The SID project

It was during the Argentinian crisis in 2001 that I started to use a space at home as a workplace for repairing TVs and computer monitors, my house was just full of them after bringing about 10 from a friend’s company. I got my degree in electronics in 2002 and since then started building different electronic projects in this space. The most interesting surely was the SID (stands for Sound Interface Device).

I came across on the internet with designs from a French engineer for building a synthesiser based on the Commodore 64’s sound chip. The project caught immediately my attention and I put my hands on it…

I cannibalised an old C64, basically took all it parts away, except for its sound chip, the case and some pieces like a led, a switch, that I would reuse.

Building took a lot of time from getting the needed components on different local stores in Argentina, drawing the copper tracks on a virgin PCB, to soldering all parts and components and testing results. I even had to build a microcontroller programmer to program the core synthesizer logic through the LPT por of my old computer.

Once I had the minimum setup, the results were outstanding, a great and unique sounding synthesizer. The 6581 chip on the C64 was designed by the same engineer later would create the keyboards brand Ensoniq (I think later bought by Creative Labs), and has some analog part so none of them sound actually the same, it’s a very unique piece.

I used the synth to record some Acta Fabula (my metal band by then) demos on 2005, then I left the project for some time and later moved to New York so I never actually finished it.

Every time I come to Argentina I find different memories, and came across with the SID, covered by dust. I decided it deserves to be finished, it deserves to sound stereo (my minimal version was mono only), it deserves to have the full control panel finished and deserves to be used live sometime. I believe it might take me about 2 years to finish it, mainly because I cannot take it with me now so resuming the works won’t happen until next year. But I wanted to share the images taken during it’s construction, and of course, a demo fragment I recorded with it for one of Acta Fabula’s songs.

Enjoy! 🙂

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RYNJxiQ9qftRbzCy8

DEMO: