HardSID
Encyclopedia
The HardSID is a family of sound card
s, produced by a Hungarian
company Hard Software and originally conceived by Teli Sándor.
The HardSID cards are based on the MOS Technology
SID
(Sound Interface Device) chip which was popularised and immortalized by the Commodore 64
home computer. It was the third non-Commodore SID-based device to enter market (the first was the SID Symphony from Creative Micro Designs
and the second was the SidStation MIDI
synthesiser, by Elektron
). HardSID's major advantage over SidStation (apart from the fact that the SidStation has been sold out long since, with only few used pieces surfacing now and then) is that it is a simple hardware interface to a SID chip, making it far more suitable for emulator use, SID music players and even direct programming - SidStation only responds to MIDI information and requires music events to be converted to MIDI and back.
The original HardSID (1999) was a card for the ISA
bus (instantaneously anachronizing the item), containing a slot for one SID chip. From the beginning, HardSID has supported both the 6581 and the 8580 models of SID, including all revisions.
The ISA model was subsequently replaced with a version for the PCI
bus. As well as a standard 1-SID version, they launched the HardSID Quattro, which includes slots for four SID chips and a cooling fan.
An USB line of HardSID products was introduced with two new models: the HardSID 4U, a USB device with sockets for 4 SID chips and the HardSID 4U Studio Edition with improved electrical isolation and screening to reduce noise
in the signal.
As of May 2010, there are three USB HardSID devices available: the HardSID Uno with 1 SID chip, the HardSID UPlay with 2 SID chips and the already known HardSID 4U Studio Edition with 4 SID chips.
HardSID cards are supported by most modern SID music playing applications, including sidplay and ACID64 Player
and some trackers such as GoatTracker. The ISA cards have official drivers for Microsoft Windows
, and the PCI ones for Mac OS X
as well as Windows. The PCI Windows drivers support up to 32-bit Windows XP, and there are no 64-bit drivers or Vista/7 support at all. Unofficial drivers are available for Linux
.
The HardSID USB devices are shipped with Windows drivers for XP/Vista/7 only. MacOS X support was already worked on but dropped in May 2009, officially "due to the lack of/minimal interest" (source: official, now closed Yahoo group) before any (beta) drivers were released. There are also no Linux
drivers available.
Separate MIDI
drivers, which allowed any MIDI-capable instrument or sequencer program to drive the card, were available for both the ISA and PCI versions of the HardSID.
The HardSID 4U unit has dedicated on-board CPU power, as opposed to the earlier HardSID units.
This makes the 4U able to play SID-files with digi-contents at full speed and quality, without eating up your computer's CPU power.
The older revisions depended on the player software's emulation to accomplish this, due to the lack of an on-board CPU or memory buffer. The result was virtually always a *very* high CPU load when playing digi-tunes.
Sound card
A sound card is an internal computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as opposed to using hardware...
s, produced by a Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
company Hard Software and originally conceived by Teli Sándor.
The HardSID cards are based on the MOS Technology
MOS Technology
MOS Technology, Inc., also known as CSG , was a semiconductor design and fabrication company based in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is most famous for its 6502 microprocessor, and various designs for Commodore International's range of home computers.-History:MOS Technology, Inc...
SID
MOS Technology SID
The MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...
(Sound Interface Device) chip which was popularised and immortalized by the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
home computer. It was the third non-Commodore SID-based device to enter market (the first was the SID Symphony from Creative Micro Designs
Creative Micro Designs
Creative Micro Designs is a computer technologies company which today sells PCs and related equipment, but which started out in 1987 selling self-designed firmware updates and hardware for the Commodore 64 and C128 8-bit home/personal computers....
and the second was the SidStation MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
synthesiser, by Elektron
Elektron (company)
Elektron is an electronic musical instrument company, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, founded in 1998.Its products include the SID-based SidStation, the Machinedrum percussion synthesizer, the Monomachine synthesizer, and the Octatrack performance sampler....
). HardSID's major advantage over SidStation (apart from the fact that the SidStation has been sold out long since, with only few used pieces surfacing now and then) is that it is a simple hardware interface to a SID chip, making it far more suitable for emulator use, SID music players and even direct programming - SidStation only responds to MIDI information and requires music events to be converted to MIDI and back.
The original HardSID (1999) was a card for the ISA
Industry Standard Architecture
Industry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
bus (instantaneously anachronizing the item), containing a slot for one SID chip. From the beginning, HardSID has supported both the 6581 and the 8580 models of SID, including all revisions.
The ISA model was subsequently replaced with a version for the PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect
Conventional PCI is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer...
bus. As well as a standard 1-SID version, they launched the HardSID Quattro, which includes slots for four SID chips and a cooling fan.
An USB line of HardSID products was introduced with two new models: the HardSID 4U, a USB device with sockets for 4 SID chips and the HardSID 4U Studio Edition with improved electrical isolation and screening to reduce noise
Noise
In common use, the word noise means any unwanted sound. In both analog and digital electronics, noise is random unwanted perturbation to a wanted signal; it is called noise as a generalisation of the acoustic noise heard when listening to a weak radio transmission with significant electrical noise...
in the signal.
As of May 2010, there are three USB HardSID devices available: the HardSID Uno with 1 SID chip, the HardSID UPlay with 2 SID chips and the already known HardSID 4U Studio Edition with 4 SID chips.
HardSID cards are supported by most modern SID music playing applications, including sidplay and ACID64 Player
ACID64 Player
ACID64 Player is a music player application by the High Voltage SID Collection team-member Wilfred Bos, that plays Commodore 64 music files through an MOS Technology SID sound interface device chip, using an instruction cycle-based emulation of the C64's core processors to achieve true fidelity.The...
and some trackers such as GoatTracker. The ISA cards have official drivers for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, and the PCI ones for Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
as well as Windows. The PCI Windows drivers support up to 32-bit Windows XP, and there are no 64-bit drivers or Vista/7 support at all. Unofficial drivers are available for Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
.
The HardSID USB devices are shipped with Windows drivers for XP/Vista/7 only. MacOS X support was already worked on but dropped in May 2009, officially "due to the lack of/minimal interest" (source: official, now closed Yahoo group) before any (beta) drivers were released. There are also no Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
drivers available.
Separate MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
drivers, which allowed any MIDI-capable instrument or sequencer program to drive the card, were available for both the ISA and PCI versions of the HardSID.
The HardSID 4U unit has dedicated on-board CPU power, as opposed to the earlier HardSID units.
This makes the 4U able to play SID-files with digi-contents at full speed and quality, without eating up your computer's CPU power.
The older revisions depended on the player software's emulation to accomplish this, due to the lack of an on-board CPU or memory buffer. The result was virtually always a *very* high CPU load when playing digi-tunes.
External links
- The Official HardSID home page
- HardSID Linux driver
- HardSID support for sidplay 2.x
- Simon White's SID Player Music Library V2 - includes sidgroups a SID voice selection program
- sidplay2/w - Cycle exact emulation by Simon White with support for HardSID; user interface by Adam Lorentzon
- ACID64 Player - A cycle exact SID player with support for all HardSID devices by Wilfred Bos