Stereophonic-SID cartidge

[Mangelore]

It's done!

Apologies for the crappy name but I couldn't think of anything interesting to call my Stereo SID cartridge.

The good news is that I've managed to find a nice way to power the 9V/12V SID chips using the 5V supply from the Commodore 64/128 expansion port. I'll be updating my web site with more info within the next day or so but in the meantime I've listed one on eBay, item number 330191512633

Outside of eBay the asking price will be US$29.00 plus shipping as there's no eBay fees to worry about. Please note that I'm not including a SID chip and that there's two versions of this cartridge. One for 9V and another for 12V SIDs.

I hope you guys like it

[Mathias Roslund]

Oooo, nice, me want one, or two

I have a stereo sid cartridge at home, the one which requires a 9V battery and is therefor almost never used.

BTW is there an easy way to tell the difference between the 9V and 12V version?

That cartridge expander looks nice too

[Andrew Wiskow]

Here's a link to that auction on eBay.  

Nice work, Mangelore!  

-Andrew

[Golan Klinger]

It would be better to get it directly from Mangelore so he doesn't have to pay eBay fees.

[nikoniko]

LOL@eBay:

Item Specifics   
Condition: New

This translation is provided as a service. eBay cannot guarantee its accuracy.

If there are any errors in eBay's translation, I hope someone bilingual in English and American can straighten things out.

[Mangelore]

Oooo, nice, me want one, or two

I have a stereo sid cartridge at home, the one which requires a 9V battery and is therefor almost never used.

BTW is there an easy way to tell the difference between the 9V and 12V version?

That cartridge expander looks nice too

Well, I've only made a small batch of PCB boards so if you guys want one please let me know sooner than later.

It's easy to tell the difference between the 9V and 12V SID chips as one is an 8580 and the other a 6581, but my cartridge is designed to support either one so both versions look the same. The main difference is that a variable resistor is adjusted to provide either 9 or 12 volts. Then, there's a few capacitors and a resistor that's between the two versions. I'm not going to tell people how to hack my board so that they can start swapping SIDs as it's very easy to make a mistake and fry the SID chip. But since the two SIDs require different capacitors, it's best to have two separate versions of the board.

Yeah, I was also impressed with how good the cartridge expander looks.

[Mangelore]

It would be better to get it directly from Mangelore so he doesn't have to pay eBay fees.

The only reason I'm selling a few of these on eBay is because there's a number of eBay addicts that don't have time to browse the forums. Some buyers may also feel more comfortable and secure buying via eBay after checking my feedback. The only problem is that I have to pay eBay fees which is why the prices on eBay are going to be a little higher.

I'm thinking about changing my listing to include a buy it now option.

[Mathias Roslund]

Do you know if a 6582 could be used with the cartridge? And would it be possible to use one of your cartridge expanders with both the midi interface and stereo cartridge active at the same time? That would be really cool

[Mangelore]

Do you know if a 6582 could be used with the cartridge? And would it be possible to use one of your cartridge expanders with both the midi interface and stereo cartridge active at the same time? That would be really cool

Well the 6582 uses the same voltages as an 8580 so it should be possible. However, I'm not sure if it requires the same filter caps as the 8580.

It might be a bit messy trying to plug the MIDI cartridge into an expander due to the MIDI cables. It might work with the 2+1 expander but I don't believe there are any programs that would take advantage of suck a configuration. I might ask the author of MyMIDI to see if he's interested in added stereo SID support.

[Dragos]

I would really like to see the cart without the passthrough and fit in an actual cart case.

[Mangelore]

I would really like to see the cart without the passthrough and fit in an actual cart case.

Did any of the previous Stereo SID carts like SID Symphony fit in a standard cart case (or similar size)?
When designing the PCB I tried to make it fit in a standard cartridge case. But then I realised that the PCB mount RCA socket was way to big.

If I get another batch of boards done, I'll remove the cart pass through and try to leave enough space at the top to somehow fit a chassis mount style RCA socket.

[RobertB]

Did any of the previous Stereo SID carts like SID Symphony fit in a standard cart case (or similar size)?

Yes, it was pretty much a standard-size cart.

Back in California,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/

[Andrew Wiskow]

Did any of the previous Stereo SID carts like SID Symphony fit in a standard cart case (or similar size)?

Yes, and you can see them at the Stereo SID page that I posted the link to in your "Sneak peek" thread.

Here is Mark Dickenson's original Stereo SID cartridge:


And here is the SID Symphony cartridge by Dr. Evil Labs:


-Andrew

[Andrew Wiskow]

I should probably also point out that having a plug-in Stereo SID cartridge is much more important to me than having it fit into a standard-sized cartridge case.  And I think the addition of the cartridge pass-through port is an excellent idea, and it makes it unique!  

-Andrew

[Mangelore]

Did any of the previous Stereo SID carts like SID Symphony fit in a standard cart case (or similar size)?

Yes, and you can see them at the Stereo SID page that I posted the link to in your "Sneak peek" thread.

Here is Mark Dickenson's original Stereo SID cartridge:
http://www.lyonlabs.org/commodore/stereo-sid/md-stereo-172x256.jpg

And here is the SID Symphony cartridge by Dr. Evil Labs:
http://www.lyonlabs.org/commodore/stereo-sid/SID-Symphony-172x194.jpg

-Andrew

Thanks. By "standard" cart case I was thinking of the traditional Commodore style cartridges like this one.
http://www.clive.nl/images/24214.jpg

I wasn't sure if the dimensions, especially the height, were similar for the plastic case used by the SID Symphony and other Stereo SID carts.
I'll try to fit my cartridge into a plastic case and post a few photos within the next couple of days.

