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Sidplay2 and samples

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Andreas Kohlbach

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Jul 27, 2009, 9:07:11 PM7/27/09
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I hope sidplay is on topic here.

I have sidplay2 with Linux. I had sidplay before which played the SID
files as I remembered them. With sidplay2 it seems that SID files which
contain samples do mute the samples. I could not figure out if there is a
configuration to deal with this.
--
Andreas
My Commodore 64 classic game music page at
http://freenet-homepage.de/ankman/sid.html

Message has been deleted

Lars Haugseth

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Jul 28, 2009, 3:17:40 AM7/28/09
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* "A. Hornbridge" <ahorb...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>
> Andreas Kohlbach <a...@spamfence.net> schrieb:

>> I have sidplay2 with Linux. I had sidplay before which played the SID
>> files as I remembered them. With sidplay2 it seems that SID files which
>> contain samples do mute the samples. I could not figure out if there is a
>> configuration to deal with this.

You're probably trying to play a file in old PSID format, which won't
work with Sidplay2.

> sidplay2 uses libresid, which does not play digi samples!
> If you use ubuntu, you want to install the package sidplay-base,
> which is sidplay 1.0.9 that plays digi samples.

This is not correct. Sidplay2 plays tunes with samples just fine, provided
they are in the correct format (RSID) used by HVSC since version 5.1.

More about this in the HVSC FAQ, question 7:
http://www.hvsc.c64.org/FAQ/index.html

--
Lars Haugseth

Lars Haugseth

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Jul 28, 2009, 3:21:26 AM7/28/09
to
* "A. Hornbridge" <ahorb...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>
> Andreas Kohlbach <a...@spamfence.net> schrieb:
>> I have sidplay2 with Linux. I had sidplay before which played the SID
>> files as I remembered them. With sidplay2 it seems that SID files which
>> contain samples do mute the samples. I could not figure out if there is a
>> configuration to deal with this.

You're probably trying to play a file in old PSID format, which won't
work with Sidplay2.

> sidplay2 uses libresid, which does not play digi samples!
> If you use ubuntu, you want to install the package sidplay-base,
> which is sidplay 1.0.9 that plays digi samples.

This is not correct. Sidplay2 plays tunes with samples just fine, provided

they are in the correct format (PSID v2NG or RSID) used by HVSC since
version 5.1.

More about this in the HVSC FAQ, questions 7-10:

Message has been deleted

Lars Haugseth

unread,
Jul 28, 2009, 7:04:10 PM7/28/09
to
* "A. Hornbridge" <ahorb...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>
> Lars Haugseth <nj...@larshaugseth.com> schrieb:

>> You're probably trying to play a file in old PSID format, which won't
>> work with Sidplay2.
>> This is not correct. Sidplay2 plays tunes with samples just fine, provided
>> they are in the correct format (PSID v2NG or RSID) used by HVSC since
>> version 5.1.
>
> Is this not the right format for sidplay2:
>
> $ file digital_acid_ash_and_dave.SID
> digital_acid_ash_and_dave.SID: PlaySID v2.2+ (AMIGA) sidtune w/ header v2,
> single song, default song: 1 name: "Digital Acid" author: "Ash'n Dave"
> copyright: "1988 Ash'n Dave"

Looks like it's in the old format. Here's what I'm getting:

$ file hvsc/DEMOS/A-F/Digital_Acid.sid
hvsc/DEMOS/A-F/Digital_Acid.sid: RSID sidtune PlaySID compatible w/ header v2,
single song, default song: 1 name: "Digital Acid"
author: "Ash Routledge & David Saunders" copyright: "1988 Ash & Dave"

> So, how do I convert my SIDs to PSID v2NG or RSID?
> I could not GIFMS.

As far as I know, there is no simple way to convert it, short of
ripping the tune again from the original production.

But in this case, you can get the tune in RSID format from the
HVSC collection: http://www.hvsc.c64.org/

Just download the Complete HVSC v50 and you will find this tune
in the DEMOS/A-F directory.

