Does look very interesting. Thanks for posting it! Will be taking a closer look at the Midi Implementation.
Yogi

Hi all!

Was this discussed before?

http://www.banson.fr/wiki/doku.php?id=sidaster

It just looks AWESOME and pretty simple ^_^
Researching this idea I found an amazing document (in spanish, sorry) with all needed information to make this work (also software version)

http://oa.upm.es/21937/1/PFC_JAIME_CABA … RRIAGA.pdf

Anyone has tried it?

so far i jsut do all the heavy sound design on the midibox with the editor and play it simple midi notes from piggy tracker. I hope to get more in its guts once I move into my permanent place at the end of the summer.

Thanks for your precious help
What good hardware midi controller or midi sequencer to use it with sammich?

http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_sid_manual_fs.html

edit and:
http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_sid_manual_e.html

...

How do you use it?

Actually you dont really need the midipal, the sammichsid midi config is SUPER flexible.

I've found a Sammich SID kit, yes!
Now please tell me everything about it, I wasn't sure about get it 'cause I really don't know nothing 'bout MIDI, but the SID sound must be present in my set-up. So what I need to learn to use this complex (to me)device?
A tool like this one:
http://mutable-instruments.net/midipal
Can be useful to me?
Tell me all you know about the Sammich SID!

KIT, no. They had sold some kits awhile ago, but everything is SMD so most ppls don't/won't like soldering QFP chips.

Not exactly EMU, more like a reverse engineered chip design. The FPGA is a 'sea of gates' that lets you design logic circuits. Can be defined as a schematic or as a logic equation in a HDL language. Kind of like writing a program, but you are describing the logic design (inputs, outputs and the truth table), and the chip interconnects the needed gates.  Like a really big GAL that you can reset easily.

The RetroArcade has the HDL bitstreams and GUI already setup, so the user can treat the running hardware as a synth. Of course one could make changes at the hardware level if they chose. There is a GUI to interact with the boards, over a USB connection and/or send MIDI. But, in the end the 'SID' or 'AY' is a redesign based on how the original preforms. Not having the original die design for the chips, the 'soft cores' are not 100% copies of the originals. It's the same with the clone consoles that are hitting the market, ASIC designs to recreate the originals, sometimes they don't get it right.

  Very little learning curve for this application, the user just uploads the bitstream the first time, it's stored in flash on the board and thereafter gets loaded into the FPGA after every power cycle . The real strength with FPGAs is the way you can reconfigure it; at one time, you could have a 'SID' synth and then upload a FATMAN synth, or a PacMan game, or your own design. Most of the users of FPGAs are interested in logic level designing; and the 'chip' scene, at large, is interested in the originals.

For example synth designs, take a look at http://jovianpyx.dyndns.org:8080/public/FPGA_synth/
Scott G's designs are closer to analog synths and show the power of FPGAs.

1. I don't have any
2. It let me simplify the whole circuit because for example it doesn't need the 9v/12v power lines.

Interesting project! I'm waiting to have the confirm for a real sammichsid, but in case of a negative answer this can be a good alternative.
Only...why don't you use real SID chips?

Ouch! For me (and my poor english) this is too difficult, I didn't understand...
Is this a kit?
Is it a real hardware synth that you play via midi?
The only thing that I understand is that it's an emulation, and searchin' here & there nobody seems to use it.

http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/11096 … sid-clone/ - shameless plug

Well, the Papilio is a FPGA board with an Arduino type form factor. The RetroArcade is like a Arduino shield. It mounts to the Papilio and supplies connectors and lcd I/O for the FPGA.
In the end you upload  bitstreams that set up the FPGA chip as a synth, there are IP cores (configurations of the FPGA's internal logic to recreate a hardware device) for SID, YM and Pokey I think. You can also create a totally new synth design. It's kind of like a emulation but at a transistor level, more of recreating the chips on a re-programable design platform.