I do want to purchase one of these, even if it is a bare board. I do wish I knew if there would be another run; I can be patient however.

I would be interested if any more of these are made.

Thanks,

hard1k wrote on 2019-08-11, 21:06:

Flyer front.png Flyer back.png […]
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Flyer front.png
Flyer back.png

Hello everyone,

So I'm delighted to present you another sound card project: AWE64 Legacy
Please check the latest major update before posting.

Older pictures with the first prototype:
1.jpg2.jpg3.jpg

Project team: Alex_NsD, CoolTweak, H_Rush, hard1k
Logo: mrDraud

Our project is inspired by this one made by anthony, but has gone a little further.
So, to sum up, it's a newly designed sound card built up from scratch, based on the original chipset of the 2nd gen Creative SB AWE64 Value (CT4520): Creative CT8920-NBQ chip and Creative CT1972-UAS/EMU8011-01 WaveROM.

New and reworked features include:
1. The onboard 28 MB of RAM - basically, it is an integrated SIMMConn Value (credits: Xu Wang aka SIMMConn) with an integrated 32Mb SIMM72.
2. True Yamaha OPL3 chipset (YMF262+YAC512) - the schematics were borrowed from the Resound OPL3 card (credits: TexElec). OPL3 is hardwired to 0x388h, so if order for it to function along with the integrated CQM, the latter must be moved to some other port (0x398h, for example) using the original drivers or the UNISOUND tool by JazeFox.
3. Intelligent MPU-401 onboard - it is an integrated HardMPU (credits: ab0tj).
4. Waveblaster header.
5. Routable MIDI Outputs between both CT8920 / HardMPU parts and the Waveblaster header / MIDI pins of the gameport.
6. Redesigned analog part.
7. Onboard S/PDIF RCA output.
8. AWE64 Gold-styled 2xRCA analog output.
9. AC97 Front panel header.
10. The board complies with ISA Half-Size measures: 185 х 120 mm.
11. PCB has 6 layers with separate Analog and Digital planes. Power supply has its own layer.

FIRST MAJOR UPDATE (19/08/19)

SECOND MAJOR UPDATE (15/09/19)

QUESTIONNAIRE ON ADDITIONAL FEATURES - CLOSED ON SEP 15

THIRD MAJOR UPDATE

START OF SALES

Hi Hard1k Are You Have SoundBank MT-32 And Roland GS?

Hi hadio99o,

you can configure the standard soundbank to mt-32 instrument-patch in your autoexec.bat:

C:\AWE32\AWEUTIL /R:50 /C:50 /EM:GM (General Midi)
C:\AWE32\AWEUTIL /R:50 /C:50 /EM:GS (General Sound)
C:\AWE32\AWEUTIL /R:50 /C:50 /EM:MT32 (MT32)

best regards
Paddy

how do I still get my hands on these? I'm interested in the bulk version.

Is it safe to assume this project is dead? It seems there has been no attempt to resurect it. I was hoping to buy some of these but it has been going nowhere.

jkammueller wrote on 2023-05-08, 15:01:

Is it safe to assume this project is dead? It seems there has been no attempt to resurect it. I was hoping to buy some of these but it has been going nowhere.

I think problems related to shipping issues from Russia (for obvious reasons) complicated things, and after the initial sales window, it's all gone radio silence.
Still hoping maybe a batch of bare boards could be made and sold without them passing through Russia in the intervening moments.

Heck, make it blue, purple, red, or even bog standard green to differentiate it from the main run, I'd be happy to pay up for it and give an AWE64 Value some invigoration!

Daniël Oosterhuis wrote on 2023-05-09, 21:36:

I think problems related to shipping issues from Russia (for obvious reasons) complicated things, and after the initial sales wi […]
Show full quote

jkammueller wrote on 2023-05-08, 15:01:

Is it safe to assume this project is dead? It seems there has been no attempt to resurect it. I was hoping to buy some of these but it has been going nowhere.

I think problems related to shipping issues from Russia (for obvious reasons) complicated things, and after the initial sales window, it's all gone radio silence.
Still hoping maybe a batch of bare boards could be made and sold without them passing through Russia in the intervening moments.

Heck, make it blue, purple, red, or even bog standard green to differentiate it from the main run, I'd be happy to pay up for it and give an AWE64 Value some invigoration!

can the project be reverse engineered or at least uploaded so someone else can take it over? my boards only have 1 isa socket and tbh, imho this is the world's greatest sound card once completed. this is the correct way to own a soundblaster awe64.

at least how to seperate with a switch cqm and opl3 and how to add the opl3 chip to awe64 board. that should be enough

Hi truemaster!

