New replacement for VSU-100 speech board

As far as I know, this is the first replacement speech board ever made for the VSU-100.

The VSU-2 recreates functionally of most of the logic ICs and the hard to find speech chip with a microcontroller, and there are a few extra bells and whistles like volume control, led indication, test button, and a serial programming interface.

All 6 games: Flight 2000 Split Second Freefall Lightning Orbitor 1 and Catacomb are built in, along with an experimental Gamatron rom, and extra room to program custom roms via a serial cable.

Mounting holes and pin headers are identical, so it should be a drop in replacement for most people.

The audio output is nearly identical to the original, and does not need as much filtering so it is a little easier to understand.
More images, and an audio comparison is on our website: https://glodstone.com

It's listed in our pinside shop for $125: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1297-glodstone/04572-vsu-2

vsu-2 (resized).jpg

#2 3 years ago

LXL

Isochronic_Frost

Saratoga Silverball

7y 221K 9,387 108 1 1

OP
Quoted from pure_penalty:
As far as I know, this is the first replacement speech board ever made for the VSU-100.
The VSU-2 recreates functionally of most of the logic ICs and the hard to find speech chip with a microcontroller, and there are a few extra bells and whistles like volume control, led indication, test button, and a serial programming interface.
All 6 games: #flight2000 Split Second Freefall Lightning Orbitor 1 and Catacomb are built in, along with an experimental Gamatron rom, and extra room to program custom roms via a serial cable.
Mounting holes and pin headers are identical, so it should be a drop in replacement for most people.
The audio output is nearly identical to the original, and does not need as much filtering so it is a little easier to understand.
More images, and an audio comparison is on our website: https://glodstone.com
It's listed in our pinside shop for $125: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1297-glodstone/04572-vsu-2
[quoted image]

That’s AWESOME!!!

#3 3 years ago

BTE

RocketFromTombs

Pinside member

Schoolcraft, MI

7y 34,300 171

Very, very cool!

#4 3 years ago

GSG

Dr_Dude

Pinside member

Ottawa, ON

7y 31,900 133 9

Wow! Amazing!

#5 3 years ago

BEN

Chosen_S

Pinside+ Frequent

10y 113K 6,294

Very very cool

#6 3 years ago

CAD

cottonm4

Pinside+ Addict

Wichita, KS

10y 148K 16,560 10 23

this is nice. If the trend keeps up, one day we all maybe able to build a new classic Stern with all new parts.

1 week later

#7 3 years ago

DOG

Whysnow

Pinside member

12y 187K 35,338 30 1

nice!

Gotta support these efforts!

need 1, but ordering 2. Thanks for doing this!

2 weeks later

#8 3 years ago

LTD

ltd73

Pinside+ Frequent

9y 65,600 381 11 19 1

Quoted from Whysnow:
nice!
Gotta support these efforts!
need 1, but ordering 2. Thanks for doing this!

How is it? What game did you put it in? I've got a FreeFall that has an issue..

2 months later

#9 3 years ago

BJJ

Gundam_Pilot_

Pinside member

11y 73,575 1,695

I would be looking at applying one of these to Gamatron. Does this replace the extra sound board that comes with this conversion kit? Also does this controller only handle speech? Or does it handle all game sounds?

#10 3 years ago

YOP

dyopp21

The Yoppsicle

Arlington, TN

8y 85,150 650 92 6

I Noticed on the order page it's asking for a specific pin this will be purchased for. I've got both a F2K and a Freefall to restore at some point. I'm thinking of ordering this board "just in case" and also to have a backup since I have the F2K as well as two Freefalls. Is this a rom based board that is installed or will this one board work with either title out of the box via the dips??

Thanks-

#11 3 years ago

MDF

frenchmarky

Pinside member

Moreno Valley, CA

5y 79,800 3,108 7 30

Quoted from dyopp21:
I Noticed on the order page it's asking for a specific pin this will be purchased for. I've got both a F2K and a Freefall to restore at some point. I'm thinking of ordering this board "just in case" and also to have a backup since I have the F2K as well as two Freefalls. Is this a rom based board that is installed or will this one board work with either title out of the box via the dips??
Thanks-

On their own website order page it doesn't ask that. Says it is useable for any of the VSU-100 Stern games via the dip switches.

#12 3 years ago

YOP

dyopp21

The Yoppsicle

Arlington, TN

8y 85,150 650 92 6

Quoted from frenchmarky:
On their own website order page it doesn't ask that. Says it is useable for any of the VSU-100 Stern games via the dip switches.

Great! Thanks for the information.

#13 3 years ago

???

pure_penalty

Quoted from dyopp21:
I Noticed on the order page it's asking for a specific pin this will be purchased for. I've got both a F2K and a Freefall to restore at some point. I'm thinking of ordering this board "just in case" and also to have a backup since I have the F2K as well as two Freefalls. Is this a rom based board that is installed or will this one board work with either title out of the box via the dips??
Thanks-

frenchmarky is correct that all games are supported by default. We only ask for the game you intend to use in the pinside shop because we're interested in knowing!

#14 3 years ago

???

pure_penalty

Quoted from Gundam_Pilot_:
I would be looking at applying one of these to Gamatron. Does this replace the extra sound board that comes with this conversion kit? Also does this controller only handle speech? Or does it handle all game sounds?

The conversion kit sound/processor board is still used for the regular game sounds, and is essentially identical to the regular SB-300 sound board which was used in F2K and other games of the same era. The VSU-100 still needs to wire into this board to get the speech into the audio output path.

You may have to make a few modifications to get it up and running. This post has some extra details: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/gamatron-vsu-100#post-5941811

Feel free to PM with questions.

#15 3 years ago

BEN

Chosen_S

Pinside+ Frequent

10y 113K 6,294

I finally got one ordered! Excited to have this, I’ll crack open gamatron soon and fix all its issues and install this board, love having new tech!

Thank you for making this

2 months later

#16 2 years ago

MAT

snyper2099

Cincinnati Pinball

16y 103K 7,644

If you could detail the installation into a Gamatron with some pics, I would greatly appreciate it!

#17 2 years ago

???

pure_penalty