--
Lars Haugseth

Andreas Kohlbach

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Jul 28, 2009, 8:51:49 PM7/28/09
to
Lars Haugseth wrote on 28. July 2009:
>
> * "A. Hornbridge" <ahorb...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>>
>> Andreas Kohlbach <a...@spamfence.net> schrieb:
>>> I have sidplay2 with Linux. I had sidplay before which played the SID
>>> files as I remembered them. With sidplay2 it seems that SID files which
>>> contain samples do mute the samples. I could not figure out if there is a
>>> configuration to deal with this.
>
> You're probably trying to play a file in old PSID format, which won't
> work with Sidplay2.

I get:

| PlaySID v2.2+ (AMIGA) sidtune w/ header v2 ...

when I use "file". I have the file on my SID page at
<http://www.telepoint-viernheim.de/sids/Arkanoid.sid> (good old Arkanoid
music by Martin Galway :-).

>> sidplay2 uses libresid, which does not play digi samples!
>> If you use ubuntu, you want to install the package sidplay-base,
>> which is sidplay 1.0.9 that plays digi samples.
>
> This is not correct. Sidplay2 plays tunes with samples just fine, provided
> they are in the correct format (PSID v2NG or RSID) used by HVSC since
> version 5.1.
>
> More about this in the HVSC FAQ, questions 7-10:
> http://www.hvsc.c64.org/FAQ/index.html

Ah, interesting read.

Is there a way to convert existing "old" SIDS that samples are also
played? Otherwise, I might need to "update" mine with the newer version,
if those exist.

Stefan Pohlmann

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Jul 29, 2009, 10:11:09 AM7/29/09
to

Just? :-O It's not necessary to download the whole HVSC, there are online
mirrors available: ;-)
<http://www.hvsc.c64.org/Mirrors/index.html>

--
My e-mail-address is valid and doesn't need to be adapted due to spam
prevention.

Lars Haugseth

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Jul 29, 2009, 2:10:02 PM7/29/09
to
* Stefan Pohlmann <pohli.nos...@gmx.de> wrote:
>
> Lars Haugseth wrote:
>> * "A. Hornbridge" <ahorb...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>>> So, how do I convert my SIDs to PSID v2NG or RSID?
>>> I could not GIFMS.
>>
>> As far as I know, there is no simple way to convert it, short of
>> ripping the tune again from the original production.
>>
>> But in this case, you can get the tune in RSID format from the
>> HVSC collection: http://www.hvsc.c64.org/
>>
>> Just download the Complete HVSC v50 and you will find this tune
>> in the DEMOS/A-F directory.
>
> Just? :-O It's not necessary to download the whole HVSC, there are online
> mirrors available: ;-)
> <http://www.hvsc.c64.org/Mirrors/index.html>

True enough, thanks for pointing that out.

--
Lars Haugseth

iAN CooG

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Jul 30, 2009, 3:25:26 PM7/30/09
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Andreas Kohlbach <a...@spamfence.net> wrote:

> Is there a way to convert existing "old" SIDS that samples are also
> played?

Short answer: No. Is a big waste of time to convert the Playsid fake
registers to normal SID/CIA registers so it's better to rip it from scratch.
In fact we're slowly getting rid of old *_PSID.sid files and reripping them
as RSID files, as announced on update #50. Quoting from the announcement:

"
573 PlaySID/Sidplay1 specific SIDs eliminated
[...]
As you can see, a great amount of files were eliminated in this update.
We decided to remove all the old _PSID files that have a RSID equivalent.
Those _PSID files were only hacks meant for digitized sounds to be played in
Sidplay1, but not on real C64. The _PSID files will be eliminated in every
future releases as soon as new RSID versions of the same .sid files are
added.
For those still needing the _PSID files we have put them in a separate
archive:

http://hvsc.c64.org/Downloads/C64MUSIC_PlaySID.rar
"

JFYI, another 6 were just reripped as RSID and we hope one day there will be
none anymore.

> Otherwise, I might need to "update" mine with the newer
> version, if those exist.

Generally, updating HVSC at every release, is a VERY good idea ;)
</shameless plug>

--
-=[]=--- iAN CooG/HVSC & C64Intros ---=[]=-


Andreas Kohlbach

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Jul 30, 2009, 9:11:43 PM7/30/09
to

Well it's mainly all because of my SID homepage.

Is it true then, that there exist "sidplay2 compatible SIDs" in the HVSC
also of those files (like Arkanoid, to name the first commercial file
using samples [1]) using samples? Then I would download them all, and
just copy those I have on my homepage and upload the new versions.

