Confusion about SID behavior

[Jace]

This feels like a really ignorant/basic question, but something about the MIDIBox/sammichSID universe confounds me:  why, in SIDPlay mode, are three voices of the SID (on just one SID chip, right?) able to be accessed to play original game tunes, but the same multitimbral function is not available when playing the MIDIBox/sammichSID as a synth/sequencer?  I get the sensation that I'm misunderstanding something fundamental about the SID and it's MIDIBox implementation, but I haven't been able to parse out what that misunderstanding might be for myself.

[TK.]

A SID player can switch between multiple patches quickly (almost zero-time) because it has direct access to the "patch memory".

 

MIDIbox SID has to load patches from an external EEPROM instead, this consumes time and the amount of time depends on the patch size.

During the development phase of the firmware (ca. 7 years ago) the first beta users preferred to get as many sound features as possible. This was leading to an increased patch size, and this was in contradiction to the patch load speed, but it has been accepted.

 

So, somebody could implement an alternative firmware with much less sound features, but faster patch load time.

Or somebody could use a more modern microcontroller with enough embedded RAM (or fast access to external memory) to overcome such limitations.

 

It wouldn't be in my own scope, because I'm happy with the implementation.

 

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[Jace]

That clears it up!  Great response, thank you.