Long story short I bought the complete stock of an old Commodore dealer. 20+ tested SID chips (only 3 8580s) and 20+ working C64s (C64, C64B, 1 C64-SX, and a few C-128s). Also have TONS of accessories / test equipment.
I love working on chiptunes and would love to adopt the SID sound. My workflow includes a Sid Station (Borrowed from a friend) and I just got a MSSIAH cart.
I'm very familiar with my soldering iron but my chip burner is old and doesn't work with some of the new PIC chips. Despite my best attempts to understand what I need and how to assemble it, there are so many concurrent versions of the MIDIBOX SID that I'm having a difficult time sorting them out on my own.
I want to build something that has a LCD display, easy controls, stored instrument settings, and all MIDI controllable. I get the impression that the MIDIBOX is my solution. While 1 SID chip would be enough, I wouldn't mind the full 8. Why limit myself when I have lots of these things?
If someone could simply tell me which kits to buy in the USA, that would be fantastic. If there is anything I need outside these kits would be good to know too.
On a side note, when I tested the 8580s, they seemed to be half the volume of the 6581s. Any reason for that?
Thanks in advance!
Me testing the SID chips pulled from non-functioning C64s with the MSSIAH cart.
The working Commodores (about half the inventory)
My SIDs