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So I've been eyeing HardSID forever. I might just give in and buy the damn thing soon.
What I want to know is how good is it? And by good I mean accurate.
My assumption was that with it, software like Vice or Goattracker of what-have-you will sound 100% like a real c64, but then someone told me that that might not be the case due to timing, dropping frames, etc.
Does anyone have hands-on experience?
I have a Hardsid Uplay, the only thing I have to compare it to is emulation though 
It seems a little glitchy running directly from Goattracker, the volume is much more quiet than when playing back SID files or using Vice and I've had some weird tempo gitches where songs play fine using goattracker/hardsid but then freakout changing tempos when I've exported to SID. I've had a few songs where it drops notes as well.
Not knowing much about the SID, for all I know these could be because of a combination of weird grooves, ADSR settings and emulation.
I've started making 2 x SID and 3 x SID songs so it doesnt get much use any more, but other than the occasional glitches I've been happy and it sounds great.
Last edited by Jellica (Apr 15, 2013 1:11 pm)
imo, the rudeness and hostility in the customer service arena are worth not using one. forget about support... don't think about asking about enhancements you might want to make to your unit (even a LED color change, anathema!)... and NEVER email directly and ask about mac support.
too much ire.
this was only my personal experience. feels like buying a product and having someone pissed off you're using it.
on the other hand. nice and compact. but the stuff Jellica mentions is true... i've not had much success using it with goattracker either. dropped notes, just some general weirdness.
i think overall if there were more support for the line (both from the people who make them, mac stuff.... even VST development) it would be a better product. i just never got beyond this, and found myself with too much frustration, which after trying to seek help from them was just compounded in some big ways. seriously.... who answers an email about virtual machines and VSTs with a threat that if i use the device in the way i've explained (in a virtual machine) i'm voiding the warranty (period. end of email.).
Ultra abusive latency in Goattracker with mine !!! :S
Also it wont work on Windows 7 unless you disable digital driver signing. You are probably better off sticking to goattracker or using an emulator on the pc side.
I think that's going a bit far, I've been very satisfied with mine but I guess it depends what your expectations are really.
The Uplay is really just a SID playback device.
Oh shiii glad I asked D:
Guess I better find one and test it before committing.
You live in Wilba country! Isnt he doing midibox sid kits still?
You live in Wilba country! Isnt he doing midibox sid kits still?
Apparently last ever batch was 2 months ago.
Also, I'm REALLY not sure using MIDI to send shitloads of data to SID registers every tick makes any sense to me.
Thats a good point. There are rudimentary SID players which work with MBsid as far as I recall though.
Lazerbeat wrote:You live in Wilba country! Isnt he doing midibox sid kits still?
Apparently last ever batch was 2 months ago.
Also, I'm REALLY not sure using MIDI to send shitloads of data to SID registers every tick makes any sense to me.
You dont send sid registers at midi rate, you use the onboard lfos to modulate stuff. It isnt at crazy tracker refresh speeds, but you can do it faster than ccling with external midi,.
You can also use a modified hardsid.dll with one fwiw.
I think I do want crazy tracker speeds, LFO on filter is nice but I want more than a wobbly bassline. Also I doubt hacked hardsid.dll would be good if even the original hardsid is fiddly.
Cheers for info, guys, I'm so much wiser now!
dont get me wrong, the lfo goes up to 45 hz, which is pretty damn fast (audio rate!):
Thanks man, no worriest about the LFO rate really.
It's more like, how would you do a hard restart using midi, for example?
I think the midibox sid firmware obviates the need to do a hard restart. It clocks the chip at a higher rate than hardware so they dont suffer from that problem.
Last edited by herr_prof (Apr 16, 2013 2:03 pm)