Reasons for Building MB SID

[toneburst]

Just an idle though: I wonder how many MB SID builders out there are doing it because they're genuinely nostalgic about the C64?

I must admit, that was never a big part of my motivation for embarking on the project, as I never had one when I was a kid (or owned any other computer in fact, until I bought a second-hand Atari ST from one of my lecturers, when I was at university).

I was more interested in the project because it's definitely one of the most flexible and powerful self-build synth projects out there, and seemed to me quirkier and more interesting than the myriad modular analogue synth projects.

'Discuss', as they say ;)

a|x

[Labelwhore]

There is definately the nostalgia factor for me, I did have one as a kid. But more than that, the Sid chip creates the perfect sound for the music I make, which is mostly electro.

[rosch]

i didn't own a c64 either, first time i heard it as sidstation promo sample on a keyboards magazine cd i believe end of the 90ies and that was making it clear i would have to play that thing. the sound of the sid differs from both analogue & digital synths i've known. but now listening to the demo videos and sound samples here & on ucapps you wouldn't probably need more reasons for building a MB SID. so, i've just started...

[Futureman]

I never owned a C64 when I was a kid.. we had an Apple IIe.. so the whole 64 thing is a bit lost on me..

My motivation for building a SID synth was I wanted something that sounded different to all the other synths I have. And It does sound very different to your average analogue or VA or digital synth..

Regards

Mike

[sineSurfer]

Easy one to answer, not really a fan of the C64 as I had a Tandy TRS80 back in the day.

But I'm a musician in search for different sound sources every time, programmer, and also like to build electronic/etc. stuff so the mbSid fits quite well, 2 built so far and one more chip waiting to be desoldered from a C64 board, for a mono CS A version.

[Flemming]

Yeah, i'm a reborn C64 enthusiast :) and SIDaholic, and i have several C64s with different SIDs modded for music making using the new MIDI soft/hardware called MSSIAH. My childhood computer was the C64 and i love the SID sound!

I have been lurking here in these pages a lot of times the last few years, but now i couldn't hold back anymore :) so i just recently managed to build a stereo MB SID which turned out to be one of my most satisfying achievements in a long time ;)

[Goblinz]

I'm only doing it because the girls love a man who can use a soldering iron.

[lucem]

It's the next step on the path to trve geekiness...

No, seriously, I loved the C64, and still own a handful (very useful things still today!).

I started programming on that damn thing!

And one o fthe first things I did was the "Michael ride your boat ashore" demo songs from the manual -

at that moment, I fell in love with the SID.

So, as I stumbled upon this project a few years ago, everything fell into place :)

[stryd_one]

I was more interested in the project because it's definitely one of the most flexible and powerful self-build synth projects out there, and seemed to me quirkier and more interesting than the myriad modular analogue synth projects.

I'm a musician in search for different sound sources every time, programmer, and also like to build electronic/etc. stuff so the mbSid fits quite well

What they said.

[Flexinoodle]

The Ocean Loader by Martin Galway

Simple as that for me

Used to listen to it for hours when i was a kid

Loved SIDs ever since

[frailn]

I had a lovely VIC-20 as my first computer. I would write BASIC programs on that thing and run out of memory constantly. It drove me crazy. I wanted a Commodore 64 so bad, I could taste it. Never realized that dream. And my mom sold my VIC-20 at a garage sale when I went off to college. She also sold my surfboards. Thanks, Mom.

Fast forward 20 years later, and I'm loving electronic music by this time. I started to get interested in how electronic music is created. I discovered Sony Acid Pro and Ableton Live and tried them out. Ableton blew me away. It was fun to play with pre-recorded loops. But, this wasn't enough for me. I wanted to get down to the brass tacks and find out how you make all those crazy sounds I've heard in Techno, Chill and all other flavors.

Then, one day, while googling, I ran across the SID Station. And the light bulb came on. I read up on the SID chip and was fascinated by the fact that it was so advanced for it's day. I was also fascinated by the fact that the creator of the SID chip wasn't able to see the full potential of his idea realized. I was also eagerly wanted to fulfill that teenage dream of owning a Commodore 64. Sid Station was discontinued at the time and it was pretty expensive. I found Prophet64, bought a cartridge and about 10 old C64's on eBay and played with those for awhile.

Firestarter, on the P64 Forum had a pretty slick MIDI interface for the P64. Out of curiosity, I started googling around for subjects on "SID" and "MIDI" and somehow ended up here...

