root42 wrote on 2020-06-05, 14:57:

appiah4 wrote on 2020-06-05, 11:00:

I finally found a local supplier who has the Alps pot in stock so I ordered two. They will reach me in 2-3 weeks. It's a long wait, but I will finally have a working card, so I can't complain too much.

🤣. Sorry I forgot to mention, but I ordered two for you! They just arrived with the Renovation components. So if anyone needs two pots... Or I will have to build two more SnarkBarkers! 😁

I will take them as well, and pay of course. I have little confidence this local shop will send me anything let alone the correct parts 🤣

appiah4 wrote on 2020-06-05, 15:45:

I will take them as well, and pay of course. I have little confidence this local shop will send me anything let alone the correct parts 🤣

I will drop you a PM. Plus the brackets might get to me soon. Corona is toning down and my contact who made the brackets told me they are ready. I will contact everyone as soon as I have the brackets.

root42 wrote on 2020-06-05, 16:31:

appiah4 wrote on 2020-06-05, 15:45:

I will take them as well, and pay of course. I have little confidence this local shop will send me anything let alone the correct parts 🤣

I will drop you a PM. Plus the brackets might get to me soon. Corona is toning down and my contact who made the brackets told me they are ready. I will contact everyone as soon as I have the brackets.

Awesome!

This is great. Does anyone know whether the volume wheel is the one that was used by the Creative Music System card? I have that card, but it is missing the wheel (and the tiny screw, I suppose).

boxpressed wrote on 2020-06-05, 17:38:

This is great. Does anyone know whether the volume wheel is the one that was used by the Creative Music System card? I have that card, but it is missing the wheel (and the tiny screw, I suppose).

Hardly anyone owns an original CMS... you can make a mockup from carton by taking the STL file‘s measurement and see if it would fit.

root42 wrote on 2020-06-05, 17:58:

boxpressed wrote on 2020-06-05, 17:38:

This is great. Does anyone know whether the volume wheel is the one that was used by the Creative Music System card? I have that card, but it is missing the wheel (and the tiny screw, I suppose).

Hardly anyone owns an original CMS... you can make a mockup from carton by taking the STL file‘s measurement and see if it would fit.

Thanks. Did you make the STL? I apologize if it is attached to this thread, but could you point me to the file?

boxpressed wrote on 2020-06-05, 18:02:

root42 wrote on 2020-06-05, 17:58:

boxpressed wrote on 2020-06-05, 17:38:

This is great. Does anyone know whether the volume wheel is the one that was used by the Creative Music System card? I have that card, but it is missing the wheel (and the tiny screw, I suppose).

Hardly anyone owns an original CMS... you can make a mockup from carton by taking the STL file‘s measurement and see if it would fit.

Thanks. Did you make the STL? I apologize if it is attached to this thread, but could you point me to the file?

It's on the Snark Barker's GitHub page: https://github.com/schlae/snark-barker

Speaking of the CMS.. My SAA1099 chips arrived from Azerbeijan (of all places.. I ordered from China, originally?) today. So now I really do have EVERYTHING except the Alps Pot, which should be with me soon.

I love this card. However, the lack of any Line or Aux In ports makes it very difficult to use with a MIDI card without an external mixer, which is a real downer 🙁

appiah4 wrote on 2020-06-08, 11:38:

Speaking of the CMS.. My SAA1099 chips arrived from Azerbeijan (of all places.. I ordered from China, originally?) today. So now I really do have EVERYTHING except the Alps Pot, which should be with me soon.

I love this card. However, the lack of any Line or Aux In ports makes it very difficult to use with a MIDI card without an external mixer, which is a real downer 🙁

Yes I have the Alps pot right here. Shall I send it to you now, or do you want to wait for the Bracket...?

The port issue was the reason why I was using the Jazz16 for so long because it has a line in. Now I am using a USB mixer, which has way too few ports, but works fine, since the SC55 has a line in as well. So I have MT-32 -> SC55 -> USB mixer <- SnarkBarker. The Tandy is not connected, since I use it not that often...

