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SwinSID

entity tool C64 / SID #tool #hardware #sid #replacement #wavetable #avr #c64
aliases SwinSID2, SwinSID Nano
sources SIDin #1–15 — Editorials and News digest (Stefano Tognon, 2002–2015) · commodore-64.eu — The C64 SID Chip (6581 vs 8580 overview) · chipmusic.org — C64 Music for Dummies (ant1's SID-Wizard 1.0 tutorial, 2012)
created 2026-08-30 · updated 2026-08-30

A hardware sound module that sits in the commodore-64's SID socket in place of a real 6581/8580 — announced in early 2006 as a wavetable synthesizer with "almost full" sid compatibility, and present in the wiki's later sources mainly as the AVR-based SwinSID Nano drop-in replacement for ageing chips.

Facts#

  • The first SwinSID (news item of 2006-01-14): a "16-bit stereo hardware sound module for C64" — SID-socket compatible, "Software compatibly with SID ( almost ful )", 3 main + 3 effect channels, wavetable synthesis, 9 instruments in flash ROM, programmable ADSR, stereo reverb and a 16-bit DAC at 31.25 kHz; project site swinkels.tvtom.pl (source: s-sidin-news-digest).
  • The SwinSID2 specification (same news item): pin-compatible, up to 8 voices, two noise channels, 16 waveforms in flash, 16 effects, two LFOs, one global filter, 31.25 or 24 kHz output — but "Requires special software to work", i.e. it went beyond behaving like a SID (source: s-sidin-news-digest).
  • SwinSID Nano: AVR-based, "smaller than the original SID", needs "a small adapter" to sit in the 28-pin socket, and offers "reliable emulation of core SID functionality"; listed beside the ARMSID and the two-SID SIDFX board among modern replacements, wanted because original chips "are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive, and ageing chips can develop faults" (source: s-commodore-64-eu-sid-chip; secondary — an unsigned enthusiast page).
  • Seen in the field: a 2016 chipmusic.org post asked about sid-wizard 1.7 save problems through an SD2IEC on a C64C fitted with a SwinSID; the question went unanswered, so the wiki has no verdict on that combination (source: s-chipmusic-c64-music-for-dummies).

The wiki does not name the SwinSID's designer or give dates for the Nano; a musician mainly needs to know that a second-hand C64 may hold one instead of a MOS chip, and that its SID emulation is approximate ("almost full" by its own 2006 description).

sid · commodore-64 · hardsid · catweasel · sid-wizard

Sources#

s-sidin-news-digest · s-commodore-64-eu-sid-chip · s-chipmusic-c64-music-for-dummies

source file wiki/entities/swinsid.md · graph