{ candyPunk }
{ Captain of Observation, 68k MLA }
{ 68k Macs liberated: 3}
{ My baby: Q660av }

quote:

---

I've heard of about 3 nubus sound cards. There's the audiomedia II, which is on sale on ebay and is currently going for $50, the sound accelerator II that markymark and jt posted some info about and the Lucid NB24, which is apparantly expensive and has far more features than I need. I'm trying to find a card to pop into my Q800 to be able to output sound at 44100 hz. Now that mpegdec can play with no downsampling using the FPU, I'd like to take advantage of that. Can anyone reccomend a card that I'll be able to find for a reasonable price?

---

LOL, i just posted a plea for help over on MAF and was about to do the same here again! you've just given me an excuse to post it in my own forum! The PAS 16 was pretty reasonable, the SDII, i don't think very many people have heard of, but cine' said the later Automedia cards can get pretty expensive, so you might want to grab that one if it doesn't go a whole lot higher than that!
__________________________________
nehoo! the second half of this plea is pure 68k the first half is an attempt to avoid retrieving my 230 from the clutches of the evil ex!

Pro AudioSpectrum 16 & PPC?

I've got a PAS 16 that I know works in my IIci with no problem. I've installed it in my DuoDock II and can get ever so close, but not quite all the way to getting it to work with my 2300c.

Has anybody got any experience with getting the Media Vision PAS 16 or DigiDesign's Sound Accelerator II cards to work for stereo I/O with any of the Duos in any of the docks?

The 2300c won't work at all with the PAS 16 under O.S. 8.6 but 7.5.3 is ALMOST workable. According to info in a couple of newsgroup hits, it should work with the 2300c. Nobody would happen to have a copy of the Media Vision Developer tool kit for the PAS 16, would they?

that's the real reason for this post, but just out of curiosity:

A lead on any information at all on the Sound Accelerator II would be great. The info I've googled has been contradictory, even as to the function of the 1/4" headphone jack and no info at all on the pinouts of the breakout connector on the backplane or any drivers or software for the card has turned up. From the info I was able to squeeze out of DigiDesign's knowledgebase, this card must be a revision of their first product and I can't find docs at all other than that so far! It came in a IIfx along with a TrueVision NuVista Card and a National Instruments NB-DIO-32F DAQ Card which sometimes interfaces with professional level tape decks according to some search hits. The combination of cards makes me think that this IIfx was some king of paleolithic high end media workstation!

Has anybody got any ideas, this kinda stuff was to die for back in the day!

tia,
jt ™. .

=8-}

p.s. i was going to post this stuff in the lounge, but the 2300c info i'm looking for should be applicable to the rest of the Duo's as well as your box, candypunk, so:

leave it tf alone so i don't have to kick your ( | ), supermod!

p.p.s. get a load of the proper capitalization! <rolleyes>

Edited by - Trash80toG-4 on 11 May 2002 15:37:05

quote:

---

Well, the Sound Accelerator II and AudioSpectrum 16 aren't up on ebay at this time, and haven't been in the past 30 days either.

---

quote:

---

I checked out the link for shreve systems. Great! I'll pick one up! It looks like they aren't there on a weekend, though. No answer when I called. No email address is given either. Will they get with the times, please!

---

check in one of the magazines for an email address!
i wouldn't put my email address on my site, but i might put it in a print ad, i've found that others seem to share that notion.

and some dinosaur types still take saturday evenings off!

jt ™. .

There seems to be a mac version of it as well as the PC version.

I found this info about the PAS-16.

The PAS-16 is basically a 16-bit SoundBlaster for the Mac. It sure looks impressive though (it's a 12" card, and every inch is covered in chips, resistors and capacitors). It comes with a handy patch-panel with 4 line-level inputs, 1 output, mic input, headphone output, midi input and output and an IBM-standard joystick port.

The limitations as far as sound manipulation are that 16 bit 44kHz sound samples can't be manipulated with filters like flange, echo, etc. It has to be converted to 8/22kHz first (I think 16 bit drivers were never written). Haven't found any programs that can access the midi ports (all want to use the IIci serial port). The joystick port works, but it slows the system down a lot when a joystick is plugged in.

Otherwise, sound quality is very good, and it helps the CPU out a little for games by doing all the music and sound calculations. The boards are cheap and can often be found brand new (stock that was in hibernation or something).

The Audiomedia II is a different story. It's a professional-level board with digital and analog inputs and outputs. I don't see how the software to utilize this beast can run on a IIci, but I guess it does (their ad shows a IIci).

i did find an audiomedia breakout cable pinout for a female DB-25 connector like the one on the back of the SA II. i can't make heads or tails of it, let me know if it looks like the pinouts of the DB25 are the same, but the connectors are different on the different digisnake cables, but doing the same job? i get crosseyed trying to figure it out because the functions are unfamiliar, here's a diredt link to the .pdfs:

http://www.digidesign.com/support/docs/Control_24_Pinouts.html
http://www.digidesign.com/support/images/DigiCableMatrix.pdf
http://www.digidesign.com/support/images/DigiSnakes.pdf

pds slot signals i can puzzle out, but this sound stuff is all greek (musical notation? ) to me!

jt ™. .

p.s. i just tried googling: "media vision" "creative labs"
first hit came up looking like the PC PAS 16 might have been SB compatible, did Media Vision merge with or become Creative Labs?

http://www.logicbox.com/catalogue.phtml?cat=SOUN

I came across the PAS-16 mac drivers.

