2026 Retrocomputing Problem: USBSID-Pico Has Two SIDs, Many Inputs

We’ll offer you three guesses what an important bits of silicon in [LouD]’s USBSID-Pico are, and two don’t depend. Yes, there’s a Raspberry Pi Pico, and a pair of the unforgettable SID chips from MOS– the sound chip of the C64, the die that launched a thousand chiptunes. Well, except you construct it with a {hardware} SID substitute, however the purpose of this gadget is to get SIDs hooked as much as trendy {hardware}.

To that finish, USBSID-Pico may be managed through USB– clearly– within the type of CDC/WebUSB/WebSerial but in addition MIDI, and even ASID, which is a selected protocol for streaming SID register information over MIDI. You is likely to be questioning the purpose, since absolutely you will get cycle-accurate SID emulation on an RP2040, proper? Well, not everybody agrees that cycle-accurate emulation is correct sufficient; just like the individuals who swear by the refined distortions tube amplifiers introduce into the sound, some say the chip’s personal inaccuracies give the sound out of the bodily gadget a singular vibe emulators don’t match. That’s a struggle for others to litigate; we simply admire the work that went into getting these previous sound chips speaking to trendy {hardware}, and getting the challenge certified as Open Source Hardware.

This mixture of previous sound and new microcontroller makes the USBSID-Pico entry for our ongoing retrocomputing contest, significantly the retro-modern class. Just pay attention to PAL and NTSC variations with these previous chips, or your beeps and boops might be out of tune. They haven’t made them in many years, however there are greater than a few modern replacements for the MOS 6581.