>> The latter.  (I didn't know there was any other way; I don't recall
>> ever seeing a version that didn't go through the monitor.)
> Oh, most of the color 040 slabs came with sound boxes.
> It also houses the DSP, which is pretty neat.

How can it work with a mono slab, then, which already has its DSP on
the motherboard along with everything else?

>> I'd far rather spend an hour with soldering [...]
> Fair enough. I don't know the details on doing that, and I think
> chances of frying either the controller in the slab or in the
> keyboard are middling to high, requiring a much more expensive repair
> part.

P'raps.  If the signal is just wired straight through, it's easy
enough, but if there's actually something complicated in between, it's
more work than it's worth.

I've got more keyboards than machines; I'll open up a keyboard and see
if I can see anything from that.  (I couldn't infer anything from the
digital logic board in the monitor....)

>> On the other hand...what _is_ the sound box?  I may want it on its
>> own.
> It's a DSP chip, the keyboard and mouse controller, and a speaker.
> In a cute, black, triangular box.  With that evervescent NeXT logo on
> the front.

Hm, where would it even plug in?  To work with a mono slab and handle
the keyboard and mouse, it would have to plug into the monitor
connector.  And I have no idea where it would get the signals to drive
the DSP from; there's a DSP port on the back, but it's the wrong
interface; that's the DSP<->world interface, not CPU<->DSP.

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