VOGONS


Reply 60 of 548, by root42

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LABS wrote:

Just received some fresh OPL2s 😀

I still have a bunch + DACs. Would love to put them to use.

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Reply 61 of 548, by keropi

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LABS wrote:

Just received some fresh OPL2s 😀

who else love the smell of fresh OPL2s in the morning? 🤣

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 63 of 548, by LABS

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Ok, a production variant of a 2-layer PCB is ready in copper.
Now I need to drill a lot of <1mm holes to finish it.
As I don't have a drill press in my workshop - all holes for previous prototypes were 1mm and were drilled by hand. But now I need to replicate the production PCB and there are a lot of 0.5mm and 0.8mm holes, which need a drill press.
So during this week I made one using some plywood leftovers, but as you see it does not have a motor yet. I hope it will arrive very soon 😀
[attachment=-1]P1010622.jpg[/attachment]

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Last edited by LABS on 2020-01-03, 09:52. Edited 1 time in total.

Blasterboard: DIY SB2-compatible sound card on ATmega MCU
Sonic Buster 8: New 8-bit ISA sound card

Reply 64 of 548, by bytestorm

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WOW 😁. You´re workin fast! How great wouldnt a bugfree sound card be!! I have just been digging in the Sound Blaster jungle and I almost lost myselt in all the variations and buglists etc.. this couldnt come soon enough 😁

Please keep up the great work!

Reply 65 of 548, by matze79

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wow amazing work 😀

Congratulations, this looks really professional.

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https://www.retroianer.de - german retro computer board

Reply 66 of 548, by root42

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Looking forward to a kit or schematics! Whatever you are going to release.

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Reply 70 of 548, by Fagear

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Vaudane wrote:

Loving the progress on this! I have also bookmarked this thread 😁

Bookmarked and subscribed indeed!

LABS, very nice project!
Really looking forward for it.

New 8-bit ISA Sound Blaster replacement, presumably without glitches and bad sound quality of variety of original boards will be great.

New BIG soundcard: FMonster.
Covox Sound Master replica
Innovation SSI-2001 replica & DuoSID.
My audio/video collection.

Reply 73 of 548, by LABS

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Hello, there!

Finally had time to finish the prototype:

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The digital part is on the left and analog part - a 4-channel mixer and amplifier - on the right. As seen it has 4 dedicated volume knobs for every sound source and one stereo output jack. The output has a delayed unmute circuit, so it doesn't pop on power up. As I already said in previous posts - the card has around -92dB noise level and does not catch internal computer noises as original 8-bit Sound Blaster cards did. After assembling everything on a single board the digital part runs super stable and smooth, BlasterBoard 2.0 is recognized as SoundBlaster 2.0 in all DOS games and demos I tried it on, autodetected as "Sound Blaster or compatible" by Windows versions prior to XP and runs nicely with Windows games - already tried Diablo, Hexen II, StarCraft and Half-Life.

After some minor layout fixes I will order first PCBs from manufacturer and make the firmware open for everyone.

Blasterboard: DIY SB2-compatible sound card on ATmega MCU
Sonic Buster 8: New 8-bit ISA sound card

Reply 74 of 548, by Fagear

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LABS wrote:

After assembling everything on a single board the digital part runs super stable and smooth, BlasterBoard 2.0 is recognized as SoundBlaster 2.0 in all DOS games and demos I tried it on, autodetected as "Sound Blaster or compatible" by Windows versions prior to XP and runs nicely with Windows games - already tried Diablo, Hexen II, StarCraft and Half-Life.

Wow, that's great progress, really like the board! Fantastic work, LABS. 😳
I'd prefer it in SMD though. 😉

New BIG soundcard: FMonster.
Covox Sound Master replica
Innovation SSI-2001 replica & DuoSID.
My audio/video collection.

Reply 75 of 548, by Jo22

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Looks good! Well done!

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 76 of 548, by canthearu

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If I'm making it, through hole is easiest to assemble (with sockets and discrete components.

If it is being made in a factory, SMD is probably cheapest where possible.

But looks awesome either way. Need some artwork for the solder mask in the empty corner 😀

Reply 77 of 548, by LABS

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Fagear wrote:

Wow, that's great progress, really like the board! Fantastic work, LABS. 😳

Thanks, Max. Not as fast as I actually wanted it to happen, but anyway. I wish to go full-time...

Jo22 wrote:

Looks good! Well done!

Thank you!

canthearu wrote:

If I'm making it, through hole is easiest to assemble (with sockets and discrete components.

That is the exact reason for using THT.

canthearu wrote:

Need some artwork for the solder mask in the empty corner 😀

Yes, going to put tables with jumper settings there and project's name)

Blasterboard: DIY SB2-compatible sound card on ATmega MCU
Sonic Buster 8: New 8-bit ISA sound card

Reply 78 of 548, by dreamblaster

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Looks superb !

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 79 of 548, by LABS

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Ok, just measured the output noise
Used RME Multiface for input @ 44100hz/32-bit float & WaveSpectra for Win

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-94db RMS - not bad, right? With DSP, OPL2 and PC-speaker knobs set to max

But after connecting CD-audio and set its knob to max - I get this

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Can hear silent, but audible constant high-pitched noise and variable noises from cd-rom motors 😠
Looks like a gnd loop.
Already tried messing around with gnd and R/L signals, connecting/disconnecting/buffering of cd-out on dedicated cd-gnd plane/checked solder quality/lp filtering - nothing works, the noise is in audible spectrum with peak @~8khz. If I connect cd-out via buffer to the power amp directly with a 3m cable - no noise at all, very clean signal, so there is a hope.

Unfortunately I do not have any hi-q cards with cd-in to check them out for possible solutions. Tried to trace hi-res photos of Aztec and Gravis cards and as I could see - nothing fancy here, just some filtering of inaudible freqs and gnds are connected, but maybe I just didn't notice something. How do their cd-ins behave by the way? Are they noiseless?
Anyone dealing with the same problem? Any suggestion will help. Thank you.

Blasterboard: DIY SB2-compatible sound card on ATmega MCU
Sonic Buster 8: New 8-bit ISA sound card