HardSID 4 me

I got my HardSID 4u! What is it? It’s a black box with a USB cable and it doesn’t do anything… that is, it doesn’t do anything until you put some SID chips in.

The SID chip is the sound module from the legendary Commodore 64 home computer, which owes a big part of it’s legendary status to that particular chip. Of course it sounds terribly retro nowadays but there are still many people who can value that particular SID sound.

The HardSID 4u can hold a maximum of 4(!) of these chips and is typically used for things like:

• Playing Commodore 64 tunes on the original soundchip, but using your PC.
• Composing new Commodore 64 tunes (it’s being done more than you would imagine!)
• Creating retro sounds and effects in modern music production.

With it comes a VSTi that you can use in your favourite VST host. I’m using Renoise, which is still giving me some headaches because of timing issues… but it’s cool to have the old sound at your fingertips in a contemporary setup.

I’m glad I stored up some old Commodore 64’s in the attic; the minute I got my HardSID 4u I was able to fill it up with 4 genuine SID chips (3x 6581 and 1x 8085). Now all I have to do is think up some retro-style tunes…

Venlo Nostalgia

Back when we were in the Commodore 64 demo scene we used to go to these scene meetings in Venlo which were, because of the strategic location, very popular with sceners from Holland, Belgium and Germany. This was the place where everyone would release the demo’s they’d been working on to the public. Great to see some of it back

Be an instant legend by Retroporting

Demo’s are – of course – a way to show the 1337 skillz of the creators to show that they are able to stretch the limited hardware to extremes and show you things you thought weren’t possible on your homecomputer.

Sometimes demo’s are like battleraps; they dis other demogroups and their creations by taking an effect from another demo and improving on it, rendering the original effect obsolete or second-rate.

The ultimate blow in these friendly battles comes in the form of retroporting demo’s to a platform that is older and less powerful, for example porting an amiga demo to a c64 version. Take a classic amiga or pc demo – a demo that has stunned people by the way it stretched thecomputer’s capabilities – and simply make a c64 version of it, disregarding the breadbox’s inferiority regarding memory, processor speed and graphic capabilities, and you will be legend. Check out the examples below:

The legendary PC demo “Second Reality” by Future Crew:

… and the c64 remake bu Smash Designs:

The classic Amiga demo “Desert Dream” by Kefrens:

… and the c64 remake by Chorus & Resource

Headbangers made of clay

Watch these funny little clay creatures wander around on a commodore 64 and do some serious headbanging

Also check out the site of these musicians, golgoth13, it’s a fine piece of retro art.

New vibrant tunes straight from the chip

A new batch of mp3’s has just come in at The SID Recordings Archive, with a bunch of tunes from my favorite composers, Laxity and Drax! They’ve been around on the scene for a long time in groups like Vibrants and Maniacs of Noise, creating some of the funkiest and tightest stuff heard on a c64. Since creating these tunes, Laxity has moved on to create music for video games, and video games themselves. Drax has also moved on, but both guys haven’t forgotten their roots and still pop out a ’scene’ tune now and then on the Vibrants site, or even competing on the c64 at parties like X2006. Get down on these funky ass mp3’s!

The second Second Reality

Remember Second Reality? The PC demo by Future Crew? Well at the time it was state-of-the art PC demo wizardry. Impressive stuff! Enter Smash Designs, a commodore 64 demo. To show that the old breadbox is not dead, they recreate the whole demo on a c64, that’s like, a 100 times less powerful then a PC at that time. And they got it nailed right down to the music!

The biggest SID collection grows bigger

The High Voltage Sid Collection is the biggest collection of SID tunes (commodore 64 music) available. It is well maintained by a team of fanatic bleeplovers and definately worth the download.

The new HVSC #46 just came out with something like a 1000 new additions.

To play SIDs I recommend sidplay2 if you are using linux or windows. You can also find plugins for winamp and other audio players. Just look for ’sid’.

X2006 party wrapup

Another edition of the legendary commodore 64 scene party has come and passed again. From what I hear, X2006 was one of the best ever. Apart from the usual beerfest and competitions, there was a live set by Jeroen Tel of Maniacs of Noise fame. I’ve seen one of his sets before and it rox! And then there was the stripper…

Anyway I can’t tell you much, I wasn’t there. Check out the photo’s.

The picture of.. is it elvis having a drink on an oversized banana…? is the winner from the graphics compo, TuttiFrutti by Duce.

And the video below is the winning demo, the excellent Wild Bunch. Check it out!

SID ‘n Chips

The SID Recordings Archive have been busy adding new recordings of Commodore 64 tunes (SIDs), recorded off the original 6581/8580 chips they were intended for. Some sweet new tunes by  Jeroen Tel, Reyn Ouwehand, Martin Galway and Chris Hulsbeck are among the new additions.

The site also has an RSS feed/podcast that you can subscribe to, to keep you up to date with the latest additions. To my surprise, as of today a tune by yours truly  is hosted there now . I am very honored, check out the MP3 if you’re curious what I was upto in those days.