Guest Book

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Over a year since the last entry? Common...what's up with that...And Craig I would say to update the site, but how much more could you put up on it. Great Concept, great software and great times! Thank you!

Someone developed a Guitar Hero clone, for the C64, that uses SID files. http://www.synthdreams.com/shredz64.php

Hello Craig, Thanks for keeping this site available. It's great to see the names of so many old friends and hear a bit about what they are doing. I'm still into music but more performing then arranging now. (http://web.me.com/jrafalak1 has pics of a tour I did this summer with my son) I currently work as the primary tech for a private school for disabled students. All the old Q Folk (and anyone else) can email me at jrafalak@wildwood.edu

I loved playing SID files on my commodore 64 ! I got my C64 in 1985 and somewhere along the line found out about Sid Player. I once even tried to input a SID song from sheet music, but since I have no musically talent it came out terrible. I still have the original disk and book written by Craig Chamberlain. My favorite SID song was, of course, J.S. Bach's Two Part Invention #13 in A Minor. This was the theme song for the commodore 64. I just bought a device on Ebay that allows me to copy files to and from a 1541 disk, so of course the first thing I did to test it was to copy commodore.mus and play it on my PC ! Now if I can only find a Player for the PC that reads the .wds (words) and the .pic (picture) files :)

I have been looking for Dr. J's music for a looong time now. I feel that he has done the best job of anybody around at exploiting the SID chip. STILL looking for Johhny B Goode by him! If you can tell me of any MORE sources for his files, could you let me know? It would mean a lot to me, when I tell the kids about the capabilites of the Commodore 64. (Unlearned cretins!) Thank you very much for your website...STILL thinking of getting a 64 and disk drive instead of an emulator.

Don't know if it's happened yet or not, but supposedly there were some backups of most of what qlink had including their vast sid libraries. Apparently, a group of guys made a concerted effort to download all the software posted to qlink prior to them pulling it down. I know Jim Brain has been in contact with them, so hopefully we'll have fully fleshed out sid download libraries, up to the time qlink was pulled. I hope so at least.

Jason Whitener
DemongerX

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Timbaland_plagiarism_controversy

Regardless of your views as to whether the one song borrowed a little too liberally from the one SID file, a lot of of Timbaland's vast production catalog sounds inspired by SID. The first time I heard "My Love," by Justin Timberlake, I thought I was hearing a demo at the beginning of some cracked C64 game.

This makes you guys an unsung but heavy influence on the very best pop music of this decade, if not this generation.

aka - Cuttysark

Today I was playing a tape I made of some of the old SID music and decided, "Hey, maybe I can find some of these folks online."

Started with Kennemore - nope. Next came Zelinsky and I found this page.

Any that want to get in touch please do!

I've got brown teeth, awful hair, cigarette stained fingers, no job and I'm on welfare. But I make sure to live a life of C64 at least 12 hours a day. Power on dudes.

I really appreciate the guest book. It's given me a chance to cqatch up on some of the people I knew well back during the mid/late 80s when I was "sidding" Country/Western stuff and collecting other people's sids.

My brother had kept several old 5.25's of sid files in his attic but unfortunately when we decided to copy them to different media they'd been ruined by the heat.

Hey Lyric,

If you have any of your original Sids on disk (to play on a real C=64) .MUS and .STR files anything.

My only other complaint is, try leaving your email address so those of us that want to get Sid music know how to contact you, "pretty please".
Does anybody know does John Brown I think he is a distributor in Massachusetts: called Parsec, is he still around and does he still distribute Sid Editor and most of the "original" Sid music. If you know where John Brown is now if you could include anyway of reaching him either by phone or email I would really appreciate it.

Does anybody know on the Internet where I could find a lot of the Sid music (NOT EMULATED CRAP) Im looking for the real stuff, again .mus and .str files.

Also some have mentioned where can we find the Sid Symphony Stereo Cartridge? Well late in I think it was in 1999 or 2000 CMD (Creative Micro Designs) dropped this product, and in June,2001 CMD dropped all support for C= hardware/GEOS the whole thing.
Later in July,2001 Maurice Randall bought all the rights to all of the hardware that CMD built for 11 or so years.
Maurice Randall has a website at: www.cmdrkey.com
Maurice has a neat little Commodore forum, under the listing for "other hardware" this pertained to the Sid Symphony Cartridge someone asked if this product would be built again, Maurice plans on eventually offering a kit to build this cartridge, but the buyer would need to find the Sid chip on their own.

So at least I saw that message coming from Maurice Randall's message anyway (on the forum).

Yes yes CMD hardware is still living but slow in filling orders is the sad part. :(

Hey just in 2006 I finally wrote my first 3 voice Sid song, didnt sound too bad so Im still learning. :)

Wow its amazing after playing (the small sid collection I have) and seeing many of those composers signatures here, that is so cool. God be with you Jerry Roth you were so cool, I still like the Elvis tribute Jerry composed.

-Terry Raymond
traymond_1@yahoo.com

Hi Craig,
I still own a few C=64's and a few C=128's. I own both the regular Sid Editor and the Stereo Editor, still trying to master the way you enter music into this editor. I wish I could be like Dr J he was so talented, we will miss you DR J you were a good composer.

What is so sad to see is that "anyone" that uses a "real" C=64 these days and if they have the musical talent why cant they compose Sid music again right on a C=64, this I know is old stuff, come on you composers out there lets fire up our Commodores and compose some Sid music.

Hey Craig or anyone, can you tell me, in the Stereo Sid Editor software, how do you syncronize those notes with the first 3 voices? I tried this and the 3 stereo voices would not line up with the first 3 voices.

