High Voltage SID Collection: Update #66
Date: December 23, 2016

Resulting Version: 66
 Previous Version: 65

After this update, the collection should contain 48,943 SID files!

This update features (all approximates):
     430 new SIDs
      50 fixed/better rips
       3 repeats/bad rips eliminated
     201 SID credit fixes
      26 SID model/clock infos
       7 tunes from /DEMOS/UNKNOWN/ identified
       5 tunes from /GAMES/ identified
      22 tunes moved out of /DEMOS/ to their composers' directories
      10 tunes moved out of /GAMES/ to their composers' directories

We are always looking for others to help make HVSC a better collection.
If you find any errors or have new rips to add, please email:

 iAN CooG  <hvsc (sid) c64.org>

Thanks to all the people who have helped to make HVSC the collection that it
is today, without your help it would be a much tougher task.


SID RELATED NEWS:


############
# VICE 3.0 #
############

VICE 3.0 has been released. VICE is an open source cross-platform emulator of
several Commodore machines.

This version has a lot of fixes and improvements since the last official
release.

VICE 3.0 also includes VSID which can be used to play SID files.

Changes in VSID:

- New RSID BASIC tunes support
- New Compute Gazette SIDplayer files (mus/str) support
- New psid v4 3sid support

You can get VICE from here:

http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/


###############################################
# Reformation C64 Track Remakes by Matt Gray  #
###############################################

Two years ago Matt Gray launched the Reformation project on Kickstarter. Matt
just released disc 1 & 2 of Reformation digitally and also the Last Ninja 2
soundtracks were released recently. The two bonus discs will appear in the
coming weeks. Also the physical products will then go out.

Check out all the updates:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1289191009/reformation-c64-track-remakes-by-matt-gray-last-ni/updates


#########
# exSID #
#########

exSID USB is a USB audio device that can control a real 6581 and 8580 SID chip.
It is natively supported by sidplayfp. The hardware can be used on Linux, OSX
and Windows. The project was inspired by the SIDBlaster/USB hardware project.

The hardware schematics, firmware and software are available on the project's
home page.

More info:

http://hacks.slashdirt.org/hw/exsid/


#################
# Virtuoso 0.99 #
#################

Hein Holt released a new version of his C64 music editor. Virtuoso runs on the
C64. It has a nice interface and the player supports 8 commands per tick. The
editor comes with some examples tunes as well.

Changes:

- ZP selection during export crippled exported tune
- Mono jam mode didn't clear other channels
- Display could break when inserting/removing spaces in instrument tables

Get the new version from: http://csdb.dk/release/?id=149424


##########
# MixSID #
##########

MixSID is a flexible stereo SID board with integrated channel mixer that can be
placed in a Commodore 64. It can be used with any combination of SID models on
a wide range of C64 mainboards.

Features:

* Supports any combination of SID models independent of mainboard
* Compatible with the most common mainboards and cases
* Reconfigure any time for different models/mainboards, no fixed setup
* Integrated digitally controlled stereo channel mixer
* Pragmatic stereo addressing (2nd SID on all stereo addresses simultaneously)
* Control inclusion of $DE00/$DF00 for second SID to avoid hardware conflicts
* Virtually swap SIDs in terms of stereo addressing
* Control which SID responds to software detection
* Paddles and mice work any time, regardless of current configuration
* Authentic output, integrated audio-in, noise reduction and digiboost circuits
* Addressing, Mixing, Priority, IO-Area-Usage can all be switched at runtime
* Simple design, easy to produce, easy to solder, completely open source and
  extensively documented

More info: http://www.henning-bekel.de/mixsid/

See also a nice review about the board:

https://ilesj.wordpress.com/2016/10/07/mixsid-dual-sid-board/


##############
# CGSC v1.33 #
##############

The Compute Sidplayer Collection has been updated and contains now 15311 MUS
files, 4208 STR files and 5224 WDS files.

Get the collection here: http://www.c64music.co.uk/


##############################
# in_sidplay2 WinAmp library #
##############################

Zbigniew Ross (Zross) released a new WinAmp library for playing SID files based
on the latest version of libsidplay (reSIDfp).

Features:

- Easy way to build playlist with automatically added subsongs
- Song length database support
- Support of 2SID and 3SID songs
- Pseudo stereo mode
- Mute/unmute selected sid voice

Get it here: http://csdb.dk/release/?id=149773


#################
# JSIDPlay2 3.7 #
#################

JSidplay2 version 3.7 has been released. JSidplay2 is a Commodore 64 emulator
specialized for sound reproduction. It is also a SID player for music
collections like HVSC and CGSC. It is a full C64 emulator and can play games of
the GameBase64 project as well.
The emulator is written in Java and runs on any environment that runs Java 8.

Get it from: http://csdb.dk/release/?id=149812


################################
# ESP8266 Wireless SID Project #
################################

Mark Baseggio created a wireless SID board based on the ESP8266 wireless SoC.
SID data is sent over the network to the wireless SID board to finally reach
the SID chip to produce the audio.

The project and source code can be found here:

http://dangerousprototypes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=7849

You can also watch a little video of the project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwTKdCBm7dU


#######################
# FPGASID alpha-phase #
#######################

The FPGASID project is a hardware project that emulates the SID chip with an
FPGA chip. It aims for a better SID than any SID has ever been before.
The new FPGASID prototype will become available in the beginning of 2017 and is
now in its alpha-phase.

Features:

Full SID Compatibility
- All registers implemented
- High quality Audio Filters
- Exact reproduction of the original 6581 chip sound

Stereo Support
- Two completely independent SID instances.
- Register selectable addresses for the second SID.
- Compatible to existing Stereo SID tunes.

Analog audio input
- Seldom used but required by some musicians and for special applications.

Paddle support
- Allows using Paddles or a Mouse with your C64.

JTAG interface for FPGA updates and debugging
- FPGA developers are encouraged to help with the debugging.

More info: http://www.fpgasid.de/


###################
# JSidDevice v3.7 #
###################

A new version of JSidDevice has been released. JSidDevice is a network SID
device which can be controlled by SID players like ACID64 Player. You have to
have Java 8.0 installed on your machine in order to run JSIDDevice.

Check out: http://csdb.dk/release/?id=149813


#############################
# SID Known Database Update #
#############################

For HVSC #66 a new database is generated for SID Known v1.12.
SID Known is a command line tool which you can use to identify SID tunes from
SID and PRG files.

This tool can be used if e.g. you want to know which SID tune is used in a
specific C64 demo or C64 game, or you have a SID tune found or ripped and you
want to know if it is already in your SID collection.

SID Known can be used to identify music but it also helps to find out which
tunes are not in the High Voltage SID Collection. If you find music not found
by SID Known, it would be appreciated if you report this to the HVSC crew
(http://hvsc.de) or post it in one of the CSDb forums (http://csdb.dk) like
"SIDs that aren't in HVSC yet".

Get the tool and new database here: http://csdb.dk/release/?id=149341
