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TeensyROM ASID Player

The ASID Player allows you to stream SID sound information real-time from a modern computer/phone directly to the SID chip of your C64/128, turning it into a modular synthesizer device. The ASID player is highly optomized for the TeensyROM and allows fast updates and smooth streaming of SID music/sounds.

ASID Player

ASID Sources

Here are a few ASID sources which can be used to stream to your C64/SID. See detailed setup instructions at the bottom of this document.

Project/Link Platform About
DeepSID Web based Access/stream any existing SID file, directly from the web
ChipSynth C64 Win/Mac Turn your C64 into a programmable synth module
SID Factory II Win/Mac/Linux Cross-platform SID music editor with ASID output (beta branch)
ASIDXP Win/Mac Stream SID files directly from your local hard drive
SIDPlay Mac Stream from your local hard drive with visualizations, etc

USB/TeensyROM Setup

  • Connect USB cable from a MIDI Host/computer to the USB Type B Micro Device port on the Teensy module.
  • Recommend direct connection between PC/Mac and TeensyROM, USB hubs can add additional timing jitter.
  • Power up C64/128 to the TeensyROM main menu.
  • Select "TeensyROM ASID Player", or press the number '4' for fast hotkey access.
  • Program starts ready to receive/play MIDI ASID data

TeensyROM ASID Player Usage/commands (FW 0.6.2 or higher)

C64 Keyboard commands

Key Function Description
v Clear Voices Initialize/clear all voices on all SID chips
s Screen Toggle Turn on/off C64 screen blanking, can help with audio noise reduction
m Mute All Toggle Clears all voices and mutes incomming stream. "Mute" displayed when active
1/2/3 Voice # Toggle Enable/Disable voice # 1/2/3 individually.
Voice # group red when active, applies to all active SIDs
? Help List Displays keyboard commands list
d Indicator Decoder Displays info about indicators at top of screen (see below)
c Clear Screen Clears text from display, just leaves indicators
x Exit Exit the application, back to the TeensyROM menu
F1/F2 First SID address Inc/Dec address of the primary SID, typically $d400
F3/F4 Second SID address Inc/Dec address of SID #2 for multi-SID playback
F5/F6 Third SID address Inc/Dec address of SID #3 for multi-SID playback
t Frame Timer (beta) Turns On/Off the frame-retimer (see below)
B/b Buffer Size Inc/Dec the size of the Frame Timer buffer, if used (see below)

Register indicators

The top of the ASID Player screen displays real-time playback information. This information can be divided into three groups:

  • Spinner indicators update to the next PETSCII character each time an event takes place
    • 3,2,1 These spinners update each time SID#1, 2, or 3 is written to
    • R Read error: Unexpected reg type or skip message received by C64 from Teensy
    • P Packet error: Detected by Teensy, usually from ASID source:
      • More regs expected in ASID SysEx packet than provided
      • SysEx packet format incorrect
      • Unexpected ASID msg type
      • Data requested from C64 when queue is empty
  • SID #1 Register Access "Lights"
    • 25 indicators to represent an access to each SID(#1) register
    • Lights turn white on each register write, then turn grey if not accessed again withing 100mS, and turn off after another 100mS of non-access.
    • Use the d command to see the decoder list of registers
  • Frame Timer buffer usage bar graph
    • When the Frame Timer is enabled, indicates how full the buffer currently is.
    • Too full or empty indicates over/underflow and may result in an audible anomaly.

Frame timer (beta)

Timing imperfections can be introduced by control PC workload, USB packetization, drivers, and other factors. This can be compensated for by re-timing the ouput to the C64/SID to a repeatably accurate cadence.

The first step is to enable the re-timer on and select 50Hz or Auto timing of playback using the t command.

  • Off (default) simply plays each ASID packet as soon as it arrives via USB/MIDI
  • On-50Hz is for most standard 1x speed SIDs, and can insure accurate starting speeds for SIDs of that type.
  • On-Auto measures the initial packets for the starting time constant. Timing can start slightly off if initial packets aren't received well-timed.
  • Eventually, the ASID protocol will include "recipe" information from the source to automatically configure this speed, but this capability is not yet available.
    • For this reason, variable rate and per-note sids are not currently compatible with the frame timer feature.

Once the Frame Timer is turned on, the buffer size can be selected with b (smaller) or B (larger).

  • Larger buffers afford more space for speed corrections and reduce likelyhoo of audible glitches, but also add noticable buffer time between the source and the SID output.
  • Smaller buffers are usefull for faster startup and synch with the source, but risk over/under runs for jittery sources
  • Here are some recommendations:
    Usage Timer Buffer Size
    DeepSID 50Hz 1xSID On-50Hz Tiny-Medium
    DeepSID 50Hz 1xSID On-Auto Small-Large
    DeepSID 50Hz 2xSID On-Auto Medium-XLarge
    DeepSID 50Hz 4xSID On-Auto Medium-XXLarge
    SIDFactory II 50Hz 1x On-50Hz Tiny-Small
    ASID XP 50Hz 1xSID On-50Hz Tiny-Small
    ChipSynth C64 Off N/A (Asynchronous)

ASID Source setup info

  • DeepSID to stream .sid files from the internet to your C64
    • In your computer/phone browser, navigate to https://deepsid.chordian.net/
    • Select "ASID (MIDI)" from the drop-down in the upper left corner
    • Select "TeensyROM" from the "MIDI port for ASID" drop-down
    • Select your SID from the vast library and play it
    • The playback should be eminating from your C64/128!
  • ChipSynth C64 to control your SID chip directly as a synthesizer
    • Go to https://www.plogue.com/products/chipsynth-c64.html and download/install/launch "chipsynth C64"
    • Select the "EMU" tab, in the ASID box, enable output of "Synth V1" and "TeensyROM" as the destination
    • There are many things you can do with this great program, purchasing will unlock the 10 minute limit per use.
    • You can use the TeensyROM CLI tool to tweak the Chipsynth presets to work better with ASID.
    • Here's a demo video showing some of the capabilities
  • SID Factory II for cross-platform SID music editing/playing
    • As of this writing, ASID support is only available via this GitHub Branch and must be compiled. Let me know if you need help with this.
      • Hoping this will be fully released here soon.
    • Launch the SFII application
    • Press F1 on the splash page to select the TeensyROM, and Enter to continue
    • Press F10 once you're in the editor to load a song project
      • Browse to the "music" folder for some example projects
    • Click the "Output: RESID" button on top and switch it to ASID
    • Press F2 to play the song, then CTRL-P to enable "follow mode"
  • ASID XP to stream .sid files from your PC hard drive
    • Go to https://www.elektron.se/us/download-support-sidstation to download "ASID for Sidstation" and install/launch
    • Click the "Conf" button and highlight "TeensyROM", click OK
    • Either Click "Load" or drag/drop a .sid file into the window.
    • Click "Play"
    • The playback should be eminating from your C64/128!
    • You can play with the frequency to adjust the playback tempo if needed.

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