Where can I find most of the Old .MUS and .STR files, High Voltage Sid is only for Emulated crap, Im looking for Sid files to play on a "real" C=64 but seems like nodoby wants to use the real C=64 anymore, that is really sad. :(

I really like your website Craig, I wish you could add some "original" Sid files for a "real" C=64.

-Terry Raymond

Is the book and/or the disk still available. And is in the Public Domain?

Also I am probably the only one in the country that SIs Jewish Folk and litergical music.

SID music sounds great when played on a PC using Commodore simulation program VICE.

Craig!
Someone was trying to get hold of me concerning sidplayer.. I'm no longer gigging with bands; I compose and record at home on my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) .. anyone can contact me at halabys@sbcglobal.net I've got the same phone number so give me a call :-)

Stan

Yes, those were some good times back then. As a matter of fact I remember Craig was kind enough to send me copy of SID Editor after I spent M-A-N-Y hours typing it in. Thanks again Craig! :).

craig;
the actual real commodore C64 with the real sid chip
sid music is now heard, and listened to by many friends
of mine all over the united states, and canada.

i did write to you a few weeks ago,
and wanted your e-mail address
so i could send you an actual sid file from my commodore C64

i have a web cam set up with an actual enhanced sid player
playing the key board notes

soon i will have a web page set up on the internet
operating 24/7 playing sid player files
from: ritchie's internet club

and at times local musicians will be playing live
at ritchie's internet club.

should you want to know who i am
i have an unfinished web page at:
http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/ritchie/

my first music room in orlando florida.

what i am going to do is
try and contact all the sid composers i can
to send me their sid files and broadcast the files
from ritchie's internet club.

i have a midi system with 6 synth sound modules
and three synth keyboards
all the sid files are played in mp3 stereo format.

my first computer was a commodore C64, when first on the market.
i also have a C64 i use for transmitting sounds to the synth modules, abd key boards.

i can change to different orchestrations for each sid file.

well, craig i have to commend, and thank you
for developing the enhanced sid player program.

thank you...

Wow, over a year since the last guestbook entry. Time to add a new one!

I just finished On The Edge, and all the stories about the development of the various chips were extremely entertaining. I've pretty much stayed in the Commodore scene (with some times of less involvement) since the early/mid 80's. I've always had my C= equipment, never sold any of it. Actually, last night, I just fixed the dual sid setup in my 64C, so it's working in stereo again! (Custom job, not the "dual-sid" board.) So now both my 128 and 64c are back to all their stereo goodness. :D

Great site!
-Jay

i hope i am writing to craig chamberlain
i'm ritchie
i have had commodore c64's since first on the market
my first computer: commodore c64
by no means am i c64 programmer.
i have a music recording room and all sound modules, and synth keyboards are run by a commodore c64, and a c64 to transmit patches to my master cz101 keyboard.
here is my unfinished web page so you know who i am:

http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/ritchie/

right now i am in the process of preserving the commodore c64 sid chip, and enhanced sid player.
i am recording all the music sid files using the original commodore sid chip, and not an emulated c64 chip.
i have 6 sound modules, and 2 synth keyboards 8 instruments recorded at the same time in stereo mp3 format

i would like craig chamberlain to e-mail me and i will send him a few recordings, and later: all the sid music on cd's.
i also would like to know where all the sid composers are, for i want record her, or his sid songs for free, and send back the stereo mp3 sid songs on cd's, and the originals.

my audio recording set up is easy, and simple to operate
i can play a sid music file with various different orchestrations, example: i did bach fugue in d minor with all drums, fantastic!
i've had my midi music set up since 1994

all i ask is; please contact me
ritchie
403 midyette avenue
new bern, north carolina 28560

phone:1 252 633 2555

e-mail>>> cuwhnicu@hotmail,com

you may give the info to any sid composer
who may be interested

all i know i have committed,and dedicated myself
to preserve the commodore sid chip, and enhanced sid player

i thank you for any comments you may have
please take care of your health

Long time no see. Its good to see that the SID chip can still live inside my PC, however, I havent found a way to get all my old songs off my 5 1/4" diskettes. Maybe you can come over again sometime and solder some more wires to my C< machines. They still live.

Great site - sidplayer literally "rocked" ;) - I had at least a dozen floppies full of music. Lots of fun.

I really appreciate you folks putting all this together! The only thing I miss so far is watching the keyboards lighting up the notes as the songs play. That helped me learn quite a few of these songs.

I've looked at various Sid sites over the years, but managed to not stumble upon this guest book. I recognize many of the names posted here, from the well known ones to the not so well known(RajinCajun, and JimiO). I was an active/fanatical commodore software collector in the 80's and 90's and was also
a member on Jimi O's BBS in Chicago. I think I d/l'ed every single sid and music file that he had on his board, including every competition one up until the board came down. Also, RajinCajun, if you are the guy that was stationed in Minot, ND, I have all your sids, including the ones that were posted to the local BBS that you frequented. I got in contact(merely by happenstance), with a guy that was living in Minot, and had d/l'ed all the sids. So I guess I have a pretty complete collection. Also, want to give shout outs to Uncle Slam. I enjoyed your rock/metal sids almost as much as Dr. J's sids. You were doing them towards the end of the Commodore era, so I think you are very underrated, but I think they are great, even to this day. If anyone is interested in getting any of these sids(I'm in the process of converting them to put them on the web), just email me at: jasonwhitener@hotmail.com. I'd be glad to hear from anyone about this. Also, I have most of the sids catalogged in the Sid Catalog program. I never hear anyone talking about that one, either.

I once made SIDs under the name "Rajin Cajun". Please, if anyone has any of my SIDs in their collection, I'd be forever in your debt if we could arrange for me to get copies of them. Thanks so very much.

Great site. Thank you :)

I can't tell you the countless hours my son and I spent together entering music from fake books back in the 80's! I thank you for such a great program, that is STILL in use by me. I even transferred all the tunes we did together with my own "home built" X1541 cable and a 486 back in the 90's!

I still LOVE it!

Craig!
What a great pleasure it is to acknowledge you for bringing me innumerable hours of awesome (even now) SID listening pleasure. I still listen to SIDs even today, and still love the sounds of the SID chip. I only emulate those machines now, but I use the Re-SID engine always (don't have an empty slot for HardSID) for the C64 tunes. I am one of the many who actually typed in the player by hand and will never forget the feelings after hearing some of my faves like Ghostbusters, Cantina Band from Star Wars, of course Axel-F (Stereo) and many, many more.

A real pleasure Craig,
Link Arms, Don't Make Them!

This is a great site. I am still looking for ways to play my old stereo files. I DLed all the players that are supposed to do it but can't get it to work. Guess this technology thing is passing my by. Anyone have success with that?

Bob aka Slammy

CGSC v1.13 has just been released. You can download a copy from http://www.c64music.co.uk or look at what's new at http://www.c64music.co.uk/whatsnew113.html.

This release contains over 800 new files, bringing the grand total to 6507 MUS files, 1448 STR files and 1766 WDS files.

Hi everybody - I'm back in the midwest and changed my email ... so email me at trutter@gmail.com if you want to talk. Would love to hear from you guys!

Troy

aka Datasid / QDJ Data / etcetc

The piano keyboard display on SIDPlayer, with the three flashing colors representing each voice, was a fantastic method for me to learn both C-64 synthesis and general voice leading and harmony techniques when I was a kid. Does anyone know of any general MIDI players for the PC that approximate the visual display of SIDPlayer?

I fired up my old C=64 yesterday to play a few Christmas SIDs. I was JIMIO, SysOp of "The Music Emporium BBS" and did around 30 - 40 SIDs over the years. Good to see they are not forgotten!

Still have my 128-D and a lot of the old Compute Gazette magazines. Anyone know where I can find the cartridge for 3 more voices? I get the 128 out once in a while to see if it still works. Your SID program got me started in music. Thanks for everything.
Harry

I "googled" myself and found my name credited to a Brian Copeland song for this player. Interesting! I did several disks of demo songs (including "Ultra Jam II") for the Applied Engineering Apple IIe music synthesizer back in the mid-80's, which must be where Brian found them. Wow! Thanks for the time warp!

Thanks for the site. We were members of the Q-Link family until it went signed off. We loved to listen to SID's and especially DrJ5's (the late Jerry Roth) incredible compositions.

Hi Craig,

I saw your message to everyone attending the expo in Chicago, I havent been able to attend *any* of the C= expo's yet. Mainly because of the economy and the work situation.

Anyway I had bought the Enhanced sid player package from one of the Distributors (I forget his name) I believe he resides in Pennsylvania, but he is hard to reach or not into Commodore anymore.

Anyhow I really like this program, it is hard to understand but I like music and listening to music on my *real* C=128-D computer.
I really dont understand music theory all that well but learning more and more about it. I also have used the music program published way back by *Loadstar* Name: Songsmith you can enter the song, then save is as a .mus file and then edit it and add all you want to in the sid editor.
I also like the update to this called Stereo Sid Player
V10.3 Im not sure did you help with this program at all?

I do like them all though, and thanks again in supporting this program again, and making most or I hope *all* if possible sid and stereo sid files. (this is just a wish of course). we all appreciate this.
BTW I do have the book for the Sid editor but it is hard to follow, but like I pointed out Im learning as I go along.
Thanks

I have been playing SID songs since the mid 80's.. I still play them on my emulator.. And now got some original CBM hardware back so can play on real SID chips again.. Thank you for all the years of entertainment we have all shared from this format.
Anyone interested in webspace for C64/128 related things, feel free to email me.. I run a web server...

Hi.... This is Jerry Roth's daughter Erica..
Dr J5, MrMusic JR... whatever you would like to call him. To think.... 2am to come and stumble on this... so random... I haven't thought of my father in a while and this hit home.. To see all of the SIDS and work that he has done. I need a site that I can hear his sids... it's been so long. Shortly after he passed so did the old commadore which finally got packed up about a year ago.... we didn't touch his computer area for 3 years... As if he would have yelled at me. ;)
I miss him so much... but it is so nice to know how many peope he touched... He is sooooo missed. Just wanted to share.
Erica Roth Loney

Great website, great software! Spent many hours 'doing tunes' on the C-64 and the SX-64...

The creation of SIDPLAYER was a magnificent piece of vision and development. I surely did amire your accomplishment. As a result of working with the software and meeting the Sid artists I learned to appreciate a much wider range of music than I might have otherwise. It was good software. It was a good circle of friends. Thank you for creating the opportunity for that rose to blossom.

Hey Craig!
I've got a new band link for a band I've been working really hard in. They're called 'Head 'N Out' and the link is http://www.headnout.com--- We're a variety cover band but we're also writing original music as well... Let me know what you think
--Stan

I wasn't born when the c64 and sid came out but I think the musics great and have a built a small collection of my favourite sid songs... I never played on the c64

Hey, this is really cool. I remember when I was kid, we were on Qlink everday getting those sids. We soldered on the 2nd SID chip, it was the coolest thing at the time. Glad I found these are online, it will be neat to listen to them all over again. Thanks Craig for the fun excitement you gave us so long ago.

