Description
With SIDBlaster you can use a genuine SID-sound chip for C64 emulation, playback of SID tunes and music production as a little box on the USB port of a personal computer.
This is my own version based on the schematic of SIDBlaster-USB Tic Tac Edition. SIDBlaster-USB Nano uses only SMD components and doesn’t have analog audio input and support for paddle controller – features that most people don’t use.
My board has USB-C connector and stereo 3,5 mm audio jack. Mono audio from SID is routed to both channels of audio jack. This makes it easy to connect SIDBlaster-USB Nano to common audio equipment with stereo 3,5mm input.
As the FT232RL USB UART IC used on the board supports USB2 only, USB-C connector is wired for USB2 so you need USB-A to USB-C cable for connecting this to PC. USB-C to USB-C cable doesn’t work. At least not on my Thinkpads.
The project is fully open source and all design files are available on my Git if you want to create your own boards.
Jumper settings
J1: Open for 12V SID 6581
Closed for 9V SID 8580
J2,J3: 1-2 for 6581
J2,J3: 2-3 for 8580
Includes
SIDBlaster-USB Nano board (SID chip not included)
3 x Jumper
I also designed a 3D printed case for this. You can find the design files from my Git.
SIDBlaster-USB Nano hardware revision history
V1.2 – Filter capacitor added between USB GND and shield GND. Shorter and parallel USB datalines from USB connector to FT232RL. Lower SID background noise compared to V1.1 (and also Tic-Tac Edition)
Better compliance to USB specification. Resettable fuse added to VBUS for over voltage and over current protection. “Soft start” circuit added to limit current draw when USB is connected.
V1.1 – Initial release.
