inSIDious - the definitive SID chip plugin has arrived! Available now

[Guitar&synth]

instead I find it exciting. Obviously it's all to be tested but the sound is very very faithful ... the sound is excellent in all the songs (beautiful, those who are part of the demoscene are never wrong) and even in the ocean loader (which is a classic of the commodore 64) you hear the ring modulation in the pulse + triangle wave ... there is no other emulation that does it ... to tell the truth, the vst that emulate hard sync and ring modulation are very rare.
This sound convinces me fully ... I repeat, I can't wait to try it

[mladi]

So does a thread need to have 40 pages to be considered "a response"?

Also, the response from actual people who know how SID actually sounds like (some of them doing the demo tracks, was that it is extremely convincing. So there's that.

No but after posting a playlist with 4 tracks i would expect a little bit more attention.
I only have a SammichSID here with 8580 and 6581 which also play real sids so there's that.

I also wonder where the real heroes are? Tel, Laxity, DRAX, RH + MG to name a few.

What i hear here is nothing special sorry to hurt your feelings.

[Martin Galway]

Hello mladi... regarding InSIDious, do you have questions about it for me?

I would love to help you understand it better. Regards -MG

[madfiddler]

Although I 'cut my teeth' writing chiptune on the Amiga rather than the '64, I think people who know me know that I'm very much a SID fanboy as that's what got me in to the whole computer generated music thing.

I've used all of the main '64 softsynth vsti's out there from QuadraSID to Chipsounds to HyperSID, and most recently inSIDious 6581, and this is on another level in terms of accuracy. I had no idea that it was possible to go to this level of emulation within Reaktor to be honest. The filters are wonderful.

I also have a SIDStation, a SammichSID, and a modular with 2 x SIDGuts VCO's (and a Pokey) and of course they are authentic.... but what they don't do is give you multiple instances to then explore what the SID sounds like as multiple 3 oscillator monosynths - as one example of how to use it anyway - me, I'm sticking to my single oscillator roots..... except for my new ride cymbal patch.

I am supplying a couple of demo songs for this, but only because I want to... and believe me, if I didn't think it was the dogs danglies I really wouldn't bother,

Mark / TDK

[nix808]

it seems a word with practice behind it is above,
mate could you find the midi for the game 'test drive'
-or perhaps someone could do a bit of an old game score?

I like chiptunes, but LSDJ and nanoloop are too hard to compose in
- they are of course quite different to the subject

[Martin Galway]

I have some analogies and comments on the plugin, and its arrival, from my perpective.

When CDs arrived... we all went out and bought albums that we already had on our scratched vinyls and/or worn cassettes - or cassettes we had made from our scratched vinyls. CDs removed much of the noise floor and were closer to the original master than we were used to, and for many, it was a bit of a shock to hear such clarity. Some people remarked that the soul had been removed, but I believe a lot of people were just used to the analogue artifacts from listening to scratched vinyls on mediocre record players, cassette decks, and so on. CD players were like a generational step up - you don’t want to go back.

InSIDious brings the sound of a SID out of a Commodore 64. Out of the mediocre TV you might have been listening to it on - or if like me you had it plugged into a hi-fi - the dodgy monitor cable you were relying on. You are getting, to my ears, a perfect digital simulation of the SID, with no background buzz, and then playing it on your 2020 headphones, loudspeakers or whatever. And KVR people are music folks... who all have awesome monitor loudspeakers, right? No wonder it sounds so crystal clear!

The other thing you have to get used to is the consistency. As I walked around the Ocean Software office, trying my music out on different C128s, C64s, 1701 monitors and TV sets... different Commodore 64's sounded different. It was all a crapshoot with the amount of background hum and consistency of the filter sound. With InSIDious, you can guarantee that someone playing your tune on their InSIDious will sound exactly as you composed it on your own system.

Another revelation is that InSIDious allows you to set up multiple - even dozens - of SIDs and have them all play in perfect unison. The only way to do this back in the 80’s was to custom program all the parts on separate C64s and then have the computers sync up via serial cables so that the parts didn’t get out of sync, as they theoretically would if just left to free-run. (and then of course the easy part - mix the sounds together with a conventional mixing console). NO-ONE EVER DID ALL THAT!!! It was just a pipe-dream for someone like me, so I had to make do with the three voices. InSIDious allows me to create gigantic arrangements in perfect sync. This is a little like Adam and Eve biting into the apple. After this, one SID will never be enough

I'm also reminded of a scene in Jurassic Park when the mathematician is lamenting the commercialisation of something precious... slapping it on a lunchbox and so on. Mike Clarke has done this with my precious SID! It's so easy now to create music on a synthesiser that was so hard for me to program in 1984, you can iterate a thousand times faster with little effort. Does this give you the same respect for it that I had at the time? Maybe not. BUT this is a new era, and this is a new horizon that has been reached. Allowing dozens of SIDs to play in unison is something we have never heard before with such widespread commercialisation. You can use your favourite sequencer. You can really use the SID as the instrument that Bob Yannes wanted it to be. (Don't forget, he originally wanted it to have 32 voices, but couldn't implement it given the silicon cost restrictions at the time).