Wow. Talk about a blast from the past.. Yes, I remember soldering on my second SID chip..
I even made a few SIDS, way back when I had a BBS going (seriously doubt any of them are around NOW.. Heck, *I* don't even know what I made.) Glad to see others still around and such.
Thanks, ya'll!

Hello! Ah yes, happy days - when the C64 reigned supreme and PCJr rotted on the shelves because nobody wanted it!

Still got a bunch of disks of SIDs - anyone know if it's possible (some software/hardware combo) to link a 1571 to a PC? (Since the C= drives had the dos "on board" it might be possible, but I don't know enough about hardware and OS-es.)

Haven't fired up the C= for about 6-7 years; for all I know, the disks have been hanging around magnetic fields too long to have anything useful on them! :)

Many thanks for the SID Editor! (I've still got the original manual around here somewhere...)

Paul
a.k. (in the SID days) a. "The Doctor"

Ah memories...

I've been holding on to my C64 with the stereo chip installed and Sid EditorDisk hoping to get a project going that would use it (and once I find a 1541 Drive). It's a matter of vindication... I've managed to find a couple of my old Sids online, and I can't believe how bad some of them were compared to everyone else's.

Brian (aka Psycho K, Pklabs)

Hiya Craig... I love to stop by when I can and read the messages. I see many names that I recognize from Q-Link and each one brings back some great memories. Having been to a few of the SidFests I can put faces with many of them and this makes it so much better. I still have my C-64 and sometimes I fire it up and play with it. They don't make computers like that anymore.
I think the most enjoyable period of my life was when I was writing sids and being on Q-Link. I spent hours online talking to some of the most fabulous people on the planet. I was online as Kcorb, QDJ KC and MrMusic KC. Thanks for this page and especially for the Sid Music Composer. Jim Brock

Almost as much fun as seeing Craig at one of the Commodore EXPO's!

Just stopped by for another trip down memory lane.
After spotting Kermit Woodall on a graphic site the other day and having all the memories come flying back. I remember the 1st Q-Link sidfest down in Maryland. All of us in a motel room copying sid disks,
:D
I still remember Jerry Roth and I getting a message from Mark Dickerson "Would you like to make stereo sids?" And our response "Is this kid nuts!".
Wasn't long before I spent a night at Jerry's house wiring the second chip into our 64s!
The sidfests in Ohio, Virginia, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. The trip Bobbye, Kent and I did to Toronto WOC and getting the stuff thru customs!

Even the sad night when Melissa emailed me about her dad, Jerry, passing away. That was a sad night.

But we all keep the good memories alive.

I had a change in email (and a change in life-style).

For those still interested in my library of SIDs, please email.

The SID site we had died another horrible death (ie: the free site suddenly wanted money). TomB24 (remember those country SIDs?) and I are kicking around the idea of creating a website that shows what the SID people are up to these days ... soundfonts and massive oprchestra, in MP3 format. Would anyone be interested?

*Lyric whispers*: Considering what the RIAA is up to now, we might have to sneak around ;) (LOL). But together, Tom and I have created several hundred files of fully-orchestrated music. It isn't SID, it's SID and beyond. :)

Any "old" SID people interested in joining, please email. We'll collaborate.

And for that, we bless Craig for showing us how.

::Lyric waves:: Hey, Craig!

And even better, Sidplay2 has been released and it is capable of playing 6 voice sids now.
Get it at:
http://www.student.nada.kth.se/~d93-alo/c64/spw/

Guess what! The newest version of VICE (commodore emulator) supports the stereo sid chip. It is so nice to use the stereo player to play the sids again.

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dsladic/vice/vice.html

is the link to the main site.

The Compute's Gazette Sid Collection Version 1.9 has just been released.

650 individual files have been added in this release.

The collection now contains 5773 MUS files, 1233 STR files and 1523 WDS files.

You can download it from http://www.c64music.co.uk/

je cherche des disquettes de jeux, programmes, musiques pour commodore 64/128 tres urgent tel gsm +32486795159

So many great memories from having keyed in over 400+ SID tunes baccck in the early 80's (I used the name CRAZY BILL)... Many thanks for bringing back the thoughts of wonderful old times
Bill Tarling
aka: Crazy Bill
\|8^)

Heya -

I've been playing with my C= and am looking for a SID Symphony cartridge.

help! :D

I've just released CGSC v1.8 which contains 5409 MUS files, 1128 STR files and 1342 WDS files.

You can download a copy from http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/cbm_files/music.html

By coincidence I played some songs on my Commodore 64 just this afternoon. Still a great pleasure.
Thank you.
Gus

This has been a bit of a trip down memory lane for me too. I remember many nights spent on my 64... creating graphics, playing with SID files, hosting the Starving Artists' Cafe on Q-Link... those were the days. I teach graphics and non-linear editing on Macs now, and I use PCs for many other tasks, but my old 64 is packed up on a shelf because I can't bring myself to part with it. I only created and uploaded a few SID files, but they helped teach me to read music. I'd love to hear from any of my old friends from Q-Link... so email me! Ross Kinard (aka SkulLeader)

Hey Maestro Craig,

After all these years I want to thank you for my great hobby. I have been (since February 1996) transcribing clasical music on my 1985, C128 using your Advanced SID Editor 128. I make both .MUS and .STR files for playback via Mark Dickenson's StereoPlayer v.10.3, the SID Symphony Cartridge, and my stereo system.

