NEW Stern SB-300 Sound Boards and MPU to SB300 Wiring Harness

What about the board in kit form?

#6 6 years ago

AMS

barakandl

Quoted from Bay78:
WOW that's awesome stuff. Being an owner of two of the games that use this board this is definitely something I should consider. Even though there is nothing wrong with mine. I have however had issues with the VSU-100 speech board. Just curious have you thought about doing the VSU-100 speech board as well?

Thank you! I would like to create the VSU-100 speech card as well. I need to look into the availability of the speech processor and other parts used. It was not easy to source out a few things for the sb300 board without paying $15 per chip (programmable timer, 128b shift register, and attenuator).

Quoted from dasvis:
What about the board in kit form?

This project is not a good one for me to make into a kit. Too many different parts to bag up

#7 6 years ago

PNX

xeneize

Pinside+ Frequent

11y 104K 1,418

Andrew, this is amazing! Hate the fact that you no longer offer board repair, but I can understand that you have been working on (and completed) something great! Thank you and congratulations!

#8 6 years ago

MCD

dasvis

Pinside member

Probably not the place for this, but Andrew, I'm having an issue with the sound board in my Seawitch.
Scoring noises are fine, I'm just not getting any background sound (the ocean sound that should play continuously).
I have repined all male molex on the board, tried both new cables & the original cables, re-capped the board yet still the problem persists.
Also have re-pinned every cable in the machine male & female, installed your NVRAM module, made 100% sure all grounds are clean & tight. Game plays awesome - just the one issue to solve. I'm tempted to buy your board just to see if that fixes it, but can you think of anything else I might try?

#9 6 years ago

---

ForceFlow

Pinside Moderator

9y 238K 31,360 268 14

Quoted from dasvis:
Probably not the place for this, but Andrew, I'm having an issue with the sound board in my Seawitch.
Scoring noises are fine, I'm just not getting any background sound (the ocean sound that should play continuously).
I have repined all male molex on the board, tried both new cables & the original cables, re-capped the board yet still the problem persists.
Also have re-pinned every cable in the machine male & female, installed your NVRAM module, made 100% sure all grounds are clean & tight. Game plays awesome - just the one issue to solve. I'm tempted to buy your board just to see if that fixes it, but can you think of anything else I might try?

Check voltages, check signals between the MPU and sound board, and check the sound board for cracked solder joints on components and failed components (diodes and ICs)

#10 6 years ago

AMS

barakandl

Quoted from dasvis:
Probably not the place for this, but Andrew, I'm having an issue with the sound board in my Seawitch.
Scoring noises are fine, I'm just not getting any background sound (the ocean sound that should play continuously).
I have repined all male molex on the board, tried both new cables & the original cables, re-capped the board yet still the problem persists.
Also have re-pinned every cable in the machine male & female, installed your NVRAM module, made 100% sure all grounds are clean & tight. Game plays awesome - just the one issue to solve. I'm tempted to buy your board just to see if that fixes it, but can you think of anything else I might try?

Try MPU dip switch #14

#11 6 years ago

MCD

dasvis

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from barakandl:
Try MPU dip switch #14

Yeah, did that already too. Worked it back & forth a few times just in case it had some crud on it, but no go.

#12 6 years ago

AMS

barakandl

Quoted from dasvis:
Yeah, did that already too. Worked it back & forth a few times just in case it had some crud on it, but no go.

measure it closed on the back of the MPU? put DMM on beep or resistance. Sometimes the switch banks go bad.

If the rest of the sounds are OK, i wouldn't think no background sound would be fixed by a new SB-300.

What does the end of solenoid test do? Most games get a couple tones then white noise raising in frequency.

#13 6 years ago

MCD

dasvis

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from barakandl:
measure it closed on the back of the MPU? put DMM on beep or resistance. Sometimes the switch banks go bad.
If the rest of the sounds are OK, i wouldn't think no background sound would be fixed by a new SB-300.
What does the end of solenoid test do? Usually get a couple tones then white noise raising in frequency.

Good idea on testing switch 14 on back of MPU, will try it.

Solenoid test ends in the two tones, but no sound of any kind after that - just a couple of seconds of silence, then the solenoids start over again.

#14 6 years ago

AMS

barakandl

Quoted from dasvis:
Good idea on testing switch 14 on back of MPU, will try it.
Solenoid test ends in the two tones, but no sound of any kind after that - just a couple of seconds of silence, then the solenoids start over again.

You might be missing the white noise generation effect. Ie the rockets in meteor and multiball start in flight 2k or the noise it makes when it serves up a ball in Big Game*schooosh*. From what i can remember every game should make white noise during solenoid test, typically after the two tones(some games no tones all white noise during, nineball). I have seen a bad 4070 cause white noise issues (made an ugly tone instead of white noise, rest sound OK). Any chance you have another SB300 to try?

#15 6 years ago

GBH

gregh

Pinside member

Halifax, NS

8y 41,900 303 6

Awesome news! I'm super happy with the boards I've bought from you already. Turns out I'll be needing one of these shorty so great timing!

#16 6 years ago

JMR

pinballplusMN

Pinball Plus Inc.

11y 84,800 2,591 1

This is a great seller. I've bought several mpus and nvrams. No issues. Ships quick. I just hope you can make a replacement squawk and talk

#17 6 years ago

BLY

MrBally

Pinside member

Paradise, NV

12y 141K 13,932 22 1

Your new board doesn’t work with Wild Fyre, correct?

#18 6 years ago

AMS

barakandl

Quoted from MrBally:
Your new board doesn’t work with Wild Fyre, correct?

As far as I know Wild Fyre uses the MPU-100 and SB-100 sound board, so no I don't think so. I believe SB-300 started with Meteor / Galaxy and the MPU200 board.

#19 6 years ago

BLY

MrBally

Pinside member

Paradise, NV

12y 141K 13,932 22 1

Thank you

#20 6 years ago

MCD

dasvis

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from barakandl:
You might be missing the white noise generation effect. Ie the rockets in meteor and multiball start in flight 2k or the noise it makes when it serves up a ball in Big Game*schooosh*. From what i can remember every game should make white noise during solenoid test, typically after the two tones(some games no tones all white noise during, nineball). I have seen a bad 4070 cause white noise issues (made an ugly tone instead of white noise, rest sound OK). Any chance you have another SB300 to try?

Hmm, no - I don't have another board to try. If the switch test does not pan out, I guess I will just need to order a new sound board & try it out.

#21 6 years ago

MCD

dasvis

Pinside member

FIXED!!!
Pulled MPU & tested switch 14 & it was good. Pulled SB-300 & gave it a close inspection for bad solder joints and found one!
R24 looks like it was never soldered on one end from the factory. I'm probably hearing the background sound on this pin for the first time ever in it's life!
I swear that I checked it thoroughly when I put in all new caps & male molex pins......... dammit.

Thanks all for your help guys, sorry to hijack this thread.

#22 6 years ago

AMS

barakandl

Quoted from dasvis:
FIXED!!!
Pulled MPU & tested switch 14 & it was good. Pulled SB-300 & gave it a close inspection for bad solder joints and found one!
R24 looks like it was never soldered on one end from the factory. I'm probably hearing the background sound on this pin for the first time ever in it's life!
I swear that I checked it thoroughly when I put in all new caps & male molex pins......... dammit.
Thanks all for your help guys, sorry to hijack this thread.

awesome to hear! not connected R24 would leave out 1/3 of the sound board's digital to analogue conversion. Must be where the white noise type effects come from.

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#23 6 years ago

MCD

dasvis

Pinside member