VOGONS


Sonic Buster 8: A NEW 8-bit ISA sound card with OPL3

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Reply 100 of 121, by badmojo

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old school gamer man wrote on 2025-07-23, 02:59:

then anyone should be able to post there stuff for sale.

What are you hoping to achieve by complaining about this? Once you've spent countless hours making an amazing new product that contributes to this community then you can post about it here too. In the meantime find something more constructive to do.

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 101 of 121, by appiah4

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root42 wrote on 2025-07-22, 17:04:
keropi wrote on 2025-07-22, 09:38:
StriderTR wrote on 2025-07-21, 21:57:

Good video. Wicked card! Love it.

Side question, anyone know what jukebox he uses at the end of the video? I want it for my DOS machine. 🤣

https://youtu.be/znpbPxCm3Yc?t=1654

that is the "jukebox" option in Tyrian setup program , you get to hear all the game's bgm

Exactly! IMHO Tyrian has one of the best FM soundtracks ever. And sounds better in FM then in MIDI!

I think Dune II has it beat (maybe even Dune as well) but yes Tyrian FM soundtrack is pretty rad!

Reply 102 of 121, by LABS

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old school gamer man wrote on 2025-07-23, 02:59:
devius wrote on 2025-07-22, 19:51:

There's lots of people announcing hardware projects they developed and collecting feedback, etc. Any potential sales are always done outside of Vogons.

the dude is literally saying to message him here to buy the card. it's a obvious violation to the rules. Im sure if I started posting links to old parts im selling for feedback it would be removed in seconds. it's one thing to ask for feed back and show off their work but anther to openly be selling the cards here.

if they can openly sell parts here, homemade or not then anyone should be able to post there stuff for sale.

I’d say that this way the members of the community can pay back at least something for months of personal unpaid time the creator invested in the project driven by non-profitable reasons. And thanks to Vogons being friendly about it, these projects stimulate other beautiful projects to appear and the community is happily growing. This is different from when you just want to sell stuff you bought somewhere else. But if you don’t feel the difference and need a more confident answer I suggest you to contact admins.

Sonic Buster 8: A NEW 8-bit ISA sound card with OPL3
Blasterboard: DIY SB2.0-compatible ISA sound card on ATmega MCU

Reply 103 of 121, by LABS

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appiah4 wrote on 2025-07-23, 07:48:
root42 wrote on 2025-07-22, 17:04:
keropi wrote on 2025-07-22, 09:38:

that is the "jukebox" option in Tyrian setup program , you get to hear all the game's bgm

Exactly! IMHO Tyrian has one of the best FM soundtracks ever. And sounds better in FM then in MIDI!

I think Dune II has it beat (maybe even Dune as well) but yes Tyrian FM soundtrack is pretty rad!

For me its Lollypop for OPL2! The sounds are amazing, almost acoustic

Sonic Buster 8: A NEW 8-bit ISA sound card with OPL3
Blasterboard: DIY SB2.0-compatible ISA sound card on ATmega MCU

Reply 104 of 121, by LABS

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badmojo wrote on 2025-07-23, 07:01:
old school gamer man wrote on 2025-07-23, 02:59:

then anyone should be able to post there stuff for sale.

What are you hoping to achieve by complaining about this? Once you've spent countless hours making an amazing new product that contributes to this community then you can post about it here too. In the meantime find something more constructive to do.

exactly

Sonic Buster 8: A NEW 8-bit ISA sound card with OPL3
Blasterboard: DIY SB2.0-compatible ISA sound card on ATmega MCU

Reply 105 of 121, by BaronSFel001

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It really is something to see that, just like the competition back in the 90s [which Creative ultimately swallowed up], people today are working to build a better Sound Blaster.

System 20: PIII 600, LAPC-I, GUS PnP, S220, Voodoo3, SQ2500, R200, 3.0-Me
System 21: G2030 3.0, X-fi Fatal1ty, GTX 560, XP-Vista
Retro gaming (among other subjects): https://baronsfel001.wixsite.com/my-site

Reply 107 of 121, by S95Sedan

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LABS wrote on 2025-07-23, 13:00:
old school gamer man wrote on 2025-07-23, 02:59:
devius wrote on 2025-07-22, 19:51:

There's lots of people announcing hardware projects they developed and collecting feedback, etc. Any potential sales are always done outside of Vogons.

the dude is literally saying to message him here to buy the card. it's a obvious violation to the rules. Im sure if I started posting links to old parts im selling for feedback it would be removed in seconds. it's one thing to ask for feed back and show off their work but anther to openly be selling the cards here.

if they can openly sell parts here, homemade or not then anyone should be able to post there stuff for sale.

I’d say that this way the members of the community can pay back at least something for months of personal unpaid time the creator invested in the project driven by non-profitable reasons. And thanks to Vogons being friendly about it, these projects stimulate other beautiful projects to appear and the community is happily growing. This is different from when you just want to sell stuff you bought somewhere else. But if you don’t feel the difference and need a more confident answer I suggest you to contact admins.

