There were a few people who have featured it on their channels before (including when I uploaded my share of the music), but it's great to see it again on AkBKukU's channel :D EDIT: Just remembered the name of one of the channels who talked about X3, root42 did a great review on the game and makes some other really good retro videos. It'd be neat to see his channel get more attention
OH! I have to give you some credit: You 'invented' something that I think I am going to blatantly steal. That sheet of printer paper with the components laid out and taped to it. I'm 35.9 and I have been putting together kits of electronics for years... Never, not once, did I ever think to label them with their component designation on the silkscreen of the PCB. The thing I will be staring at, and looking back and forth from the parts list... That's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I can't believe how incredibly obvious that looks now, once I have seen it, that I should have thought of it. And if I ever make a kit for anything, I will include a sheet of exactly what you did here. I think that it would also help with 'accuracy' in the kits in the future... I mean, have someone spend a couple of hours making up these sheets and then incorporate them into the 'instructions' as official documentation... I mean... Sheesh. That's too good of an idea. Thanks! :D
Ahhh man, that thing sounds nice! And for some reason I feel like it meshes super well with the Compaq Portable, even though the AdLib and the Compaq are from different eras. It's great to hear X3 AdLib on real hardware too, most of the buzz about the music seemed to be towards the Tandy soundtrack which - much as it is the one I had to put the most work into - I still loved how the AdLib turned out.
I agree, for some reason it feels oddly right in the Compaq Portable! I've really enjoyed the AdLib version of the soundtrack, I have only played it on here with music so far actually so I need to check out the other renditions still. I also played it for a while with the jukebox mode on the title screen after I got this card built. I wish every game had that for enjoying the music! I should really just do something like making running X3 on one of my Tandy's a goal. I got them in a lot with a bunch of other stuff and they end up getting overlooked in my collection.
@@TechTangents Same here, sound tests and jukeboxes are something I really miss in games. It's fun to just listen to the tunes and it also makes it waaaaay easier to make your own rips of the music, something I've done a lot with my SEGA Mega Drive library. And for X3 specifically, it also made finding bugs in the compiled music files much easier. The game's optimized well enough that any Tandy should be able to handle it, so just pick one and go! If you have any that need repairs I think they would make for some interesting videos too.
Now I remember why I haven't set up a Tandy yet. I have a 1000SX, which is faster but not very different from a 5150 or PCjr. And I have a 1000TX which has the stupid power over ribbon cable thing for the floppy drives. So I haven't wanted to mess with finding drives for that after. Maybe I should get my first Gotek for the TX and go all modern upgrade parts as the theme.
I find this mildly interesting after I had an adlib compatible card in my old 386. I recently picked up an Intel pentium 166 but then realised that nostalgia is heavily tinged in purple and quickly sold it at great profit.
Also the 3 holes for the caps lets you use for 0.1" or 0.2" leg pitch capacitors. Its common enough but you just have to look at the PCB to find the link.
One more thing, when soldering it is better to solder the passive components first and then those integrated circuits as that will put the least amount of thermal stress on them.
This was the very first major soldering project I did roughly 1.5 years ago. The kits were not available yet, so I ordered 3 PCBs locally and sourced parts from eBay (Yamaha) and Mouser. Was really fun. I gave one of the finished cards to the 8bit guy, which he used now in a few videos, e.g. the last making of Planet X3. Since then I also made the MUS1099 GameBlaster clone and the Snark Barker, which is a Sound Blaster replica. Since these old cards are so expensive when original, making them yourself is actually cheaper and more fun. Link to my sound card assembly videos: ruclips.net/p/PLGJnX2KGgaw3UVdvlxxU20A6qGQgYZuK7
Ooh, someone who's done board bring-up! "We're getting 3.3 on the 0.8 rail."--said by a co-worker last year. If they hadn't checked first, they'd have killed a pretty expensive fpga.
I start with the resistors, they are thinner than the IC's. Once you have a few inserted on the edges the board lays flat and the table will hold the others in place without the excessive cinch (bend) you put on the resistor legs. (smaller cinch makes it easier to desolder if needed)
I want to say there is an Easter Egg on the X3 title screen that allows you to change the background music with a key press. Would be cool to hear all the tunes with the Adlib audio.
Pci-e sound cards are so rare. Creative still do some though. I didn't even know they were still around till I got my Asrock B450 motherboard which had the built in Creative soundblaster as a selling point.
Now do a Roland LAPC-1 :-) just kidding. I had both (LAPC1 and AdLib) and how great the times were playing games with these cards in the early days. Coming from CGA/Hercules monochrome to VGA and having the first sound card doing FM Synthesis and MIDI later on was a blast. Man am I feeling old now. Love your video!
