Hardware For Sale/Trade

Hi,

I have this Card from an Octane that I don't have any use for

It's a AMCC PCI Matchmaker (S5933QE). A pretty big card with 3 50Pin Scsi Connectors (2male/1female) and 2 internal type connectors.

Don't know what to do with it, don't know if it's worth anything. If you have any infos or if you're interested please post!


jmc

That thing's from an Octane ???

kshuff wrote: That thing's from an Octane ???

Yes, but the Octane had a shoebox so it's a PCI card... forgot to add that info

AFAICT (from a quick Google) the AMCC PCI Matchmaker is just a PCI interface chip and doesn't really give any clue as to what this card is. But looking at the top of the card in the photo, I can see the words "Sonic Solutions" on it. That suggests the card has something to do with audio I/O. Again, a quick Google suggests that Sonic Solutions provided audio hardware for Discreet Smoke systems. This thread mentions Sonic Solutions and Discreet. Perhaps that poster might have info and/or be interested in the card you have.

Some more info on Sonic Solutions.

They made some pretty nifty-top notch-super-turbo-laser-jet sound solutions back in the day. Frank Zappa used Sonic Solutions to remaster pretty much all his backlog of recordings up until he died, and he was a pretty picky customer to say the least. There is a whole chunk of information about SS in one of the interviews he did for some magazine. What hardware he ran it on was never mentioned but it could very well have been a SGI-machine although not an Octane since this was pre 1993.
Examining the card a little further there seems to be at least three DSP chips from Motorola. The same 56000 series IC's that were used in Iris Indigo, so it definitley handles audio of some sorts.

Well, my cents worth of nostalgia.

Thanks for the Info guys!

It looks like you're right and this is an interface card for those Analog/Digital Audio Converters that you sometimes see in Discreet setups. Unfortunately I don't really have a way to test the card missing the hardware and software.

jmc

The ADA8824 used with the sonic cards is a different model than the one usually used with the Discreet setups. All the Discreet manuals I've seen so far only mention connecting the ADAT model(s) or the ADA8824 with a RAD card or the onboard RAD audio of an Octane. Some of the Sonic Solutions ADA8824 are easy to spot on photos, as they are blue, while the other models (both the Discreet ones with RS232 control ports and the normal ones with MIDI control) are whitish anodized aluminum. The sonic solution ADA8824 are sometimes dirt cheap on ebay, as nobody wants them. Apparently, you can't convert the ADAs from one version to another due to firmware and/or other differences.

See also this thread: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11968

Thanks for the additional info canavan!