MixSID Dual SID Board

While me and couple of hundred other SID fanatics are waiting for the SIDFX units to arrive, a new advanced dual SID board design appeared out of the blue; MixSID by Henning Bekel.

The arrival of MixSID is quite interesting, as feature-wise MixSID appears to be on-par with the SIDFX. Want to install any two SID models to any C64 model? Be able to switch between the installed SIDs on the fly? Choose between mono, dual-mono or true stereo operating modes? Have flexible selection for the second SID address space? Adjustable digi-boost for 8580? Volume level balancing for the installed chips? Reduced noise?

Check.

Both SIDFX and MixSID are capable with the above, and more. Of course SIDFX has even more some interesting features, including software configuration for the settings, and automatic configuration (voltage, filters) for the installed chips etc.

Comparing the two is not exactly the point of this article, but I can’t help myself doing that spec-wise, as both are advanced dual SID boards, with many similar features, and appearing around the same time.

The biggest difference between the two is actually the approach and design philosophy; SIDFX states being a plug and play, solder free solution that automatically detects the installed SID chips and configures itself accordingly. MixSID, in turn, is manually configured, comprehensively documented, open source, and DIY-friendly.

In fact, you can only have MixSID by building one yourself. You can go ahead and order or make your own pcbs, but Henning also sells the MixSID boards as kits, and I was sure to get myself one.

Jeroen Tel gig

Just like last year, I ended up going to Assembly just to see one of the performing artists there. This time the artist was no other than Mr. Jeroen Tel.

Yes, he was there, he came on the main stage on Friday night, pulled off a nice gig, and I was very happy to see and experience it. 

PRESS PLAY ON TAPE gig at Assembly 2011

Last weekend I bought perhaps my most expensive concert ticket so far when I had to buy the Assembly weekend ticket just to see PRESS PLAY ON TAPE live gig. Yep, I got there about half an hour before PPOT started the gig and left right after it. Neither did I return the party place the next day due to other activities. Despite that I really wanted to see the band play live since they were playing here in Finland.

So that was rather brief visit to Assembly. But the time spent there was good – PPOT didn’t dissappoint me at all!

Alternative Party 2009

Alternative Party was held once again at the end of October, from Friday 23th to Sunday 25th. I like the event – it’s sort of a demo party but something totally different as the name suggests. Digital culture festival as the web site puts it. This year’s theme was cyberpunk, and Sophie Wilson and Jeri Ellsworth were invited as special guests. Together with the usual exotic and offbeat programme there was again strong music line-up. I was sure to get my ticket early on, and now I’m writing my blog several weeks after the party. So, what did the Altparty deliver this year?

HardSID 4U – that’s for me!

For many years I thought that it would be cool to have a HardSID or some other SID sound card, such as Catweasel. But it wasn’t until last June that I actually decided to get one. I spotted a news item on one C64 news portal that was reminding that pre-ordering for the brand new HardSID model lasted for the end of that month. This new model HardSID 4U is external USB-device instead of PCI or ISA card as the previous versions. Additionally, there was 50€ discount to the 299€ price when pre-ordering. I was sold.

If you don’t know, the HardSID is a sound card that basically gives a genuine SID sound for a modern PC. It can also be used as low-cost multichannel analog synthesizer, but I’ll leave that only as a side note here. The genuine sound is achieved by installing actual SID chips on the sound card. And the SID chip is the sound chip of Commodore 64 – a home computer of the 80’s. This whole concept may seem a little weird if you are not familiar with the music made with Commodore 64, especially the modern music. There is still a very active scene producing music for the machine thanks to the C64’s unique sound. And trust me, the emulated sound just doesn’t compare to the real thing if you are an enthusiastic.

HardSID 4U sitting on my desk and hooked up to my laptop and stereo system