The only times I've seen parts clearly sorted and marked by reference is in many Elenco kits. They have all the component leads bent around a long, narrow card with notches (and holes for caps) in it. I can definitely see that being prohibitively expensive, tedious, or otherwise pain-in-the-neck-y for relatively low-volume kits, though.
I think they still produce the actual synth chip, but I don’t think they produce the DAC chip at the specific needed frequency. That or I haven’t looked hard enough.
@@AshtonSnapp If they still make them, then I haven't found a place to purchase legitimate ones. They're all either new old stock or Chinese counterfeits, same with the DACs I'd guess.
Wow, I remember having one of these back in the day...We got it to get real sound on Wizardry: Bane of the Cosmic Forge. It was the first time I thought a PC could be better at games than a C64(it was also EGA graphics).
Im so glad you decided to put that in your portable! I have one I need to fix some issues on. One disk drive causes the power supply to kick off, i think the monitor needs a cap job (due to uncontrollable screen rollover. I plan on getting a isa to cf card drive and now an adlib clone because you confirmed it for me if it would work!
maybe put all the refrence numbers as stickers on the bag and reperate them by part in seperate bags, would be a nice way of what your're doing with the paper
Needing a bunch of bags adds another thing you need to keep track of and buy for selling kits then. The reason I like the paper organizer solution is that it's nearly free. It shouldn't be hard to make a generator for pages that take a BOM file exported from EDA software to automate them either.
Just an FYI Monotech has a habit of taking open source hardware projects, rebranding them and selling them with little to no attribution to the original designer. This is true of this card as I actually know the person who actually reverse engineered the original Adlib card and make this design available. His site is here: tubetime.us/index.php/2016/07/22/a-reproduction-adlib-sound-card/
I was not aware of that. I double checked the product page and the Github repository where the original design file are release is linked. I think Monotech's boards were ordered before it was changed to RadLib(but I may be wrong) and that the only change is the text above the AdLib logo. That is technically out of compliance with the license as his modifications are not stated on the purchase page. I will keep this in mind for future videos featuring Monotech products. I rushed this video because I was in a time crunch when I recorded it and I didn't do research so I could know who had designed the card. I was originally under the impression that there had been multiple ground up designs for the card and this was based off one of them. Now I know they are all sourced from Tube Time's design.
It's great to see those Adlib DIY clones being so popular, but honestly I don't know why Adlib? I would be much more interested in Gravis Ultra Sound clone or at least Sound Blaster Pro with OPL 3 and better output quality. Also, there's just abundance of old ISA sound cards with really low prices. Which is a surprise for me, since the only reason to build an old PC is to put ISA sound card in it. VGA cards and everything else is much, much more expensive even though sound cards weren't that common back then.
3:38 You put the components in the PCB in the order on the sheet so that when you turn the board over to solder, the components are always held flush. It's the normal way to hand-assemble a PCB, and not doing this might lead to you to need to bend the component leads over before soldering to hold them in place, which no one (sensible) does.
I understand doing that on an assembly line, but for a home assembly I don't understand why more people don't just tape down the components to avoid having to bend pins or to carefully make sure you're holding them flush and keep them from falling out when you flip them over. Hell, the instruction sheet suggested that you do some stuff with a mouse pad to hold the components in their holes while you're flipping, as if you're catching a spider in a cup or something. Just seems needlessly fiddly and complicated when you can put a few pieces of tape on temporarily and make your life simpler.
jirja3 fun idea. Problem will be to source the TMUs and the graphics core. Also it would be completely SMD soldering. Not that much fun if you aren’t a pick and place robot… ;)
INSTANT sidenote: this is a public domain PCB design - so if you want to produce your own PCB and source your own parts and potentially safe some money in the process that's an option. On a positive note, the PCB quality here is considerably good with no soldermask near the edge connector, (hard?) gold fingers and a chamfer.
Please please please do NOT bend components by hand right by their casing like this. Especially in dipped or ceramic casings, this introduces stress which will form larger fractures later on. Use components appropriate for the footprint, or bend the leads with a pair of pliers.
It’s fine. The joke was it’s probably good old lead/tin solder, even though commercially produced electronics need to be made with lead-free solder, thus sayeth the ROHS.