[1] AFAIK the Batcats music by Chris H�lsbeck was the first commercial
used SID music. But due to the delay of completion of the game itself the
game Arkanoid was released first.

Stefan Pohlmann

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Aug 1, 2009, 1:00:07 PM8/1/09
to

As I said before in another post: there are online mirrors of the HVSC. So
just download a single file like Arkanoid.sid and have a look at the first
four bytes of the sid file. If it says RSID (hex 52 53 49 44), it is an
RSID-file. Or let your favourite sidplayer based on Sidplay2 display what
kind of sid file it is playing.

Andreas Kohlbach

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Aug 1, 2009, 9:09:25 PM8/1/09
to
Stefan Pohlmann wrote on 01. August 2009:

>
> Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
>>
>> Well it's mainly all because of my SID homepage.
>>
>> Is it true then, that there exist "sidplay2 compatible SIDs" in the HVSC
>> also of those files (like Arkanoid, to name the first commercial file
>> using samples [1]) using samples? Then I would download them all, and
>> just copy those I have on my homepage and upload the new versions.
>
> As I said before in another post: there are online mirrors of the HVSC. So
> just download a single file like Arkanoid.sid and have a look at the first
> four bytes of the sid file. If it says RSID (hex 52 53 49 44), it is an
> RSID-file. Or let your favourite sidplayer based on Sidplay2 display what
> kind of sid file it is playing.

Danke. :-) I was checking some mirrors and they only offered the full
archive. I should have a closer look.

Stefan Pohlmann

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Aug 2, 2009, 11:45:34 AM8/2/09
to
Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
> Stefan Pohlmann wrote on 01. August 2009:
>> Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
>>> Well it's mainly all because of my SID homepage.
>>>
>>> Is it true then, that there exist "sidplay2 compatible SIDs" in the HVSC
>>> also of those files (like Arkanoid, to name the first commercial file
>>> using samples [1]) using samples? Then I would download them all, and
>>> just copy those I have on my homepage and upload the new versions.
>> As I said before in another post: there are online mirrors of the HVSC. So
>> just download a single file like Arkanoid.sid and have a look at the first
>> four bytes of the sid file. If it says RSID (hex 52 53 49 44), it is an
>> RSID-file. Or let your favourite sidplayer based on Sidplay2 display what
>> kind of sid file it is playing.
>
> Danke. :-) I was checking some mirrors and they only offered the full
> archive. I should have a closer look.

I had a look now and found four mirrors which allow browsing and are up to
date:
<http://hafnium.prg.dtu.dk/HVSC/C64Music/>
<http://www.exotica.org.uk/wiki/Special:HVSC>
<http://www.tld-crew.de/c64music/>
<http://hvsc.pixolut.net/C64Music/>

Andreas Kohlbach

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Aug 2, 2009, 8:42:04 PM8/2/09
to
Stefan Pohlmann wrote on 02. August 2009:
>
> Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
>> Stefan Pohlmann wrote on 01. August 2009:
>>> Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
>>>> Well it's mainly all because of my SID homepage.
>>>>
>>>> Is it true then, that there exist "sidplay2 compatible SIDs" in the HVSC
>>>> also of those files (like Arkanoid, to name the first commercial file
>>>> using samples [1]) using samples? Then I would download them all, and
>>>> just copy those I have on my homepage and upload the new versions.
>>> As I said before in another post: there are online mirrors of the HVSC. So
>>> just download a single file like Arkanoid.sid and have a look at the first
>>> four bytes of the sid file. If it says RSID (hex 52 53 49 44), it is an
>>> RSID-file. Or let your favourite sidplayer based on Sidplay2 display what
>>> kind of sid file it is playing.
>>
>> Danke. :-) I was checking some mirrors and they only offered the full
>> archive. I should have a closer look.
>
> I had a look now and found four mirrors which allow browsing and are up to
> date:
> <http://hafnium.prg.dtu.dk/HVSC/C64Music/>
> <http://www.exotica.org.uk/wiki/Special:HVSC>
> <http://www.tld-crew.de/c64music/>
> <http://hvsc.pixolut.net/C64Music/>

Thanks. Bookmarked. :-)

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