SIDCHECK DOCUMENTATION SID Check
By Robert A. Stoerrle
October 24, 1989
When the original "Sidplayer" program was introduced in 1985, it recognized a set of approximately 35 commands. In 1986, with the release of Craig Chamberlain's "Compute!'s Music System for the Commodore 128 and 64 : The Enhanced Sidplayer", many special commands and features were added to the system. However, since earlier Sidplayers did not support these new features; and because it took almost two years for a public domain player that supported the new features to surface, it became necessary to separate SIDs that contained the additional commands (hereafter called "Enhanced SIDs) from those that could be played on ANY Sidplayer.
In Q-Link's Music Room Support Group, Enhanced SIDs are no longer physically separated from unenhanced sids, as Mark Dickenson's Stereoplayer program, versions 9 and above, support Enhanced commands. However, many people continue to prefer to use other Sidplayers, and the Music Connection software does not support most Enhanced features. Because of this, a special filenaming convention is used. Enhanced SIDs are denoted by the slash ("/") symbol preceding the filename; for example:
/rudolph.mus /time.sal
In order to develop totally unenhanced SIDs that are guaranteed to work with any Sidplayer available, keep the following things in mind:
* uV - The Utility-Voice feature is supported ONLY by Enhanced players. You should only use UTL; not UTV.
* TRIPLETS - The Enhanced SID Editor makes entering triplets extremely easy; however, this feature is also not supported by any of the unenhanced Sidplayers. Triplets can be entered with skillful use of utility durations. For more details on that method, consult COMMODORE INFORMATION NETWORK / Computing Support Groups / Music Room / Messages and Articles / SID Articles.
* 64TH NOTES - These are also a strictly enhanced feature and can also be handled using utility durations.
* DOUBLE DOT - Enhanced and should be handled by using UTL.
* DOUBLE SHARP/FLAT - Enhanced and extremely easy to avoid.
* DEF/CAL - Phrases numbered 0-15 are supported by ALL Sidplayers. If you use numbers 16-23, however, only Enhanced players will be able to handle the SID. NOTE: The Music Connection software, although unenhanced in most respects, DOES support all DEF/CAL values.
* HLD - Enhanced. Difficult to simulate using other methods.
* PVD, PVR - Enhanced. Cannot be simulated using other methods.
* P&V - Enhanced. Cannot be simulated using other methods.
* RTP - Enhanced. Its use can be avoided with skillful use of TPS.
* LFO, RUP, RDN, SCA, MAX, SRC, DST - Enhanced (special modulation commands). Cannot be easily simulated.
* UTV - Enhanced. Use UTL instead.
* JIF - Enhanced. Select tempos carefully to avoid the need for this command. When used, it is best to use ONLY positive JIF values; negative values risk clobber errors. Note that unenhanced players will simply ignore JIF commands (they are decoded as MS#).
If your SID contains ANY of the above commands or special features, you should prefix the filename with the slash ("/") as a courtesy to other Music Room members. An added benefit is that filenames so named are ignored automatically by the search feature in Music Connection.
The Sidcheck program gives you the ability to analyze SID files and determine if they are enhanced. You will find the program extremely simple to use: after selecting files to analyze from a menu of files on disk, Sidcheck counts the number of occurrences of each enhanced command in each voice. It will also tell you the total number of notes in the file, total number of commands, and even the highest number of commands in a row.
You should run your SIDs through this program prior to uploading. If Sidcheck finds enhanced commands, you'll know to rename your file(s).
[Stereo Editor Documentation]
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