Information About the Creators of High Voltage SID Collection ============================================================= The HVSC Crew is composed of some of the biggest SID fans in the world. Below is some information about the people who helped make HVSC possible. Note: ----- The file is split into Current and Retired members, in order of them joining the HVSC team. The email adresses are spam protected, so you have to replace (sid) with the email sign @. Favourite Top 100 SIDs -------------------------------- Below is the current Top 100 favourite SIDs in HVSC according to the HVSC Crew past and present, along with SID fans that voted, so you can see at a glance which C64 tunes people like: 1. /MUSICIANS/D/Daglish_Ben/Last_Ninja.sid 2. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Wizball.sid 3. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Sanxion.sid 4. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/International_Karate.sid 5. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Commando.sid 6. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Cybernoid_II.sid 7. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Delta.sid 8. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Rambo_First_Blood_Part_II.sid 9. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Monty_on_the_Run.sid 10. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Arkanoid.sid 11. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Crazy_Comets.sid 12. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Cybernoid.sid 13. /MUSICIANS/O/Ouwehand_Reyn/Last_Ninja_3.sid 14. /MUSICIANS/G/Gray_Matt/Last_Ninja_2.sid 15. /MUSICIANS/G/Gray_Fred/Mutants.sid 16. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Knucklebusters.sid 17. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Auf_Wiedersehen_Monty.sid 18. /MUSICIANS/C/Cooksey_Mark/Ghosts_n_Goblins.sid 19. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Nemesis_the_Warlock.sid 20. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Green_Beret.sid 21. /MUSICIANS/B/Brennan_Neil/Way_of_the_Exploding_Fist.sid 22. /MUSICIANS/D/Dunn_Jonathan/Platoon.sid 23. /MUSICIANS/H/Huelsbeck_Chris/R-Type.sid 24. /MUSICIANS/D/Daglish_Ben/Cobra.sid 25. /MUSICIANS/H/Huelsbeck_Chris/Great_Giana_Sisters.sid 26. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Myth.sid 27. /MUSICIANS/F/Follin_Tim/Ghouls_n_Ghosts.sid 28. /MUSICIANS/B/Bjerregaard_Johannes/Stormlord.sid 29. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Parallax.sid 30. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Lightforce.sid 31. /MUSICIANS/D/Deenen_Charles/Zamzara.sid 32. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Comic_Bakery.sid 33. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Robocop_3.sid 34. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Yie_Ar_Kung_Fu.sid 35. /MUSICIANS/J/Joseph_Richard/Defender_of_the_Crown.sid 36. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Turbo_Outrun.sid 37. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Master_of_Magic.sid 38. /MUSICIANS/C/Clarke_Peter/Ocean_Loader_3.sid 39. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Spellbound.sid 40. /MUSICIANS/D/Daglish_Ben/Trap.sid 41. /MUSICIANS/B/Bjerregaard_Johannes/Sweet.sid 42. /MUSICIANS/H/Huelsbeck_Chris/Antics_Dulcedo_Cogitationis.sid 43. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/IK_plus.sid 44. /MUSICIANS/D/Daglish_Ben/Thing_Bounces_Back.sid 45. /MUSICIANS/D/Dunn_Jonathan/RoboCop.sid 46. /MUSICIANS/F/Future_Freak/Cooperation_Demo.sid 47. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Zoids.sid 48. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Supremacy.sid 49. /MUSICIANS/G/Gray_Matt/Driller.sid 50. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/One_Man_and_His_Droid.sid 51. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Savage.sid 52. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/ACE_II.sid 53. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Thrust.sid 54. /MUSICIANS/G/Gray_Fred/Hysteria.sid 55. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/BMX_Kidz.sid 56. /MUSICIANS/Y/Yip/Scroll_Machine.sid 57. /MUSICIANS/H/Huelsbeck_Chris/Baby_Of_Can_Guru.sid 58. /MUSICIANS/H/Huelsbeck_Chris/To_Be_on_Top.sid 59. /MUSICIANS/C/Clever_Music/Wizardry.sid 60. /MUSICIANS/W/Walker_Martin/Armalyte.sid 61. /MUSICIANS/F/Follin_Tim/Gauntlet_III.sid 62. /MUSICIANS/H/Hatlelid_Kris/Grand_Prix_Circuit.sid 63. /MUSICIANS/B/Bjerregaard_Johannes/Nightdawn.sid 64. /MUSICIANS/F/Follin_Tim/Scumball.sid 65. /MUSICIANS/B/Beben_Wally/R_I_S_K.sid 66. /MUSICIANS/F/Future_Freak/Rocky_Star.sid 67. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Mega_Apocalypse.sid 68. /MUSICIANS/H/Huelsbeck_Chris/Katakis.sid 69. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Gerry_the_Germ.sid 70. /MUSICIANS/A/ATOO/Compleeto.sid 71. