]]>]]>The SmashTV parts kit doesn't include any of the front panel components which would have to be sourced by yourself, so that would be some extra time and money sourcing all those parts and actually putting the whole thing together. Then add getting a nice enclosure for it, it's really not as cheap as you might think.
Just pointing out options. Even at $500, you end up with 4 stereo channels of pure SID goodness! Haven't seen a ready-made screamer that can match it.
But yea, you can sink a ton into the case easy. But there are cheaper options, just has to do with how creative you are and what you find acceptable. I like to build my own cases, black metal and oak; old skool Moog. Check out MFOS, Ray uses masonite for prototypes. Could even do away with the CS and just set it up as a midi sound module, all control via the DAW.
The modular design of the MidiBox HW lets you build in stages if you want. As little or as much as you like. The SammichSID is just one configuration, aimed at easy build.
Bottom line for me is: this stuff is a fun thing. DIY =FUN, if you are not into DIY well then a COTS box is the best choice.
EDIT: here's a posting of a new build
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl … WfibbFvovU
Original Post:
http://midibox.org/forums/topic/18035-t … ound-demo/
SmashTV has the MB6582 board set for $50 and parts kit for $136 w/PICs, so for around $300 you could case it up (depending on how much it costs to source 8 SIDs). BUT if you have never used a soldering iron, well there will be a steep learning curve. You could do a stereo MidiboxSID for allot less BTW (This is basicly what a SammicSID is)
The SmashTV parts kit doesn't include any of the front panel components which would have to be sourced by yourself, so that would be some extra time and money sourcing all those parts and actually putting the whole thing together. Then add getting a nice enclosure for it, it's really not as cheap as you might think.
]]>+ am i the only one who feels that the mode machines thing is vaguely scam-like in some way? deffo setting off alarm bells since i saw that. maybe the fact its pretty clearly heavily derived from xoxbox and sammichsid. and the demo video was the biggest let down ive ever seen.
Yea it does seem like a rip-off of the MB, but not having access to the internals, hard to judge. Could be legit, original work; but at that price I'll stick with DIY.
SmashTV has the MB6582 board set for $50 and parts kit for $136 w/PICs, so for around $300 you could case it up (depending on how much it costs to source 8 SIDs). BUT if you have never used a soldering iron, well there will be a steep learning curve. You could do a stereo MidiboxSID for allot less BTW (This is basicly what a SammicSID is)
You dont need to solder shit if youve got some midi hardware with knobs that send cc's (like a midi keyboard with faders on or whatever) And the sound is of course a c64. 4mat and all are very right when they say a lot of the character comes from the idisynchrosies of the programming the sid via tracker/ editor interface, but that guys like a veteran of the scene! Most (vaguely chip oriented) people will just hear that classic PWM occasionally clunking timings and go, mmmm C64!!!
on the cheap/ easy route you have mssiah/ goat tracker/ (++sid duzz it?? not sure)
on the cheap and hard (and maybe not worth it) you have cybertracker.
and all the rest fall into paying a load for some discontinued or small run synthesizer hardware using the sids as hearts; sidstation (too expensive, limited compared to sammich) hardsid (just sits at your PC in a rack with like no controls) sammichSID (discontinued) and MFB xxxx (midibox SID x 8; daunting if noob with building electronics, sourcing the parts seems the scary bit)
so really it is not an easy solution for you; either man up and learn SID music programming and a tracker, and pony up and prize someones sammich/ sidstation out of their hands or buy a load of stuff to build the expanded midibox sid.
i say, download goattracker, and try buy mssiah. use both until youre sure u will or wont get into trying to learn Goat. then save up and get hold of a midibox sid of some kind 
Also, yeah, mssiah doesn't sound as nice as a good tracker.
]]>MSSIAH/SynthCart etc are never going to sound as good as a dedicated demoscene tracker. (or GoatTracker) Those guys know the chips inside and out... *snip* in every other case the cutting edge for SID work comes from the demoscene, not anywhere else. SDI/JCH/SidWizard/John Player, even the old ones like Music Assembler sound 2000% better than the cart devices.
This. It sounds like you've already learned/discovered that trackers are a different instrument and it takes serious dedication to learn to play. It is possible to learn to approximate what people do with the SID using synths and such, but the difference isn't in having the real hardware: it's knowing exactly what to do programming-wise to get the SID to make those sounds.
Once you know how it's done, you can make a synth of your choice approximate them (though it will sound like just that, an approximation.)
In fact, once you understand any chip hardware intimately enough, you can dupe the tones on any synth, but you have to reach that understanding first. Without that understanding, even a MSSIAH will go beep and sound unremarkable.
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