VOGONS

Found an Ensoniq Soundscape Elite... but it's corroded!

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First post, by d0gf00d

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Hello hello!!

I recently came across a wild soundcard in an old machine that came into my workplace's ewaste. It's an Ensoniq Soundscale Elite. As a longtime synth player/tech I found this to be a cool piece of history.

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The card itself unfortunately has no output when installed, which is pretty telling from two 10uF electrolytic caps that leaked all over the board and corroded some other components. I am wondering if anyone has this card (or a regular Soundscape/clone) and would be able to help a gal out with finding some component values.

I am looking for C108, C99, C90 and R47. Any insight would be super mega ultra appreciated so that I can save this one.

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Thanks!!

Reply 1 of 4, by carlostex

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That is such a nice find! That is in my opinion completely rescueable. You can try some white vinegar and let it act for a few minutes. Rinse it with distilled water and clean again with IPA after the rinse. Applying some Deoxit would be nice too, and once you get rid of rust and oxidation might be a good idea to apply some flux and reflow the solder. It is best to remove those affected components so you do need to go into a few (as gentle as possible) reflowing cycles that involve applying flux and cleaning with IPA as well. When you have the affected components out it is a matter of checking traces and continuity.

You might need to fix traces. Hopefully you'll still have pads. Would be sad to see an Elite die out.

Reply 2 of 4, by Tiido

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It is definitely possible to get it up and running again but it will not likely be pretty since the copper is likely to be unsolderable without some effort and that may lead to some creative solutions to get the needed connectivities. These cards suffer from bad capacitors so they should all be replaced too while the fixing is underway.

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Reply 3 of 4, by carlostex

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This reminds me... I have an Ensoniq Soundscape S2000 and a Yamaha SW60XG with these kind of caps... Mouser electronics to the rescue...

Reply 4 of 4, by d0gf00d

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carlostex wrote on 2025-05-08, 13:42:

This reminds me... I have an Ensoniq Soundscape S2000 and a Yamaha SW60XG with these kind of caps... Mouser electronics to the rescue...

Sweet, I appreciate your help and kind words! Corrosion repair is all too familiar-- Sadly had to deal with a few Mac classics over the years as well as a Korg Poly61. The SMT components I highlighted are too corroded and their values are unreadable... nor is there a schematic or service notes for this card. If there's any way you might be able to check those values on your S2000 that would be so so so cool 😀

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