Jump to content

How many SID Chips, and wich ones


Sinfourmusic
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hey guys (and girls??)

First of all, i'm a total noob to this.. so be patient :)

I'm new to this forum, but been a fan of Midibox Sid for to long without doing anything about it..

I'm a music producer witin the EDM genre, more specific Progressive trance/breaks/House and Techno. I use mostly software, as you can get everything you need. Bought QuadraSID from REFX some yars ago, but i feel that its not eenogh for me... Now i want to build my own MidiBox SID (with a lot of help of course).

I'm always been a fan of commodore 64 games and music, and i have 4 commodore 64s. And i guess (since they all work and have sound) the Sid chips works, but have no idea wich SID Chip is in wich commodore, and i guess there could be lots of different ones... those commodores i have was bought in 1982-83 and one in 1984. Is it only MOS 6581 wich is mostly used in Midiboxes, or does it matter at all? :)

I'm guessing i can use 1 chip to generate sound, but i also guess, more chips = more features/options?

I can't wait to get this project started, but I have no deadline, so hopefully this will be learning by doing over time.

All replies will be appreciated :)

//Sinfour

www.soundcloud.com/sinfour

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome aboard! (I dont think there are any gurrrls here, maybe smithy :turned: )

There are 3 different chips that are consider "SID" chips and the midibox SID is compatible with all of them:

6581: Original chip in C64. Bunch of revisions of this, bit noisey, "flawed", 12V powered (the MBsid has be built accordingly, it has options for both)

8580: Later, revised SID used in C64C and 128 machines. Improvement to chip, now 9VDC powered

6582: What the 8580 evolved into (identical), used in add-on sound devices

They all have similar sounds and features, the controls will be the same for all.

Right now, you have 3 options as far as building one goes:

1) Contact Wilba and get on the sammichSID wait list (complete kit)

2) Purchase MB6582 boards and partial kit from SmashTV. He offers a mainboard PCB and parts kit and the control surface PCB, you will need to source display, SID, and CS parts and buy a case and panels, everything is well documented in the WIKI, this can take 1-8 SID chips

3) Purchase a Core8 and mbSID pcb from smash as roll your own. Most advanced option, but has the most flexibility. You can get this running with just a LCD a few buttons and an encoder but a pretty steep learning curve if you are not into this kind of stuff.

Edited by Altitude
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks a lot for fast reply :)

I just opened up 2 of my commodores, and viola, 2 x 6581's. Just got a phonecall from a guy wich have a commodore for sale, so i buy one for gaming aswell

I guess for my Midibox, 4 chips will be enough since i have 4 commodores (soon to be 5 i guess!)

And I the sammichSID kit wait list is waaay long? They seems rather popular these days.

i will use a commodorecase for the Midibox, but with nice colours or even wrapped. many cool pictures of midiboxes on this forum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, if you are into filters and resonance, the 8580 / 6582 are better than the 6581, just what altitude said. Also I´d highly recommend building the MB6582, as it is fairly easy to build and you have eight slots for SIDs, which really rocks (Sammich is "only" 2)

Edited by Hawkeye
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Sinfourmusic,

yes 6581 and 8580/6582 can be combined in the MB-6582 (just use the same types in each of the four stereo channels).

You should then build the baseboard with PSU power option B (http://www.midibox.o...struction_guide)

There also appears to be a rather nice frontpanel construction guide available since a few weeks :) () :-))

Bye,

Hawkeye

Edited by Hawkeye
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...