This page is
under construction, but here's the key information you'll need to
know if you want to archive your own Playcard collection:
Capturing
Playcard Data
DISCLAIMER: All procedures detailed
on this page are carried out AT
YOUR OWN RISK. DO NOT BLAME ME IF YOU DESTROY YOUR
KEYBOARD OR ANYTHING ELSE, INJURE OR KILL YOURSELF OR ANYONE ELSE, LOSE A
SUBSTANTIAL SUM OF MONEY, GO BANKRUPT, COMMIT FRAUD, END UP IN
PRISON OR ACCIDENTALLY BRUTALLY CUT YOUR HEAD OFF WHILE
FOLLOWING THESE GUIDELINES. I am assuming that you have a
reasonable amount of common sense, and basic soldering skills.
If you lack either of these, do not proceed. Thank you.
There are a couple of ways to capture the data from an original
Playcard. One option is to remove the magentic tape strip from the
Playcard, and replay it through a standard audio tape player.
Unfortunately, this requires destroying the original playcard, and
not many people have access to quarter-inch tape recording
equipment these days, so this method is not usually practical.
The better way (in my opinion) is to "tap" the signal from the
playcard reader directly out of the keyboard. In the PC-100, Pin 1
of IC16 carries an amplified square-wave representation of the
tape signal, and is ideal for recording on an audio recorder.
Using this signal has the advantage that any distortion present in
the off-tape signal is effectively removed, and the captured audio
will be near perfect. This will make a much better copy, or a much
"cleaner" signal to feed back into the keyboard for replay, free
of any noise or distortion.
Removal of the bottom panel of the PC-100 keyboard reveals the
solder side of the main PCB - fortunately you don't need to go any
deeper into the keyboard to find IC16 as this is labelled on the
solder side of the board. Despite the diagram in the service
manual showing IC16 as a DIL package, it is actually a single row
of 16 pins. Looking at the solder side of the main PCB, pin 1 of
this IC is located almost in the middle of the board width-ways,
approximately 4.5 inches from the board edge at the speaker side
of the keyboard. The picture below indicates the position of IC16
with a red box. Looking at the picture, pin 1 is at the right-hand
end, i.e. the furthest pin from the loudspeaker.
Pin 5 of this is ground, and pin 1 is the playcard data signal. I
hijacked the "Expression Pedal" socket on the side of the keyboard
by cutting the track to the centre pin and connecting a wire
between this and Pin 1 of IC16, to form a "Playcard Data Output"
socket. This modification is also shown in the picture below. Of
course, if you do this, you have to be careful not to short out
this connector, or you may irreparably damage the keyboard.
The speed at which you swipe the card is something of a trade-off
between getting the best possible recording, and going fast enough
for the keyboard to recognise the data. With my digital audio
recorder sampling at 48kHz, I have found that about 1.5 seconds to
swipe the card from end to end works fine.
If you do capture any Playcards which are not currently available
in the archive, please send them to me and I
will add them to the archive, with full credit to you (if you
want).