As for accuracy - well, believe me I have spent enough time listening to the SID. I can tell you this is the most accurate-sounding SID software synthesiser you will ever hear. I really do not believe anyone else will ever take the time to try to surpass what Mike Clarke has done with InSIDious. While trying out the plugin throughout 2020 so far, I basically believed I was working with a Commodore 64 via some incredible new graphical interface - versus my assembler language player software. I was able to drop the idea that it’s a simulation, and get on with the job of creating sounds and music on what is - in my mind - a Commodore 64.

The illusion is complete. You can't get closer than that. When it comes to emulation, InSIDious is the pinnacle of the exercise.

[mcbpete]

THE Martin Galway on KVR ?! *bows head* man your music has been in my life for .... well all my life (well, since I inherited the C64 from my older brother at around 6 years old)

[mladi]

THE Martin Galway on KVR ?! *bows head* man your music has been in my life for .... well all my life (well, since I inherited the C64 from my older brother at around 6 years old)

You realized that this isn't the real MG no?

PS. Also, i never said inSID is sh*t i even praised the free version and surely (didn't it been annouced to be released this month?) this commercial version will be great. All i said was that i find the sound-demos meh and i miss the real big names which are still active in the scene btw.

The first post count them: Galway, Hubbard, Huelsbeck and TBA but i didn't heard one single sound from them until today. Nothing against the other people who contribute btw.

Also there are no videos with walk-troughs (show some action while creating) etc.. you name it. Not much of showcase which is really out of all reason imo.

[Martin Galway]

mladi... there have been several days during which I didn't feel like myself. But not today. I am definitely myself.

Sorry that InSIDious isn't being launched with videos and all the piz-azz you require. But let's look back on it 5yrs from now when it is a mature and well-understood instrument with thousands of enthusiast-hours put into it.

I publish my Youtube interview with Bob Yannes next week, where we go over the plug-in and he talks about how good he thinks it is.

(In my dreams)

[No_Use]

Not being a SID expert, I have a question:
I think I read somewhere that the SID has a ('unofficial'/'hidden') 4th channel which could be used to play samples.
If so, does inSIDious also have this?

[fromwithin]

It's not a hidden channel as such. Due to a bug in the 6581, its resting output level is not 0. This allows you to adjust the output voltage using the master volume control. The volume control has 16 possible levels, so this allows the CPU to use it like a 4-bit sample player. This was "fixed" on the 8580, so samples don't play properly using the same technique. There are also more modern techniques that are extremely clever and allow multiple sample channels at higher bit depths and high sample rates. inSIDious would need a whole separate GUI just to handle sample management to support it, so you can't do it directly. However, it's very easy to use a bitcrusher to decimate the output from your normal sampler down to 4 bits for the same effect and then you can route that through the SID filter using inSIDious' external input if necessary.

[madfiddler]

Yikes - imagine if the SID had been 32 voices....

ah well, with inSIDious.... it is!!!

As for well known "game patches". Both Martin and Rob have recreated some of their well known sounds... and of course the Ocean Loader 5 remake IS from a number of C64 games (it played whilst the game was loading from cassette)

[Guitar&synth]

THE Martin Galway on KVR ?! *bows head* man your music has been in my life for .... well all my life (well, since I inherited the C64 from my older brother at around 6 years old)

You realized that this isn't the real MG no?

it's not clear why it shouldn't be him!!!

[Guitar&synth]

it seems a word with practice behind it is above,
mate could you find the midi for the game 'test drive'
-or perhaps someone could do a bit of an old game score?

I like chiptunes, but LSDJ and nanoloop are too hard to compose in
- they are of course quite different to the subject

I have used the free version of InSIDious (Insidious 6581) for a long time and I can assure you that the old Commodore songs sounds great, I made a lot of them. I have no doubt that this new version is much better than the free version ... The published songs speak for themselves, about the capabilities of this plugin

[gentleclockdivider]

THE Martin Galway on KVR ?! *bows head* man your music has been in my life for .... well all my life (well, since I inherited the C64 from my older brother at around 6 years old)

You realized that this isn't the real MG no?

PS. Also, i never said inSID is sh*t i even praised the free version and surely (didn't it been annouced to be released this month?) this commercial version will be great. All i said was that i find the sound-demos meh and i miss the real big names which are still active in the scene btw.

The first post count them: Galway, Hubbard, Huelsbeck and TBA but i didn't heard one single sound from them until today. Nothing against the other people who contribute btw.

Also there are no videos with walk-troughs (show some action while creating) etc.. you name it. Not much of showcase which is really out of all reason imo.

So if a person makes his first post on this forum specifically for the sid-insidious thread , and this seems to be a known composer , you 're just assuming he's a fraud ?
Paranoid much ?