IAMGINE IF WHINERS COMPLAIN ABOUT EXPENSIVE VIDEO CARDS>>>MAYBE BOTH COMPANIES FIND ANOTHER OPTION FOR CHEAP BASTARDS....BY SELL A KIT FOR THEM AND DO THEMSELVES ..PUT MEMORY AND GPU AND POWER VRM YOURSELF...YOU ONLY SPEND $200 BUCKS ON RTX 2080TI CHIP ONLY
Hey, thanks for featuring Planet X3!
Thank you for making a great game!
@@TechTangents make vid about planet x16
Nice to see Planet X3 outside of the 8-Bit Guy's channel!
There were a few people who have featured it on their channels before (including when I uploaded my share of the music), but it's great to see it again on AkBKukU's channel :D
EDIT: Just remembered the name of one of the channels who talked about X3, root42 did a great review on the game and makes some other really good retro videos. It'd be neat to see his channel get more attention
Did you know on planet X3 you can cycle through the menu music using the number keys?
OH! I have to give you some credit: You 'invented' something that I think I am going to blatantly steal. That sheet of printer paper with the components laid out and taped to it. I'm 35.9 and I have been putting together kits of electronics for years... Never, not once, did I ever think to label them with their component designation on the silkscreen of the PCB. The thing I will be staring at, and looking back and forth from the parts list... That's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I can't believe how incredibly obvious that looks now, once I have seen it, that I should have thought of it. And if I ever make a kit for anything, I will include a sheet of exactly what you did here. I think that it would also help with 'accuracy' in the kits in the future... I mean, have someone spend a couple of hours making up these sheets and then incorporate them into the 'instructions' as official documentation... I mean... Sheesh. That's too good of an idea. Thanks! :D
Ahhh man, that thing sounds nice! And for some reason I feel like it meshes super well with the Compaq Portable, even though the AdLib and the Compaq are from different eras. It's great to hear X3 AdLib on real hardware too, most of the buzz about the music seemed to be towards the Tandy soundtrack which - much as it is the one I had to put the most work into - I still loved how the AdLib turned out.
I agree, for some reason it feels oddly right in the Compaq Portable! I've really enjoyed the AdLib version of the soundtrack, I have only played it on here with music so far actually so I need to check out the other renditions still. I also played it for a while with the jukebox mode on the title screen after I got this card built. I wish every game had that for enjoying the music!
I should really just do something like making running X3 on one of my Tandy's a goal. I got them in a lot with a bunch of other stuff and they end up getting overlooked in my collection.
@@TechTangents Same here, sound tests and jukeboxes are something I really miss in games. It's fun to just listen to the tunes and it also makes it waaaaay easier to make your own rips of the music, something I've done a lot with my SEGA Mega Drive library. And for X3 specifically, it also made finding bugs in the compiled music files much easier.
The game's optimized well enough that any Tandy should be able to handle it, so just pick one and go! If you have any that need repairs I think they would make for some interesting videos too.
Now I remember why I haven't set up a Tandy yet. I have a 1000SX, which is faster but not very different from a 5150 or PCjr. And I have a 1000TX which has the stupid power over ribbon cable thing for the floppy drives. So I haven't wanted to mess with finding drives for that after. Maybe I should get my first Gotek for the TX and go all modern upgrade parts as the theme.
I find this mildly interesting after I had an adlib compatible card in my old 386. I recently picked up an Intel pentium 166 but then realised that nostalgia is heavily tinged in purple and quickly sold it at great profit.
Also the 3 holes for the caps lets you use for 0.1" or 0.2" leg pitch capacitors. Its common enough but you just have to look at the PCB to find the link.
I presume that's why the instruction sheet said it's to accommodate 2mm and 5mm leg spacing.
One more thing, when soldering it is better to solder the passive components first and then those integrated circuits as that will put the least amount of thermal stress on them.
3am here
Got work at 6am
But this is just too good to watch to skip
This was the very first major soldering project I did roughly 1.5 years ago. The kits were not available yet, so I ordered 3 PCBs locally and sourced parts from eBay (Yamaha) and Mouser. Was really fun. I gave one of the finished cards to the 8bit guy, which he used now in a few videos, e.g. the last making of Planet X3. Since then I also made the MUS1099 GameBlaster clone and the Snark Barker, which is a Sound Blaster replica. Since these old cards are so expensive when original, making them yourself is actually cheaper and more fun.
Link to my sound card assembly videos: ruclips.net/p/PLGJnX2KGgaw3UVdvlxxU20A6qGQgYZuK7
Ooh, someone who's done board bring-up! "We're getting 3.3 on the 0.8 rail."--said by a co-worker last year. If they hadn't checked first, they'd have killed a pretty expensive fpga.
