Thanks for finding these, MJay99, especially one with stock available.

Just placed the latest pre-order! I have no idea on how to solder but I am really excited!! If someone is planning on assembling these for the community for a fee, please let me know!

Awesome! All preorders are complete!
I am awaiting for @shock__ to send me the 48 chips.

I will update the thread with production update. I expect the 25 remaining boards to be available for order early May.

Congrats! Let the ARGUS rock on.

Fantastic news!

Now to practice SMT soldering in the mean time... 😁

Excited to see when the next boards come in. I missed this round but will definitely put in a preorder when the last round is out.

640K!enough wrote on 2022-04-07, 02:28:

terryfi wrote on 2022-04-06, 21:08:

2- Is M29F800FB55M3F2 good replacement for IW78C21M1?

As others have mentioned, the IW78C21M1 contains the 1 MiB instrument bank, consisting of parameters, other metadata and (mostly) 8-bit linear PCM samples (forget any other nonsense you may have read on Wikipedia). The data are not in the public domain, and nobody here has the authority to distribute them. The only way that is not known to be in violation of their copyrights is to acquire the original masked ROM. Whether they'd actually be inclined to take legal action is another matter (at least two of the three companies still exist). Any other parts mentioned are flash memory ICs, contain no data, and will produce no sound with software designed to use the on-board bank.

Ok, so where do you propose we get one of these chips with the original copyrighted data on them?

Nikita Lita wrote on 2022-04-07, 20:33:

Ok, so where do you propose we get one of these chips with the original copyrighted data on them?

You can find the IW78C21M1 via UTSource: https://www.utsource.net/sch/IW78C21M1.html

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-04-07, 20:37:

Nikita Lita wrote on 2022-04-07, 20:33:

Ok, so where do you propose we get one of these chips with the original copyrighted data on them?

You can find the IW78C21M1 via UTSource: https://www.utsource.net/sch/IW78C21M1.html

Would we still need to program this chip? Or does it already have the required ROM written to it?

Since I'm also curious about that. If we need to program the chip, finding the ROM will be the issue as mentioned above.

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-04-07, 20:37:

Nikita Lita wrote on 2022-04-07, 20:33:

Ok, so where do you propose we get one of these chips with the original copyrighted data on them?

You can find the IW78C21M1 via UTSource: https://www.utsource.net/sch/IW78C21M1.html

why are so many of these floating around in the wild? was this a third-party rom that got shopped around to other manufacturers?

Nikita Lita wrote on 2022-04-07, 21:22:

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-04-07, 20:37:

Nikita Lita wrote on 2022-04-07, 20:33:

Ok, so where do you propose we get one of these chips with the original copyrighted data on them?

You can find the IW78C21M1 via UTSource: https://www.utsource.net/sch/IW78C21M1.html

why are so many of these floating around in the wild? was this a third-party rom that got shopped around to other manufacturers?

I suspect it wasn't necessarily a custom chip but just had a board-specific ROM written to it. Since it can also be purchased from china based on just the model number.

Which is a bit problematic since the ROM still would have to be dumped from an original card.

Stevogamer wrote on 2022-04-07, 21:20:

Would we still need to program this chip?

No. The IW78C21M1 definitely comes with the content you seek. Just buy and solder it and you're set.

MJay99 wrote on 2022-04-07, 22:04:

Stevogamer wrote on 2022-04-07, 21:20:

Would we still need to program this chip?

No. The IW78C21M1 definitely comes with the content you seek. Just buy and solder it and you're set.

That's awesome. Thank you for confirming this! 😀

I hope we can find somone suitable in Europe too, want this so bad 🙁

Just read a few posts back. The IW78C21M1 is a mask ROM, that means it's not writable or erasable as the content is set at the factory. It is made by Macronix and contains the data used by the Interwave based cards (I assume that's the reason for the "IW" prefix in the name). The chips you see floating around are just leftovers that were never used in cards, in the same way that there are new old stock Interwave chips.

TheMobRules wrote on 2022-04-07, 22:13:

in the same way that there are new old stock Interwave chips.

Not anymore there aren't 😜

TheMobRules wrote on 2022-04-07, 22:13:

Just read a few posts back. The IW78C21M1 is a mask ROM, that means it's not writable or erasable as the content is set at the factory. It is made by Macronix and contains the data used by the Interwave based cards (I assume that's the reason for the "IW" prefix in the name). The chips you see floating around are just leftovers that were never used in cards, in the same way that there are new old stock Interwave chips.

Thank you for the short explanation.
I actually didn't know that. It gives some peace of mind knowing that the chip for sure will always have the correct data on it.

After some discussions with shock__ I will be handling the EU side of things.
It will be the same deal as synoptic's one: buyers will get a PCB + IW chip (pre-soldered or not depending on what the buyer wants, there is no extra charges for soldering the chip)
Once we reach 15 paying pre-orders I will order the PCBs , after receipt it should be some 4-5 days before I start shipping packages.
Price shipped per set via registered airmail will be 78eur.
Later today I will upload a quick pre-order page on my site. 😀

pre-order page is live: http://pcmidi.eu/argus.html

I hope everything is clear, if something needs correcting please let me know!
thanks!

That's awesome keropi. A pair of seasoned hands on the steering wheel for the EU folk.

Now we just need someone for the Au/Nz peeps (anywhere else??). If the necessary level of interest is there. Call me a +1.