I have no problems with donor AWE64 values, the damn things are the plague anyways. I have a donor board that i would definitely cannabilize if you guys just sell the PCB.

In fact i would sell my AWE 64 Gold just to get one of these. Just make sure CQM can be disabled for good. If you can make it so the YMF262 can be routed through the EMU8000 for effects, that would be a nice bonus.

hard1k wrote:

Any additional ideas or suggestions will be more than welcomed. We want to create the best possible product without compromising on its features.

The only thing I would miss in this card is a CD-in connector, if there is a limit in the number of inputs, I would easily trade it for the Mic-in.

carlostex wrote:

In fact i would sell my AWE 64 Gold just to get one of these. Just make sure CQM can be disabled for good. If you can make it so the YMF262 can be routed through the EMU8000 for effects, that would be a nice bonus.

AWE64's DSP CT8903/8920 has not digital input (I don't know about analog one which can be not for record but for playback. But I think no too). Only AWE32's CT1971 has.
And CQM can be disabled on any AWE64 model via Creative driver settings. I use my AWE64 now with CQM disabled easily.

sound interesting 😀
what budget are we talking about ? I'm pretty interested in the card, but cannot supply technical knowledge, only beta-testing it in all kind of computers, dos, windows versions and games.
(i also have some awe64 values left)

Just discovered this thread, and wow, great work so far 😀 This is a very interesting project. I will keep an eye on this thread as I'm definitely interested in a card, once the project's finished and everything works as intended.

How did you make the Chip branding ? 😀

Sand off top, laser engrave new markings ?

Tiido wrote:

Sand off top, laser engrave new markings ?

Yes!)

Marmes wrote:

How many layers does this card have? 2 or 4? Does it have nice and separated ground planes for analog and digital? Also can you source reliable YAC512? Suppliers tend to sell broken ones.

PCB have 4 layers. Analog and Digital planes separated. Power supply have own layer. In the near future, we are awaiting the delivery of a batch of YAC to test them.

On today's day succes tested all but SPDIF, GamePort and OPL3. Testing of the remaining elements has not yet been conducted.

Ok i have no laser engraver, i just thinked about etchants or something.

The chip package can pretty much only be dissolved by fuming nitric acid, so normal etching supplies are pretty unlikely to produce any results.

Good heavens! If I had the money, you could be sure that I'd order one in a heartbeat!

I am interested in ordering one as well! Will keep an eye on the thread for updates.

I am glad that this project is almost finished!
I'll wait and i want 2 cards for my collection. Thank you guys!

Hello,

I would also be interested in buying one of these. Thanks to put me on the list. Have a great Sunday.

Hello guys!

It's been a week since our first official announcement, and we would like to appreciate everyone's feedback and warm words - it really encourages us to keep up the work!
I've just updated the first post of this thread with our current status.

In this post I'll try to answer some questions and give some updates.

Most frequently asked question (both here and in PM):
- I am definitely interested, please put me on the list for these. I have an AWE64 Value to sacrifice, do you need it?
Answer:
- We do not take any firm preorders at the moment. Please follow the thread for updates and wait for the announcement. However we may consider some crowdfunding if we decide to implement additional features that require lots of R&D and investment, in case we do, we'll announce it here. Fill in the questionnaire here and stay tuned.
As far as the donor AWE64's are concerned, we have enough so far, so please just keep yours at reach, you'll most probably need it once our project gets ready for a production run. We'll consider flexible pricing options, and your AWE64 can eventually get you some discount.

Second most frequently asked question:
- Will you implement a digital mixer that would mix the EMU8000 S/PDIF with the digital wave out of CT8920, digital out of OPL3-L, digital S/PDIF CD-IN, etc.?
Answer:
- It is indeed a very tempting idea and we can consider it. However please keep in mind:
1. We haven't yet confirmed that we can get the wave out from CT8920 in digital. We invite everyone to collaborate on this point.
2. If we don't get the digital wave out, will it still make sense to do the rest? I mean, will a digital EMU8000+OPL3+CD-IN do for your needs if you still have to get the digital FX (wave out) in analog form? Or will we have to put a discrete ADC to make it digital again and feed into the same digital mixer? If yes, how do we separate the analog wave out from all other mixed analog sources? If we do, how do we manage the resulting FrankenAWE in terms of software controls? The original Creative mixer will become useless, and the digital mixer won't appear on any bus to be controlled in any way.
3. If we still find a solution to all mentioned points, it will most certainly make us redesign the whole board, as we'll be messing with both digital and analog parts, rewiring nearly all inputs/outputs, putting new blocks, etc. How much are you willing to pay for that? And are you willing to fund the R&D in advance?
To get some preliminary idea of your thoughts in this regard, we've started a questionnaire, please fill it in: https://forms.gle/UvbP9c53vByH3cuE7
This questionnaire is about all additional features that have been suggested so far, not only the S/PDIF one. We kindly ask everyone to take part.

Some other questions and answers:

Tiido wrote:

For OPL3 ports move, try to make a new PnP EEPROM with OPL3 given ideal IO location you desire and acceptable IO locations that also don't contain 388. Hopefully Creative's utils respect the EEPROM settings. Windows definitely will.

