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Domain: hardsid.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to hardsid.com.

Comments · 7

  1. Re:So the question is... by Lapine · · Score: 1 · on The New Commodore 64

    What you want is a HardSID, then.

  2. Re:SID and Patent Laws by fishbowl · · Score: 1 · on US Company Buys Commodore Brand For $33 Million

    "I remember something about them having a musical interface, but I was not into that at that time. Is that what you use the C64's for?"

    The sound chip on the C64 is a pretty damned good synthesizer, with a very good analog filter, and it's quite a unique sound generator.

    I'm too lame to have any samples of my own music, but check this out:

    Fusion of Two Dragons

    Yeah, I know the chip doesn't *really* do anything I can't come close to with a soft synth or one of my keyboards, but that's not the point. (Please don't press me about what IS the point, because I'm not sure I could formulate an answer that doesn't make me sound fanatical.)

  3. Re:Nice idea, needs to be taken further... by pndmnm · · Score: 1 · on SNES Audio Unit As Stand-Alone Player

    Inexpensive alternatives for the PC include the PCI Catweasel (also an Amiga keyboard and mouse controller, and a versatile floppy controller). I've got one of these and a nice collection of Commodore SIDs that I use Acid64 to listen to. The quality is great and you can use the SID chip of your choice. (I actually got the card to read some old floppies, but the SID is a great bonus feature.)

    For more synth power (more like the SidStation) you can get a HardSID PCI card with up to four SID chips for advanced synthing. I don't have one of these, so I can't speak for the quality, but I've heard good things.

  4. Re:commodore's hardware was fantastic by antibryce · · Score: 3, Informative · on Commodore - Back In The Hardware Biz At Last?

    The sid chip had three monophonic digital oscillators, individual envelopes, and an analog filter. Sometimes people used it to simulate polyphony but mostly it was used to make a full song (ie. 1 osc for drums, 1 for bass, 1 for lead)

    Some of the music composed on the C64 was amazingly complex given how limited it was. The C64 was also one of the first platforms used for "demos" (mostly in the form of crappy scrollers.)

    For those who really really love the sound of the SID chip there are lots of options to get it back. Most notably is the SidStation which is sadly no longer made and the HardSid.

    I also can't recommend Kohina enough.

  5. Re:Of course they'll only let you play... by Kris_J · · Score: 1 · on Commodore - Back In The Hardware Biz At Last?
    Screw software emulation, get a CatWeasel or HardSID.

    And if the new Commodore really cared about the old fans, they'd include a big honkin' socket for a real SID on their portable music players. The High Voltage SID Collection is only 35.6MB (compressed) and it contains months and months of music.

  6. Re:It uses a CPU, not an FPGA by De+Lemming · · Score: 1 · on Retro-Computing with FPGAs

    I remember seeing a board with four SID sockets once, you could use the original or upgraded chips.

    That's the HardSID. The standard version has one SID socket, and the HardSID Quattro has four. ISA versions of these exist for some years now, and the PCI cards are promised to be released this month.

  7. Re:Commodore 64 hackers by Draoi · · Score: 1 · on Synthesizers, Commodore 64 Style
    I think what they meant was people hacking the computer itself, rather than just OS hacking

    Yes, you're probably right! I was there too in the good ol' hardware hacking days. I remember getting one of those (brand new!) SP0256 speech synth chips and hacking it onto a Eurocard & getting it to interface to a Sinclair QL. *sigh* nobody does this stuff anymore .....

    Having said that, there is the HardSID board. I'm strongly tempted to hack this to somehow work on a Mac, even if it is ISA-style .....