Log inRegister an accountBrowse CSDbHelp & documentationFacts & StatisticsThe forumsAvailable RSS-feeds on CSDbSupport CSDb Commodore 64 Scene Database
  You are not logged in - nap
SID-Article 0.1   [2022]

SID-Article 0.1 Released by :
Hermit

Release Date :
11 July 2022

Type :
C64 Misc.

AKA :
SID Article 0.1

User rating:awaiting 8 votes (2 left)   See votestatistics

Credits :
Docs .... Hermit of Samar Productions, SIDRIP Alliance, Singular

Download :

Look for downloads on external sites:
 Pokefinder.org


User Comment
Submitted by Rastah Bar on 19 July 2022
Perhaps a few lines could be added about how to stream a SID by writing pre-stored values directly to some registers.

A section on sfx tips & tricks could be interesting too.
User Comment
Submitted by Jammer on 15 July 2022
Testbit noise is quite simple and rudimentery trick. IMHO more interesting is great disparity between emu and hardware in testbit/no wave handling and what exactly is that damn dirt on real SID ;)
User Comment
Submitted by The Syndrom on 15 July 2022
thank you hermit, reading this got me really interested in trying some new stuff. and @jackasser - please do, would be interesting to learn that.
User Comment
Submitted by ChristopherJam on 14 July 2022
An excellent initiative, thank you!

I wonder if CodeBase64 would be a good home for an editable version?
User Comment
Submitted by JackAsser on 13 July 2022
I perhaps should add a section how to create 3 voice chords using only one channel with a sawtooth wave and precisely timed oscillator resets using the test bit.
User Comment
Submitted by Hermit on 13 July 2022
Thanks for this information JCH. This info should certainly be put into a next version of a SID-Article.

(The only similar topic is the $C1 waveform I mention briefly. I'm actually surprised that this TBN technique was found in old SID tunes too.)

And of course more of these untouched topics are welcome here or maybe we can even open a topic for it at the forum (or point to one if it exists already).

I've heard about some THCM technique for example and haven't found an explanation anywhere yet. And tricks in multi-speed tunes (like at the beginning and end of Jammer's Gliding Gladly) would be nice to have being explained.
Some more knowhow about the conscious usage of Ringmod and Sync would be welcome too...
User Comment
Submitted by JCH on 12 July 2022
I have a suggestion for adding a paragraph about the "test bit noise" method.

In the Facebook group for SID Factory II, I wrote about this 2 years ago. Here's a copy of that text:

--------

This demonstrates how to make "metallic" test bit noise.

http://deepsid.chordian.net/?file=/SID%20Happens/2020/Example_T..

Normally, noise in SID is a totally random generation of values. But if you combine a few odd waveforms in a certain order, it's possible to get a more predictable type of noise.

The example SID tune first plays three ordinary noise notes. They are as unpredictable as always. The wave table for the middle three notes ends with an illegal $F0 value. This is a combination of waveforms that the SID can't play, and for some reason this offends the noise waveform so effectively that it stops producing any sound. That's why the middle three notes are almost without noise, even though the wave table says it has. In the third and last three notes, the same wave table (ending in the illegal waveform) is reused, but this time the instrument has a bit set that turns on oscillator test bit reset. This unlocks the noise waveform again, but because it now has to play from a certain point of random numbers, each noise note now sounds much more predictable.

--------

I have even started adding a "TBN" tag to various songs in DeepSID that uses this technique.

Here's the search for it:

http://deepsid.chordian.net/?search=tbn&type=tag
User Comment
Submitted by JCH on 12 July 2022
Thanks for this, Hermit. I just read it, and while there's a lot that is extremely technical even for an old SID geezer like me (probably might be really interesting for other emulator programmers) there are also interesting details such as the "bottle" hard restart method or how the various versions of digi works.

And yes, there are definitely typos! ;)
User Comment
Submitted by Hermit on 11 July 2022
Several years ago I started something like the VIC-article but for SID. Back then I showed it to some guys (Necropolo, Vincenzo) and they stated it's a good idea to have something like this.
I've written the 2nd half just today so I versioned this only 0.1, because many typos might be in there. But hopefully it's at least a start for something like this...
No pictures/diagrams yet but I collected the less-textualized mechanisms of SID like combined waveforms and ADSR delay-bug vs Hard-Restart into a single txt file.
I put some ideas about sound-design at the end but it's just to have some tips for the application of SID beside the dry technical details, which kind of info seems more important here than in the VIC-article (the targeted users here are probably more like musicians than coders)...
Anyone feel free to edit and republish it like a Wikipedia article, or rewrite completely, I don't really mind, what matters for me is that in the end we should have a SID-Article as good as possible...
Search CSDb
Advanced
Navigate
Prev - Random - Next
Detailed Info
· Summaries
· User Comments (9)
· Production Notes
Fun Stuff
· Goofs
· Hidden Parts
· Trivia
Forum
· Discuss this release
Support CSDb
Help keep CSDb running:



Funding status:




About this site:
CSDb (Commodore 64 Scene Database) is a website which goal is to gather as much information and material about the scene around the commodore 64 computer - the worlds most popular home computer throughout time. Here you can find almost anything which was ever made for the commodore 64, and more is being added every day. As this website is scene related, you can mostly find demos, music and graphics made by the people who made the scene (the sceners), but you can also find a lot of the old classic games here. Try out the search box in the top right corner, or check out the CSDb main page for the latest additions.
Home - Disclaimer
Copyright © No Name 2001-2024
Page generated in: 0.083 sec.