keropi wrote on 2025-04-25, 17:58:

like was dried from becoming wet at some point?

Anecdotal, but one package and one letter I've sent to Brazil ended up getting soaking wet. Almost looks like they store it outside exposed to the weather while waiting for customs or on the tarmac after unloading from the airplane.

yeah that was my assumption, that the package was douched with something - pure water cannot really do this kind of corrosion
I still cannot think how this could happen but I guess it's one of these weirdly unbelievable things that are possible 🤣

That's why electronics is often shipped with a little bag of silica gel.
It may be pretty cold in the cargo space of a plane, enough for the air humidity to condensate...

Grzyb wrote on 2025-04-26, 16:39:

That's why electronics is often shipped with a little bag of silica gel.
It may be pretty cold in the cargo space of a plane, enough for the air humidity to condensate...

Gold plating is immune to humidity. It would take something with mercury to stain it. Or a mixture of acids like aqua regia (a corrosive mixture of hydrochloric acid (HCl) and nitric acid (HNO3), typically in a 3:1 molar ratio. It's known for its ability to dissolve noble metals like gold and platinum), and that would completely destroy the card.

25 years ago my original wedding ring got stained (standard 18k gold), I took back to the jewel maker for repair under warranty, and he asked if I had contact with mercury (in his opinion the only way to produce a dark stain like that).
I never figured out how that happened, as I don't handle chemicals or anything that could contain mercury (not even old school thermometers, we always used digital at home). It never happened again.

I'm a mechanical engineer, no expertise in electric deposition (my best guess this is how card makers use to gold plate things, and I could be wrong about that) - but I would say something didn't go right during that process (not enough time or issue with the solution/ingredients). That's the best I can think of.

I got my MK1869 this week and did some test.

In general, it's 99% same as my old ES1868 sound card. Same sound qurality, same compatibility, even same driver settings.
A little tip for the Win9x driver, with default windows98 driver, there may be Adlib can't be recognized bug, games like Wolfinstein3D may lack of background music. By using the drvier from the MK1869 homepage, problem solved.

Two confused things.
1. The sound volume sounds a little lower under the pure dos environment compare to my YMF719 sound card, even I already set the volume to 15. BTW, it's quite same low with the ES1868.
This is quite not a really problem, but if someone could give some methods to improve it, I will quite appreciate.
2. Under the Windows98, it looks like the 3D effect can't be activated, otherwise the sound become really weird, just like the YMF719.
I don't think this is a problem either, nevertheless, does somebody know why? I'm intresting to have this knowledge.

It's pitty I don't have enough time to do some further test this week, I hope having more fun in the following holidays.

Will the PCMIDI addon board shown on the website be available in the near future?

qz3fwd wrote on 2025-04-27, 19:25:

Will the PCMIDI addon board shown on the website be available in the near future?

Already in production alongside the next batch of cards 😀

Brilliant piece of engineering, good work! I like that you added the PC speaker connector on this card. I found it odd that the ES1869 IC supported this, but I had yet to see a card that provided it.

Literally my only complaint about this card is the lack of an IDE connector for CDROM drives. I know you were trying to keep the total length of the board to the footprint of the slot itself, but this stops me swapping to this card on a 486 build, as I have the typical single master/slave IDE channel on an IDE controller, which in my case is used for the HDD and CF adapter, and I rely on the IDE from my ESS1869 card for the CDROM. There's not a lot of traces running at the rear of the card. Any chance of a rear-facing (possibly optionally populated) IDE connector attached to the back? That would make this card the ultimate replacement for existing devices, even existing ES1869 cards like I have.

Out of curiosity, is the IDE feature already built into the ES1869 chip? I can confirm that I always use a dedicated IDE channel on any retro system that can allow it, to provide Red Book CD Audio for games that support it under DOS. I never share the IDE channel, since this an affect performance of the disk drive.

Kahenraz wrote on 2025-04-27, 23:13:

Out of curiosity, is the IDE feature already built into the ES1869 chip?

Yes, it's detailed on page 22 of the ES1869 datasheet here: https://www.philscomputerlab.com/uploads/3/7/ … 9techmanual.pdf

Got'ya! What a beauty, thank you keropi and marmes for supplying this piece of art again!
I'm off to the races 😁

keropi wrote on 2025-04-27, 20:43:

qz3fwd wrote on 2025-04-27, 19:25:

Will the PCMIDI addon board shown on the website be available in the near future?

Already in production alongside the next batch of cards 😀

Oh great. Can we order one, or will they be listed sometime in the future?

About the ide connector, it does not exist on the mk1869 mainly because it would conflict with either the expansions or wt boards... Plus I think you need an extra program to run and enable the CDROM connector on es186x cards afaik and this makes it even more unappealing in the end.

qz3fwd wrote on 2025-04-28, 20:18:

Oh great. Can we order one, or will they be listed sometime in the future?

