Perhaps easier and cheaper to rebuild old ones so limited market for new ones ?

LTG : )

sound boards are ALL a problem as they use special (read, impossible to find) chips.

Until they are REALLY needed nobody is likely to design up alternatives as they will be VERY expensive

Maybe, but I know this guy who make the impossible seem easy

http://www.pinballdisplays.co.uk/pinballdisplays/id1.html

Fantastic link BUT not a single audio board to be found - I have explained why in a previous post.

New AV Board for WPC95 Pinball Machines (WPC95 AV)

AV = Audio (sound) Visual

Rottendog makes one.

http://rottendog.us/WAV095.html

Speech boards for System 7/9, then all Williams audio boards up until early WPC used the 55516 series of CVSD decoder chips for speech decoding. These haven't been available in a LONG time. The WPC-DCS sound boards used a different set of components, and the later WPC's are the ones that have boards available.

I do have a couple ideas I'm working on for System 7/9 speech boards that may translate well to later designs too.... but I've really only gotten into the early phases of this project and keep getting sidetracked.

As mentioned above, it's not impossible just cost prohibitive with limited demand compared to the other boards that have much higher failure rates.

-Hans

Add WPC CPU to that list also...

The ASICs used on that board are still available, some turned up when Illinois Pin Ball sold their parts.

Once those unavailable parts disappear... they won't be making them anymore.

Yep, the ASIC's are going to be a future issue for sure. But the WPC era stuff has much better documentation available and the original schematic sheets and such may still be around, so theoretically they may be able to make more of them. The demand will be there for sure and PPS has an interest in keeping CPU boards available.

Okay, so your prayers have been answered...

http://www.pinsound.org/

It is in the pre-order stage, but should be out soon.

Looks like a good solution to the old "can't find a sound board" problem.

Oh no that Pinsound board.......what do you say to that?? One way to ruin an iconic game with that sound package. Why would anyone how has obviously designed a great board, only post a custom sound video??

Does anyone know if these boards can run the standard factory ROM's/sound package? Or is it a copyright thing that prevents the board running the standard sounds?

Whilst I'd like to or change some sounds in some of my games, I don't really want to walk away from the original sound packages. After all that is what makes the game for me.

Gotta hand it to the designer of this board, it is something a lot of people may want if it gives you the ability to mod the sound package in your game. Just wish there was more information available.

It says in the FAQ that you can run the original sound.

I'd like to be able to use the original sound, but with better quality like with DCS games. I thought I remembered hearing there was higher quality TZ sound produced since it was originally going to be released as DCS. I don't know if it survived and is available in WMS's archives though. I could be remembering wrong too.

I'm getting the Pinsound board soon (shipping in October). I preordered long ago to get in at 299 and save 100 bucks. Gonna put it in my JD.

Anyone have any feedback or comments on installing the Pinsound board into games and using the original sounds/music?

I had one in my TAF (took it out to diagnose a resetting issue with my PDB) running the original sounds. Best way to say it: get upgraded speakers and their stereo 2.1 wiring kit to fully utilize the built in amplifier/multiple potentiometers. Once you do that, the original sounds run pretty well through the PinSound board.

I plan to reinstall my board now that I have a new RD PDB in my TAF.

Even without the upgraded speakers the board IMO sounds way better .. You can dial in bass and treble which helps immensely. That said, better speakers = better sound (at least for B/W games which are just about as wrong as you can get as far as sound)

Someone asked a while back about TZ since you can insert the originally-designed audio that was supposed to be used with the DCS hardware. It does sound better but the call outs still kinda sound low-if. Better for sure but still a bit scratchy.

I have a pinsound in my TZ (previous DWO) and one in GnR. Very easy to install and I matched both with Flipper Fidelity speaker kits that I think are a little less costing than FF standards since no L-PAD is needed. I always load the original mix as an option and they sound like the original, just better. You can easily toggle which mix is playing just by lowering the volume to zero and many alternate mixes are like having an entirely new game.

They are robust and hardly ever break.

In 15 years and owning maybe 100 WPC games I've never had an issue with the sound board.

Pinsound is awesome. Works great to replace a broken board but works even better when you use it to add a new sound and music mix to a game. Games like Indy and Star Wars really feel upgraded when playing the original soundtracks.

I have pinsound in my ToM and it's superb - only issue with WPC-95 is that you still need the original sound board for DMD.

Does anyone know what chip(s) has the shortage and are there any schematics of the chip? I can get custom chips done - (yes it won't be cheap) but I'm up for it.

Cheers,
Neil

I believe it's the Yamaha decoders, and for earlier boards it's the 55516 CVSD decoders.

-Hans

Correct but the sound side dont need to be working which is what usually has the issues.... still needs to be used for the dmd tho but at least there is another option for the sound...

Those two, plus the X9503 volume control, for pre-DCS at least.

The X9503 are available in abundance but the other special ones (such as the Yamaha) are completely unobtainium.