[Andrew Wiskow]

I got my Stereophonic-SID cartridge in the mail today from Mangelore... And I'm sooooooo happy!  

I downloaded a lot of stereo SID songs from Q-Link in the late 80's, but I was never able to listen to them as they were MEANT to be listened to -- in STEREO!  Earlier this year, I figured out how to play them in WinVICE, setting up the second SID option...  But it's so nice to finally be able to hear them on a REAL Commodore computer!  

BTW Mangelore, I know you said that you put in that cartridge pass-thru port for the Prophet64, and I'm not sure if you tested it with other things, but I tried it out with an Epyx Fastload cartridge, and both the Fastload cartridge and the Stereo SID work great together.  

-Andrew

[Andrew Wiskow]

BTW is there an easy way to tell the difference between the 9V and 12V version?

I have the 12V version for the 6581 SID, and it's missing things at R1, R4, and C13 on the board.  I'm guessing that this is where the stuff goes for the 9V 8580 chips to function correctly, so that would be one way to tell.  Another way you could tell is just by guessing, and if the SID chip blows up, you'll know you put in the wrong one.  No wait, don't do that...  

-Andrew

[Stephane Richard]

lol I didn't know there ever was a stereo SID cartridge made by anyone. ;-).  What if one would like to program something for a stereo setup like this?  what are the addresses of the 2nd SID chip anyone happen to know?

I think it's an awesome idea...if I had a 128 you can bet I'd be ordering one of those.  but right now I gotta start from the beginning and find me a 128 then I'll see what else I'll add to it. ;-).

[Mangelore]

BTW Mangelore, I know you said that you put in that cartridge pass-thru port for the Prophet64, and I'm not sure if you tested it with other things, but I tried it out with an Epyx Fastload cartridge, and both the Fastload cartridge and the Stereo SID work great together.  

-Andrew

Good to hear you're enjoying the cartridge. Thanks for the tip regarding the Epyx Fastload cartridge! I never thought of trying it with the SID cart

[Golan Klinger]

...if I had a 128 you can bet I'd be ordering one of those.  but right now I gotta start from the beginning and find me a 128 then I'll see what else I'll add to it. ;-).

Still not 128!

We have got to get you sorted out. I know a few people in upstate NY who might have spare 128s to sell, if you're interested.

[Mangelore]

BTW is there an easy way to tell the difference between the 9V and 12V version?

I have the 12V version for the 6581 SID, and it's missing things at R1, R4, and C13 on the board.  I'm guessing that this is where the stuff goes for the 9V 8580 chips to function correctly, so that would be one way to tell.  Another way you could tell is just by guessing, and if the SID chip blows up, you'll know you put in the wrong one.  No wait, don't do that...  

-Andrew

C13 is not required so it's not present on both versions of the board.

R1 is also missing from both boards. One end of R1 connects to the SID Audio In while the other end connects to Ground. I'm told that the Audio In can pickup noise so some users wanted to add a capacitor or resistor between it and Ground. I decided not to solder anything at that location so that the second SID had a similar noise interference level as the internal SID. Some may not agree with this decision but the option is there for the modification to be implemented. If anyone decides to solder a resistor or capacitor in location R1, I would suggest they first do some research with Google. For example, Ray Carlsen has mentioned on newsgroups that a 330K resistor in that location would make an 8580 SID play samples like a 6581.

On other forums there's mention of using a capacitor in that location to reduce noise.

There's some further info here.
http://www.bigmech.com/misc/c64mods/noisereduction.html

The best way to tell which version of the board you have is to look at filter capacitors C1 and C2.

[nikoniko]

I know a few people in upstate NY who might have spare 128s to sell, if you're interested.

Sorry to butt in, but would you also happen to know anyone in Maryland/DC/Virginia/West Virginia/Pennsylvania who might have a spare?

[Stephane Richard]

...if I had a 128 you can bet I'd be ordering one of those.  but right now I gotta start from the beginning and find me a 128 then I'll see what else I'll add to it. ;-).

Still not 128!

We have got to get you sorted out. I know a few people in upstate NY who might have spare 128s to sell, if you're interested.

Get me straightened out, that's why my wife keeps on saying too ;-) but I don't think she's talking about my commodore 128 issue LOL.  

There's a few things I need to take care of before I can look into getting a 128...When the time is right, I'll post in this forum, it's amazing to see all the kicks in the butt (err motivational posts lol) I get here.   I appreciate the help.  and when the time's right, you can bet I'll let you guys know to hook me up with the goods. ;-).

[Andrew Wiskow]

lol I didn't know there ever was a stereo SID cartridge made by anyone. ;-).

This is a brand new product.  There hasn't been a stereo SID cartridge made by anyone for quite some time now...

What if one would like to program something for a stereo setup like this?  what are the addresses of the 2nd SID chip anyone happen to know?

This particular stereo SID cartridge has the ability to set the 2nd SID chip to any of the following addresses:
$DE00, $DE20, $DE40, $DE60, $DE80, $DEA0, $DEC0, $DEE0, $DF00, $DF20, $DF40, $DF60, $DF80, $DFA0, $DFC0, $DFE0

-Andrew

[airship]

I think you should call it "Second SIDdy".