I start with the resistors, they are thinner than the IC's. Once you have a few inserted on the edges the board lays flat and the table will hold the others in place without the excessive cinch (bend) you put on the resistor legs. (smaller cinch makes it easier to desolder if needed)
Heck yes! A video to go with my food? Yes please!
I want to say there is an Easter Egg on the X3 title screen that allows you to change the background music with a key press. Would be cool to hear all the tunes with the Adlib audio.
Yes there is, press the number row keys.
I think in Planet X3 the game menu has a jukebox feature, where you can select the music tracks by pressing 1, 2, 3 etc.
it does! :3
I so want an adlib soundblaster card for modern PCs with drivers
You could probably emulate it in software these days. It'd still be cool to have hardware for it though.
Pci-e sound cards are so rare. Creative still do some though. I didn't even know they were still around till I got my Asrock B450 motherboard which had the built in Creative soundblaster as a selling point.
@@IanC14 funny you mention that. I just worked on a system with a Creative PCI-E card in it.
Now do a Roland LAPC-1 :-) just kidding. I had both (LAPC1 and AdLib) and how great the times were playing games with these cards in the early days. Coming from CGA/Hercules monochrome to VGA and having the first sound card doing FM Synthesis and MIDI later on was a blast. Man am I feeling old now. Love your video!
The only times I've seen parts clearly sorted and marked by reference is in many Elenco kits. They have all the component leads bent around a long, narrow card with notches (and holes for caps) in it. I can definitely see that being prohibitively expensive, tedious, or otherwise pain-in-the-neck-y for relatively low-volume kits, though.
Didn't The 8-Bit Guy mention that the Yamaha chips are still being produced? Am I thinking of something else?
I think they still produce the actual synth chip, but I don’t think they produce the DAC chip at the specific needed frequency. That or I haven’t looked hard enough.
@@AshtonSnapp If they still make them, then I haven't found a place to purchase legitimate ones. They're all either new old stock or Chinese counterfeits, same with the DACs I'd guess.
I think that they are mostly new old stock parts
Digging the back to back retro PC videos!
Wow, I remember having one of these back in the day...We got it to get real sound on Wizardry: Bane of the Cosmic Forge. It was the first time I thought a PC could be better at games than a C64(it was also EGA graphics).
Im so glad you decided to put that in your portable! I have one I need to fix some issues on. One disk drive causes the power supply to kick off, i think the monitor needs a cap job (due to uncontrollable screen rollover. I plan on getting a isa to cf card drive and now an adlib clone because you confirmed it for me if it would work!
BTW, that AdLib clone card outputs MONO sound. So, only one speaker is needed. Make sure that it is a low wattage speaker (around 5 to 15 watts).
I cannot comprehend what this kit is about. Aren't there crates of old SoundBlaster and AdLib cards all over the planet?
maybe put all the refrence numbers as stickers on the bag and reperate them by part in seperate bags, would be a nice way of what your're doing with the paper
Needing a bunch of bags adds another thing you need to keep track of and buy for selling kits then. The reason I like the paper organizer solution is that it's nearly free. It shouldn't be hard to make a generator for pages that take a BOM file exported from EDA software to automate them either.
@@TechTangents I see what you mean, yeah yours makes more sense
I am going to buy and assemble one of those Sound cards. It will be perfect in my Amiga 2000 computer with a Commodore A2286 Bridgeboard installed.
I definitely would socket all the chips :)
Just an FYI Monotech has a habit of taking open source hardware projects, rebranding them and selling them with little to no attribution to the original designer. This is true of this card as I actually know the person who actually reverse engineered the original Adlib card and make this design available.
His site is here: tubetime.us/index.php/2016/07/22/a-reproduction-adlib-sound-card/
I was not aware of that. I double checked the product page and the Github repository where the original design file are release is linked. I think Monotech's boards were ordered before it was changed to RadLib(but I may be wrong) and that the only change is the text above the AdLib logo. That is technically out of compliance with the license as his modifications are not stated on the purchase page.
I will keep this in mind for future videos featuring Monotech products. I rushed this video because I was in a time crunch when I recorded it and I didn't do research so I could know who had designed the card. I was originally under the impression that there had been multiple ground up designs for the card and this was based off one of them. Now I know they are all sourced from Tube Time's design.
OMG, that sound! Thanks!
Are we all just going to ignore the fact that he has a 3D printed stand for expansion cards?
It's great to see those Adlib DIY clones being so popular, but honestly I don't know why Adlib?
I would be much more interested in Gravis Ultra Sound clone or at least Sound Blaster Pro with OPL 3 and better output quality. Also, there's just abundance of old ISA sound cards with really low prices. Which is a surprise for me, since the only reason to build an old PC is to put ISA sound card in it.
