That's because the SID chip could only play three notes at a time (this program supported six voices, but only if you piggybacked a second SID chip on your first -- few people did that (I did!)). John arranged in three voices for the average user. It was an art to make ragtime sound as good as John Roache did. He was smart enough to cut notes short on syncopations to move a voice down to play a chord, then cut the chord note short to go back to play harmony to the melody again.
Its practically impossible to remake the wierd analog/digital parts of the SID chip nowadays. This is why the modern day SidStation requires an original Revision1SID chip to make those fantastic filter/resonance effects...
That's not entirely correct. One could make a digital fourth voice on the SID by using register 54296 and make it sound quite good as the famous, epic intro to "Skate or Die" demonstrates. Also, a fifth or sixth voice can be made by rapidly going between the notes of an interval or chord as demonstrated in the many "Demo Scene" intros.
There are some missing notes.
Morahman7vnNo2 3 years ago 2
That's because the SID chip could only play three notes at a time (this program supported six voices, but only if you piggybacked a second SID chip on your first -- few people did that (I did!)). John arranged in three voices for the average user. It was an art to make ragtime sound as good as John Roache did. He was smart enough to cut notes short on syncopations to move a voice down to play a chord, then cut the chord note short to go back to play harmony to the melody again.
Keeper1st 3 years ago 5
That was pretty smart, but you'd think by now they would have made a more capable SID chip.
Morahman7vnNo2 3 years ago
Not in 1984 they hadn't.
Keeper1st 3 years ago
Well the patent must be cheaper then, it has been at least 24 years later.
Morahman7vnNo2 3 years ago
Its practically impossible to remake the wierd analog/digital parts of the SID chip nowadays. This is why the modern day SidStation requires an original Revision1SID chip to make those fantastic filter/resonance effects...
jci10 2 years ago
The Commodore64 was first sold (along with the internal SID chip) in 1982...
jci10 2 years ago
That's not entirely correct. One could make a digital fourth voice on the SID by using register 54296 and make it sound quite good as the famous, epic intro to "Skate or Die" demonstrates. Also, a fifth or sixth voice can be made by rapidly going between the notes of an interval or chord as demonstrated in the many "Demo Scene" intros.
jci10 2 years ago
True, but SIDPlayer never supported anything like that; it was strictly three voices unless you piggybacked two SID chips together like I did.
Also, yes, the C64 was out in 1982, but John Roache's SIDPlayer arrangements were not. That's what I was referring to.
Keeper1st 2 years ago 2