hard1k wrote on 2020-04-21, 23:57:

3. Those who guess the reason behind the deadline will get a 1000 post count boost.

So, let the games begin!

It looks like that's the anniversary of the Černobyl' disaster. It happened on April 26 1986 01:23:40 of the local time, which is UTC+3
but according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster it was UTC+4, was DST on?

Also, 22 years ago there was a malware which activated itself on April 26.

Bingo! Outstanding investigation skills you have there, Sir! 😀

I would like to ask 2 questions: What is going to be the price when this is released and what is the noise floor on these cards?
EDIT: Oh, and where will it be sold? Sorry if I am asking too many questions at once, but I haven't seen that info anywhere and I would like to know. Thank you.

So, time to say that WE GOT A WINNER!

Gold prize - exclusive testing opportunity & 50% discount on the retail price - goes to SquallStrife (2886 posts).
Silver prize - 25% discount on the retail price - goes to arny91 (4 posts + 1000 boost for the right answer on the quiz).
Bronze prize - 10% discount on the retail price - goes to Shagittarius (772 posts).
Сonsolation prize - 5% discount on the retail price - goes to every other member who has explicitly offered his help to test, i.e. jaZz_KCS (688 posts), the Goat (114 posts), brownk (65 posts).

We're already in contact with SquallStrife, so stay tuned for the updates.

TechieDude wrote on 2020-04-26, 13:49:

I would like to ask 2 questions: What is going to be the price when this is released and what is the noise floor on these cards?
EDIT: Oh, and where will it be sold? Sorry if I am asking too many questions at once, but I haven't seen that info anywhere and I would like to know. Thank you.

Price - still no idea, sorry. There will be 2 options, an assembled/tested board (plug & play option) and a loose PCB only (solder & pray option). We are struggling hard to keep the price as a 2-digit number for the latter, if you want some rough approximation.
Noise floor - we haven't measured it, to be honest. Nor do we have any plans to do that as we don't have a reliable testing technique. If our new independent tester is able to do that, it will be greatly appreciated! However, I should mention that we've reworked the analog part from scratch, so it is much better than the original card. But, as we don't have a clue regarding the digital output, we've had to take the analog output of the integrated DAC, so the final result will be always limited by its 96'-ish period correct capabilities, politely speaking.
Points of sales - this will be announced here, as this thread is the only official project page. There is no other place on the Internets where this project is discussed by us. So just subscribe to this thread and check that VOGONS doesn't stop sending notifications (it does sometimes, unfortunately) - for that just check on the page once in a while. But to anticipate a bit, we'll sell directly (PMs here, e-mail, etc), on eBay (with its fees included, of course), and also some 3-rd party ecommerce is also possible (if we agree on this collaboration with anybody).

hard1k wrote on 2020-04-26, 14:48:

So, time to say that WE GOT A WINNER! […]
Show full quote

So, time to say that WE GOT A WINNER!

Gold prize - exclusive testing opportunity & 50% discount on the retail price - goes to SquallStrife (2886 posts).
Silver prize - 25% discount on the retail price - goes to arny91 (4 posts + 1000 boost for the right answer on the quiz).
Bronze prize - 10% discount on the retail price - goes to Shagittarius (772 posts).
Сonsolation prize - 5% discount on the retail price - goes to every other member who has explicitly offered his help to test, i.e. jaZz_KCS (688 posts), the Goat (114 posts), brownk (65 posts).

We're already in contact with SquallStrife, so stay tuned for the updates.

5% discount! 👍

Cool, 25% discount! That's great. If the price will be a 2 digit number, i'll take advantage of it, and i'll also send in my AWE64 value, this card will take its place!
@SquallStrife Please test it thoroughly!

The price *may* be a 2-digit number for the blank PCB only. For the assembled board it will be higher, of course.

Hah! I just got around to reading about the contest and realized that being a Russian speaker I could have taken first place by the sheer number of posts without ever guessing the Chernobyl anniversary. With that said, I probably can't be a useful tester since my only legacy system is currently locked away from me and is "BarelyBreathing" as they say on Mrakopedia. So it's good I didn't nominate myself. 😁

Still excited about this project, and just hope that I will still have a legacy system to use it in, when the card becomes available.

Terrific, thanks for the bronze prize. I'm going to test that you guys assemble it correctly and buy the full completed board from you. =) Looking forward to it.

Wow, I just found out about this. This looks amazing; seriously. The search for the perfect SoundBlaster 16 compatible Isa card is finally at an end!!!

