VOGONS


First post, by LightStruk

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It's an exciting time for vintage PC gaming enthusiasts, with so many modern reproductions of vintage sound cards coming out. I'm not talking about newly invented vintage sound products with no historic counterpart like the OPL2LPT and OPL3LPT, as interesting as they are. I'm talking about drop-in replacements for old sound hardware that use unmodified old software. (EDIT: new sound devices that require patches or TSRs to behave like their vintage counterparts are now included, but are specially marked.) It occurred to me that I didn't know of any one place with links to all of them, so here you are:

AdLib / YM3812 / OPL2
Reproduction AdLib
ISA OPL2 Card
The Plaid Bib - an Ad Lib MCA Clone (MicroChannel Architecture)
YM3812 card with gameport (essentially a clone of Amstrad's Adlib clone with gameport)
RadLib OPL2
Requires patches or a TSR:
OPL2LPT v2 (parallel port OPL2 dongle)

AdLib Gold
GoldLib (faithful hardware clone with an FPGA reimplementation of the GOLD CTRL ASIC)

Yamaha YMF262/ YMF289 / OPL3
Resound OPL3 (4 channels)
Resound 2 OPL3 (2 channels)
Resound 2 OPL3 MCA (MicroChannel Architecture)
Internal OPL3 ISA 8 bits (a very small 8-bit ISA card with HDA internal audio connector, specifically targeting the NuXT in a low-profile case) thread
Requires patches or a TSR:
OPL3LPT (parallel port OPL3 dongle)

Creative Music System / Game Blaster / dual Phillips SAA1099
MUS-1099
SAAYM 8-bit ISA dual Phillips SAA1099 + Yamaha YM2151 Sound Card (includes a Yamaha OPM for playing VGMs from Sharp X1, X68000, and certain arcade games)

Creative Labs SoundBlaster
Snark Barker (SoundBlaster 1.0 + CMS)
Snark Barker MCA (SoundBlaster 1.0 + CMS, but on MicroChannel Architecture) DIY; Twitter dev thread here
Resound New Wave MCA (SoundBlaster MCV-compatible + genuine OPL3, derived from the Snark Barker MCA and the Resound 2 OPL3 MCA)
BLASTERBOARD (SoundBlaster 2.0)
AWE64 Legacy (AWE64 with genuine OPL3, intelligent mode MPU-401, WaveBlaster header, AC'97 front panel, among other improvements) bare PCBs available, no assembled boards yet
Requires patches or a TSR:
CMSLPT (parallel port dongle)

Gravis Ultrasound / AMD InterWave
ARGUS (Gravis Ultrasound PnP clone / AMD InterWave) DIY
GUSar lite (Gravis Ultrasound PnP clone / AMD InterWave)
PiGUS (Gravis Ultrasound emulator running on a Raspberry Pi 3/4/CM4, mated to 8-bit ISA) DIY
PicoGUS (Gravis Ultrasound emulator running on a Raspberry Pi Pico mated to 8-bit ISA) DIY

SN76489 / Tandy 1000 / PC Jr. 3-voice sound
TNDY 3-Voice Soundcard ISA (Includes optional TSR to redirect software to use non-standard IO port on 286 and later machines)
Tandy Nano v1.1 ISA (Slimline version of the TNDY, lacks PC Speaker input)
Tandy Sound (SN76489) Adapter PCB
Requires patches or a TSR:
TNDLPT (parallel port dongle)

Covox Speech Thing / Disney Sound Source / Covox Sound Master
CVX4 (Covox Speech Thing)
Replicas of Covox Speech Thing, FTL Sound Adapter and SiliconSoft SoundJr
pcb-covox-amp (tiny sound card based on Covox Speech Thing)
Sound Source (Disney Sound Source implementation utilizing an ATtiny microcontroller, as described in the Disney Sound Source replica (well, almost) thread)
Covox Sound Master Replica unreleased
Silly Sound Bastard (DIY Covox Speech Thing clone, as described in this YouTube video)
Simple LPTsnd (Covox Speech Thing)
Dual ISA DAC r0 (stereo Covox Speech Thing on an ISA card, saves IRQ resources)
Dual ISA DAC r1 (same as above, but uses a GAL for address decoding and supports mono and stereo simultaneously)
Stereo54 DIY
Covox Stereo-on-1 (English translation of Czech blog post about making boards and enclosures for the Stereo54)
Covox, Disney Sound Source (DSS), Stereo in 1 (Covox / DSS implemented with ESP32 microcontroller) DIY

Innovation Sound Standard SSI-2001 / Commodore SID / MOS 6589
Innovation SSI-2001 replica
Renovation SSI-2001 (offers the option of using a STM32 microcontroller instead of a genuine SID)
Hardsid ISA clone