Best way would be to fill the form and put a notice you only want the pcmidi addon

My card arrived safely today.

Thanks very much for making these cards.

I was off for a couple months due to getting banned in error, but even in my exile I keep following and budgeted for that Xtreme model. A little off-topic: I wonder how different ESFM is to OPL when it comes to not music but sound effects. Roland LA sound effects are only possible through Roland LA devices; even the Sound Canvas has functional MT-32 backwards compatibility strictly for music while games using instruments to simulate effects (MicroProse, LucasArts, Origin) will have them completely wrong. For games that use Adlib for sound effects (Apogee, id, Three-Sixty Pacific) is it close enough to not be an issue or are they off too?

ESFM is so close to the real thing that I never noticed a difference, other than that ESFM sounds a little 'stronger'... or something. I'm sure there are differences if you get scientific about it but I personally think it's equal or better than OPL3

BaronSFel001 wrote on 2025-05-01, 15:14:

I wonder how different ESFM is to OPL when it comes to not music but sound effects.

I know that ESFM has its fans, but I take issue with the claims that it is a superior superset of the Yamaha OPL3. I have never tried it in its "native" mode, but as an OPL3-compatible (which is how the majority of software will use it), I consider it to be passable, and not much more than that. As with all of the other "compatible" devices that are not illegal clones or Yamaha-licensed designs, there are distinct differences, both in music reproduction and sound effects playback. If EFSM is all you've ever heard, it probably won't be overly objectionable. Once you know what something is supposed to sound like — that is to say, what it was designed to sound like on a quality genuine OPL3 implementation — to me, it often comes across as a mediocre imitation.

Sound playback is very subjective, so have your boulder of salt handy. The best way to gauge your agreement with what I have stated is to compare for yourself. If you can find any recordings of Adlib Tracker II tracks, particularly those by Encore and Madbrain, you will be able to quickly form your own opinions. My view is this: compatible — mostly; superior — no; equivalent — close, but no cigar.

badmojo wrote on 2025-05-01, 22:24:

ESFM is so close to the real thing that I never noticed a difference, other than that ESFM sounds a little 'stronger'... or something. I'm sure there are differences if you get scientific about it but I personally think it's equal or better than OPL3

Fair enough; at the end of the day I am more interested in the overall experience rather than the nitty-gritty details of getting it "right" [whatever someone's arbitrary definition of that is at the time]. That is why I expressed about the Ensoniq Soundscape earlier: despite no games being tuned specifically for it, its MIDI can be quite alluring in certain well-composed titles like TIE Fighter or Dark Forces (though my interest also extends to that Ensoniq probably offers the best overall digital sound support for extended DOS games, such as Build Engine titles that have issues on both Creative and Gravis cards in 16-bit).

640K!enough wrote on 2025-05-02, 14:11:

I know that ESFM has its fans, but I take issue with the claims that it is a superior superset of the Yamaha OPL3. I have never tried it in its "native" mode, but as an OPL3-compatible (which is how the majority of software will use it), I consider it to be passable, and not much more than that. As with all of the other "compatible" devices that are not illegal clones or Yamaha-licensed designs, there are distinct differences, both in music reproduction and sound effects playback. If EFSM is all you've ever heard, it probably won't be overly objectionable. Once you know what something is supposed to sound like — that is to say, what it was designed to sound like on a quality genuine OPL3 implementation — to me, it often comes across as a mediocre imitation.

The context of my question is whether anyone could shed light on differences in regard specifically to OPL sound effects. Music can only be expected to be here-and-there. CQM has its detractors and "close enough for me" too; originally I was going to embrace it myself since I considered the extended FM capabilities of the AWE64 to more than make up for its impurity to Adlib, but the AWE series DOS driver issues gave enough cause to replace the AWE64 when the opportunity to acquire a GUS clone came along (I only have 2 ISA slots and am keeping my Roland LAPC-I in the other 1).

My retro PC is currently stowed in anticipation of a move, but afterwards I ought to have the opportunity to check for myself since my YMF 724 includes actual OPL3 while the MK1869 Xtreme covers ESFM.

Unisound 0.82a just got released, this version adds separate AuxB input control for ES1869 thanks to JazeFox 😀

This is important because AuxB is used by the WT header on the MK1869.

The AuxB control in Unisound is the /VBxx option and it works like this:
if /VBxx is not used /VFxx option will control FM, onboard WT and WT header.
if /VBxx is specified, /VFxx will control FM and onboard WT volume and /VBxx will control WT header volume separately.

Example uses with MK1869:

/VF00 /VB90 will mute onboard WT and will put external WT board to 90% volume.
/VF80 /VB00 will mute external WT and will put onboard WT to 80% volume.