Using ARM2SID with MB6582

[dwestbury]

In an older post (referenced below) there was a lot of talk about the different SID clone options available and the pros and cons of each.

Somewhere in that thread I put my own cards on the table and doubled-down on the ARMSID, because IMHO it provides very good sound emulation for my synths and my Commodore systems.

 

Well, fast-forward to today (a couple years later), and I'm still happy to say that I use the ARMSID and ARM2SID regularly. 

In fact, I did a quick inventory check and realized that I've purchased about ~25 of them over the last 2 yrs, for various builds and repairs...

 

In that same older forum post, I made a reference to the ARMSID Shield, which is an Arduino Uno add-on, that lets you test and configure your ARMSIDs, as well as manage firmware updates and even play some SID tunes to test everything out. This shield basically lets you do everything with the ARMSID that you would have needed a C64 computer for in the past.

 

 

 

I thought it would be useful for anyone that is thinking about using the ARMSID / ARM2SID for their MIDIBox SID builds, to have a quick and handy reference to help them get setup.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B_xzXlLjq3NbKnOrhIoJ5PrlVIhlsD_aASEhB0CWK90/edit?usp=sharing

 

Questions & comments are welcomed...

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by dwestbury

[renepela]

First of all sorry I am replying to an old topic. I hope there's still someone reading this topic and able to help me.

Many, many years ago I built an MB-6582 with 8 real 6582A chips in it. I use an original C64C powersupply.
I love my MB-6582 but it's a bit to noisy for my taste. So I'm considering buying 4 ARM2SID's to replace my 8 real sids. I think that would make it a lot quiter.

If I understand correctly the arm2sid only requires 5 volts. I am not very skilled in electronics (when I built it, I simply followed the steps).
I suppose I can still use my current C64C power supply, but I also read they can destroy sids (or more) when they fail, which is not very unlikely after more than 40 years.

So with the new arm2sids I think I also want to replace my power supply for a modern one. Can I simply buy myself a 5V power supply and attach that to the 5V pin (number 5) of the power connector and also connect the ground pins? Or do I have to remove components from the board. The benefit of not having to remove components is that I always can decide to put back the original and use my original power supply. So what would be the simplest way to use a new 5V power supply with my arm2sids without having to remove a lot of components from the pcb? Are there schematics of the MB-6582 somewhere on the net so I (or a skilled friend) can look at the my whishes with the power supply?

Also I considder recreating the control surface, because I'm not happy with the way I constructed it many year ago (the leds are not equally leveled). I think it's hard to remove all the leds. Can I still get the control surface pcb somewhere?

[m00dawg]

Late to respond but thought I would offer my $0.02 based on my 6582 experience. I was using a custom PSU with it, both for real SIDs and a pair of ARMSIDs. The problem I was having was a bit of 5V droop due to the cable length and my power connector was a bit sketch. So  I've since converted it over to the switching 7805 regulator method which seems to be working for both ARMSIDs and real ones. One thing I really like about real SIDs is they can offer a sort of chorus in stereo mode due to differences in each chip. I don't get that with ARMSIDs. On the MB6582 I plan to always run both. I believe you are correct, though, that the ARMSIDs only need 5V though there isn't much harm in keeping your 9/12 rails if you want to populate real SIDs at a later date. The switching PSU method does require changing things around a bit. It can be reverted but not easily, although it can be made to work with 6581 or 8580/6582 SIDs (and ARMSID) which might be worth a look if you're not already running this option.

I do find being able to choose between them is really nice. The real SIDs, sure they're noisy, but the filter sounds better and you can mitigate the noise with a gate. When I'm doing a lot of filter stuff or just want that chorus/phasey kinda sound, I'll reach for them. Otherwise the ARMSIDs are less fickle.

I do wish we'd see an update to the MBSID firmware to support some of the enhanced ARMSID options but I've been quite happy with them and plan on picking up more (once retrocomp.cz is able to ship to the US again). I recently busted out my sammichSID again while the band is considering live shows so my current ARMSIDs are stuffed in that guy.