They are at

http://www.macdrivermuseum.com/mv.pas.hqx

The PC PAS-16 is a run of the mill SoundBlaster 16 Clone.

Seems like the mac version is very similar to the PC version.

The Company that made them was MediaVision and I think they are no longer around.

quote:

---

Seems like the mac version is very similar to the PC version.

The Company that made them was MediaVision and I think they are no longer around.

---

Edited by - Trash80toG-4 on 12 May 2002 06:58:13

quote:

---

you wouldn't know of any hotbeds of subversive sound card activity where i might post my plea for help, would you? the only places i tried were here, fritter, MAF and arstechnica. no joy so far.

---

Edited by - MacMoose on 12 May 2002 08:42:06

quote:

---

You can upgrade the sound device in a Mac???

---

Just adding some info on the audiomedia sound cards.

I've been digging up a lot of info and I think the Audiomedia I is running at approx 20Mhz and the AudioMedia II is running at 32Mhz.
Both use the Motorola 56001 DSP.

Both are nubus but there is a AudioMedia LC around as well.
AudioMedia III is pci.

The NB24 from Lucid is a nubus Motorola 56002 dsp chip.
The 56002 is very similar to the 56001 just a bit more advanced and can run at higher clock speeds.
It also runs 56001 code with no problems.

The NB24 is supposed to be compatible with the usual Audiomedia apps and is probably the fastest.
The NB24 is the most recent card.

The 56000,56001 and 56002 have all been discontinued by motorola.

A lot of the Ham Radio dudes use this chip for digital filters etc.
It can even be programmed to work as a modem.

Why Apple chose the AT&T 3210 dsp for the AV line instead of this chip is one of the Macs great mysteries.

As far as I can tell both chips were about the same price back then.

Typo Error.

Meant Sound Accelerator II not Sound Designer II.

quote:

---

Typo Error.

Meant Sound Accelerator II not Sound Designer II.

---

oops!

have you seen anything on the Sound Accelerator II in the way of pinouts, drivers or software? i emailed DigiDesign, trying to get them to release dome info on that card, but they said that it's so old there was never any electronic version of the docs to send me, but they sent me some links to an active online user group they said would be helpful. haven't looked at it yet and the links are probably somewhere on their site, but i'd be glad to forward the email if you or anybody else wants to check it out.

will MPegDec use the DSP cards already or are you researching ways to provide support for DSP's?

jt ™. .

The Sound Accelerator II is hard to get info on.

It seems to be very similar to the audiomedia.

I've got just about everything I need to do a Audiomedia 56001 dsp version of MpegDec.

Maybe the other 56001 cards also.

If I get it going it should really rock.

quote:

---

The Sound Accelerator II is hard to get info on.

It seems to be very similar to the audiomedia.

I've got just about everything I need to do a Audiomedia 56001 dsp version of MpegDec.

Maybe the other 56001 cards also.

If I get it going it should really rock.

---

Thanks for the offer.

I'll have MpegDec 2.5 finally finished in a couple of days and then I'll start on the dsp version.

It might take a few months to do maybe sooner.

Another nubus motorola 56001 dsp card is the Digital Waveboard by MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn).

These cards must be rare.

They seem to be compatible with digidesign's audiomedia software.

A AudioMedia I card works in the MacII nubus macs and the PPC nubus macs but not in the Quadra nubus macs.

Maybe it's a bus speed problem.

A AudioMedia II card works in all the nubus macs.

quote:

---

Rare Audiomedia info.

A AudioMedia I card works in the MacII nubus macs and the PPC nubus macs but not in the Quadra nubus macs.

Maybe it's a bus speed problem.

---

quote:

---

Rare Audiomedia info.

A AudioMedia I card works in the MacII nubus macs and the PPC nubus macs but not in the Quadra nubus macs.

Maybe it's a bus speed problem.

A AudioMedia II card works in all the nubus macs.

---

666th poster and 666th thread-creator
Mod of the Mac II series Forums
Total 68K Macs liberated: 7
Regular Disappear!

Heres 2 links that have info about "Audiomedia I" and quadras.

http://shoko.calarts.edu/~majordom/music-dsp/1999-nov/msg00282.html
http://shoko.calarts.edu/~majordom/music-dsp/1998a/msg00146.html

btw Pro Tools 3.4 can run on nubus 68k's.

http://www.oakbog.com/PT3NuBus.html#Installation

I've been looking at the IIci nubus and quadra 700 nubus 90 pinouts and on the IIci nubus there are 8 not connected pins that some old nubus cards have joined together.

