So I'm fixing up a very worn down Spectrum and I'm having doubts about the way that the sound board is supposed to be working.

Whenever I hit a drop target or the spinners, it makes a godawful sound effect. The thing is, I don't know if it's supposed to sound that way. For example, this gameplay video from Ottogd has the same issue:

On the other hand, this video from Papa sounds great:

Here is the one I'm repairing:

Thoughts?

Could a blitzed 4049 cause this?

Turns out that the solution was easy (and the problem was stupid).

Spectrum's default sound bank selection for scoring is "chime" emulation, and this is what it sounds like.

To fix it, you have to go into self test menu 18 and change it to 03, and then all sound effects work as intended.

This game is in really rough shape, and given the board work I've done on it already I had assumed it was a failed component. Someone with a little more experience than me pointed out Bally's stupid "feature" selection. I don't know why they would even give operators the choice.