SID Station - WoW

Monosexuell · Post by **Monosexuell** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 3:23 pm

lately was a sidstation for 1500 us-dollar on a new owners... on eBay

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 5:01 pm

I am playing through my old C64 sidfiles from time to time and am always amazed that I can still whistle every tone. One would think that my brain should have erased those years ago to make room for more important things.

I do like the Casio CZ for SID/C64 like nasty sounds (phase distortion), unfortunately my CZ 101 is broken atm (no more powering up). The Alesis Micron can do some pretty nasty sounds but tends to sound a bit smoother. I also find the NT Pro-53 to sound quite C64 like, there is one preset that sounds exactly like the sound of the Roland's Ratrace tone.

downfader · Post by **downfader** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:27 pm

This is an old thread...

I've known two musos with sidstations I think. Very cool sounds, and as a result have tried to resurrect both my C64 and A1200 to try and get some sounds out of them, sadly to no avail.

So now I just find other ways to grunge things up. Analogue filters, Line 6 gear, guitar pedals, cassette recorders, you name it..

cosmosuave · Post by **cosmosuave** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:40 pm

Currently building this....

Well I have started construction on my MB SID which I am going to name sidated (hopefully no one has named theirs that yet)... I am building the stereo version with the 6581 chip... Last night I finished constructing the core/DIN/and 2 sid modules that I purchased from Smash TV... All I can say is that the quality of the PCB's are excellent and the way everything is packed is awesome... Today I will do the tests on the boards whith the IC's removed...

Next task will be mounting a 2x24 LCD, encoder, and the 11 buttons on some perf board and source some ribbon cabling and connectors... I will post pics here to document the construction process... Should have some pics up by tomorrow...

bri.

Ok here are some pics...

2x24 LCD and button controls....

Core module

SID module

DIN module

Still need to come up with a case solution .... I want a metal front panel and wooden end cheeks... This week I will get the ribbon cable and connectors made to connect all the module and begin the MIOS programming... Still have to make board for the LCD, Encoder and button controls... So far I managed to fry one of the big caps due to the polarity being reversed...

downfader · Post by **downfader** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:50 pm

cosmosuave, all I get is red X's on those pics.

Sounds like a cool project you have there!

cosmosuave · Post by **cosmosuave** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:08 pm

downfader wrote:cosmosuave, all I get is red X's on those pics. :(

Sounds like a cool project you have there!

I see the pics you may have incorrect settings...

Putting the boards together is easy and the quality is amazing... I bought the kits for about $90 Cdn... Considering the price to the SID station you cannot go wrong if you are somewhat electronically handy it is even worthwhile to take a electronics course at night school if your not...

http://www.ucapps.de/

The ucapps site has much info it is overwhelming but the forum is very helpful as well as the chatroom... The only issue I am having right now is getting the LCD to illuminate which is not outlined too well but I have it somewhat figured out...

pinky · Post by **pinky** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:03 am

Does anyone know if it's possible to pull the soundchip out of a Commodore 64 ?

I've got a few SSM and CEM chips and I like the idea of building a SID chip voiced synth but with SSM/CEM filtering/amplification.If I can find someone to build it for me of course !

bigbadotis · Post by **bigbadotis** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:12 am

Does anyone know if it's possible to pull the soundchip out of a Commodore 64 ?

that's how you get the chips for these projects, desoldering them from old 64s.

cosmosuave · Post by **cosmosuave** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:03 am

pinky wrote:Does anyone know if it's possible to pull the soundchip out of a Commodore 64 ?

I've got a few SSM and CEM chips and I like the idea of building a SID chip voiced synth but with SSM/CEM filtering/amplification.If I can find someone to build it for me of course !

They pull right out of the socket no desoldering required... Also if you have the SSM/CEM filter chips there are mods for it... The chip you are looking for on the C64 is either the 6501(early) or 8580 (later) SID chip... All sorts of info here with mp3s....

http://www.ucapps.de/index.html?page=midibox_sid.html

bigbadotis · Post by **bigbadotis** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:09 am

I have a 6581 that isn't socketed... I wish it was. Still haven't gotten around to pulling it out...

cosmosuave · Post by **cosmosuave** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:08 am

Finished the Stereo SIDbox...

Sorry about the size of the pics I reduced them in PS but I guess it was not enough...

Here is the core and the 2 SIDS boxed up with the optimised power supply.... After this pic I tidy'd up the witing with some tyraps...

This is the control surface with the DIN4 pcb and a 2x40 LCD... Unfortunately the LCD is not back lit...

Rear view with midi in/out, C64 ps connector, left/right outputs and an RS-232 connection for memory sticks...

Control panel with 10 buttons for each parameter displayed on the LCD... One LED was burnt out and it is hard to find a 1mm led replacement not really a worry at the moment...

All in all an awesome project I did have some issues since this was not the defacto 2x20 5 button minimal control surface but after building it the next one will be easier... Even programming the code was not too hard and I hate programming... The Ucapps site is awesome for support...

b0unce · Post by **b0unce** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:13 am

and most important of all........how about the sound ?(!?!)

cosmosuave · Post by **cosmosuave** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:18 am

b0unce wrote:and most important of all........how about the sound ?(!?!)

Just finished it last night and I have yet to really try it out since being a full time dad at the moment takes up a lot of time... But for some sound samples check out ...

http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_sid_manual.html

There are all sorts of samples form the Lead engine down to Ensembles... I spent about $200 on it and if it is close to the SID Station then it is worth the $$$ and effort... Nothing like building your own synth... BTW it has a shitload of modulation possibilities...

b0unce · Post by **b0unce** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:23 am

have you seen the tb303 emulator ?
sid acid. *drool*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnTh4e0b-ic
the track sux pretty much, but the sid sounds nice
in many ways the midibox sid is a far superior machine to the elektron sidstation

I got four sid chips...I'm gonna keep collecting till I can build a pimped out 8 chip one,

3dot... · Post by **3dot...** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:22 pm

http://www.hypersynth.com/