Hi all!
I’ve had my SidStation since it came out, but it’s been sitting for the past several years because it is malfunctioning. The menu system works great but the sound is mangled. My uneducated guess is that the SID chip itself is dead and needs to be replaced. Based on the sound in this short video I made, can anyone confirm this to be true? If so, where is the best place to get a replacement chip? Thanks!
This may be of assistance
If you have access to a commodore computer or another sid synth (therapsid, etc) you can install your chip and see if the strange behavior transfers with it. Sid chips are increasingly hard to acquire, delicate and currently expensive so I don’t recommend installing a genuine sid chip until you confirm the problem is only the chip itself.
Armsid (approx. half the cost of a genuine sid) is a good modern replacement. Swinsid nano (approx. half the cost of Armsid) is an inexpensive, slightly less accurate emulation but is a modern replacement comparable to armsid.
If you have no way to test your chip in anything else, you may want to start with swinsid (google it to purchase) as a test piece, at worst you’re out $30. If you want a more permanent replacement which is emulative, Armsid by retrocomp (google to purchase) is better. Both are plug and play solutions.
Sourcing a genuine sid can be tricky. Dead chips, half dead chips, counterfeit chips, overpriced chips… best bet is google but specifically I’ve seen some on etsy, occasionally reverb, you could try the lemon64 forums for resources. Again, I’d try to verify your genuine sid is bad (it probably is) before making any major purchases. Good luck, keep that station alive, you’ve got a piece of Elektron history right there.
Wow, this is great. I appreciate the all the information–it’s very helpful! I like your idea of testing it out with the less expensive option to confirm that the chip itself is the issue. I’m glad to hear they started manufacturing new chips. I was worried that even finding a functioning original chip may not have much life left in it anyway.
Thank you for this, it seems like at the ARMSID is a great option once I can confirm that my chip is in fact the issue. I like this person’s YouTube channel also, thanks for introducing me to it!
It’s a delicate thing, working around old technology. Where do you live in the world? if that’s not too invasive of a question.
I’m in the U.S. and I bought a pair of ARMsid from Martin at retrocomp, they are located in the Czech republic. Everything was very reliable, delivery was relatively quick and since I’m outside of the EU the VAT tax was deducted from the cost of my order, I have no complaints. Sounds much better than swinsid, however as a test piece and temporary fix, for $30 I’d start with swinsid unless you’re already intending to purchase ARMsid. However, the pins on armsid are a bit delicate, so you may need a chip puller to get it back out of the socket carefully if you need to remove it again. If you will end up with armsid in the long run, you may want to just start with that unless you want to try out swinsid for a while before upgrading. I just would not recommend using a genuine sid as a guinea pig.
It is indeed! I’ve just started to learn about basic equipment repair, soldering, etc to keep the gear I’ve collected over the years humming along. That in itself has been fun.
I live in the United States-Louisiana.
I believe that the sid station uses socketed chips, not soldered, so replacement should be pretty straightforward.
R&R with most socketed chips is easy if you are cautious about cleanliness and static discharge but you may want to get an IC extractor if you’re very concerned, you can probably find a cheap one that will do the job on Amazon or other big box type sites.
I’m in California and shipping ARMsid from retrocomp only took a couple weeks from order to arrival.
In a pinch, a couple of wooden toothpicks is ideal for levering out old socketed ICs
@shigginpit this is GREAT to hear it’s socketed. De/re-soldering an IC would have greatly challenged my current skill level. And thank you for the IC extractor link–these are all the little things I didn’t know existed and am still learning about.
@RustyRoses thanks for this tip! This sounds like it’s a good place to start and if I don’t have success or feel like I’m going to cause some damage I’ll invest in a proper IC extractor.
I don’t know how “regular” the assembly process was with sid station, if yours is an earlier model it could be assembled differently and it’s not like the number of sid station produced was very great to begin with. It started out as a college project for the founder of Elektron’s graduate program (something like that) and then because it was so well made, they found funding and produced more. Anyways, everything I’ve seen always has them socketed so I believe there’s little concern of needing to solder.
The other problem I’ve seen is mostly when the firmware won’t boot up and something needs to be reflashed, but to me it looked like your user interface works fine so it’s either the sid or a grounding issue in the audio path, but I would assume the chip is the issue. I just don’t want to talk out of my ass and guarantee that the problem is the chip when it could be any number of things going to or away from the chip including the socket the chip sits in. before you remove the chip, gently press down on it and make sure all legs are socketed fully and reboot one last time before removal, probably your best option as after it’s out, it’s out.
You could put it back in, but if a leg gets wonky in removal, it just becomes more complicated.
Not unobtainable, just expensive. And purchase at your own risk, look for people with measurable feedback. You’re buying the reliability of the seller as much as the quality of the chip. What will they do if there’s a problem? Can you still get in touch with them? etc. You can also find them on ALIexpress, but I don’t recommend purchasing from there because everything is an unknown quantity, in that you never know if it will be legit. If you search around there are other places to buy original chips.
…sounds like a broken chip…to me…
and all i can tell, is that very first original swedish story, all elektron is founded on…two guys get the chance to grab a last batch of original c64 chips and built their first prototype, soon to become the sidstation…if that chip has died on u, ohhh boy, that’s a problem…the originals are pretty much nowhere to get anymore these days…but hey, if anyone can make it happen, it must be U, samSID…
This inside of my SidStation is thankfully incredibly clean and seems to be in good order. The chip APPEARS to my untrained eye to be socketed. I think I’d have to unscrew the entire board to access the bottom to see if solder is involved.
The board says Rev 2.2 - so it doesn’t appear to be one of the very early models.
Good thought on trying to reseat it as a first step. Couldn’t hurt!
The new vs original chip is definitely a tough call. All being equal I’d love to have an original, but the reliability factor is troubling.
PHOTOS of the inside of my SidStation:
@reeloy Thanks! Very cool that they took the chance on those c64 chips when they could. And perhaps you’re right… maybe I’m the one to fulfill the quest!
Your chip is socketed. The socket is soldered to the board, there would be no reason to solder the chip into the socket, it’s a through hole component so you’d just solder it through the holes on the board that the socket is occupying. Looks very clean, you must have taken great care of it. If you buy an original, make sure it’s a 6581 not an 8580 otherwise the results will be unpredictable.
For my ears, armsid sounds really good. I don’t feel any regret after purchase. Here’s a couple of demos from the retrocomp site that you could find if you dig a little but I’ll just post them anyways if you want to hear what armsid sounds like outside of a youtube video.
Another thing you read about on the “internet” is that sometimes moisture can cause the chips to malfunction, there are stories of people carefully baking chips at 150 in the oven and doing a very specific heat up and cool down process to get rid of the moisture however, that is only a very specific issue, not a cure all for bad sid chips. if you google sid oven 150 or something I’m sure you’ll find it.
I just bought an 6581R4 from EBay and I managed to find one at a good price from a guy with great reviews. It was €59 + shipping so €74 from Italy to Sweden. But all the other 6581R4 was a lot more expensive on eBay… around €130-160. R4 means its revision for so the latest version on the 6581 chip. There are many 6581 regular ones for about €50-70 so you can try one of those.
I also bought a 8580R5 from the Swedish version of eBay and it wasn’t that expensive. About €45 but I don’t think it will work in the SIDstation?
Anyway make sure to find a trusted dealer and check so that the chip has been tested before you buy.
I bought mine to use with a TherapSID and now I’m just waiting for more stock är Twisted Electrons 
@shigginpit All your information has been incredibly helpful!
Those armsid demos sound fantastic–yes, I’m leaning towards something new for the reliability.