|Sound Interface Device|
Sound Interface Device (SID) is an audio format that houses the sound code sent to the MOS Technology SID chip (6581) used by on the Commodore 64. SID files (sometimes called PSID to highlight that one file contain more then one track), are rips of the assembly programming from the ROMs of Commodore games. SID players emulate the Commodore CPU and SID chip hardware in order to playback the audio.
The overwhelming majority of SID files are mono, as one chip produce only mono sound. Some new music may rely on two or even three chips (so it's called 2SID/3SID), doubling or tripling the amount of channels to make aviable hard left/hard right sound or even add center track to them with 3SID. No one known game use this ability, only some Commodore 64 demos.
It's unknown who designed this format and when. The first program to operate with it was SID to WAV, designed in 1994, but Queen-Special demo proves that even in August of 1987 SID format was used to rip music from several demos and Highlander (C64) with Frantic Freddie 1983 (C64).
- DeliPlayer - Windows
- JAM For Windows - Windows
- RdosPlay - DOS
- SID Decoder - foobar2000
- SIDPlay - Macintosh
- SIDPlay - Windows
- SIDPlay 2 - Winamp
- SID Player (Windows Phone) - Windows Phone
- SidEdit - WIndows
SID to ?
- JAM For Windows - Windows - WAV
- SID Decoder - foobar2000 - WAV
- SID to MIDI - Windows - MIDI, TXT
- SID to MIDI (Windows) - Windows - MIDI, TXT
- SID to WAV - Windows - WAV
- SIDPlay - Windows - WAV
? to SID
All Commodore 64 games and programs can have their audio ripped to SID format.
The majority of popular Commodore 64/128 games have their music ripped to SID format, but this list includes games that either don't have a rip, or have an incomplete rip:
- 4x4 Off-Road Racing (C64) - incomplete
- BugBomber (C64)
- DragonStrike (C64)
- Insects In Space (C64) - incomplete
- Labyrinth: The Computer Game (C64) - incomplete
- Might and Magic: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum (C64)
- Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World (C64)
- Moondust (C64)
- Pink Panther Puzzle (C64) - rip exists in Windows Phone's SID Player, probably encrypted, but neither on HVSC or other PC sources
- Rocky Horror Show (C128)
- Ultima VI: The False Prophet (C64)
How to Obtain
Ripping SID files requires an intimate knowledge of MOS 6502 machine code and the 6581 SID chip, but luckily, most popular Commodore 64 games already have their sound ripped to SID format and can be downloaded:
- hvsc.c64.org/#download - High Voltage SID Collection (unfortunately, published music is intermixed with amateur songs).
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_SID - Wikipedia.