No offence but this is just cope, theres never any gerbers or other details on projects like this, just a topic to forward sales from.
All you did is add another card to the list of 'soon to be unobtainium'/impossible for enthusiasts to get after a while.

Which is fine btw, but at least call a spade a spade and dont try to pretend you are doing this 'for the good of the community'

Reply 108 of 121, by appiah4

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S95Sedan wrote on 2025-07-23, 16:07:
No offence but this is just cope, theres never any gerbers or other details on projects like this, just a topic to forward sales […]
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LABS wrote on 2025-07-23, 13:00:
old school gamer man wrote on 2025-07-23, 02:59:

the dude is literally saying to message him here to buy the card. it's a obvious violation to the rules. Im sure if I started posting links to old parts im selling for feedback it would be removed in seconds. it's one thing to ask for feed back and show off their work but anther to openly be selling the cards here.

if they can openly sell parts here, homemade or not then anyone should be able to post there stuff for sale.

I’d say that this way the members of the community can pay back at least something for months of personal unpaid time the creator invested in the project driven by non-profitable reasons. And thanks to Vogons being friendly about it, these projects stimulate other beautiful projects to appear and the community is happily growing. This is different from when you just want to sell stuff you bought somewhere else. But if you don’t feel the difference and need a more confident answer I suggest you to contact admins.

No offence but this is just cope, theres never any gerbers or other details on projects like this, just a topic to forward sales from.
All you did is add another card to the list of 'soon to be unobtainium'/impossible for enthusiasts to get after a while.

Which is fine btw, but at least call a spade a spade and dont try to pretend you are doing this 'for the good of the community'

No offense but that is a garbage take. If you think the creator of this card is making a killing selling these then you are delusional. They have worked, on their time, to create something that the enthusiasts of this hobby appreciate and enjoy. This project does not have to be open source, it does not need to provide gerbers for anything. It offers you the chance to obtain the piece of hardware, which is the result of a pet project that the creator is willing to share at a reasonable price. That is a service to the community, and if you can not recognize it for what it is, then I am sorry for you but I would also kindly ask that you take your shit elsewhere and not poison the well with your ungrateful rapping. There have been an alarming number of creators who have given to the community only to stop their efforts because they realized the community is not worth it anymore, and I would really hate it for LABS to join that crowd.

Reply 109 of 121, by LABS

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S95Sedan wrote on 2025-07-23, 16:07:
No offence but this is just cope, theres never any gerbers or other details on projects like this, just a topic to forward sales […]
Show full quote
LABS wrote on 2025-07-23, 13:00:
old school gamer man wrote on 2025-07-23, 02:59:

the dude is literally saying to message him here to buy the card. it's a obvious violation to the rules. Im sure if I started posting links to old parts im selling for feedback it would be removed in seconds. it's one thing to ask for feed back and show off their work but anther to openly be selling the cards here.

if they can openly sell parts here, homemade or not then anyone should be able to post there stuff for sale.

I’d say that this way the members of the community can pay back at least something for months of personal unpaid time the creator invested in the project driven by non-profitable reasons. And thanks to Vogons being friendly about it, these projects stimulate other beautiful projects to appear and the community is happily growing. This is different from when you just want to sell stuff you bought somewhere else. But if you don’t feel the difference and need a more confident answer I suggest you to contact admins.

No offence but this is just cope, theres never any gerbers or other details on projects like this, just a topic to forward sales from.
All you did is add another card to the list of 'soon to be unobtainium'/impossible for enthusiasts to get after a while.

Which is fine btw, but at least call a spade a spade and dont try to pretend you are doing this 'for the good of the community'

First of all, don’t try to pretend that you are not offensive while doing exactly that.

If you call yourself an enthusiast, I suggest you to be enthusiastic enough to ask for what you want first, but not start blaming people because they do not give it to you just by themselves.

You are indirectly accusing me that I’m not sharing the schematics with the community, but making a profit instead. I don’t think this is quite fair.

1) There are people who pretend to be the community and the others who really are the community. The first ones, when they got the schematics, as they said, for their own DIY needs, immediately started producing and selling pcbs on ebay etc and still do it without even asking me. Since then I only share it with people who I trust and who are the real community. But the firmware is still open sourced.

2) If you search youtube, you will find only 2 reviews for my projects - one made for the Blasterboard in 2019 and the second for Sonic Buster 8 made in 2025, both by root42 which he generously made on his own, I never asked him. And there is an article by appiah4 on his Retronautics site, who volunteered to test Sonic Buster 8 in his retro museum and again, it was entirely his idea to write it. That is it. Because I do not do any intentional marketing (social networks, youtube, etc) to promote my projects and collect the profit. Only in 2020-2021 when selling Blasterboard kits on tindie, I was lucky enough and upgraded my workbench. But I think that is fair enough.