These 8 not connected pins have a different meaning for nubus 90 and if the old card connects to them it might cause instability etc.

This might be why an Audiomedia I card (and other cards with problems) won't run properly on a Nubus 90 Quadra.

The fix might be to stop those 8 pins connecting to the nubus socket by wrapping some insulation tape around them for example.

I'll experiment with it and see what happens.

quote:

---

I've been looking at the IIci nubus and quadra 700 nubus 90 pinouts and on the IIci nubus there are 8 not connected pins that some old nubus cards have joined together.

These 8 not connected pins have a different meaning for nubus 90 and if the old card connects to them it might cause instability etc.

This might be why an Audiomedia I card (and other cards with problems) won't run properly on a Nubus 90 Quadra.

The fix might be to stop those 8 pins connecting to the nubus socket by wrapping some insulation tape around them for example.

I'll experiment with it and see what happens.

---

quote:

---

I've been looking at the IIci nubus and quadra 700 nubus 90 pinouts and on the IIci nubus there are 8 not connected pins that some old nubus cards have joined together.

These 8 not connected pins have a different meaning for nubus 90 and if the old card connects to them it might cause instability etc.

This might be why an Audiomedia I card (and other cards with problems) won't run properly on a Nubus 90 Quadra.

The fix might be to stop those 8 pins connecting to the nubus socket by wrapping some insulation tape around them for example.

I'll experiment with it and see what happens.

---

On some quadras there is a 5v standby trickle on the B25 pin.

There are a couple of possible problems that can arise from
this +5 trickle. One problem is thatthe +5V trickle is connected
via a previously defined pin. The pin was not used by theMacintosh.
The pin was one of the ­5.2V signals. If your NuBus card either
connects all of theno connects together or expects the no
connects to be a ground, then your card is
likely to not work very well.
The current that is available on pin B25 is not enough to
power your board,but it might be enough to make your
board act a little strange.If you think that you might have a
problem with this pin, then here is the rule to follow:*
Don't connect your card to any pins that are labeled no connects.

Important The eight lines that were connected to the –5.2-volt
supply in the original NuBus specification are now
used for new features. Many older NuBus cards
connect those eight lines together; the presence of
such a card in a Macintosh Quadra 700 computer will
disable the new features that use those lines. All other
features of both old and new cards will operate
normally.

This standby pin is in the quadra 900 950 and I would say also the av's.

I've heard of someone running an old Sound Accelerator card in a quadra 800 with no problems and the "Audiomedia I" card would be similar.

So if the quadra 800 doesn't have the standby pin then that might be the reason.

The quadra 700 doesn't have the standby pin so the old nubus cards might work in them.

The 610 is not really a nubus mac so it could have problems between the card and the nubus adapter.

Or it might be a case of bus speeds but that doesn't really explain why a "Audiomedia I" works in both a MacII and a PPC nubus.

I tested a IIcx mono video card in the quadra 700 and it worked fine.

This card doesn't have the 8 pins ( B8 to B11 and B24 to B27 (the standby trickle voltage B25 is in this block of pins) )
joined together and neither does a hurdler 4 serial port nubus card either.

Found out some more info about the Sound Accelerator II card.

I think it is the card included in digidesigns Sound Tools II package.

And it is very similar to the Audiomedia II except it has double the memory of the AudioMedia II.

So it seems it is a better card than the Audiomedia II.

quote:

---

Thanks, mark, very cool. Now I really want to get that Sound Accelerator II card from JT!

---

jt ™.
Trash Hauler: call sign: eight-ball
C.O. AC-130H SpecOps 68kMLAAF

quote:

---

<sends covert reconnaissance team to NYC to determine the whereabouts of card and possible risk to team during capture>

---

jt ™.
Trash Hauler: call sign: eight-ball
C.O. AC-130H SpecOps 68kMLAAF

I tested the Audiomedia I to see if it has any of the NuBus 90 new signals joined together and it does.

It has Row B 10 and II joined together and Row B 26 and 27.

Earlier I tested a MacII video card and a Hurdler 4 serial card and they did not have any of the Nubus 90 new signals joined together and ran fine in the Quadra 700.

Because the AudioMedia I has some of the NuBus 90 new signals joined together could be why it won't run properly in Nubus 90 (Quadras) macs.

If these pins were isolated the AudioMedia I may run ok.

quote:

---

I tested the Audiomedia I to see if it has any of the NuBus 90 new signals joined together and it does.

It has Row B 10 and II joined together and Row B 26 and 27.

Earlier I tested a MacII video card and a Hurdler 4 serial card and they did not have any of the Nubus 90 new signals joined together and ran fine in the Quadra 700.

Because the AudioMedia I has some of the NuBus 90 new signals joined together could be why it won't run properly in Nubus 90 (Quadras) macs.

If these pins were isolated the AudioMedia I may run ok.

---

jt ™.
Trash Hauler: call sign: eight-ball
C.O. AC-130H SpecOps 68kMLAAF

68k Macintosh Liberation Army Forums

© 2001-2003 68kMLA