[137] C64 Music Tracks [Commodore] [Retro] [mp3@VBR] [adamantalias]

137 music tracks from the golden age of the commodore 64 & up to date tracks from the demo scene.

All tunes in VBR and i arranged a fading out at the end of each track.



The SID chip has three channels, each with its own ADSR envelope generator and filter capabilities. ring modulation makes use of channel N°3, to work with the other two channels. Bob Yannes developed the SID chip and later co-founded synthesizer company Ensoniq. Yannes criticized other contemporary computer sound chips as "primitive, obviously...designed by people who knew nothing about music". Often the game music has become a hit of its own among C64 users. Well-known composers and programmers of game music on the C64 are Rob Hubbard, Jeroen Tel, David Whittaker, Chris Hülsbeck, Ben Daglish, Martin Galway, Kjell Nordbø [76] and David Dunn among many others. Due to the chip's three channels, chords are played as arpeggios, coining the C64's characteristic lively sound. It was also possible to continuously update the master volume with sampled data to enable the playback of 4-bit digitized audio. As of 2008, it became possible to play four channel 8-bit audio samples, 2 SID channels and still use filtering.[77]

There are two versions of the SID chip: the 6581 and the 8580. The MOS Technology 6581 was used in the original ("breadbox") C64s, the early versions of the 64c, and the Commodore 128. The 6581 was replaced with the MOS Technology 8580 in 1987. While the 6581 sound quality is a little crisper and many Commodore 64 fans say they prefer its sound, it lacks some versatility available in the 8580 – for example, the 8580 can mix all available waveforms on each channel, whereas the 6581 can only play a single waveform per channel. The main difference between the 6581 and the 8580 is the supply voltage. The 6581 uses a 12 volt supply—the 8580, a 9 volt supply. A modification can be made to use the 6581 in a newer 64c board (which uses the 9 volt chip).

The SID chip's distinctive sound has allowed it to retain a following long after its host computer was discontinued. A number of audio enthusiasts and companies have designed SID-based products as add-ons for the C64, x86 PCs, and standalone or MIDI music devices such as the Elektron SidStation. These devices use chips taken from excess stock, or removed from used computers.