Key Of Grey

From the SammichSID MidiBox Wiki

November 27th, 2009 – These days even mainstream artists are using “8-bit” sounds in their production. Sure, the samples are great, but chiptune artists have been working with the real devices since the beginning. Gameboys, Nintendos and Commodore64s are the tools of the trade but, for me at least, programming music doesn’t provide the same satisfaction as playing it.

That’s why developments like the Arduinoboy are so exciting. Obviously feeling the same way as I do, although with much better electronic chops, DIYers are directly accessing the sound chips on these oldschool gaming devices and creating ways to control them via MIDI.

The sammichSID is based upon the Midibox platform and comes with everything you need to get started, without having to put it together from scratch. As its name suggests, the heart of the sammichSID is a twin pair of SID chips from a Commodore64. It’s basically a Midibox board that can house SID chips so you don’t have to use the actual bulky C64.

You get MIDI control and it acts like a normal synth. Sure you could program directly on the C64, or build your own Arduino or Midibox solution, but this is done for you. It’s also very reasonable, costing under $220 USD with all components included. I think it’s an absolute steal and I would love to have one in my collection. Seeing as I just got the Vestax Spin though, I’ll have to wait a bit before adding to my gear collection.

SammichSID