And finally if Blasterboard sparked several projects that appeared afterwards then I also perceive this as quite a contribution to the community.

So the things you and your friend said here lately are just ridiculous. I really suggest you to do a bit of research next time before publicly blaming anyone.

Sonic Buster 8: A NEW 8-bit ISA sound card with OPL3
Blasterboard: DIY SB2.0-compatible ISA sound card on ATmega MCU

Reply 110 of 121, by StriderTR

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keropi wrote on 2025-07-22, 09:38:
StriderTR wrote on 2025-07-21, 21:57:
Good video. Wicked card! Love it. […]
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LABS wrote on 2025-07-21, 17:47:

Thanks root42 for Sonic Buster 8 review on YouTube!

Good video. Wicked card! Love it.

Side question, anyone know what jukebox he uses at the end of the video? I want it for my DOS machine. 🤣

https://youtu.be/znpbPxCm3Yc?t=1654

that is the "jukebox" option in Tyrian setup program , you get to hear all the game's bgm

Very cool. Thanks for the info! Now, I need to play Tyrian! 😜

Builds: https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/
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Wallpapers: https://www.deviantart.com/theclassicgeek
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Reply 111 of 121, by igna78

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Hi LABS,
I've never purchased anything from you, and I'm not interested in Sonic Buster 8, but I still want to thank you for what you've done for the retro PC enthusiast community, providing new, improved hardware that's compatible with older systems.

You, like others, with your work (and work, in my house, deserves some kind of reward) make reliving the past even more beautiful and special 😄

Let me just add, for those who are quick to criticize based on quibbles: if you don't like it, look elsewhere!

Thanks again LABS for your work 😉

Reply 113 of 121, by vgo

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I couldn't PM you, maybe because I don't have any posts. I'm interested and I'd like to know how much it costs?

Reply 115 of 121, by vgo

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I got my card and I'm very happy with it. It seems to be 100% compatible with my Sound Blaster 2.0 (CT1350B), everything works that I tested. My CT1350B has terrible noise and distortion in one of my PCs, but with this one, silence.

I tested in Dune II, Tyrian and Eye of the Beholder II. It has better sound quality. FM is very good, digital sounds are good too. It's just better in every way.

Maybe I'll do some comparison and try to record the cards' output.

If anyone is looking for a replacement for Sound Blaster 2.0, this is the one to get.

Reply 116 of 121, by mkarcher

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vgo wrote on 2025-08-11, 19:24:

My CT1350B has terrible noise and distortion in one of my PCs, but with this one, silence.

Terrible sound on a CT1350B might indicate that there are issues with the -5V supply on the ISA bus. This voltage is required by the analog circuit of these old sound blater cards. If your PC in which the CT1350B does not work has an ATX board with a modern power supply or an ATX-to-AT adapter, the -5V supply might be entirely missing.

Reply 117 of 121, by vgo

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mkarcher wrote on 2025-08-11, 19:57:

Terrible sound on a CT1350B might indicate that there are issues with the -5V supply on the ISA bus. This voltage is required by the analog circuit of these old sound blater cards. If your PC in which the CT1350B does not work has an ATX board with a modern power supply or an ATX-to-AT adapter, the -5V supply might be entirely missing.

Long ago it worked in that PC, but then the PSU and I replaced it with one of those converted ATX PSUs. The card was not istalled at the time and was unaware about the problem until a few months ago when I started to use that PC again. I thought that the new PSU may have something to do with it, but I had no proper PSU for that PC anymore to test and card worked on the other PCs. You're right about that -5V.

Reply 118 of 121, by LABS

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vgo wrote on 2025-08-11, 19:24:
I got my card and I'm very happy with it. It seems to be 100% compatible with my Sound Blaster 2.0 (CT1350B), everything works t […]
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I got my card and I'm very happy with it. It seems to be 100% compatible with my Sound Blaster 2.0 (CT1350B), everything works that I tested. My CT1350B has terrible noise and distortion in one of my PCs, but with this one, silence.

I tested in Dune II, Tyrian and Eye of the Beholder II. It has better sound quality. FM is very good, digital sounds are good too. It's just better in every way.

Maybe I'll do some comparison and try to record the cards' output.

If anyone is looking for a replacement for Sound Blaster 2.0, this is the one to get.

thanks for your feedback, vgo, hope it will bring you hours of retro fun!

Sonic Buster 8: A NEW 8-bit ISA sound card with OPL3
Blasterboard: DIY SB2.0-compatible ISA sound card on ATmega MCU

Reply 119 of 121, by RetroGamer4Ever

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Anything that anyone does to make functional or useful hardware or software available to the gaming community is something good. If they can or need to make a profit to make it work in the end, I don't see any problem with it, so long as everything is above board and honest.