Replica Sound Cards - AdLib, Innovation SSI-2001, and SwinSID Ultimate.

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[K-o-R]

That SwinSID probably has more processing power than the entire C64.

Emulating a physical chip in a not-quite-a-chip package is fascinating.

[tyttuut]

Technical nerd correction at 7:25: the 78L09 is a 9V voltage regulator, not a transistor. I figure the jumper is connecting the pad for the regulator's input straight to the output. When you remove the jumper and put in the regulator, the 12V power is regulated down to 9V for the 8580. If you ever wanted to put an 8580 in there, that regulator can be obtained very cheaply.

[philscomputerlab]

That was great, I love hearing old Sound Cards :) It amazes me what some people manage to build in their spare time, we now have excellent ISA as well es parallel port sound cards and wave table boards. There is stuff for collectors, but also cheap sound cards with OPL3 chips, so a bit for everyone!

[boozydaboozer]

Something probaly only headphone users noticed: the SwinSID chip on the replica board had some pseudo stereo emulation. I suspect this is an optinal feature and probably off by default on the real C64. Edit: I checked it on the creator's website and stereo is metioned.

[yvan]

The Innovation SSI-2001. It's the near-impossible-to-find sound card, the holy grail of sound card collectors.

[fagear]

Thank you for the video, The 8-Bit Guy!
09:01 - definitely much better music on C64 version. The marketing problem of the Innovation that you've mentioned may well be the source of the problem. SSI-2001 support, even when it was added, was very basic, SID chip was treated more like 3-voice Tandy chip with another waveforms... Not nearly unleashing the full potential of the SID. As a result the sound was pretty "meh" compared to Adlib or other cards. No contest to the same SID in the C64.
11:33 - I didn't try SwinSID of any version in my cards and I don't know about its ability to work on different clocks... Probably it only can emulate 0.95 MHz (C64 PAL) and 1.023 MHz (C64 NTSC). But SSI-2001 runs the SID on 0.895 MHz. Probably SwinSID tries to detect the input frequency, rounds it to one of the C64's and can not produce sound in tact with actual clock (0.895 MHz), also sounding a little off in tone. And for real SID it is not a problem at all, it will run at any clock provided.
Also, you can switch a jumper on the SSI-2001 replica to make the SID run at 1.023 MHz (C64 NTSC) clock. In "officially supported" games tone will be off, but with osp2001 *.SID player it will run exactly as C64 (NTSC version).

[주창하-rh]

It would be really nice if Planet X3 supports Innovation SSI card since it has 3 voices and it uses the same sound chip as the C64.

[root]

Glad to see my AdLib replica being put to good use so soon. :) My own copy is still nicely chugging along in my 286. It was relatively easy to build. The guy who made the design really did a good job.

[alextirrellRI]

I love how there's always seemingly more to learn about obscure PC sound cards! Very glad to know about the AdLib reproduction.

[AscendedBeyond]

I'm sick but this 8-bit guy video really improved my day.

[rtv]

I saw that cracked copy of Ghostbusters!

[mramir]

13:26 That seems like a legal copy of Ghostbusters to me.

[BensonLicious]

That Chime sound is so charming, i'm surprised that type of idea was never implemented in any other sound chips back in the day to differentiate themselves from their competitor. Something like "Only TRUE AdLibs will tell you on startup" would be a killer selling point from a marketing point of view.

[DaiAtlus]

13:00 - omg Dave, that gave me an idea - put pin headers there, and then mount LEDs to the case, and connect them to the headers. That'd be a cute lil addition to a Commodore64

[elmosexwhistle]

I find it so funny that different communities assign a wildly different monetary value to things. The Ad Lib is a great example.

- As a vintage computer nerd, I kinda get why certain old things are expensive. Nostalgia, wanting to relive experiences, etc.
- As a synthesist, I’m shocked how expensive Ad Libs are. I really like and can program FM synthesis (most of the synth community HATE it) and thus simple 2OP synths are worthless, or at least “feel” worthless within that world. The little PSS 570 being a very cheap example.

Anyone here tried a Yamaha SY77? Very tricky to master (6 operator + PCM) but rewarding to explore!

[emmettturner]

Woah! As soon as I list my second SwinSID Ultimate on eBay I open YouTube and find you talking about it! Upload seems to have been 15 minutes earlier, while I was still writing my description. Crazy!

I planned a dual SID setup with this after frying my 6581 a year ago but it took so long to get one that I figured it was a waste to deprive someone else, especially after someone else in the SSU FB group got two a few days before me and did the same thing.

[demonic]

when he said the SID can't be made any more I thought why so I looked it up the SID is insane for a single chip. Properties of the SID
3 tone generators (voices), frequency 0-4 kHz (16 Bit decomposition)
4 forms of waves (sawtooth, triangle, rectangle pulse width modulation, (white) noise /rush)
3 amplitude modulator, until 48 dB
3 envelope generators
Synchronization of the oscillators
Ring modulation
Programmable filters (low pass, bandpass, high pass)
Master volume in 16 steps
2 A/D-converter (8 bit, low frequency, used for reading paddle input)
Random generator
Audio input (cannot be used for sampling, but the signal can be routed through the SID filter) it's not that they can't they don't want to try

[SuperJet_Spade]

Great video like always Mr. 8-Bit Guy! Nice to look at these replica soundcards.

[mastermindd]

As a teenager, I love your videos, despite not being a fan of 8-bit computing.
Even though I'm not a fan of these games/computers, I watch almost all of your videos...
As you present these products, it's always worth watching :)

Keep up with the good work :)

[cheesyboofs]

How can anyone possibly down vote these videos? They are harmless, historical, edutainment. Another great trip down memory lane, many thanks.