2Mourty wrote on 2020-04-28, 18:38:

Wow, I just found out about this. This looks amazing; seriously. The search for the perfect SoundBlaster 16 compatible Isa card is finally at an end!!!

I found out about this a couple of weeks ago and am also eagerly awaiting the final product! 😁

Whatever became of the line input misunderstanding? Did Fagear's explanation clear that up sufficiently, or has it been implemented differently on the AWE64 Legacy?

hard1k wrote on 2020-04-27, 09:17:

The price *may* be a 2-digit number for the blank PCB only. For the assembled board it will be higher, of course.

sad but true. i wont see the full product (not blank pcbs) chaper that 180 euros at best. hope that i would have money at the time of the release since the run will be with limited cards. (maried life house you get the dril)

I'm saving some money on the side for this card. I am working on my ultimate DOS/WFW 3.11/Windows 98 SE rig in anticipation. I am using my AWE32 PnP and Roland SCC-1 (midi jacks aren't working so no MT-32 right now) until I can get one of these cards. AWE64 Legacy + Dreamblaster X2 is the goal for DOS/WFW, and those will be disabled in Windows 98 SE in order to use a SB Live! Platinum set up.

I theorize that Solar Winds REQUIRES an OPL chip, and the lack of such a chip on the AWE323 PnP causes lock ups. I am very excited about the AWE64 Legacy having the OPL3 included.

Since these cards are being made from older cards, is it possible to dump the chips for emulation use in DOSBox, 86box, PCem?

Scythifuge wrote on 2020-05-03, 18:08:

I theorize that Solar Winds REQUIRES an OPL chip, and the lack of such a chip on the AWE323 PnP causes lock ups. I am very excited about the AWE64 Legacy having the OPL3 included.

You know, I think that could be some kind of conflict, or an incompatibility with PnP or your card's chipset

TechieDude wrote on 2020-05-04, 21:04:

Scythifuge wrote on 2020-05-03, 18:08:

I theorize that Solar Winds REQUIRES an OPL chip, and the lack of such a chip on the AWE323 PnP causes lock ups. I am very excited about the AWE64 Legacy having the OPL3 included.

You know, I think that could be some kind of conflict, or an incompatibility with PnP or your card's chipset

Perhaps. I remember reading that Solar Winds requires a genuine Sound Blaster. It worked on my off brand sound card back in the 90's, and it worked on my previous AWE32 (with OPL,) it works on the emulated AWE32 in 86box, but locks up on my non-OPL AWE32 whenever I start shooting. Sound and music plays, it just locks up, between 1-5 shots. So far, Solar Winds is the only game that has an issue with this card.

At any rate, getting an AWE64 with an OPL chip (and hard mpu!) will be amazing. While waiting for them to become available, I am experimenting with installing an AWE alongside a Live! card in order to have the best DOS sound and the best Windows sound. I almost wish that I could buy two cards, in order to have a back up in the event that something happens to the first card. I am also tempted to make this rig a Sound Blaster/Voodoo rig with a Voodoo1, Voodoo2, and Voodoo3 running alongside the Sound Blaster cards - in order to be able to run ANY glide game with ease.

Count me in - if there is still a spot available on your buyers list.

IMHO, as a hardware designer, if you want to recreate any hardware, you should fully re-create it. Invest money and study/decap/recreate the main custom chips, then build the rest with modern widely available parts, which will highly reduce the costs.

I am also a retro hardware lover, and even mainstream retro hardware has a value that cannot be measured in money, i love to listen retro synths and sound cards, all audio imperfections belong to them and that is what makes them so unique.

Destroying original, never to be produced again, SB Awe 64 Value cards to build something so amateur and over-complicated, which offers so little improvement, if any, and it is not retro hardware anymore, over using 2 original retro sound cards in a true retro system, escapes my mind.

Thank you for your opinion, it is very important to us! 😀

RoberMC wrote on 2020-05-12, 16:03:

Destroying original, never to be produced again, SB Awe 64 Value cards to build something so amateur and over-complicated, which offers so little improvement, if any, and it is not retro hardware anymore, over using 2 original retro sound cards in a true retro system, escapes my mind.

Destroying original, never to be produced again is what I’d call recycling... usually preferable for the environment and in this particular case preferable for a group of members posting accordingly. Having a wavetable header and a true OPL offers a substantial improvement over the CT4520s otherwise recycled.

Of course if I were a real hardware engineer... I could... I should..., em, someone could..., someone should... but I’m not 😢