The Hardsid4u is a hardware device for Windows PC's that allows you to control four C64 SID chips either as a VSTi controled synthesizer or as a real sound device in your favorite C64 emulator. It offers four times the power of a sidstation at nearly a quarter the price! The following details are from from Hardsid.com
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Two CPUs and main memory
USB connection (compatible with both 2.0 & 1.1)
Isochronous USB endpoint for low-latency audio
VSTi interface with 8000Hz update rate on all SID registers (free)
Wave-in VSTi pin for routing 8000Hz signals to any registers (example: playing other VSTi's sound on the volume register)
Full automation of all VSTi parameters
Superior sound quality (..it is a HardSID!)
Support for up to four SID chips (6581/8580/6582 in any combination)
Updateable firmware over USB
Microsoft Vista compatible (drivers for Win2000/XP/Vista)
Cycle-accurate playback of your favorite SID tunes
Digitized sound + high-speed playback with low CPU utilization
Seamless playback of .sid tunes while you work on your PC by providing a huge playback buffer for non-VSTi applications
Supported by the HardSID 4U Winamp Plugin! (seeking, sub-tune handling, IR remote controlling)
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This particular unit I have installed 4 chips, that include 3 8580 and 1 6581 chip. As you can see by the pictures, these are easily user swappable and you can put your own chips in there. Sids vary wildly from revision to revision and even from chip to chip so you may want to swap some of these out for your own chips if you have a supply. The only chip that is questionable is chip 3, it runs oddly on some sids and the filter seems less usable than the other chips. The hardsid itself works fine as using a different chip in that socket shows no problems. I have recorded an audio demo of the chips below"
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