J&F Publishing who still do LOADSTAR, the C64 Monthly Disc Magazine, has published two of my C=1581 stand alone music disks as well as a couple of my pieces on their Monthly Disk. Issue #199 of which was released just this month and my version the Smetana's "The Moldau" was on Issue #197. LOADSTAR also publishes eLOADSTARv for use on the PC via VICE Ver. 1.6. (Checkout their website at http://loadstar.com).

I wish someone would come up with a plugin for a C64 emulator that would enable the playing of stereo files on the PC. Mark's StereoPlayer works on the PC using VICE 1.6 but of course you can't play both sides simultaneously because it doesn't have the extra SID chip. Also there is a delay between your keyboard graphics and the music.

Anyway, this almost sixty-one year old retired mechanical engineer wanted to let you know someone is still using your excellent music system editor.

Thanks again,

John

Craig... remember Playlink?

GREAT SITE!! I did many SIDs myself as "Jimi O". I also used to be Sysop of "The Music Emporium BBS". Sorry to hear that Jerry Roth (best SID composer of them all!!! - I modeled a lot my SIDs after his) has gone to meet the Great Conductor in the sky. Email me and I'll send you a 5 1/4" disk of my stuff.

Nice site, Craig. I have to admit that I always had a section on my BBS (TARDIS BBS) that was dedicated to nothing but these small music files. My only complaint at the time was that they were so small that they were annoying to keep track of on multi-megabyte hard drives. After seeing the mp3 file sizes, I see the irony in that long-ago annoyance.

Craig,

It's fantastic seeing this site and mention of all the old SID musicians. I have to say that Jerry Roth was by far my favorite. Sometimes I preferred his SID version to the real music.

I remember back in the late 80's, a fellow BBS'er named Honker, in Minnesota, (I'd sure like to find him) put together a file of every Jerry Roth tune, plus a biography. That file was one of my favorite downloads.

Thanks for keeping the mystique of the Commodore alive. I bought one back in '82 or '83 when I was seven or eight years old--with my own money. What a fantastic machine. You've just about encouraged me to dig it out of the closet and hook 'er back up again. Boy do I miss the old SID tunes.

Take care,

Jamie

I have at least 5 to 7 double sided 5 1/4" disks filled with sidplayer songs. and up to last week I thought I would never get to hear them again as well as my master composer songs too. But then I downloaded this program called SIDPLAY for windows, and now I get to hear all my old favorite sidplayer songs again. Because of the Q-LINK archives I think I have downloaded just about every sid song I ever had. Except I did have have one disk that was all classical music and one disk that was all Ragtime music. I can't remember all the names of those pieces of music so I don't remember exactly what I had. Plus all of those original songs I made I just Don't know how I'll ever get those songs back again. We'll I must say it has been an honor to be able to E-mail the creator of the sidplayer.

Thank You,
Matthew Schardt

Please H-E-L-P Craig (or anyone)....

You show that Bob Retelle created a SID of a waltz that Spock plays in Flint's parlor (Star Trek; original series), but I cannot find it anywhere (I have been searching for YEARS)!

Spock exclaimed, "Captain! this piece was definitely written by Brahms - and yet it is totally unknown."

The composer was really Ivan Ditmar (screen credits referred to it as 'Paraphrase of Brahms'). I would be grateful for any guidance toward *ANY* version at all (a recording, the musical score, a midi file, etc).

Please help!

Many, many thanks for assembling this webpage. Like many others who have commented, hearing these old SIDs brings back wonderful memories! The SID chip was so advanced for its time... I sincerely appreciate all your efforts.
FYI, I was Mets5/QDJ Mets on Q-Link! :)

Hello,

I am trying to contact Robert Higgins, who you list as one of the artists on the Sidplayer (I am contacting him about an unrelated subject). My phone # for him is out of date. You mentioned that he was living in New York, but he is not listed in Mantattan information. By any chance would you have a phone number for him? Thanks,
Bob Elkjer

I find myself choked up over the loss of Jerry Roth and John Roache. I never realized that I was really going to miss them.

I remember writing SIDPIC, (the first program to tie not only lyrics to the music, but pictures and animations as well) and having Joe Grau and Sylvia mercilessly picking apart my interface design. Loosing the SID community was the worst thing I faced when I moved on to the Amiga.

Hi all!

Hey... I loved the Sidplayer when I was a kid and Love it even more when I am an adult (kid inside) and I have The Midi-Player for the 128 and I have all the stuff from CMD to enhance the Player alot!

Mark

The Commodore 64 spawned my interest in computers when I was 3 years old. Thanks to that great machine, I am now a total computer expert and I'll be able to get a job paying $70 an hour! I remember SIDPlayer on that computer. We used to download SID music on good ol' Q-Link, and we also downloaded these games that scared the hell out of me. But, it was always fun when you stuck the SIDPlayer bootdisk and did that LOAD,8,1 command and you got to listen to music. To me, that was one of the coolest features of the Commodore 64 and I think that it sort of started off a revolution of computer synthesized music. Now, I incorporate SID music into special Rocket-eBooks for Nuvomedia's eBook reader, and thanks to SID music, I have managed to introduce music into eBooks! Thanks for making such a great program, Mr. Chamberlain!

My son loved Sid stereo player but the c64 is fragile and put away.
I hope some of the music can be played via emulator.

I never thought I would see any references to the Commodore or Q-Link again. Every so often I blow off the dust on mine (it still works !!) and play some of the SID'S. Enough I'm getting tears on my keyboard.

