SID-Wizard 1.8 User Manual (summary)

The short TXT edition of the user manual shipped with sid-wizard 1.8 (2018), written by hermit. It is readable on a real commodore-64 and covers: an introduction to SID-Wizard and the sid chip's registers, usage (startup menu / player types, UI, menu, keyboard layouts), a full hexadecimal value reference (instrument parameters and tables, pattern effects, orderlist values, chord table, tempo table), the SID-Maker exporter and converters, and MIDI support.

Key claims#

• SID-Wizard is a music tracker for the C64's SID chip, with ideas taken from GoatTracker, SDI, X-SID, SID-Factory and JCH Editor. Headline features: 36 instruments, 8 subtunes, 100 patterns of 250 bytes, per-instrument tables, per-instrument hard-restart, calculated vibrato (4 types) and slides, up to 8× framespeed (multispeed, 400 Hz SID control), a chord table with note-entry mode, keyboard tracking (note-dependent filter), different tempos per track, 3 simultaneous pattern effects per row, gate-off entries in instrument tables, scalable player, .SID and executable export, 2SID/3SID versions, MIDI-in and MIDI-sync out, 324 example instruments, Verdi (A4 = 432 Hz) and just-intonation tunings, tape-slowdown effect, SFX support.
• SID register map in a nutshell: per voice pitch lo/hi, pulse width lo/hi-nybble, waveform+control (test, ring, sync, gate), ADSR; global filter cutoff (11 bit), resonance + voice switches ($17), filter band + volume ($18).
• Six player-routine types selectable at startup — Normal, Medium, Light, Extra, Bare, Demo — trading features for memory and rastertime; the manual lists exactly which features each drops (see sid-player-routine).
• Pattern row layout: Note/Fx · Instrument/Fx · Effect · Fx-value. Notes are typed on two keyboard rows (SDI-, DMC- and Janko-style layouts available). All numbers are hex.
• Instrument = main settings (ADSR, ADHR for hard restart, frame-1 waveform, HR timer 0–2 frames, HR type normal/staccato, vibrato amplitude/rate/delay, vibrato type, WF-ARP table speed, default chord, octave shift, PW/filter reset) plus three tables: Waveform-Arpeggio-Detune, Pulse-width, Filter (see instrument-tables).
• Complete tables of instrument-column effects ($01–$3E instrument, $3F legato, $4x waveform, $5x sustain, $6x release, $7x chord), effect-column "small" effects ($2x–$Fx) and "big" effects ($01–$1F), orderlist values ($80–$9F transpose, $A0–$AF volume, $B0–$EF track tempo, $F0–$FD separators, $FE end, $FF jump), chord-table values and tempo-table values — reproduced in the sid-wizard cheat sheet.
• SID-Maker exports Normal, Raw, Executable and .SID formats; the exported tune is called at LoadAddress (init, subtune in A), +3 (play, every frame), +6 (multispeed call), +9 (external volume), +12 (SFX on channel 3), +15 (tape-slowdown, SWP-FX build).
• SWMconvert converts to/from XM/MID and between .P00/.prg and .S00/.sid; sng2swm imports goattracker .sng files.
• Under VICE the C64 keys map to: CONTROL = Tab, RUN/STOP = Esc, C= = Control, ← = Tilde/End, £ = Insert, ↑ = PageDown (Linux). After a crash, SYS 2061 restarts the editor after a warm reset.

Practical takeaways#

• The whole SID sound-design toolkit lives in the instrument tables: waveform/arp per frame, pulse-width sweeps with keyboard tracking, filter programs with keyboard tracking. Learn the three table value schemes ($8x..$Fx set / $00..$7F add-n-times / $FE jump) once and they apply to all tables (pulse-width-modulation, filter-programming, wavetable-programming).
• Chords/arps: put chord numbers in the chord table ($7F loops, $7E returns to the arp table), assign a default chord per instrument or override with $7x in the instrument column; chord speed via $0C / $Cx (chord-arpeggio).
• Slides are "calculated": a slide of N semitones takes about the same time regardless of pitch. $01/$02 pitch slide up/down, $03 tone portamento, $3F in the instrument column ties notes (legato) (pitch-slide-and-portamento).
• FunkTempo (two alternating tempos) and tempo programs give swing/shuffle; tracks can run at different tempos (shuffle-funktempo).
• Choose the smallest player type that has the features you use; the editor shows rastertime while composing, and the executable export gives a final measurement.
• The manual explicitly says: "Arp. overrides/cancels slide/vibrato!" — a wave-arp with pitch shifts cancels slides and vibrato (except in the Extra player, where vibrato survives a pitch slide).

Notable quotes#

"SID-Wizard is a music-tracker application for the Commodore 64 computer's audio-chip called SID. It has many advanced features not found in other trackers, however I took many ideas from the best C64 music editors like Goattracker, SDI, X-SID, SID-Factory, JCH Editor, etc."

"Filters are switched on automatically for channels that use filtered instruments. The leftmost channel has the highest priority for filter-control if more tracks try to use filter."

Relevance#

Primary reference for the C64/SID side of the wiki: the sid-wizard cheat sheet, the SID register overview on sid, and the concrete SID-Wizard sections of most C64 technique pages come from here.

Pages touched#

Created: sid-wizard, sid, commodore-64, hermit, goattracker, vice, sid-format, tracker, instrument-tables, adsr-envelope, sid-player-routine, orderlist, hard-restart, vibrato, pitch-slide-and-portamento, chord-arpeggio, pulse-width-modulation, filter-programming, wavetable-programming, ring-modulation-and-sync, shuffle-funktempo, multispeed, detune, instrument-design, sidechain-pump, song-init-and-looping, sound-effects.