They are not separated at all.
You can switch on the OPL3 and then give the CQM a different address.

best regards
Paddy

ahh thanks. but whitch lines of the card on the isa bus the opl3 chip must connect?

Hi truemaster!

The construction of such a circuit should be similar if not identical to Adlib.
This is well researched and you can find it quickly on the Web. However, the true art of
creating such a card is that only very small interference from the PC itself affects the audio part.
Something like this requires a lot of know-how and is not even created!

However, if you have further questions about this, I recommend a new thread as that takes some of the AWE64 Legacy off topic.

http://brassicgamer.blogspot.com/2020/02/reve … e-part-one.html

and here an github project:

https://github.com/schlae/adlib/tree/master

best regards
Paddy

hard1k wrote on 2019-08-11, 21:06:

Flyer front.png Flyer back.png […]
Show full quote

Flyer front.png
Flyer back.png

Hello everyone,

So I'm delighted to present you another sound card project: AWE64 Legacy
Please check the latest major update before posting.

Older pictures with the first prototype:
1.jpg2.jpg3.jpg

Project team: Alex_NsD, CoolTweak, H_Rush, hard1k
Logo: mrDraud

Our project is inspired by this one made by anthony, but has gone a little further.
So, to sum up, it's a newly designed sound card built up from scratch, based on the original chipset of the 2nd gen Creative SB AWE64 Value (CT4520): Creative CT8920-NBQ chip and Creative CT1972-UAS/EMU8011-01 WaveROM.

New and reworked features include:
1. The onboard 28 MB of RAM - basically, it is an integrated SIMMConn Value (credits: Xu Wang aka SIMMConn) with an integrated 32Mb SIMM72.
2. True Yamaha OPL3 chipset (YMF262+YAC512) - the schematics were borrowed from the Resound OPL3 card (credits: TexElec). OPL3 is hardwired to 0x388h, so if order for it to function along with the integrated CQM, the latter must be moved to some other port (0x398h, for example) using the original drivers or the UNISOUND tool by JazeFox.
3. Intelligent MPU-401 onboard - it is an integrated HardMPU (credits: ab0tj).
4. Waveblaster header.
5. Routable MIDI Outputs between both CT8920 / HardMPU parts and the Waveblaster header / MIDI pins of the gameport.
6. Redesigned analog part.
7. Onboard S/PDIF RCA output.
8. AWE64 Gold-styled 2xRCA analog output.
9. AC97 Front panel header.
10. The board complies with ISA Half-Size measures: 185 х 120 mm.
11. PCB has 6 layers with separate Analog and Digital planes. Power supply has its own layer.

FIRST MAJOR UPDATE (19/08/19)

SECOND MAJOR UPDATE (15/09/19)

QUESTIONNAIRE ON ADDITIONAL FEATURES - CLOSED ON SEP 15

THIRD MAJOR UPDATE

START OF SALES

I am interested!

I’m interested too

We are still interested 😀

Hello, is there any available?

It's a bit late but I finally got time to build my PCB version of this card.
I got it working but the EEPROM is still showing up as "Creative SB AWE64 PnP"
I have run the EEPROM update in the production package named "upd4520.exe" but that didn't change anything.

Here is says the updated EEPROM should show up as "AWE64 Legacy" but I can't the firmware for the EEPROM to do that anywhere?

So where do I get the EEPROM firmware to flash my card to show up properly and also so that Unisound can properly initialize it? because it has special support for it with the proper EEPROM.

- AWE64 Legacy: Only for this card, when its unique PnP ID is detected,
Creative FM is now shown as "CQM". Also if CQM is remapped to a port
different than 388, and an OPL chip is detected at 388h it will be shown.

I would also be happy with just a binary dump anyone could make using AWEDUMP of the EEPROM so I can program it using AWEFLASH

I finally finished my card today and reading the notes about the dip-switches being fragile I glued them to the board with epoxy before soldering them.
Also I used colored connectors to match the PC 99 color specification, the donor card for it came from the dumpster at work that is why there is a scratch mark on the main chip 🙁

Amazingly nice-looking card. 👍

Great work! The colored connectors are a fabulous touch. I hope you get many years of amazing sound from your card.