 and doesnt work even when you program them bypassing the checkid test)... I lost two days with testings, schematics, oscilloscope... Only because of them.
It worked with 89s52 that I found elsewere.
Also got a disruptive 7408 (u16) that was crashing the dma (bought on ali).
So, my advice (but I think everyone is doing like that) is to build the first one with sockets and test all the ic for the other one before soldering... And don't trust big shops as they can also send you bad ICs... That was my first problem with mouser as I made 5 perfecly working picoGUS 1.1 with their chips.

Cheers!

Yeah that got me too, the chips I soldered down ended up being the bad ones and the ones with sockets were fine. Do that enough times and the PCB will be damaged.
Mine had a fault on the analog side that stopped FM sound output working: Re: Tube Time: Announcing The Snark Barker, a 100% Compatible SB 1.0 Replica!
Weird that I remember the exact chip name that was faulty almost 5 years later

Very odd that you had bad chips from mouser even recently, I thought that was done with after ~2021

One of my other builds I soldered down the CMS chips but it looks like those are counterfeit so that was a mistake.

groquik wrote on 2024-05-15, 21:26:

Hello. I just finished my two first SB. I must report that all my 89S51 from mouser were defective (bad checkid FF FF on a T48 a […]
Show full quote

Hello.
I just finished my two first SB.
I must report that all my 89S51 from mouser were defective (bad checkid FF FF on a T48 and doesnt work even when you program them bypassing the checkid test)... I lost two days with testings, schematics, oscilloscope... Only because of them.
It worked with 89s52 that I found elsewere.
Also got a disruptive 7408 (u16) that was crashing the dma (bought on ali).
So, my advice (but I think everyone is doing like that) is to build the first one with sockets and test all the ic for the other one before soldering... And don't trust big shops as they can also send you bad ICs... That was my first problem with mouser as I made 5 perfecly working picoGUS 1.1 with their chips.

Cheers!

Interesting, what symptoms were you seeing when your card wasn't working?

I haven't dug into mine too much yet but on testing it last night for the first time I noticed the YM3812 section works perfectly, the SAA1099 just hangs the computer when I test it and the sound blaster side played the tada.wav through the test utility but it took a long time and then hung after.

I'm using an 89S51 from Mouser as well for the DSP. I tried testing sound blaster in Descent setup, and it detects the card properly, but it crackles a little then locks up when testing. could this be the same issue with mine? I don't mind ordering a replacement chip, but I don't want to do that if it's possibly something stupid elsewhere.

From what I can see on the schematic, the ISA bus is connected to the different sections almost as if there are 3 different cards on the system which explains why the adlib stuff works fine while the other stuff doesn't. I'm sure my SAA chips could possibly be counterfeit but I've had them for a couple years now so probably can't return them.
I haven't install the NE558 chip yet since the original one I ordered never showed up but from what I can see, that only affects the joystick control which I don't care about at the moment any way.

Is there anything else I should be looking at?
I likely won't really use the SAA stuff too much, but I want to make sure it's working before I build any more cards, but the sound blaster side is non-negotiable as this is a SOUND BLASTER clone card. If I only wanted adlib, I'd just use one of my adlib cards!

I also initially had similar issues due to my Atmel DSP acting up but reflashing it did the trick for me..