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Shadow
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 355 |
Quality of different SID-replacements?
A while ago my C64C started losing sound (see C64 gradually losing sound output, but RF still works? for the full story).
I ended up sending it away for repair/recap as well as investing in a brand new power supply. It worked well for some weeks, but then the same thing started happening again, and now I get no sound at all.
As a last resort to at least have something, I enabled the SID-emulation in my 1541U2, so I have sound at least.
However, the emulation is not good, for example Stinsens music in Diagonality sounds severely broken, and I have listened to that tune about a thousand times while I developed the demo, so I know how it should sound.
Since getting a replacement "real" 8580 is more or less impossible, unless you pay for more or less a complete 64, I've started thinking about getting a modern SID-replacement, like the ARM-SID.
However, if the sound is no better than the 1541 Ultimate emulation, it would be a complete waste of money, so I'd really like to hear about peoples experiences with these (ARM-SID, SwinSID etc. compared to 1541U SID) |
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Dano
Registered: Jul 2004
Posts: 228 |
I heard FPASid shall be rather good. Though no personal experience with it. |
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vincenzo
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 79 |
Quote: SwinSID's rather poor, especially when it comes to 6581. It sounds as if they tried to make Lightforce sound okay and then delared the job done, however, tons of 6581 tunes sound totally broken. Also the firmware updates did not make that impressively better. I can't recommend it.
As you mention 1541-U, I've no experience with that, but TC64 is definetely far from perfect either.
AFAIK FPGA has the best reputation among the replacements currently, so if I were you, I'd rather pay lotsa money for a real SID than an ARMSID, not to speak of SwinSID (see above)
Just saying there are many SwinSID revisions, and also a decent one, the SwinSID Ultimate which has nothing to do with the original SwinSID concept. It's just unfortunate that they (Hermit and Codekiller) used the SwinSID name for their (back then) brand new product. Hermit's emulation code is still part of DeepSID nowadays (you can select it from the emulation menu).
SwinSID and SwinSID Nano are very basic emulations, don't use them only if you have no other choice. They can generate SID-a-Like sound but it doesn't come close to the original sound.
SwinSID Ultimate if it's still availabe is pretty okay with a few flaws that's been addressed during the years. But its processor is pretty limited, so no further adjustments are available as far as I know.
ArmSID and its variant are still being developed and get improvement with each new firmware and iteration. It does worth a shot. It's not perfect, but for the average listener it's the best price/ratio solution at the moment.
FPGASID was very good a few years ago when I had the chance to give it a testride. Probably it got better since then. However, its price is double or triple of ArmSID and some tracks were broken - that might have changed with new firmware updates.
I have no information about the Ultimate's SID emulation, never had the chance to test it.
The question really is: what do you want the replacement to use for? Regular SID listening? Well, anything goes. Audiophil listening experience? LOL, the SID itself is definitely not an audiophile stuff :) But in this case probably the FPGASID is the best choice. |
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MagerValp
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1060 |
I have a couple of ARMSIDs. They’re not perfect, but they’re good enough for games and casual demo watching. With a direct comparison it’s easy to hear differences, but by itself it doesn’t sound wrong. |
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Shadow
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 355 |
Quote:The question really is: what do you want the replacement to use for? Regular SID listening? Well, anything goes. Audiophil listening experience? LOL, the SID itself is definitely not an audiophile stuff :) But in this case probably the FPGASID is the best choice.
I'm not all that particular (at least I thought so), minor issues are fine.
But that was my issue with the 1541U2 SID-emulation, at least to me, many songs didn't sound right at all, parts of sounds completely missing etc. So that's not enough. So now I'm trying to figure out if it is:
A) 1541U2 8580 emulation is utter crap compared to the others.
or
B) I am way more picky than I thought I was! |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11148 |
its a). The only replacement that sounded convincing for me was fpgaSID, all the others will sound weird. |
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Silver Dream !
Registered: Nov 2005
Posts: 108 |
Quote: its a). The only replacement that sounded convincing for me was fpgaSID, all the others will sound weird.
I concur. ARMSID comes in (a rather distant) second. As @MagerValp mentioned - OK for casual stuff but not so much for "hardcore SIDding". |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11148 |
for "casual" (ie playing a game) most are okish, i guess. for ppl who arent into c64 much, it doesnt matter at all :) |
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Remdy
Registered: Feb 2019
Posts: 26 |
Quote: for "casual" (ie playing a game) most are okish, i guess. for ppl who arent into c64 much, it doesnt matter at all :)
do you think a lot of "arent into c64 much" ppl play on real hardware? :) |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11148 |
A lot of those "retro people" buy U64 or C64Reloaded, yes. You'd be surprised. |
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Impetigo
Registered: Jun 2004
Posts: 30 |
Also there are these Teensy based DIY replacements that use reSID emulation:
https://github.com/frntc/SIDKick
https://www.forum64.de/index.php?thread/103503-free-stereo-sid-.. |
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