Yamaha YMF71x / OPL3-SAx
Tiido's KickAss Yamaha Based Sound Card (T-04YBSC-x) (many improvements on the original; also includes an OPL4 / YMF721)

Crystal CS423x
Orpheus I Soundcard (Crystal CS4237B + true OPL3, with AC'97 front panel header, wavetable header, and optional PCMIDI MPU-401)
ISA Audio Interface (Crystal CS4231A + OPTi 82C924 + true OPL3, with IDE and a new open-source custom DOS driver) DIY
PC/104 Soundcard (Crystal CS4237B with WaveBlaster header, but with a PC/104 connector instead of ISA) DIY

CMI 8330
MK8330 (CMI8330 card featuring audiophile-grade capacitors, wavetable header, SPDIF out, and optional PCMIDI MPU expansion card)

ESS AudioDrive
ES1868_ISA8 (8-bit ISA card with an ES1868F, with SB 2.0 / OPL3 / MPU-401 compatibility)

Roland MPU-401
HardMPU
ISA MPU Card (Music Quest PC MIDI CARD IH9MQ9 MPU clone, Roland-compatible MPU-401 intelligent and UART mode MIDI interface)

WaveBlaster modules
TB60XG (enhanced Yamaha DB60XG-based MIDI module with WaveBlaster connector)
Yucatan FX (replica Turtle Beach Cancun FX WaveBlaster module, using original 90s GS ROM)
CrystalBlaster C1 (Crystal CS9236 on a WaveBlaster module)
EWave (Compaq Business Wavetable Sound Card / ES692S Synth on a WaveBlaster module)
WP32-McCake (Raspberry Pi compute module-powered MT32 emulator)
DreamBlaster X2GS (includes licensed Roland GS sound bank, sounds nearly identical to a Roland SCB-55 module)
QWave (Diamond Monster Sound Wavetable Card clone, with a QS1000 chipset + QS1001A 4Mbit ROM)

Combo cards, hybrids, and amalgamations
FMonster (full-length ISA board including PCjr / Tandy 3 voice, CMS, Covox Sound Master, 2x SSI-2001 / DuoSID, 2x OPL2, and OPL3) unreleased
BitchinFastAudio 3000 / Audio Loca - The one sound card to rule them all (FPGA reimplementation of SB16, Gravis Ultrasound, MPU-401, Tandy 3-voice, WSS, CMS, and Covox, PLUS WaveBlaster, USB audio, S/PDIF, XT-IDE, Bluetooth audio, and an NE2000-compatible WiFi interface ?!?!) unreleased
SAAYM (Creative Game Blaster clone with a Yamaha YM2151 / OPM added)
Fortex: Vortex 2 (AU8830B0) + YMF744B-V (Dual-chip PCI solution that combines A3D, XG Wavetable MIDI, and HW OPL3 on a tiny PCB) unreleased
Orpheus II (Crystal CS4237B + AMD InterWave + true OPL3 + PCMIDI, with AC'97 front panel header and wavetable header)

Anything important missing from this list?

