My work on the Sidplayer music system included contracting with the publisher, devising the .mus file format, writing the interrupt-driven music playing code, writing the text for the books, coding the Enhanced Sidplayer song editor in assembly language (implementing the user interface designed by Harry Bratt), and promoting the software at user groups and on online services.
Harry wrote the original Sidplayer song editor program, designed the user interface for the editor Enhanced Sidplayer editor, and produced the initial body of songs used to promote Sidplayer. He entered quality transcriptions of existing songs and composed clever and creative original songs.
Bob generously helped in many ways with my Sidplayer work. I knew him before any of the other people associated with Sidplayer's history, having met him in 1980 at a user group meeting for Ohio Scientific computer owners.
Jerry did a lot of testing work for the original Sidplayer music system and created some of the first demonstration songs. He was about 15 years old at the time and didn't have a computer, so I loaned him a Commodore 64 and disk drive.
Robert Higgins created many of the songs used to demonstrate instrument sounds and various features of the Sidplayer music system. These songs were included in the books and on the Sidplayer program disks.
Steve was a University of Michigan student living in East Quad, the same dorm as Harry Bratt. Steve used early versions of the original Sid Editor, written by Harry, to create "Peanuts," the very first Sidplayer song.
Thanks, Steve, for helping Sidplayer get off to a great start!
Ellen managed the MANiac section of the Delphi online service, which served as the first official repository for Sidplayer songs.
Bob started the Singalong craze for Sidplayer. He wrote the first program that played Sidplayer songs while displaying lines of text synchronized with the music and called it "Singalong." I immediately incorporated this feature into the official Sidplayer programs.
Many people did some excellent work with Sidplayer, and I especially valued original compositions by people like Harry Bratt and John Mackey, but when it came to pure musical fun, my favorite Sidplayer artist was Stan Halaby.
I met Stan when he was a student in the music program at a local college.
Kent was the force behind the SID Symphony stereo cartridge sold by Dr. Evil Laboratories, which provided an easy way to add a second SID chip to a Commodore 64 for stereo music.
Kent has written about the history of Dr. Evil Laboratories.
I still remember my excitement when I first heard Brian's Sidplayer rendition of "Humoresque" - part song, part Pac Man game. A big part of the thrill of creating something like Sidplayer is in hearing what great things people do with it.
If it was a Sidplayer version of a soundtrack song, and it used pulse width sweeping, chances are it was by Brian Szepatowski.
John C. Mackey was the youngest and most prolific composer of original Sidplayer songs. He also created Sidplayer and stereo Sidplayer versions of many classical works, starting when he was eleven years old. His grandest accomplishment was the transcription of selections from Bach's Magnificat in D Major and Beethoven's Symphony Number Nine in D Minor, Fourth Movement (Ode to Joy) for six SID chips.
John went on to earn a Master of Music degree in Composition at The Juilliard School and now composes professionally. Be sure to visit John's web site.
John Roache made top-quality Sidplayer transcriptions of ragtime songs.
John passed away on March 3, 1999. His ragtime music is still available in MIDI format at John Roache's Ragtime MIDI Library.
Jerry Roth, who also went by the name Dr J5 on Q-Link, created some of the most fun and popular Sidplayer songs. He certainly knew how to get a whole lot of music out of just three voices. And he entered all of the songs by ear!
Because Jerry was active on Q-Link and his songs were so popular, his may well have been the most widely heard Sidplayer songs.
Jerry Roth passed away on July 5, 1999. He is survived by his wife Suzanne and daughters Melissa and Erica.
Thank you very, very much, Jerry, for the joy you brought to me and to others.
revised March 2, 2015 23:15 EST