I can't imagine an AdLib being noisier than a Sound Blaster 2.0. And from what i could hear (because i own both and tested it) it isn't. In fact i didn't find it any noisier than a Sound Blaster 1.5, but this is my experience.

Please don't consider this a detailed comparison. 😀 I'm only referring to the amplifier hiss, which was present at a constant level in at least the Ad Lib MSC that I was working with, irrespective of any volume knob positioning. At a high enough volume level, and when driving non-amplified speakers, I imagine this is probably acceptable for the design, and not really a problem. When attempting to make recordings from the card though, it was a problem, and consequently, an SB2.0 was used instead.

Cloudschatze wrote:

Please don't consider this a detailed comparison.

Not at all. In fact i think i only tried my 1987 AdLib MSC through amplified speakers. So i also admit my experience is indeed limited.

bjt wrote:

Lovely attention to detail on this build 😀

Robin4 wrote:

Lovely build! I very like it. Nice to see that of good quality reincarnation of the real thing WOW very nice on cleaning.. I think that would cost you a lot sweat and tears..
Also i like it that there is another user with an JUKO ST clone computer.. Luckly iam not alone now.. I think you really got gold on that case, and that you was on time to get it before it was trashed.. NICE build..

Thanks guys...it wasn't all that difficult to clean, but it is a little time consuming taking everything apart and putting it back together just like any other build I guess. I am thinking of giving the switches a little more retrobright treatment since they seem to be a bit more yellow than the rest of the case, but that will have to wait until next week.

It's nice to have a JUKO ST clone. I have seen them on eBay the last couple years, but they were always so expensive. It seems like a solid XT motherboard. The thing I always liked about XT boards is the simplicity of them. Having minimal amount of capacitors, resistors, etc. means there's less of a chance for things to go wrong for the most part.

carlostex wrote:

You can use several cards with AdLib compatibility without any issues. Even the PAS was designed for 388h as base port in mind b […]
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retrofanatic wrote:

Thanks for the tip. I thought as much. I think I may just go with my adlib card and/or maybe my PAS 8bit card then and I do have a Roland MPU-IPC-T card for the MPU to drive all my external MIDI devices. Also, I remember having some strange 8 bit Adlib clone card that may be cool to try, I don't remember the make and model, but I will look for it and maybe give it a try in this XT machine.

You can use several cards with AdLib compatibility without any issues. Even the PAS was designed for 388h as base port in mind but in a way that it doesn't conflict with other cards and probably also not to undermine its own AdLib compatibility.

Now the original PAS in an XT is kind of a waste in my opinion. It is best suited in a 386/486. The greatest thing about the PAS is the dual OPL2, and the way it sounds when it is natively supported. I'm thinking of Fleet Defender or even Formula One Grand Prix. These games won't run in an XT.

I agree with Keropi a CT1320C or even a CT1350B is a good card for a Turbo XT. You'll have AdLib, Sound Blaster and CMS/Gameblaster. CT1320C's are better but harder to find than CT1350B's

Scali wrote:

retrofanatic wrote:

In light of this information, now I may reconsider and just at least try having both a SB and Adlib in there at the same time. I will be using a nice professional grade Sony mixer, so I could attenuate each cards output as I see fit so that will eliminate the problem of playing at the same time and any possible 'reverb' from having sound playing at the same time from two different sources (depending if I can get both to work properly in the first place).

There is little point to that though, since an SB is quite literally an Adlib with a DAC added to it. It uses the same original Yamaha OPL2 chip, so it will sound exactly the same (aside from possibly very minor differences in the output amplifier on the board).
So I don't quite see the point of having an Adlib next to an SB. Both cards may work in a single system, but the result would just be that both cards would be playing the exact same thing at the exact same time when you play an Adlib game, and the Adlib will be playing the FM music where the SB does both FM music and DAC sound effects when you play an SB game.

I just realized that I don't have any original Sound Blaster boards anyways so a lonely AdLib will be the most likely candidate for this build. I may try a SBPRO2 in the 8 bit slot though as a test for now, since I do have a couple of those.

As for using the original 8 bit PAS, I do agree with carlostex...it is probably more suited for a 386 build. I have revamped a plan for a 386DX40 build that may be the perfect home for the PAS, but I haven't had the time to start that build yet.

I hope my AdLib isn't that noisy, but I will have to test it out and see.

Anyways, nothing new to report on the build just yet. Hopefully within the next couple weeks, I will have everything just the way I want it so that I can fire up some games and try it out.

I'm totally loving on this machine, well done!

badmojo wrote:

I'm totally loving on this machine, well done!

Thank you.

Just purchased an Intel D8087-1 math coprocessor from eBay to use in this XT build...hope it works. Will report back once I receive it (it looks like it's going to take a while to arrive with the slowest shipping option from China 😢 ). Oh well I can wait.

Lovely build you have here. Shame I never get anything older than a Pentium through my workshop. I tend not to go out of my way to find these things, but I may just have to do that one of these days.

I recently acquired a very similar board. This Russian site says its by DTK: http://ru.pc-history.com/dtk-xt-8-mhz-turbo-board.html

There's no model number on it but I think it's either PIM-640 or PIM-TURBO