Edit1: fixed ARGUS description, thanks elianda
Edit2: added T-04YBSC-A and ISA MPU Card, thanks Kamerat
Edit3: added ISA OPL2 Card, thanks BloodyCactus
Edit4: added more parallel port replicas and another Covox Sound Master Replica, thanks Benedikt
Edit5: added MUS-1099, thanks root42
Edit6: added Orpheus Soundcard
Edit7: added Plaid Bib, thanks Benedikt
Edit8: added SAAYM, thanks carlostex
Edit9: added AWE64 Legacy, thanks hard1k
Edit10: added TB60XG and FMonster, thanks hard1k
Edit11: added Clone of Amstrad's Adlib clone, thanks Benedikt
Edit12: added eeguru / Alan Hightower's "The one sound card to rule them all" presentation
Edit13: added spark2k06's Internal OPL3 ISA 8 bits
Edit14: added Benedikt's Renovation SSI-2001
Edit15: added yeokm1's pcb-covox-amp
Edit16: added Texelec's Resound 2 OPL3 in both its ISA and MCA forms
Edit17: Removed the unreleased label from the Orpheus Soundcard, now that you can actually order it
Edit18: added Yucatan FX, thanks hard1k
Edit19: added Texelec's RadLib OPL2
Edit20: added Snark Barker MCA (at least the Twitter thread showing @TubeTimeUS debugging the prototype)
Edit21: revised the CVX4 description (it clones Covox Speech Thing only), and added the "Disney Sound Source replica (well, almost)," thanks digger
Edit22: updated the Snark Barker MCA URL to point to its Github repo
Edit23: updated the Plaid Bib URL to point to the CPLD version, which the author claims is more compatible than the original release of the card
Edit24: Reformatted and reorganized the list
Edit25: added GUSar lite, thanks gordon-creAtive.com
Edit26: revised the Sound Source description to note that it's not a clone, it's an implementation, thanks, matze79
Edit27: added the WP32 McCake, E-Wave, and CrystalBlaster C1 wavetable boards, thanks, Pierre32
Edit28: noted that Tiido's KickÄss Yamaha Based Sound Card also includes an OPL4
Edit29: added necroware AKA scorp's Silly Sound Bastard
Edit30: updated the AWE64 Legacy's status - it's now available for pre-order
Edit31: added the ISA Audio Interface by ALEKS, and organized it under the same heading as the Orpheus
Edit32: initial batch of ARGUS is complete, so no longer unreleased
Edit33: Added DreamBlaster X2GS, which is effectively a Roland SCB-55 workalike
Edit34: The E-Wave has been released, and bare PCBs of the AWE64 Legacy are available now too
Edit35: added SAAYM, thanks BeastOfSoda
Edit36: brought up-to-date on all Retroianer sound cards, thanks matze79
Edit37: added Texelec's Resound New Wave MCA
Edit38: added rasteri's PC/104 Soundcard
Edit39: The WP32 McCake is now available for purchase
Edit40: added hard1k's Fortex: Vortex 2 (AU8830B0) + YMF744B-V, still in development
Edit41: added keropi's MK8330 prototype
Edit42: added keropi's Orpheus II
Edit43: The MK8330 has been released and can now be ordered.
Edit44: added serdaco's QWave, and cleaned up some URLs
Edit45: the ARGUS is no longer available pre-built, it's now DIY only
Edit46: added the PiGUS and PicoGUS, thanks oso2k
Edit47: added the OPL2LPT, OPL3LPT, CMSLPT, and TNDLPT. Sound devices that require TSRs or patches are now included in the list, but are specially marked.
Edit48: added the ES1868_ISA8, Hardsid ISA clone, and Stereo-on-1, thanks Baleog
Edit49: added mcgurk's Covox, Disney Sound Source (DSS), Stereo in 1 (with an ESP32), thanks matze79
Edit50: added the GoldLib, and updated the URL and status of the Orpheus II

Last edited by LightStruk on 2023-06-03, 02:48. Edited 69 times in total.

Reply 1 of 151, by Kamerat

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A couple more:

T-04YBSC-A, new YMF71x based sound card
Music Quest MPU clone card

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
YouTube channel

Reply 2 of 151, by elianda

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please correct: ARGUS is a Gravis Ultrasound PnP clone (AMD Interwave), a Gravis Ultrasound is GF1.

Retronn.de - Vintage Hardware Gallery, Drivers, Guides, Videos. Now with file search
Youtube Channel
FTP Server - Driver Archive and more
DVI2PCIe alignment and 2D image quality measurement tool

Reply 4 of 151, by root42

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There is also the MUS-1099: https://github.com/gemedetpaps/MUS-1099

Gameblaster/Creative Music System compatible.

Vogons thread: MUS-1099 GameBlaster Sound Card

YouTube and Bonus
80486DX@33 MHz, 16 MiB RAM, Tseng ET4000 1 MiB, SnarkBarker & GUSar Lite, PC MIDI Card+X2+SC55+MT32, OSSC

Reply 5 of 151, by Benedikt

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LightStruk wrote:

Anything important missing from this list?

Do my parallel port audio adapters qualify?

Replicas of Covox Speech Thing, FTL Sound Adapter and SiliconSoft SoundJr

Reply 6 of 151, by BloodyCactus

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sergeys adlib http://www.malinov.com/Home/sergeys-projects/isa-opl2-card

--/\-[ Stu : Bloody Cactus :: [ https://bloodycactus.com :: http://kråketær.com ]-/\--

Reply 10 of 151, by Benedikt

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The thread Reversing the Disney Sound Source, while not exactly about a Disney Sound Source reproduction, contains a lot of information on how to build compatible hardware, including schematics and PCB layouts for such compatible hardware.

Reply 15 of 151, by LightStruk

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Added the SAAYM, although the YM2151 almost disqualified it from appearing in this list. It's not a reproduction or clone if it has synthesis capability that never existed on PC before! I put it in anyway because of the Game Blaster compatibility. Thanks, carlostex.

Reply 16 of 151, by hard1k

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Include our project too, please 😀 it's in my signature. Thanks!

Fortex, the A3D & XG/OPL3 accelerator (Vortex 2 + YMF744 combo sound card)
AWE64 Legacy
Please have a look at my wishlist (hosted on Amibay)

Reply 19 of 151, by hard1k

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Other two are missing:
TB60XG, enhanced Yamaha DB60XG based MIDI module
FMonster, the monster of sound synth

Fortex, the A3D & XG/OPL3 accelerator (Vortex 2 + YMF744 combo sound card)
AWE64 Legacy
Please have a look at my wishlist (hosted on Amibay)