Innovation SSI-2001

Innovation SSI-2001 is a sound card for IBM PC compatible computers introduced by the Innovation Computer Corporation in 1989. Unique to its design was the use of the MOS Technology SID as its sound chip of choice.

Description
The sound card was produced by Innovation Computer Corporation and was intended to compete with Adlib. It has a mono output RCA connector and a game port, there are also 3 groups of jumpers that allow you to enable or disable the joystick port, control its sensitivity and change the audio port address from the default 280hex to 2A0hex, 2C0hex or 2E0hex. During use, the card uses 32 serial I/O ports. Connects via 8-bit ISA.

This sound card did not gain much popularity and was supported only by a few computer games. Lack of support also led to the discontinuation of production, and many of the cards released were later disassembled into SID chips for the Commodore 64. Considered the rarest PC sound card, only about 10 copies of the original board are known to exist worldwide. However, since 2015, DIY specialists have mastered the production of replicas.

Emulation
Reverse emulation is currently possible: the DOSBox emulator supports Innovation SSI-2001 emulation, without the presence of a real device.

Links

 * Innovation SSI-2001: the history of one of the rarest sound cards for the IBM PC (and its replica)
 * Photography