Hi,

I love the SidStation, but can't justify £500 or £600 buying one. Is there any softsynth that specifically models the SID chip, or might give me a sound that is in that direction? I'm not looking for an exact emulation, just something that sounds close-ish and is relatively easily programmed.

I looked into buying a Hard Sid box, but it comes out at around £400.

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www.slowworm.net

Hi Rich!

Well as someone who spent many years working with the SID chip on computer game soundtracks I ought to know this

The reFX QuadraSID is highly regarded: http://refx.com/?page=products/quadrasid/summary

Plogue Chipsounds includes the SID chip in its arsenal of simulations: www.plogue.com/?page_id=43

There’s even a freeware one available named 38911 Bytes: www.kvraudio.com/get/3186.html

(although the latter can be tricky to find as the developers website is out of action, and when I downloaded it my virus checker regarded it as suspicious, so be careful).

Hope this helps!


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

Thank you for those ideas. I am just downloading the QuadraSid demo to start with and see how it goes. I do like the physical SidStation box, but if a soft synth can get a sound that is close then it will integrate with my mostly computer-based setup well, and at 59 Euros is a lot more affordable!

I will try out your suggestions and see which option suits me best. Looking forward to trying these.

Cheers

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www.slowworm.net

Hey Martin, I never knew about Sid and am very intrigued now.
Why its so pricey? Is it really that good?

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SoundCloud

It's pricey due to rarity now.

The chip comes from the Commodore 64, hence Martin has some considerable pedigree in that field!

The Sidstation is the daddy of the modern Sid movement, but it was limited due to chip availability, hence the current high price second hand.

http://www.elektron.se/products/sidstation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektron_SidStation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_SID

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

It's pricey because Martin was associated with it and, as you know, top quality warrants a higher price.

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Samplecraze
Stretch That Note

Quote Zukan:

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It's pricey because Martin was associated with it and, as you know, top quality warrants a higher price.

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Hehe

I too can vouch for the QuadSID, it's beautiful. You can also purchase some Rob Hubbard patches for it. Happy Days.

I used to have a HardSID but, sadly, sold it a few years back.

Cheers,
Peter

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Composer, Producer, Sound Designer
www.universal-sound-design.com

So how long until that C64 I've got in the attic becomes a valuable antique?

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sid-player/id300205592?mt=8

This App has some of Martin's work on there among others.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Wow!

Only few months back I had to do a project on chiptunes kind of sounds. I wish if I had one of the SID then.

But still guys, is it actually that good? That price tag is obnoxious.

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SoundCloud

An alternative is getting a Gameboy and exploiting it.

http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/ I've no experience in this though, but I'd like to give it a go one day.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Quote AuralSerenity:

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Hey Martin, I never knew about Sid and am very intrigued now.
Why its so pricey? Is it really that good?

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You've already had some good answers, but personally I'd say that my experience with the SID chip back in the 80‘s was rather mixed. You're really talking about three channels of 8-bit bleeps, but that’s all we had in the CBM 64, so we had to stretch the possibilities as much as we could, in my case using multiplexed chords by changing the note 50 times a second However, for me SID’s best feature was the ring modulator, which allowed me to create voice-like sound effects

If you want all the nitty gritty you can have a read of my 'Walker's Way' diary from Zzap64 magazine 1988 (ye gods - over 20 years ago ), in which I describe the programming of my SID Editor:

www.zzap64.co.uk/walkersway.html

Oh, and if you really want to hear some of my 8-bit music you can do so here (Armalyte is probably my most popular game soundtrack, but I particularly enjoyed Citadel & Snare too):

www.lemon64.com/music/jukebox.php?dir=1154

...although I do enjoy the MP3 remixes of my music done by other people on more modern synth gear

http://remix.kwed.org/index.php?search=martin+walker

There are two very good remixes of my Armalyte title music there

Ah, what memories


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

Quote Richie Royale:

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An alternative is getting a Gameboy and exploiting it.

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I also did game soundtracks and FX for the Nintendo Gameboy and SNES, Sega Gamegear and Megadrive (the last one was a cut above the others as it contained a Yamaha FM synth that you could programme at chip level


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

1988! Typo.

Ah ZZap magazine, not one I bought, due to me being a Spectrum boy, but I remember it.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Quote Martin Walker:

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Quote Richie Royale:

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An alternative is getting a Gameboy and exploiting it.

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I also did game soundtracks and FX for the Nintendo Gameboy and SNES, Sega Gamegear and Megadrive (the last one was a cut above the others as it contained a Yamaha FM synth that you could programme at chip level


Martin

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The Megadrive also has a minijack, which greatly enhanced my gaming as youth, running it through my crappy lo(hi)-fi.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Quote Martin Walker:

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...although I do enjoy the MP3 remixes of my music done by other people on more modern synth gear

http://remix.kwed.org/index.php?search=martin+walker

There are two very good remixes of my Armalyte title music there

Ah, what memories

Martin

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Blimey, I forgot about that site. Here is a remix of a C64 tune (Delta Main Theme, by Rob Hubbard) I did, back in '96, using a Roland GM Module... I never did finish it but somehow it got up there!!!

http://remix.kwed.org/files/RKOfiles/Peter%20Connolly%20-%20Delta%2096.mp3

Happy memories indeedy

I did a few other C64 remixes a few years later (Forbidden Forest & Aztec Challenge, originally by Paul Normal)

P

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Composer, Producer, Sound Designer
www.universal-sound-design.com

I very much like the ethos of squeezing the most out of limited hardware, which is one of the reasons I am drawn to the SID sound. Having investigated the links Martin provided above I'm going to go for QuadraSID . I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with it.

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www.slowworm.net

Quote Martin Walker:

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Oh, and if you really want to hear some of my 8-bit music you can do so here (Armalyte is probably my most popular game soundtrack, but I particularly enjoyed Citadel & Snare too):

www.lemon64.com/music/jukebox.php?dir=1154

...although I do enjoy the MP3 remixes of my music done by other people on more modern synth gear

http://remix.kwed.org/index.php?search=martin+walker

There are two very good remixes of my Armalyte title music there

Ah, what memories


Martin

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Snare is still one of my favourite gaming experiences of all time, quite a strange game but the general theme and the futurist atmosphere (which I put down to that intro music ) were so creepy and exciting.