sammichSID was designed to be the “no excuses” MIDIbox SID synthesizer kit - i.e. for all those people who want a MIDIbox SID but consider building it with modules too time-consuming, too newbie-unfriendly and/or too hard to design and construct a control surface, and where MB-6582 is too expensive, too daunting and/or too hard to source all the parts.

sammichSID therefore has the following design constraints/features, which support each other:

• cheap
• small
• DIY newbie friendly
• minimal control surface
• single “walwart”/AC adapter supply, no C64 PSU brick!
• stereo SID, optimized for 8580/6582A, 6581 optionally supported
• “sandwich-style” stacked PCB design, no wires!
• laser-cut 3mm acrylic case by Ponoko, customization possible
• industry standard 2×20 character LCD with low-power LED backlight, customization possible
• common control surface parts used, customization possible
• To be available as a complete kit, including PCBs, components, case, hardware and (optionally) two 6582A SIDs!

MIDIbox SID Synthesizer V2 features

• One Core module and one stereo SID module, fully integrated on one PCB with power supply.
• Five “BankStick” slots, so you can store 4 banks of 128 patches, plus 128 “Ensembles” (engine and patch configurations)
• Jumpers to configure the power supply, allowing a regulated 12V input to power 6581, or unregulated AC/DC input to power 8580/6582A.
• Minimal control surface with three user-customizable buttons and LED matrix for maximum bling.
• 2×20 character LCD with support for low-power (25mA) or high-power (250mA) LED backlight.
• Potential for future upgrade to MIDIbox SID Synthesizer V3 using add-on board

Buying a kit

sammichSID was planned from the start to be available as a complete kit, so all the hard work of sourcing parts, checking for fit, and refining the design has been done already.

Kits will be packed and sold in batches of 25.

If you want to pre-order now, just email your details (NOT MONEY!) to: Jason.S.Williams@gmail.com

Include your MIDIbox username so I know who I'm talking to!

“Pre-order” just means I collect your email address, and I reserve a kit for you.

There is no commitment to buy, you can cancel or wait for another batch with no bad karma!

Once I receive pre-orders for all kits in a batch, I'll email people to get confirmation and then send out PayPal invoices. That will happen while I order and collect all the parts and put them into kit boxes.

PLEASE NOTE There is a long waiting list. See here: sammichsid_waiting_list

Batch #5,#6 Final Price (as of 2010-02-16): (actual payment will be in AUD and include 3.5% PayPal fee)

• full kit, 2x 6582A SIDs: 245.00 AUD (217.92 USD, 160.25 EUR)
• full kit, no SIDs: 185.00 AUD (164.55 USD, 121.00 EUR)
• registered post shipping to USA/Canada: 29.50 AUD (26.24 USD, 19.30 EUR)
• registered post shipping to Europe: 34.60 AUD (30.78 USD, 22.63 EUR)

When pre-ordering, please specify if you want 2x 6582A SIDs, even though I will run out. I might get lucky and find more.

ALSO Let me know if you're an Aussie, I can help you with some other parts and give you custom postage cost.

Cases are available in 1 fantastic colours!!! It is black, it is matte, and it is awesome. Scratch and fingerprint resistant. Please ignore pictures of tinted, translucent (see-through) acrylic cases, this is the prototype and I will not be selling them.

Batches #1-#4 have shipped!

Batch #5 and #6 are being prepared now.

Pre-orders received now will be collected and put on a waiting list for future batches of kits that I will start selling January 2010.

The build guide is finished, but there is always room for improvement, so please give me feedback. If you have problems, it might be a good idea to start a new topic called “sammichSID Troubleshooting” in the Troubleshooting forum and everyone posts in the one topic. I can always split the topic if it gets too busy.

You can find v0.96 of the build guide here (zipped 6MB PDF):

sammichSID_Build_Guide_v0_96.zip

(I zipped it so you would be forced to download it and not view it in your browser)

Have a read now while you await your kit, you might want to acquire some things before it arrives, like acrylic paint, brush, heatsinking compound, solder…

Buy a T-shirt! Available in three printing colours and many fabric colours!

Mine is white on charcoal, only because I have too many black and red T-shirts already.

Click on the picture!