After hearing many praises about the Commodore 64 SID Synthesizers, I thought I would build one for myself. I decided to build it in a compact 1U rackmount case. This project was built in 2006 and is still in my rack and working to this day!
MIDIBox Technical Description: (from ucapps.de)
MIDIbox SID is a non-commercial & “DIY-only” project. Beside of the common SID functions (three oscillators, triangle/saw/pulse/noise and mixed waveforms, independent envelope generators for the amplitudes, sync & ring modulation, 12db multistate low/band/highpass/notch filter) it features:
- 2 additional envelopes with optional non-linear curve which can be assigned to Pitch, Pulsewidth and Filters
- 6 additional LFO’s with different waveforms which can be assigned to Pitch, Pulsewidth and Filters
- Fine Tuning
- Pitch Bender
- Portamento/Glide function
- Delays
- optional Oscillator Synchronization
- Arpeggiator (a SID *must* have an arpeggiator 😉
- Poly, Mono and Legato Mode
- separate keyboard zones for each voice (key splitting) allows to play voices separately
- Free controller assignments to Modulation Wheel, Velocity and Aftertouch
- wave and CC sequences which allow more percussive sounds (Wavetables)
- the wavetable sequencer can be combined with the arpeggiator in order to realize complex textures
- LFOs, Envelopes, Wavetables, Arpeggios optionally syncable via external MIDI clock
- LFOs can be combined for Sample&Hold effect
- up to 6 CV ins with 8 bit resolution which are forwarded to the LFOs (6th waveform) and can control the OSC frequency, pulsewidth and filter
- up to 8 CV outs with 12 bit resolution – MBHP_AOUT_LC and MBHP_AOUT are supported
- OS independent SysEx editor based on JSynthLib
- BankStick support (128 sound patches per stick, up to 8 can be connected)
- Bassline (303) Mode
- optional filter CutOff frequency interpolation
- optional “Constant Time Slide”
- can be used as .sid file player
- optional minimal control unit
- the possibility to control up to 4 SIDs
- a complete control surface