Synth chips from Commodore 64 and old Soundblasters for Soundbuilders

[TAG]

The Soundbuilders are working on a couple synth modules based on chips
from the Commodore 64 and mid to late '90s soundcards that use the
Yamaha OPL3, and we could use some help finding parts.

The Commodore 64 utilized a MOS Technology SID (Sound Interface
Device) chip (it was also used in the CBM-II, Commodore 128 and
Commodore MAX Machine home computers). The SID was actually a
digitally controlled analog synth in a chip.

There are two different SID derivatives: the 6581 (first version,
initially used by C64 in the "brown breadbox case"), and the 8580
(later version, used by C64 in the flat gray case). There is also a
6582, which was sold as replacement for defective 8580s.

The Yamaha OPL3 was an FM synthesis chipset used on Sound Blaster Pro
2.0 and later cards until it was ousted by wavetable synth chips in
the late 90s. Specifically we am looking for the YMF262 sound chip
and YAC512 DACs. The following soundcards are known to use these
chips:

Creative Soundblaster Pro II (or Soundblaster Pro 2)
Creative Soundblaster 16 (not the VALUE version!)
Creative Soundblaster Pro SCSI
Creative Soundblaster 16 SCSI (CT1770)
Creative Vibra 16 (CT2260)
Creative Vibra 16 (CT2800)
Creative Vibra 16 (CT2810)
Creative Vibra 16 PnP (CT2890)
Creative SB16 MCD (CT1750)
Media Vision Pro AudioSpectrum 16
Media Vision Jazz 16
Media Vision PAS16 LMSI 1992 (IXW-PAS16P)
Media Vision PROAUDIO 3D
Turtle Beach Tropez Rev 2.0
Turtle Beach Monte Carlo (P/N 500.2)
ESS AudioDrive
Aztech Sound Galaxy
Aztech Sound Galaxy Washington 16
Aztech Sound Galaxy Nova 16
Aztech AZT2316-S
Mozart ISA
Mediamagic ISP-16
TeleVideo teleWave Q32=/SRS (Rev.C)
Televideo Telesound Pro16
Adlib Gold 1000
Windows SOUNDSYSTEM (rev B.)
OPTi 930 Soundsystem (S0930S0010)

Thanks!

[crei...@sdf.lonestar.org]

> The Soundbuilders are working on a couple synth modules based on chips
> from the Commodore 64 and mid to late '90s soundcards that use the
> Yamaha OPL3, and we could use some help finding parts.
>

I'm dying to know what you are using these recycled chips for!

Creighton

[Tim Gillespie]

Connect them to a microcontroller, use a UART for MIDI and you can
access all the goodies inside and build whatever kind of control
surface you want to tweak all the settings and parameters.

[Ben Hibben]

That sounds fun.  I'll dig through my collection and see what I have.  If I have 2 maybe I can talk someone into showing me how to do that with one and give them the other?

Blenster

[Tim Gillespie]

Even if you only find one we can show you.  Here are the details for the FM chip:
http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_fm.html

[crei...@sdf.lonestar.org]

> Even if you only find one we can show you. Here are the details for the
> FM
> chip:
> http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_fm.html
>

I feel stupid right now. I don't really even understand what I'm looking
at. Is this like a homebrew synthiszer like one would buy with a set of
piano like keys?

Creighton

[Tim Gillespie]

Yes, only without the piano keys, you need a midi controller of some sort to turn notes on and off.  It could be a midi keyboard, sequencer, PC, etc.

[Jason Dodd]

Seems related enough: http://hackaday.com/2012/05/23/jeri-builds-a-c64-bass-keytar/

[jesco w]

im pretty sure i have a creative labs soundblaster pro sound card around somewhere ,
    looked though some box's allready ..      im still looking !

[Tim Gillespie]

I found a distributor that had NOS of the yamaha chips for a few bucks each.  Chris and I bought several sets.  I should have a board running soon to test them out.

[Pat McCarthy]

Off topic… new term? What does NOS mean?

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[Christopher Cprek]

New Old Stock.

[#]

reminds me i need to look for that soundblaster card.     im 99% sure i didnt junk it


   allthough the wifey  did conspire with familly  and  have a " Intervention " to tell me i was hoarding, lol        im like     " what ?  ill need those someday  ! " 

[Pat McCarthy]

Cool... new thing learned. I can go home now

-----Original Message-----
From: lv...@googlegroups.com [mailto:lv...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Christopher Cprek
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2012 1:36 PM
To: lv...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: {LVL1} Synth chips from Commodore 64 and old Soundblasters for Soundbuilders

New Old Stock.

On Mon, Jul 9, 2012 at 1:35 PM, Pat McCarthy <pmcc...@humana.com> wrote:

> Off topic... new term? What does NOS mean?

[Pat McCarthy]

Can you use a soundblaster? What kinda chip are you looking for?

 

 

From: lv...@googlegroups.com [mailto:lv...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of #
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2012 1:40 PM
To: lv...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: {LVL1} Synth chips from Commodore 64 and old Soundblasters for Soundbuilders

 

reminds me i need to look for that soundblaster card.     im 99% sure i didnt junk it

The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed
and may contain CONFIDENTIAL material. If you receive this material/information in error,
please contact the sender and delete or destroy the material/information.

[Jonathan Clark]

OH NO! I must have thrown out close to 3 huge boxes of SoundBlaster Pro II cards not 3 months ago.  I had kept them forever thinking "One day someone will use these for something awesome".  That'll teach me not to hoard!  I'll look around at the few boxes of sound cards I didn't toss and see if I can come up with any on the list.

[Christopher Cprek]

This is what we could use, from the original thread. I went through
the boneyard stock about 6 months ago and found 1 Soundblaster card
that had a YMF252, but no corresponding DAC.

[Tim Gillespie]

2.5 years later....and
​I finally have a working synth that uses SID chips from Commodore 64,

[Brad Luyster]

Awesome! Is this from the PDF reverse-engineered board?

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[Ben Hibben]

Congrats; do you have a writeup somewhere I can post about publicly?

Blenster

[Tim Gillespie]

Indeed, the PCB for the control surface was created from this pdf:  http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=mb-6582:mb-6582_cs_pcb_r2_color.pdf

I was able to separate the PCB layers in the PDF in Adobe Illustrator by using the 'select same stroke color' command.  Once I had each layer I exported a DXF that I could then use to mill the board.

Ben, I don't have a write up of my build, but the project itself is documented here: http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=wilba_mb_6582

On Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 4:58 PM, Brad Luyster <bradl...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Matt B.]

Awesome! I had wanted to do this but ended up selling my c64s. Looks great!

[Michael Hammons]

I will see what old parts I got laying around I missed tonight's meetup sadly