mrzottel Posted November 25, 2016 Report Share Posted November 25, 2016 Hi, I have just finished my 4 cores and 8 SID boards to work in a master/slave configuration to hopefully have 4 stereo channels of awesome. ;) The first (master) core is already set up with 2x 8580R5, and I am about to hunt a few more SIDs to put in there. Which brings me to my question: Is it possible to mix those 8580R5 with 6581 SIDs so I would have 2 cores running 4 x 8580R5 and 2 cores running 4 x 6581? I know about the voltages, but I am not sure about the software side: 1. I have to put different software onto the cores for the different SIDs - I guess configuration is different. So on updates, the "copy" feature would not work. I can live with that, updating the cores manual if need to. 2. Patches on the bank sticks are different for the SIDs as I read somewhere in the vast documentation. Only the master has a bank stick - so maybe this can become an issue? And last but not least: Is it worth the effort? 8580 are recommended on the page anyway... Thanks a lot! mrzottel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChinMuzik Posted November 25, 2016 Report Share Posted November 25, 2016 (edited) As far as my understanding....MIOS is the OS for the cores, which control the SID modules...there is no difference when stuffing a 6581/8580, only the voltage that needs to be supplied and the capacitor value (470pf for 6581 and 22nf for 8580/6582) Edited November 25, 2016 by ChinMuzik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChinMuzik Posted November 26, 2016 Report Share Posted November 26, 2016 BTW..make sure to upload pics of the finished MB SID! I was curious what space limitations, regarding an eclosure, could be pushed with stuffing 8 SID via the modular approach (as opposed to something like the MB-6582. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrzottel Posted November 26, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2016 Yes, MIOS is the basic OS for the cores, but for the SID Station, you need an application (MidiBox SID v2.044 is what I am using) - and there are setup_6581.hex and setup_8580.hex files inside - so I guess it makes a difference. Most likely for the filter settings, as they are quite different in those models. I decided to take a quite big enclosure and have some generous spacing (i.e not stacking the boards), as the MB SID is going to be used in a studio anyway. This is a picture of the MB SID as it currently is spaced out in the case. You can see the 4 Cores I have already finished as well as two MB SID with 8580 in place, two MB SID without SIDs yet (but configured for 8580s and 4 unpopulated MB SIDs. They all sit on spacers inside the case (Hammond "Pultgehäuse"), the biggest one they had. ;) On the right side is the pile of DIN/DOUT which will go into the controll surface + a bank stick. The long board on the bottom was originaly planned as a power delivery board for the different modules, to make cooling easier by placing all 78xx on this board and connecting them thermaly to the case - but I scrapped the idea of having a central place for power in favor of 7809 on the MB SID boards and taking 5V and 12V from the power brick I got. (Not sacrificing my C64 brick for that, which might be underpowered anyway..). So the long board at the bottom now is only a simple power rail to have 5V and 12V available to the modules. ;) Best regards, mrzottel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChinMuzik Posted November 26, 2016 Report Share Posted November 26, 2016 (edited) Wow..that enclosure is massive. What are the dimensions? Looks like you're going to have a lot of empty real estate on the front panel after laying out the control surface. This kind of dashes my dreams of fitting 8 SID in a reasonable enclosure. I might opt for a 4x mono SID build. I am glad you pointed out the difference in the applications now. I have a mixed SID config in an mb6582 I am building and I cloned all the slaves from the master core. Need to go back over that now. Edited November 26, 2016 by ChinMuzik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrzottel Posted November 26, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2016 It is 510mm wide, 300mm deep and between 40 and 90mm heigh. (40mm in front, 90mm in the back). It is a rather flat case, that is why I had to space it out a bit and could not just stack the modules. I could have probably gotten away with a smaller case, but without any experience how much space the control surface would require, I went for better safe than sorry. Also I like huge massive cases (this is made of thick aluminium). Also my first plan was to integrate the power brick into the device - but I scrapped that for an external brick, so the space where I placed the DIN/DOUT-Boards is free space. My current plan, as I have 5V + 12V and some space available is to fit an arduino in there with a couple of RGB LEDs to light a laser cut acryl glas plate which will be placed behind some holes on the back of the case. (I accidently cut 3 holes for midi and power a bit too big, so the connectors fell through. Placing some fancy lights there make it look like it was on purpose =D) And yes, the front plate will have quite a lot of spare space, but I will be limited on where to put it by the low height of the case, so I hope it will work out. I make it a bit wider than usual with a bigger LCD (4x40) and a couple of extra switches. Power to device, power to arduino/LED and maybe audio-out -> audio in chaining of the SIDs? Maybe a VU Meter.. who knows =D Best Regards mrzottel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaytee Posted November 26, 2016 Report Share Posted November 26, 2016 (edited) As far as I know, the software is the same for different SID chips; the different hex files just specify certain default settings for the filters to save you the trouble of setting them. The Bankstick configuration shouldn't matter either. Patches designed for different SID revisions won't sound quite right on the "wrong" chip, but they're not incompatible. They can be assigned to any core from any Bankstick. Hopefully @TK. can come confirm what I'm telling you—only about 90% confident on my answers, having read the MB SID documentation a couple dozen times but not having finished a multi-core SID project yet—but I'm pretty sure you're overthinking things. I can definitely say that many folks have completed MB SID projects with mixed SIDs before, so it is 100% possible, no problem. edit: As for the difference between SID revisions... I personally prefer the 8580/6582. Between the additional waveforms, the noise reduction and the improved filter, it makes the most sense to me for building a musical instrument. That said, it seems like folks who grew up on C64 music prefer the 6581; I'll certainly admit that despite its flaws, the 6581 does have a really nice sound. Edited November 26, 2016 by jaytee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilmenator Posted November 27, 2016 Report Share Posted November 27, 2016 @mrzottel: That Hammond case looks interesting! Where did you get it from, and how much did you pay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrzottel Posted November 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2016 (edited) @ilmenator It is this one: http://www.voelkner.de/products/478379/Schraeg-Gehaeuse-1456wl1bkbu.html The product picture on the website is a bit misleading though, as there is no flat area at the upper back of the case. Edited November 27, 2016 by mrzottel typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilmenator Posted November 27, 2016 Report Share Posted November 27, 2016 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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