VGA cards and everything else is much, much more expensive even though sound cards weren't that common back then.
Beautiful Solder Job on that card.
My soldering is utter shit!
Mine is too but it does work even if I melt things
holy crap that sounds amazing. definitely tempted to buy one of these now
"actual adlib part"? It's a Yamaha chip, they aren't made anymore but they aren't exactly rare in new-old stock.
3:38 You put the components in the PCB in the order on the sheet so that when you turn the board over to solder, the components are always held flush. It's the normal way to hand-assemble a PCB, and not doing this might lead to you to need to bend the component leads over before soldering to hold them in place, which no one (sensible) does.
I understand doing that on an assembly line, but for a home assembly I don't understand why more people don't just tape down the components to avoid having to bend pins or to carefully make sure you're holding them flush and keep them from falling out when you flip them over.
Hell, the instruction sheet suggested that you do some stuff with a mouse pad to hold the components in their holes while you're flipping, as if you're catching a spider in a cup or something. Just seems needlessly fiddly and complicated when you can put a few pieces of tape on temporarily and make your life simpler.
Very nice video! Was actually great to have voiceover for the fast forward footage instead of just sped up ambiance :)
It will be great if Voodoo 1 DIY kit existed too...
jirja3 fun idea. Problem will be to source the TMUs and the graphics core. Also it would be completely SMD soldering. Not that much fun if you aren’t a pick and place robot… ;)
@@root42 I subscribed and enabled notifications
INSTANT sidenote: this is a public domain PCB design - so if you want to produce your own PCB and source your own parts and potentially safe some money in the process that's an option.
On a positive note, the PCB quality here is considerably good with no soldermask near the edge connector, (hard?) gold fingers and a chamfer.
Wonder if the 8bit guy will see this! Hi David if you do!
Wishing most electronics came like this kit build would probably make people value what they have instead of a toss-away mentality.
Sweet another video !
Love this. I'll be ordering one tomorrow for sure!
Did you 3d print your little expansion card stand yourself? That thing is neat
And I love the $1.40 card supports (literally!).
Good job Geezer !
I have a adlib clone card from the 1980's or 1990's and it works great but the yamaha chip is a clone so might get a real chip and replace it
Might luckily work, but I kind of feel it's probably not that simple...
I want one of these
Who the fcuk can put a thumbs down on this video? Well done, sounds pretty well.
will you make a windows 2000 special in December?
What's the story with that neat little card foot?
It looks like he 3D printed it...
Pro Surround Speaker. Who do they think they're foolin? ;-)
Does it work on 8088/8086 IBM or compatible?
Nice, Planet X3!
2:20 - more like passive-agressives :D They could at least supply the components on the damned strips.
That sounds cool 🙂👍
I like that P R O S U R R O U N D S P E A K E R
Just realised the game then. 8 Bit Guy. lol
There's also a sound blaster clone: github.com/schlae/snark-barker :D
Yep, and that is by the same guy who originally made this Adlib clone design.
what..... AKBKUKU SECRET COLAB???
👍
I am a godless individual who doesn't wear an ESD strap.
ICs aren't supposed to "float" like this ...
Nice
❤️👍❤️👍❤️👍❤️
Wow I'm early. I wish I had better soldering skills. Last time I tried I managed to fuck up really badly.
it's easy, just remember, use flux
Please please please do NOT bend components by hand right by their casing like this. Especially in dipped or ceramic casings, this introduces stress which will form larger fractures later on. Use components appropriate for the footprint, or bend the leads with a pair of pliers.
woosh!
i dont get it, was the supplied solder not safe to use?
It’s fine. The joke was it’s probably good old lead/tin solder, even though commercially produced electronics need to be made with lead-free solder, thus sayeth the ROHS.
I use rohs heatsink compound
at 0:33 I thought I was having a stroke
Pick and place takes to much time..
IAMGINE IF WHINERS COMPLAIN ABOUT EXPENSIVE VIDEO CARDS>>>MAYBE BOTH COMPANIES FIND ANOTHER OPTION FOR CHEAP BASTARDS....BY SELL A KIT FOR THEM AND DO THEMSELVES ..PUT MEMORY AND GPU AND POWER VRM YOURSELF...YOU ONLY SPEND $200 BUCKS ON RTX 2080TI CHIP ONLY
Congratulations! You now own one of the worst soundcards in history xD
That board is clearly marked with component values so I don't see any reason for organizing components like that. It will only waste time.
Nice