I decided not to go through with the production run after all. It wasn't financially viable and would've costed me way too much to produce (esp. since the indiegogo campaign failed miserably)... also the lack of software was going to be a real issue. Running a smaller prod. run would've been possible but one of my goals was to keep the unit price down (aim was to do a run of 100 units and the retail price was about to settle at 79€, including everything but the SID chip).

I do have a lot of the aluminium cases for it though (I believe I've provided few pictures of them) and (PROBABLY) working PCB design to go along with it. If anyone is interested in building one I'm providing all the necessary files to produce the PCB and if someone wants a case I can ship them pretty much everywhere (and for a very reasonable price).

If (and I really hope to) I'm starting a new project, it'll most likely be something chiptune related as well. That would be something I'm doing from the scratch (SidBlaster/USB was/is GPL licensed project started by others).

Suggestions are more than welcome.

Since the final PCB is untested I'd still appreciate any feedback on it (the prototypes I've actually built and used are lacking in features and some key components have been replaced completely).

http://www.emblip.com/emblip_sidblaster.rar

RAR PASSWORD: chipmusic

I also have full source code for the hacked hardsid dll's but I need to get permission to share them. Let me know if you're interested in them.

Cheers,
emBLIP

hey emblip, i might be interested in your project to contribute.. i have to SID chips laying around and this might be just what i lookin.. but would like to know if device would work on macos?

Hey, currently there's no mac support, unfortunately. I'm sure there are ways to get it working inside mac os x but I'm not familiar with os x myself at all so I can't really say anything about that. Fortunately I think the source code of hacked hardsid dll will become available and a mac supported port could be created.

I wouldn't really suggest contributing anything via indiegogo at this moment. Let it die. I'm most likely to finance this myself. If you'd contrube via indiegogo I can only promise you a device but you'd just have my word. I'd suggest waiting till the production run is done and the product is readily available.

Cheers,
emBLIP

I'm totally naive to this stuff, but had you considered basing it off Midibox SID? I think Midibox has a USB/Midi module.

I'm not quite sure how the licensing thing goes with midibox sid projects but AFAIK you can only build for your personal use. While I'm not into making money with the sidblaster-project (though I really hope to get my own back), I really just want to share the device with a reasonable price. Really. There wasn't one available when I really wanted something like this.

Can't go wrong with the MSSIAH cart, that thing is amazing.

I was just about to pull the trigger and get a C64 reloaded board to build into a MSSIAH based system, but then once I got things converted to US dollars and realized how much it was going to cost to get the board, MSSIAH, etc I got cold feet. It was going beyond $400usd which is breaking my budget. Maybe if I lucked out on a free or near free C64 to use for it I would think differently, but even for-parts C64s are selling for a minimum of $50 with shipping. LSS, I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this thread.

I'm totally naive to this stuff, but had you considered basing it off Midibox SID? I think Midibox has a USB/Midi module.

I'm not sure I agree about the superior products out there... excluding the diy midibox stuff out there I think there's just Therapsid which is awesome, but really more catered to live performance. At this point I've decided I'm just going to get an actual C64 and the MSSIAH cart.

Can't go wrong with the MSSIAH cart, that thing is amazing.

That's just about it. Should I have a functioning VST already this would be a whole different scenario.

I've gone too far and really want to push this thing through so I've decided to make the proto-run with my own money. That will eventually settle the question whether the VST is possible. There's also the possibility that this yet untested design is faulty and can be just a waste of both time and money but as long this doesn't bankrupt me I think I'm fine... a guy's gotta have a hobby, right?

Should the design work as expected I could maybe sell these prototypes exclusively via chipmusic.org and should the VST become reality, I can easily make a larger production run... wish me luck.

Cheers,
emBLIP

Well the whole project is on hold for the moment. Due to general lack of interest for such product and way superior products out there already... (though these would be cheap as one advantage, 79€ is still the price I'd like to hit).

I'm not sure I agree about the superior products out there... excluding the diy midibox stuff out there I think there's just Therapsid which is awesome, but really more catered to live performance. At this point I've decided I'm just going to get an actual C64 and the MSSIAH cart.

Sorry I can't support you financially right now, as I do think this is a good project... but I fear with the VST support situation you're in a bit of a catch-22

unexpectedbowtie wrote:

Hey! I could be interested, but am a bit fuzzy on the details of how it would work. Is the idea that this would plug into a laptop that would then let you control the SID directly using MIDI/an external keyboard?

Hey! As of now, it works utilizing hacked hardsid dll. This allows the use at least the following software: ACID64 (to play back SIDs), VICE emulator (along with few other emulators) and GoatTracker 2 for composing.

Should the VST plugin become available then yes, it would work as you described. For now, it is rather limited.

Also for anyone able, this is open source after all and you can write your own software for it. I do realize this isn't the way to go for most people and I'm still trying to get a functional VST to support it...

Awesome, thanks. I'll wait and see if the VST comes along then Thanks.

Hey! I could be interested, but am a bit fuzzy on the details of how it would work. Is the idea that this would plug into a laptop that would then let you control the SID directly using MIDI/an external keyboard?

Hey! As of now, it works utilizing hacked hardsid dll. This allows the use at least the following software: ACID64 (to play back SIDs), VICE emulator (along with few other emulators) and GoatTracker 2 for composing.

Should the VST plugin become available then yes, it would work as you described. For now, it is rather limited.

Also for anyone able, this is open source after all and you can write your own software for it. I do realize this isn't the way to go for most people and I'm still trying to get a functional VST to support it...

Cheers,
emBLIP

I'm certainly interested but I exclusively looking for something like this to use with my DAW (Sonar X3) so the VST plugin is a necessity for me. Any updates on that?

Another question, is the driver 32bit or 64bit?

Well the whole project is on hold for the moment. Due to general lack of interest for such product and way superior products out there already... (though these would be cheap as one advantage, 79€ is still the price I'd like to hit).
I still might be able to finish the batch of 100 units sometime (hopefully soon). The current use is pretty much limited to playing back sids via hacked hardsid driver (both 32&64 bits) but I've raised some interest over at HyperSynth which are considering rewriting their existing HyperSID VST to work with the sidblaster.

I'll let you know if, how and when things actually happen...

Cheers,
emBLIP

Another question, is the driver 32bit or 64bit?

The final retail price is going to be 79$ + shipping (I managed to get the production costs pretty down). I unfortunately had to get rid of the ZIF socket due to space limitations but otherwise the options previously specified are there.

Also I'd really appreciate if anyone interested could share this project to connect with the potential customers.

If anyone here is interested I'd appreciate backing up via indiegogo since this is the way to get the project back up and running for the moment.

The device is now equipped with bootloader so hacking & updating the firmware is really simple using the USB. This opens up new possibilites and I really encourage people to experiment with it.

Br,

emBLIP

At the moment I think the retail price will be something like 109€. That is ought to change though. Up or down, don't know. I'm not having anything ready to ship until (very)early 2016 either.

I'm doing a small batch to begin with, 20 to 100, I'm still unsure how much demand for these are out there...
With the VST plugin I think a lot more people would be interested but for now, I've got no idea.

-emBLIP