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PLEASE VOTE!!!: Konami Sound Module Hybrid Repros

Mitsurugi-w said:
He didn't have an Xexex but he did have an X-men. He noticed a certain part of the circuit on the module was not used in X-men so he assumed it was not used in Xexex also. It's a good assumption actually. Only two games used that module. Well he was unlucky enough to find our Xexex did use it after he ordered his designs. He said he would correct it but he never did. I think some shitty stuff happened in his personal life. Caius got tired of waiting so that's really the reason this one is here now.
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Correct.Ian carried on his tests on an X-Men PCB which has an external LM358 which pratically by-passes the one mounted on the undernath of the '054544' module.But then, when testing his repro on a Xexex I was repairing I noticed there was no audio at all (you could barely hear somenting) so I pointed this out to him and he refunded me and all other people who bought his module promising to change the design in a couple of weeks.This never happened mainly because he had troubles in his life (a fire in his house).So I decided to do my own 1:1 repro of the '054544' as well as of the '054986A' which none reproduced until now.And so now here we are :)

As for the '054321' reverse-engineering I had a talk with a guy who is try to do it.He said me the most difficult part to understand and reproduce is the volume handling since the ASIC control also the volume (which indeed it's digital, no potentiometer is present on PCBs that use these modules).As for other functions they can be quite easily reproduced and implemented in a CPLD.
 
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Nice, I didn't realize Ian's doesn't work with xerxes. Certainly worth producing some of your version then!

Though I'm still excited about the prospect of an xmen drop-in, complete with the dac and asic. That would get you the xmen owners, too.
 
ekorz said:
Though I'm still excited about the prospect of an xmen drop-in, complete with the dac and asic. That would get you the xmen owners, too.
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Maybe I expressed bad myself.The original '054544' module is the same on both X-Men and Xexex, the difference is on the PCBs.My repro is a 1:1 copy of the original module hence it works on both boards.The Ian '054544' repro, instead, works only on X-Men because he didn't implement the pre-amplification circuit of the original module.This circuit can be omitted for X-Men since it's present also externally on PCB while it's needed for Xexex which lacks of it.
 
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XianXi said:
Please let me know if you guys ever do a DIP version for the caps.
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Are you kidding perhaps? :)
Doing a DIP version makes very few sense, it's an involution.Anyway, you can solder thru-hole capacitors on my repros like you do on original modules.
 
caius said:
XianXi said:
Please let me know if you guys ever do a DIP version for the caps.
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Are you kidding perhaps? :) Doing a DIP version makes very few sense, it's an involution.Anyway, you can solder thru-hole capacitors on my repros like you do on original modules.
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I understand that. A lot of people have difficulties dealing with SMD, they don't have tweezers and magnifiers to work with tiny parts. Even soldering requires lower power soldering iron (or hot air) and steady hands.
Actually I had a lot of feedbacks regarding my reproduction of the Capcom 85H001 sound module where people would like a through hole version.
But in fact it's only needed if I sell bare PCBs people have to assemble.
 
I guess he meant electolytic capacitors.If this is the case, he can easily solder thru-hole ones to my repro instead of SMD.But if he meant the ceramic capacitors, there is no way to do a DIP version :) There are more than 10 ceramic capacitors , where the hell I should find room for thru-hole ones???I should design a module bigger the the arcade PCB itself in order to accomodate them :D I chose '0805' package for ceramic capacitors and still I had trouble to find room for them and I chose this package just to make soldering job easier otherwise I would have opted for '0603'.
Lastly, I don't think electrolytic SMD capacitors are really hard to solder, they are big enough :

Snap2.jpg
 
True. You don't NEED hot air or solder paste to solder down smd caps. You can place solder on one pad, heat the solder while laying down the cap, then solder the other pad. I think also a lot of people tend to think that through-hole caps last longer and are more reliable but there really isn't any evidence to support that. It's just a different package.
 
Mitsurugi-w said:
True. You don't NEED hot air or solder paste to solder down smd caps. You can place solder on one pad, heat the solder while laying down the cap, then solder the other pad. I think also a lot of people tend to think that through-hole caps last longer and are more reliable but there really isn't any evidence to support that. It's just a different package.
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In this case not.
When I see the damage caused by some people with through hole parts I can only imagine what would happen with SMD...
Caius, you and I are used to work with SMD, it's just natural for us (and even necessary) but you must also understand some people fire their soldering iron once in a couple of years.
You may think they shouldn't even think of soldering anything but the more you practise, the more you progress.
Though hole part makes it reasonably accessible for them.
 
Yes, electrolytic of course. It's more to prevent future leaking. All the arcade boards I have that require repair are always the ones with leaking SMD caps due to age(20+ years). Of course a dual purpose PCB that can take either DIP or SMD electrolytics would be the most efficient cost wise.

I can do SMD no problem. I'm just thinking maybe way too far into the future for my own boards. :D
 
XianXi said:
Yes, electrolytic of course. It's more to prevent future leaking. All the arcade boards I have that require repair are always the ones with leaking SMD caps due to age(20+ years). Of course a dual purpose PCB that can take either DIP or SMD electrolytics would be the most efficient cost wise.

I can do SMD no problem. I'm just thinking maybe way too far into the future for my own boards. :D
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Hi XianXi, in fact all or most of the board requires capacitors change. This because those are dead now since a long time. i noticed that even the thru hole capacitors need to be replaced by new ones.

otherwise, you either get a very hot sound amp, which ends to be killed by heat, and also crap sound with noise or volume change. Each time i replace the capacitors on my board, i regain clean and clear sound afterwards.
 
Indeed.The role of the capacitor (especially in sound circuit) is to filter ripple in order to avoid dangerous oscillations of the ICs.
 
Hi Caius :)

Yes, and even more since the manufacturers seem to have used not strong enough capacitors for filtering. Some of my boards, even after recapping have the new capacitors heating way way too much, this show that they are "undersized" to do the job.

By the way Caius, it's maybe a bit off topic, but i see 2 things that would be absolutely awesome to do for dumping and preserving the board rom, maskroms, prom and what not on pcb boards :

- A custom made eprom/maskrom/prom etc reader/writer, and the software running on the PC side.

No more obsolete and impossible to read chips.

- making a software to help troubleshooting the game boards. this would be truely great :)
 
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