We'll go that way, thanks. Anyone willing to mess with the EEPROM contents a bit? We don't have enough experience with that on our own.

xjas wrote:

Rear-bracket MIDI connectors (even if on a breakout cable) would be beneficial, IMHO - a lot of people are still gonna want to run an MT32, SC-55, etc. on these (including me.)

We've used the MIDI-OUT port from the gameport to run the waveblaster header. I don't think it would run two devices connected in parallel, but correct me if I'm wrong here.

Great Hierophant wrote:

I would hope you add audio input headers for PC Speaker and CD-ROM. Will you be able to obtain digital output from the OPL3 chipset via the SPDIF header? Ideally a three input digital mixer should be included for AWE, CD and OPL3.

My other concern is for the I/O assignments. If you move the OPL3 port from 0x388-0x38B to 0x398-0x39B, what does that do for its other I/O addresses? A Sound Blaster 16 also allows access at FM Synthesis I/O from 0x220-0x223 (assuming base I/O is set to 0x220) and 0x228-0x229.

We will add those headers.
At the moment OPL3 is just independently hardwired to ISA with its own address decoding, and its analog output goes into the CD-IN where it gets mixed with other sources and channels. Regarding the digital output - please see the second most frequest question answered above.
We can't put the true OPL3 on the SB port, so the integrated CQM is still exposed there. Consider this as not a bug, but a feature, as you get not only the OPL3, but also the CQM 😁

640K!enough wrote:

How did it the older AWE cards integrate the YMF262, via direct support as an external device? Is that functionality no longer present in the chip being used (replaced by the CQM "feature"?)?

Yes, YMF262 stereo output went into the EMU8000, occupying 2 channels out of its 32. Then they integrated the CQM instead of OPL3, and then it went into the CT8920 chip which is a true black box for us as we don't have any datasheet or SDK.

xjas wrote:

Will you still be able to run the OPL3 through the EMU8k's effects processor? That's one of the highlights of the AWE64 for me. Even the CQM synth really comes alive with some chorus & reverb.

carlostex wrote:

If you can make it so the YMF262 can be routed through the EMU8000 for effects, that would be a nice bonus.

Unfortunately, no. Our OPL3 output goes into the AWE64 mixer, not in the EMU8000 part of it. As I've said, CT8920 is a black box, no datasheet available, and Creative has never replied to my requests. If anyone has any ideas how we can route it there, don't hesitate to suggest!
However, as you still have the CQM exposed to the SB port, you can still get the CQM with effects without having to disable the OPL3 part.

Eep386 wrote:

I wonder if it would be possible to add an option for a YMF289 (OPL3-L) plus YAC516?

What would be the benefits of YMF289 over a YMF262? We can consider that.

gdjacobs wrote:

Following up from Hierophant, instead of the standard Yamaha OPL DAC could you not program a small PLD to convert from OPL output to a standard digital bitstream (I2S or SPDIF for instance) then mix digitally?

We don't have any experience in programming PLD/FPGA. If anyone is willing to join in, we can consider that. However our project development runs in Russian, so that person should be a native Russian speaker.

PARUS wrote:

I'm very interested this project if you will solve digital output issue.
There is digital out which uses CT8903/8920's own spdif output pin. This digital out is used on "regular" 4380/4500/4520 boards. It plays only EMU8k+FM, and no wave sound.
And there is separate digital output tract with SPDIF-out transmitter which is used on "gold" 4390/4540 cards. The goal is to play all EMU8k+FM+WAVE. But something made wrong and gold cards can't play all wave sounds via SPDIF out. If you could find solution and make proper connection of proper chips I would like to buy one and will happy with it.

We are more than excited to solve that issue. However neither of us has had any first hand experience with S/PDIF, and you are a well known guru on that 😀 I wrote you a PM inviting you to join our project development chat just for that specific purpose.

Once again:
We've started a special questionnaire for all of you who are interested in getting a board or participating in its development: https://forms.gle/UvbP9c53vByH3cuE7
Please fill it in.

Very cool, filled out the questionnaire....I will just submit that in my opinion your design is already pretty good and I like where it seems to be headed. That being said...if some of these bells and whistles that youre asking about in the survey get added that would be really neat...as long as it doesn't drive the price through the roof.

One bell that I am particularly interested in is the HD Audio header for front panel audio hookup....ohh please 😀

See I'm a heathen and build alot of my retro builds in modern cases so that would just be really great.

Thanks again guys, can't wait to see where this heads!

This is incredible Taking the mediocre and making it awesome is right up my alley. Some people may think it's heresy to destroy old hardware, but your intentions are to make it better and more enduring - Creative's digital capability plus the discrete OPL3 makes this card tick almost every box on my wishlist for a retro sound card.

Insert obligatory Fry shouting SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY image here.

I'm not thrilled with the idea of destorying authentic vintage hardware; if this project had gone with using an FPGA or something I would have put my whole support behind it, but as is I am equal parts interested and annoyed by it 😀