Jaicen

The AlphaDrum is a linear design, it will just read off the data to the end then stop. I'm sure it would be a relatively easy thing to do to copy the DAC of an old machine, but then you're losing the simplicity, and that's a lot of the attraction with this thing. The envelope section of something like the 505 would be easy to implement, in fact that's probably the least difficult part of the project! Personally, I don't want to improve the fidelity any, I've got plenty of nice clean sample machines. A bit of grit never hurt anyone ;)

There's your answer...

So is this thread dead, or are people working on other apps for integrating the 2A03?

Google it! Someone's already built a standalone Arpeggiator that uses a 16F84. I think it's called Arpege8 or something.

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!! Put my name down for one set!

Actually you know this isn't that far fetched. If we could find homes for something like 1000 SID's, it would be possible to use the old masks (which are still floating around somewhere) to re-manufacture a run. Small semiconductor houses have been known to do so for other rare chips like BBD's, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility. Given that at that level of production, you'd probably be looking at less than $1 per chip, it would be a good investment if buyers could be found. Say for instance if TK was to allow full scale production of Wilba's 8xSID design. A production run of just 125 synths would eat up the whole first production run of 100 chips. You could easily charge big money for such a design, I mean look at the Quadrasid and SIDStation.

Have you seen the DIY digital drum module, The Alpha Drum? I think it was printed in Electonics & Music or something. You can find it at http:// hammer.ampage.org. I've been wanting to build one to circuit bend and have a rack of them, but as you say Sebo, time is short ::)

I'm pretty sure that a local firm near my workplace will do that sort of stuff. They can cut and print onto vinyl in just about any size and shape. They're not too expensive either, i'm planning to use them for when I finally get around to building my MBSID. You can get vinyl that looks like brushed alu, which is the bomb!

There are a number of reasons this is currently not possible, mostly because the current versions of both SEQ and FM are running on a PIC with limited memory. However the primary reason I don't think TK would do something like this, is that the MBHP is a modular system intended to provide the most flexibility and features not found in commercial products. To achieve what you're looking for would require compromises in performance and features.

Hehe, I can understand that, particularly with your penchant for perfectionism ;) However, I would say that a lot of people would benefit by hearing about your mistakes, so that we can avoid them in the future, so perhaps you could make up a bloopers reel of all the really juicy ones! (like the 8 PCB's I etched that were transferred backwards :-[ ). Could you give us an idea of how much the three PCB's will cost to get manufactured?? I'm in the UK, but i'm sure the costs will be around the same (accounting for exchange rates). I'd be willing to get a group buy together if there were more than one person interested in this project (and how can you not be, it's everything you could need in one tasty box!).

Why don't you add a second oscillator to run the sound, and restore the old osc to the video chip? Actually, I know NOTHING about NES's, I don't even know if they generate sounds via the video chip as per the VIC or not, that's just what I would do.

So is it running yet?? I really want to hear a sample of it running 8x6582's! Also, if it's 100% working, when are you planning to release the Gerbers etc...? Personally i'd be willing to make a donation to obtain them as it would save me hours of wiring, which is my main pet-hate right now ;D

For that to work, you'd probably need at least 10uF. However there are two reasons I wouldn't do this. Firstly, when the 48v line is turned on, the voltage will spike, sending a voltage pulse down the other end of the cap. Secondly, the SID has a transistor and a cap on its output anyway, so there's no additional gain.

Can you add PWM? Those are the sounds I love the most from the SID, and I think this has some of that character, so it'd be nice to add.

I MUST HAVE ONE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!

Hey Prof, I'm seriously considering getting one of those Oakleys. Can you give me an indea of the total projected cost for all the misc components beside the main PCB?? Maybe I can add that to my looooong list of other projects. Currently i'm working on: *deep breath* A pimped up C64 with 8580 and 6581 to use with Prophet64, 2 x Dual MBSID's (Got SID's & Pic's ;D), DR-110 MIDI sync, TR-505 bends & pitch mod, custom guitar build with internal effects, fuzz and octave divider effects for internal guitar mounting for someone else, and custom mods on a GA-5 amp. On top of all that, there's a studio to re-arrange and treat, a synth repair service for some local bands and a full time job (+ Girlfriend time) and househunting. Maybe I should slow down... ::)

Ok, i've got some quick Acid style patches knocked up, not sure how to save them so they're in Cubase Instrument format. How do I upload them ?

I'll give it a go!

I don't know about you guys, but I think the SID's own HP filter is just fine, even for the 6581, but as E-toy says, it's easy enough to make up a multi-mode filter.

I've held my tongue for a while, but please don't go cutting up a C16 for the black case, that'd be a real shame. They didn't make a whole lot of them and the'yre difficult to find at a good price anyway. Just get one of the 20 odd million C64's and spray the case! Likewise with the VIC20, though to a lesser degree. They're almost all badly yellowed by now anyway.

The regulator will shut down if it gets close to exceeding its thermal limit, so you'd need to work very hard to kill one of those babies. More likely that there was a short somewhere, allowing the PSU's to run unloaded and killing the transformer.

Can you do a filter response with full resonance?? I'm quite surprised by the sweep to be honest, it seem that as you increase the frequency, the filter cutoff becomes less resonant. There's also a big jump between 96 and 127 which i've always heard when sweeping my own 6581. This may account for the logarithmic sounding sweep around that sweet spot (on mine it's about 70-90%).

Personally, i'd look for another C64 and keep the one you have (or sell it). With 24 pins, it's unlikely that you'll get the SID out without damaging it, besides soldered in SID's are rare ;) I'd suggest keep the one you have and buy another C64 and a copy of Prophet64 from prophet64.com

I've got one of those actually. I think the range of sounds is pretty varied, but the stock setting has the pitch of the VCO set a little too high, you can't get low lows out of it, but it is a lot of fun :> There are even some SID like settings in there somewhere. IIRC, Amdek sold kit versions of Roland/Boss stuff, I think this is the PC-2 clone. There was a Handclap clone too, but I've never seen that for sale.

Does anyone know if it's possible to customise the SID firmware to allow direct access to presets arranged in banks?? I want to select a bank using the menu encoder, and then have direct access to 4 presets within that bank from four individual large footswitches. I could live with having a pair of bank up/down switches, but the menu encoder seems like the easiest option. Anybody care to comment?