Hats off for a job well done ;,)

Craig - Diz is here! Thanks for letting me know about this great site! The links to the massive SID libraries are fantastic, as is the history and other information you have here. Then I find this guestbook thing.. geez, pete! Just reading names brings back so many memories- Laura, Jerry, Charles, even Bobbye and Nicky Z! We should all start a Delphi forum or something and catch up on old times.

I've got vast knowledge of commodore artists and now I rip sounds with sidplayer and use them to create songs in Mp3 format.
http://members.xoom.it/Cybernoid

Craig - Thank you for putting this page together. I just discovered it by accident today. I was also very saddened to hear of Dr J5's passing. Although we never met in person, he and I had exchanged q-mail several times, culminating in his extensive re-work of my SID, Remembering You (Closing from All in the Family). He was kind enough to offer me assistance and encouragement in creating my music. He will truly be missed. On a lighter note, it's great to see the info you have here. I've really enjoyed it. Thanks again!

I am trying to find a way of accessing my own SID files (assuming the diskettes I have are still intact). But My C64 doesn't work anymore. I've no idea on how I might obtain another one cheaply. I've wondered how much of this is at all transferable to a Mac, and how much is still available online. I was a great fan and collector of all those old sids. I had no idea anybody still remembered it all other than me.
-Arthur

Version 1.5 of the CGSC has just been released.
This collection now contains 5172 MUS files, 1117 STR files and 1273 WDS files.
Download it from <http://members.xoom.com/cbm_files/>

Craig,

I ran across this page while doing a Web search of my own name. From the host, it appears that you might be connected with U of M in some way. I thought I'd say hi, and see what you are doing these days.

Although I still freelance for magazines, for the last couple of years I've been running an Internet business I started. See the Web site at www.ezsweep.com and you'll get the idea (note: don't put an "s" on the end of the domain name--ezsweeps.com is somebody else). I'm just about to sell this business, so I guess I'll be looking to start a new one soon.

--Sheldon

Some one gave me a copy of the Sidplayer years ago but I never used it much. How much does it cost to purchase a license for the Sidplayer and where would one send the check.

Hi Craig;
Thanks for the 64/128 music program. That was my first step into the music world and it taught me everything i know about music. I still have a 128 and it still works fine but i don't have the cartridge with the second sound chip. Good luck and God bless.

Wow! Didn't realize all this was out here. Entered my name in a search just for kicks and found some of my old sids. Just got The Winamp plugin and am about to flashback. Thanks for giving us the ability to make music.

Hello everyone!
I am a new sid chip kid! I am 18 and a huge fan of the c64's music. I am in a difficult situation though. I know this is a guest book, but this is the only way I can think of to find what I am looking for. Last year I bought "All about the Commodore 64, Volume Two" and typed out the program for the Sid Editor (gheez!). Anyway, I stumbled upon this webpage and now I would really like to get a hold of a copy of the Enhanced Editor. (MIDI, non MIDI) Does anyone know of where I can purchase a copy of this program?? I am willing to pay anything. Also I am looking for the Sid Symphony Stereo cartridge, or the directions on how to solder a second sid chip. If anyone who reads this can help me or give me information regarding these things, it will be greatly appreciated. Thank you all so much. You are my last hope.
-Tyler Aiello

Hi, Craig :). Hope you remember me, we met a few times at the SID Fests. It's certainly good to see all these old, familiar names. Thank you for what you created for us, and thank you for providing a space for us to get together once more.

I dearly miss Jer. He was a driving force in my life for so many years, and I just hope he knew it. Melissa, Erica -- your father was a special person.

One of my old C128s is still working fine. However, the SID Symphony cart died a horrible death, as did the C64s with the piggyback chips. My son (gasp! he was so young when we were all on Q together, and he's now 20!) recently rescued my 128D, and I now have access to my many thousands of 5.25 SID disks. We're in the process of restoring and converting files. Many of these files are so rare, and some from DrJ5 that were never released publically.

I have also converted *many* of our old stereo SID files (with some wav editing trickery) and converted those to MP3 format ... but the true 6-voices are restored in all their glory.

We are planning to open a C64 SID site shortly and offer these for downloads. If anyone is interested, please feel free to email.

It's good to see all of you :)

Lyric (aka QDL Laura, SYSOP LTK, QGuide LTK, and some Puzzler staff name I can't for the life of me recall)

Love the site, could use some more info, but the what page IS complete. I love the C64 (and still do) and was a SID fanatic (and still am)

The SID chip brings back memories Craig! I found the stereo SID chip modification plans somewhere and I was the first in my town to get the piggy-back SID working. What fun!

This is really cool, but where do I get the program (Short of typing it all in again...)?

Wow, this page has brought back some very strange memories. I can't believe that I was able to find a few of the old songs that I did 12 or 13 years ago on one of these web pages. I NEVER thought I'd ever hear any of them again. So I downloaded a couple and the memories of sitting in my parents' basement, hunched over for hours on end in front of my c64, came rushing back!! Keep 'em coming...