After reading through Thorsten's website, picking my jaw up off the floor and changing my undepants, I immediately took a C64, painted it black, painted the keys white, added some funky keyboard labels, hooked up a SID2SID inside and sold it along with my P64 Cartridge on eBay. I took the proceeds and purchased a Core Module and two SID modules from Smash.

Looks like I'll be spending the rest of my life building MB-6582, MB64, MBSEQ, MBFM, etc...

[nILS]

me: Childhood fascination with the sound ;)

[chimchim]

I grew up playing games on the C64 way before there was a thing called nintendo.  I am afraid all those hours have warped and burned the SID sound into my brain.  I can probably still hum the entire soundtrack to one of my favorites Epyx "California Games".......The opening theme which I believe is a  SID rendition of "Louie, Louie" is pure gold.

I sacrificed my original C64 to build the minimal sid and still couldn't stand to let that plain old "6581" from the 24th week of 1984 go.  It now has a home in the mb-6582 where it is stereo paired (poorly I might add) with a 6581 R4AR. 

[Labelwhore]

one of my favorites Epyx "California Games"

hehe, I loved that game!

[stryd_one]

Recommended viewing for some serious C64 nostalgia is an episode of a TV show here in oz, 'Good Game Shocks the 80's'

[sakodak]

To this day I can't get the Skate or Die theme song out of my head.

I also miss sin-scrolling Rush lyrics.

[nILS]

hehe, I loved that game!

I loved the sound when you did a flip on the bmx and didn't quite make it ;D

[stryd_one]

"Hatin' life!"

[zgba]

My mother said, that the first word I've ever spoken was "knob". Basicaly that's why I'm here. I found uCapps searching for a DIY MIDI controller, but later I found that there are more fun projects than a controller. If you can build it, why won't you do it? So I bought my first C64s last year, ripped the guts, and now I'm a proud owner of a stereo mbSID (well... sort of, only one module connected atm) with a minimal control surface and plans for life:) Great projects, great community!

[cavey]

c64 demo scener in the house... so hmmz, yeah, I'm here because I love and use and own several c64's. I'm not cannibalising my c64's. They're too precious to me (well, spareparts to keep one working, although all 7 orso are still in working condition :P)

[rvooh]

the demo's did it for me..

well, and a friend phoning me up to say he has a whole pile of C64's and wants me to make a midibox sid from them.

too bad his pile were mostly VIC20's  >:(

[Jurbo]

I have loved the sid sound since my childhood... As a hobbyist musician, for years I wondered how cool it would be to actually play those sounds realtime. Then in 2004, I stumbled upon an auction on a Finnish auction site, where someone was selling off his MidiBox kits. Then I started googling, and in the early 2005 my MBSID was alive.  8)

By the way, my 2x8580+1x6581 is getting a second 6581 in the near future (I'm in the process of building the module on veroboard...)!

[BlackHawk2029]

I remember having a c64 when I was really little (5-6). Granted, I'm only 19 now so the thing was pretty outdated even then, But I loved it all the same. When it died it was forgotten about for years, until I discovered Machinae Supremacy and fell madly in love with the SID once again.

And now I'm here.

Haven't built one yet, but I've got 8 SIDs on order from Wilba, and I'll be ordering some parts kits shortly.

[Smithy]

Okay, i did have a c64 and there is the nostalgia element there.

I havent built a midibox sid yet, but from hearing the online demos,

and comparing them to my Novation KS-4, (my first and only current synth)

i must say that the SID chip sounds so much warmer, and has more life to it, its got this really nice kick in the balls about it.

Its like it sounds more emotional, and my VA synth sounds more cold.

I guess it could be the fact one is digital and one is analog thats the reason, but i honestly think the sid is so much more appealing to me.

[TheAncientOne]

Never had a C64, though a friend once asked me to make him a sampler out of a VIC-20. I bought an expansion board, extra RAM, a machine code monitor cartridge, and spent a lot of time finding out that it was too slow to do anything useful, (I think I managed something like 5 seconds of 8KHz sample rate) Then the Greengate DS3 came out.

Found MIDIbox whilst looking for control surface info, read up and just wanted to build them all...

I had a BBC Micro, back in the day - still have some too. I must try and get the 'Music 500' unit I have working again, this was a BBC driven hardware digital synth, but most of the time sounded the wrong sort of cheesy.