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First thanks to dwestbury here on the forums for his work on the JST connectors and power discussions (here and here). It got my back to seeing if I can ressurect my MB6582 in the PT10 case. I've been working on a rackmount version for ... erhm...quite a long time we'll say, but if I can get my normal MB6582 going, that'll let me jam out much sooner and will help me decide if a 3U rackmount version is worth it. I've never been able to get the control surface working properly on mine due to the connectors. So the JSTs seem like an amazing solution! In any case, previously I made a real sketchy external PSU to provide +9 and +5V and keep all the heat out of the 6582. I thought about moving to Option E but instead, took Option E and updated my external PSU design. It uses a transformer (could be an external wall wart if you wanted) and then turns that into +5V and +9V that you would feed to the MB6582 directly (along with ground of course) via a cable. It's kinda like the C64 PSU in that regard, only there's no regulation going on inside the MB6582 itself and, thus, less heat. Since I had the room, I added protection diodes, an inductor/choke per the spec sheet and some extra smoothing caps. The one downside with an external PSU is wire length to the MB6582 itself. That could cause a bit of voltage drop but I never had any issues with my previous PSU with voltage stability so I think this should work ok. In my case I can use the same PSU for a rackmount version as well (where wire length also won't be as big of an issue). Here's the latest design. It uses 4 planes (GND, Unregulated DC, Regulated 9V and Regulated 5V). I'm not sure if that's the best solution (I have a version with just thick traces too) but seems sensible. The boards from Osh Park would cost about $21 (or $7 each) and the BOM from Mouser is about $30.52 if I didn't miss anything. Curious if anyone had any thoughts or suggestions?

Two quick updates: First, I decided to order some ARM2SIDs to try out in my MB6582, so I should have them in a couple weeks, assuming all goes well with import customs, etc. Second, it looks like Poly.play has a fresh batch of SwinSID Ultimates back in stock ~$44.50 USD (€38.02). https://www.polyplay.xyz/SwinSID-Ultimate?jtl=v From what I've read and heard, these sound (subjectively) closest to the real SID and they support external sound input, so you can use them with your distortion pots!