Spent the day sick, was too weak to be throwing C64 parts around so went surfing the net and have been hooked on SID and 64 emulator stuff all day! D/L about 23Mb of SIDs (so far). Will have to sift through the 5 1/4"s and see if there's any hidden and/or thought missing gems on it from either my QLink or BBS days; things sure were more fun back then. Thanks Craig, oh, and Martin Galway's SIDs sound great being pumped through my 300WPC McIntosh amplifier <yikes!>

Within the SID pages, you will find my name Kerry Goodson that DRJ Jerry Roth wrote especially for me for a Project "Concert" that I devised back in 1989. The 2001 Theme to introduce the concert for QLINK.
I just found the SIDs today, and at the same time I see the Jerry passed away this year... rather bittersweet and something I did not expect. My heartfelt sympathy goes to his Family, as Jerry did a lot for me back in 1989... I Will Miss You Jerry.
Kerry Goodson

Hey everyone - I apologize, the 64 is Alive site was down for a while - but come on over and try out the message board and my 2 new SIDs. ;>

http://www.astralight.com/c64

Catch ya later!

Just a brief update; after 19 years in Texas (mostly San Antonio--wave to Stan!), I've finally moved up North to start on my doctorate in math. With any luck, by the end of the year I'll have a computer that can actually play MP3s and run Sidplay, and I'll be able to spend many enjoyable hours reliving old memories. (If anyone has MIDI files of their Sidplayer songs, I'd love to hear 'em!)

I'd like to thank Craig for hunting me down... I got an e-mail one day and it brought back SOOO many memories! If you're down San Antonio way, shoot me an e-mail and I'll let you know where I'm performing (Hey Craig, I also play keyboards too!!! put it in my short little bio, wontcha??) Thanks and hugs to all of my fellow SIDplayer enthusiasts who shot me an e-mail... if anyone's interested... I have MIDI representations of songs I wrote... shoot me a line

SEEYA!!!

You created SID files? Those things were YOU?
I'M NOT WORTHY! I'M NOT WORTHY!

My god! Has it been this long? I miss my Commodores but I'm quite happy with my new Timex 1000 now.

Happy BBSing all !!!

I met you today at the Commodore Expo in Lansing. Your site is great. Not enough time today but I will be back

Ric

I'm going to try the program featured by Loadstar for playing SIDs on midi. (when I can afford some midi equipment!)

Thank you very much for all the Sid's on Jerry Rother. He was my uncle and it is great to see how much people loved to listen to what he wrote.

-Jason

Hello and thank you for this site where I can find all sorts of information! Craig, thank you. The book, the learning, the love for music as I have it and you never knew me. I still have my Commie, the disks, the editor and book, and lots of collected sids. (Yes, Troy, I am trying to get it together to send to you. I need a little time cuz life interfers a bit often. ;D ) It was Gene's sid of Will You Love me Tomorrow that made me say "Woah... I wanna do this stuff!" (Don't fear, I can't achieve those standards even still... :x ;D) And it was Craig's book that taught me so much. I still have a love for doing music and still in dire need of help learning (anyoneoffering?) even uploading them to my site. For those that don't know who I am or was.... back in Q-days, I used thename Sidney2 / QDJ Sidney. Drop me a line sometime and I'm glad to see everyone again.
x's and o's!

Suzanne, Melissa and Erica,

I'm sorry. It's bad news and hated to hear it. I can only say that Jer was prob the most popular and liked SID authors on Q. I'll always remember a few good times. He was inspirational to so many, and respected to many more. No less than 2 weeks ago, I emailed him, and he responded in a very cheerful and humorous manor; called me 'lil' cocker! LOL... brought back a memory or two. I'm glad I had the opportunity to have known him online and meet him in person. He will be sorely missed.

My condolences.

-Sir Fitz

Hey there Craig, just found the site... On my way to go listen to some old tunes that I havent heard in many years. The music is sure to bring back some fond memories of a simpler time.... :))

- Mark

Craig, as one of the very earliest users of Sidplayer, I'd like to thank you and Harry for creating such a wonderful program. It was great fun back then and, you know, I think it was US, not Al Gore who created the Internet. Who knew? Ken

WOW. Nice to see you all. Craig, Thanks for the great enperience. :D -Sir Fitz, MrMusic CF, QDJ Fitz.

WOW! Old names and lots of memories here!!
Hey Jerry.... remember the night we spent trying to add the 2nd sid chip to my C-64?
Just for info.. I was Nickz on the old qlink.

Gee, is that Robert Higgins my brother, Robert Edward Higgins, of Ithaca, NY state? From Cornell? Formerly from Woodbridge CT?

Curiouser and Curiouser
(If so, he has always been involved in music, electronic and has a business called Elephant Sound, producing light shows, DJ and etc.)

I'm slowly making a haven for old (and mebbe new?) SID peoples. Take a wander over to:

http://www.astralight.com/c64

Thanks again, Craig!

How great to see so many of the old gang represented here. The Sidplayer era was one of the most fun periods of my computer life. Craig, I hope you know how many people's lives you had an impact on. -- Dave

Thanks for the website! I uploaded several original SIDs to Q-Link back in my C64 days (one even earned the "2-star" rating!), and I collected original SIDs from other Q-Link members. I just downloaded a SIDplayer for my IBM, and I actually found one of my original SIDs on another website - glad to see that there are still some enthusiasts out there!

-A.B.

It is super you put this SID info here! There formate you made for puting music in the commodore 64 was the best! That is why it is still big. Went to stereo even MIDI! Now looks loke the PC is trying. I live close to Craig. Seen and talked to him. I am happy I could. Thank you for the good SID memorys and it's still going for me. I put in about 40 SID's and some in stereo. I remember the BBS's with sids and Q-link too.

LANDING WITH A *THUD*!!::
Waving hello to some VERY familiar names. I'm really glad I tripped into this doorway. What memories.
The sharing of all that great music, the friendships that we developed, the Sidfests, the battles... battles? ;DDD Yep, I sure do miss Q and all those late nights. This is a real walk down Memory Lane for me.

