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sid-wizard-vessel README — MIDI sync IN and live-act features for SID-Wizard

summary #c64 #sid #sid-wizard #midi #sync #vessel #live #nmi #fork #own-project
author m64 (Mario 64 / MARiO64); underlying layers by anarkiwi (Vessel port) and Hermit (SID-Wizard)
date layered — Hermit's SID-Wizard README (2018), anarkiwi's Vessel port note (undated), M64's sync-in layer 2021-09, live-features layer 2023-04; fetched 2026-08-30
article README.md of the sid-wizard-vessel repository (version 1.8.7 / live sync)
source file raw/github-m64/sid-wizard-vessel-README.md
source url https://github.com/M64GitHub/sid-wizard-vessel
created 2026-08-30 · updated 2026-08-30

The README of m64's fork of sid-wizard 1.8.7 for the Vessel MIDI interface: "A SID-Wizard version for the Vessel MIDI interface, with features for using in a live act" — external MIDI tempo sync IN, free movement in the orderlist during synced playback, pattern loop/continue, and channel mute/unmute. The README is layered like a changelog, oldest at the bottom: Hermit's original SID-Wizard README (build system, manual pointers, the WTF license, "2018 Hermit Software Hungary"), anarkiwi's note on the base port ("This is a port of SID Wizard 1.8.7, for the Vessel MIDI interface (https://github.com/anarkiwi/vessel) … select MIDI device VESSEL"), then M64's two dated blocks.

Key claims#

Lineage#

  • Base: hermit's SID-Wizard 1.8.7 (with Soci of Singular Crew); built with 64tass V1.53.1515 + exomizer + c1541, make in sources/.
  • anarkiwi ported it to his Vessel MIDI interface (github.com/anarkiwi/sid-wizard, releases there); in that base mode ("MODE 0: sync OFF … original VESSEL MIDI support by anarkiwi") playback runs in the IRQ and SID-Wizard reacts to MIDI messages including start and stop, "but unsynchronized".
  • M64's fork adds the synchronized mode and the live-act feature set.

MIDI SYNC IN via NMI (block dated 09/21)#

  • "First release candidate: MIDI SYNC IN has matured and now uses VESSEL/NMI only": a menu item SYNC MODE toggles ON (1) / OFF (0).
  • MODE 1 (sync ON): Vessel is configured to trigger NMIs on CIA2's /FLAG input on MIDI start/stop/sync messages; playback runs in the NMI. "Timing is only correct for tune tempo 6."
  • In NMI mode the UI stays visible and functional "except of border sprites"; to compensate, a playback status window is drawn over the instrument window: SID waveform registers, position in the current pattern, currently playing instruments, the channel-3 oscilloscope, and the pulse-width / filter bars.
  • The editor keeps working during the wait and during playback: cursor movement, entering notes/values, muting tracks, "editor functions in the pattern window". SID-Wizard "waits for a MIDI START message. When it is received, synchronized playback starts, in follow play mode."

Live-act features (block dated 04/23)#

  • "This (the current) version has now matured and includes features for use in a live act."
  • Enter sync mode (menu → sync mode) — "SID-Wizard is now armed for playback"; press Play on the MIDI gear and it starts in sync (tempo must be set to 06).
  • Cursor UP/DOWN moves back/forward in the orderlist while playing: "the currently playing pattern is not interrupted, playback will advance after end of pattern is reached." A virtual position −1 exists so the next played pattern can be the song start — "a way to play the song again from start" without breaking the movement logic.
  • F3 holds (loops) the currently playing pattern — the oscilloscope turns green; F1 continues (releases the loop) — playback advances to wherever the cursor moved in the orderlist, oscilloscope purple.
  • Standard SID-Wizard channel muting via SHIFT+1–3; follow play is always on "for better orientation".
  • MIDI stop exits sync mode; entering it again re-arms the wait for MIDI start, "and all devices will play together from start again".
  • A feature-demonstration video: youtube.com/watch?v=GRh49hOucJw (not saved; link only).

Practical takeaways#

  • This is the sid-wizard-side answer to defmon's live story: where defMON is the sync master (user-port adapter, DIN/MIDI out), sid-wizard- vessel makes the C64 a sync slave — MIDI clock in, and the tracker becomes a pattern-launching instrument (live-tracking, sync).
  • The performance grammar in four keys: move the "next up" position with the cursor (the running pattern always completes), F3 to hold, F1 to release, SHIFT+1–3 to mute — with the oscilloscope colour (green = held, purple = advancing) as stage-visible state.
  • Tempo 6 is the constraint to plan sets around (compare defMON's 6-ticks-per-2-steps sync rule — both lock the C64's tick grid to the external clock at one canonical tempo).

Notable quotes#

  • "SID-Wizard is now armed for playback." (04/23 block)
  • "Playback is running in NMI, the UI stays visible and functional, except of border sprites." (09/21 block)

Relevance to the wiki#

First-hand documentation of m64's own tool (like duet and 037-lab): it extends sid-wizard into the live-tracking / sync territory the wiki just mapped for defmon, and it ties the Vessel interface — already in the defMON story via anarkiwi and frantic's "defMON 1.5" idea (s-chipmusic-defmon-thread) — to a shipping tracker. m64 is the MARiO64 whose SID-Wizard 1.7 user-port sync mod appears in the defMON thread (confirmed by m64 2026-08-30).

Pages touched#

sid-wizard-vessel · sid-wizard · sync · live-tracking · hermit · orderlist · defmon · vessel

source file wiki/summaries/s-sid-wizard-vessel-readme.md · graph