Oh it's ok, I can wait for the bracket. Just send them together I wouldn't want to cause you twice the hassle 😀

What kind of USB mixer do you use for the job? If it's a cheap and easy solution I could go for that as well..

appiah4 wrote on 2020-06-08, 12:26:

Oh it's ok, I can wait for the bracket. Just send them together I wouldn't want to cause you twice the hassle 😀

What kind of USB mixer do you use for the job? If it's a cheap and easy solution I could go for that as well..

I use the Behringer Xenyx 302 USB. However as I said it has a bit too few line level inputs for my taste, plus weird routing, since it can also do USB playback and such, which irritated me yesterday during the stream... It has a mic input (albeit without 48V phantom, so a bit noisy) which is good for streaming and videos. I would rather have one with more, simple line level inputs that simply get mixed together. Even the bigger Xenyx ones don't look so attractive. If someone finds a decent mixer with 5 stereo inputs (SC55, MT32, SB, TNDY, and a spare), I would be all over it. With the Amiga and MegaDrive in the room as well, it might even be nice to have more inputs... 😉 But I capture those rarely so I can just unplug them.

The brackets are finally here. One problem: I took one wrong measurement and the ear is 2mm too low. I simply dremeles mine off since the bracket holds in place with the DB15 connector anyway.
I will write to all who ordered their PCBs with me for shipping details. I simply want shipping for this since I got the brackets for free from a friend (and I can’t make more without taking a larger batch and paying for it accordingly).

That looks ace. Shame about the bracket hold, but the bolt/but look kind of awkward anyway.

So my pot arrived today and I soldered it on.

Next problem: How am I supposed to attach the 3d printed volume knob? SMH..

appiah4 wrote on 2020-06-16, 17:09:

So my pot arrived today and I soldered it on.

Next problem: How am I supposed to attach the 3d printed volume knob? SMH..

You need a tiny screw. See TubeTime's github repo Readme. Usually you get this in stores that sell stuff for model plane and car building. Like DIY RC cars and planes. They need such tiny screws.

root42 wrote on 2020-06-16, 19:37:

appiah4 wrote on 2020-06-16, 17:09:

So my pot arrived today and I soldered it on.

Next problem: How am I supposed to attach the 3d printed volume knob? SMH..

You need a tiny screw. See TubeTime's github repo Readme. Usually you get this in stores that sell stuff for model plane and car building. Like DIY RC cars and planes. They need such tiny screws.

Ahh, I see. I checked the BOM and it's an M1,4x6mm. I ordered 100 of these, they should be here tomorrow. HOPEFULLY on Day 9 it will be COMPLETE and ready to test.

Imagine my disappointment if it does not work after all this effort. 😁

Well, I am disappoint total. I tried the card in two PCs and I have the same result:

Adlib/OPL3 sound works.
Sound Blaster sound does not: There is sound, but the volume is too low, almost as if it is not being amplified at all. Any pointers as to where the problem may be?

Mixed up some resistors? If PCM sound works, the MCU is ok. Also the DAC is probably fine. I would look at the schematics and trace the signal from the DAC to the AMP etc.

root42 wrote on 2020-06-20, 11:51:

Mixed up some resistors? If PCM sound works, the MCU is ok. Also the DAC is probably fine. I would look at the schematics and trace the signal from the DAC to the AMP etc.

I checked what I think are the only relevant resistors inbetween:

R10 39K Orange | White | Orange | Gold
R11 68K Blue | Gray | Orange | Gold |
R12 470K Yellow | Violet | Yellow | Gold
R18 1.5K 1% Brown | Green | Black | Brown | Brown
R22 27K Red | Violet | Orange | Gold
R25 27K Red | Violet | Orange | Gold
R26 4.7K Yellow | Violet | Red | Gold
R27 27K Red | Violet | Orange | Gold |
R38 2.7K %1 Red | Violet | Black | Brown | Brown

They all match.

My suspect is the terrible solderjob I did on the bodge resistor on U5 (LM324 Opamp) which rests between legs 4/14 and has to do with the Mic and Digital audio circuits.. I have a spare LM324 so I will try to do that all over again and see if it resolves the issue..

You could try and swap out the TEA2025 if you have a spare one. Mine died and it gave weird results.