I am a new Sidplayer artist and collector! I have just now gotten around to learning how to CREATE SID files !
The COMPUTE Music System and the Enhanced Sidplayer, along with Mark's Stereo SID player, and Robert Stoerrle's Stereo SID editor are a fine package!

I am so pleased to see such nice things written about my father, Jerry Roth (DrJ5). My dad has always had an incredible ear for music. He never once used sheet music to write any of his sids. He would carefully input one voice at a time and play it over and over again until he got it to fit just right. I believe my dad's sids were so popular because he created them from his ear, and not from a bargraph. He took creative liberties that made them so much fun to listen to. It has been about 15 years since my dad wrote his first sid and I'm glad people can still enjoy them today through the plug-in. It makes me feel nostalgic for Q-Link. Thanks! :)

Hiya Craig... Great page... glad you are keeping the old SID tunes alive.
Jim Brock AKA KCORB, MR. MUSIC KC and QDJ KC

Great site! Love the .MP3s! It's wonderful to be able to hear SIDplayer music again the way it was meant to be heard.

My name is Brian, and I met Craig at the Book store "Borders" where he gave me this address... I like the site a lot, it's very easy to manouver about - and also pretty interesting. Thanks again for the address.
Brian

This was sure a welcome surprise!

Now I have to upgrade to a Pentium III so I can hear these songs in something approximating real time; my 486 just isn't cutting it. (Gonna try the SPARC at school tomorrow...)

I've used several music composition packages on the Mac and PC, and none has the functionality of Sidplayer. Wish my 128 still worked so I could go back and play with it some more. :(

Hey Craig! Wow - this is great! Starting off with Qlink and hanging out with the SID folks helped me get my career starting in computers - I now work for Warner Bros. actually programming AOL. (ok, so maybe it wasn't such a good thing) J/K. Thanks for the great times! Troy... AKA QDJ Data/Datasid

Jon told me about your site and I had to go check it out! Never thought I'd see SID songs as MP3 format. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Bobbye

It's so nice to revisit Sidplayer! Thanks, Craig, for making this possible a second time.

I couldn't possibly say enough about what Sidplayer meant to myself and my friends. So I'm not even going to try. Ok, I lied, here it is: Sidplayer is a part of the urban mythology of the Commodore 64, and will forever be ingrained in the memories of all who owned one. It certainly deserves a memorial webpage, like this one.

Tremendous web page! I was Tollman on Qlink and enjoyed using your program for years! Seeing this and other sites concerning the C64 has brought back so many good memories! And helped to keep the memory alive! And Thanks! :-)

This is wonderful, Craig. Your original work provided many of us with a great deal of enjoyment and this page helps to bring back the memories and pays tribute to some of the fantastic folks who contributed their talents to making your creation a success.
SYSOP JON (aka John Rafalak)

Nice trip down memory lane. You know, I think I spent more time on SIDPlayer than I spent in school, when I was 10-12 years old. Where would I be without it? :)

Nice job! Craiger <g>!

Nice web site, Craig! The kids sure enjoy dancing to the music Daddy composed on the SIDPlayer. Brian's days of transposing songs from written form onto the Commodore has given him an appreciation of how I transpose written music onto the piano keys. Written music is just notes... it's the artist's interpretation that makes it music. Brian is truely a musician with his own style. The SIDPlayer allowed him to develop his talent.

Thanks for helping to bring back some great memories from my youth. Little did I know then that goofing around with Sidplayer would result in a career in computer science...

I can't believe you didn't include "Saber Dance" in your MP3 listings!

Craig! Thanks for making such a cool program and providing years of musical entertainment in my youth. We use to swap SIDPlayer tunes at a local C64 user club. We even had some local lamers who alter the SID credits and put in their own names! Grrr... Hey, under your 'Songs' section you might want to let people know that they can also listen to MUS files with a PC program named SIDPlay. Although the emulation isn't perfect, it is pretty close plus people won't have to d/l such large files. Just a recommendation...

I miss the sidplayer. I have a shareware program for the pc that acts a lot like the sidplayer- keyboard, lyrics... plays midi .kar files. but its just not a sidplayer

What an interesting page. I've collected nearly 5000 MUS files, but I didn't know much about the history of the sidplayer or much about any of the authors until I saw your site.
Looking forward to more updates....

Hi All...
Hey Craig, I need Sidplayer PC 2000!!! Of course, it will have the ability to read those C64 files. Right?

YO- I am impressed! You made it sound like this page was awful. I think it is pritty interesting. Chow!
Jason

It's great to see that the SIDPlayer has a place to be remembered, as it brought music (and music making) to many people who otherwise wouldn't have had the chance. I very much enjoyed my time making SIDs and being with others who did so on Q-Link, even if most of my tunes weren't that great. :) Thanks for making it possible!

Wow Craig! A missing piece of music history has been restored - by the maestro himself! SIDPlayer's official online presence has been sorely missed since the old Delphi(tm) MANiac days. (Does Ellen Kaufman know about this?) SIDPlayer brought people together in a way never seen before, through the common thread of newly discovered personal talent. All it took was the right tool. I hope others continue to enjoy and appreciate it. I know my kids and I will!

Craig,

Excellent job on this site! I know it must have taken hours and hours to put this material together, but it's a story worth telling. I'm glad you took the time to do it, and I hope many people worldwide get a chance to enjoy Sidplayer as much as I have.

Its great to see that someone has held on to all of the original and first pieces of music that came from this hardware/software combination. I also, look forward to hearing some of the old tunes.

Brian Szepatowski

I invite you to sign my guest book.

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