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Eliminator.sid 72. /MUSICIANS/D/Daglish_Ben/Bulldog.sid 73. /MUSICIANS/C/Cooksey_Mark/Ramparts.sid 74. /MUSICIANS/D/Daglish_Ben/Ark_Pandora.sid 75. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Warhawk.sid 76. /MUSICIANS/D/Daglish_Ben/Vikings.sid 77. /MUSICIANS/F/FAME/Hendriks_Michael/Dynamic_Range.sid 78. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Times_of_Lore.sid 79. /MUSICIANS/J/JCH/Batman_long.sid 80. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Mikie.sid 81. /MUSICIANS/C/Crowther_Antony/Zig_Zag.sid 82. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Battle_Valley.sid 83. /MUSICIANS/J/JCH/Chordian.sid 84. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Combat_Crazy.sid 85. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Hawkeye.sid 86. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Short_Circuit.sid 87. /MUSICIANS/L/Laxity/DNA_Warrior.sid 88. /MUSICIANS/W/Whittaker_David/Glider_Rider.sid 89. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Kinetix.sid 90. /MUSICIANS/T/Turner_Steve/Uridium.sid 91. /MUSICIANS/B/Bjerregaard_Johannes/Thunderforce.sid 92. /MUSICIANS/H/Hubbard_Rob/Kentilla.sid 93. /MUSICIANS/B/Bjerregaard_Johannes/Crazy_Comets_remix.sid 94. /MUSICIANS/C/Clarke_Peter/Mission_of_Mercy.sid 95. /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Afterburner.sid 96. /MUSICIANS/B/Baldwin_Neil/Another_Tune_for_Joanne.sid 97. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Neverending_Story.sid 98. /MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Ocean_Loader_2.sid 99. /MUSICIANS/W/Walker_Martin/Snare.sid 100. /MUSICIANS/B/Brennan_Neil/Fist_II-The_Legend_Continues.sid ############### Current Members ############### ************************************* * Inge H.P. ("448" 1985-1991) * * - NORWAY * ************************************* Contributions ------------- Inge has ripped several SIDs and represents the Amiga community quite well. As he notes below he plans to fixe a few SIDs so that they work on _both_ PlaySID and SIDPlay (actually, he has already fixed a few). Inge also holds the 'coveted' SID Hunt MVP award which was awarded to the ripper who ripped the most SIDs from Lala's SID Hunt list. I should note that Inge almost wasn't accepted into the HVSC team due to his Hubbard comment below... ;) Comments -------- I was feeling most honoured when asked to be a part of this team. Since I got my C64 back in 1984, I have always felt a certain dragging towards the wonderful music of the SID. As I use both Amiga and PC nowadays, I feel there is next to none of the modern tracker-tunes that have that little extra like SIDmusic has. C64 History ----------- When some friends of mine got their C64's in 1983, I didn't stop bugging my parents until I got one myself. That was in spring 1984. As so many others, I started my C64-life by playing games. My first game was Terminal Software's "Super Skramble", which also my parents enjoyed. Some times later, Turbo Tape appeared at some friends, and soon we had loads of tapes with games. Later I had to buy a disk drive. I tried to learn basic during my first years, and in the end, I had made several Font-editors and the likes. In 1986, I started to learn assembly, and in 1987 I made lots of scrollers and crappy demos (You know, "demos" which consisted of a picture and a scrolltext, and some music). In August 1990 I bought an Amiga 500. Strangely enough, the years 1990-91 was my most productive years on the C64. ...until my old C64 broke down. I got it fixed late in 1992, but soon it broke down again. In 1994 I bought an A1200 which I am still using. In 1995 I bought another C64, and revived some of my C64 skills. I made a parallel cable, and suddenly I could transfer files back and forth between by C64 and Amiga. ...until I short- circuited the cable (and also my C64) in October 1996. Since then, I have done all my ripping in an emulator on Amiga. I have plans for repairing my C64, so I can convert the music that won't run properly in the emulator. The first real musical experience I had was when I heard the loader tune to Daley Thompson's Decathlon (still one of my favourites). Later, the Rambo Loader tune really made my jaw drop down on my chest. From that moment, I have been devoted to Martin Galway. Rob Hubbard has never really made it past that level in my consciousness. That does not mean that I don't like other composers too ;-) **************************** * Mariusz Mlynski - POLAND * **************************** Contributions ------------- Mariusz has sent in a lot of quality rippacks the last couple of years, and found credits for many of the polish composers. He also spotted and fixed a lot of bugged tunes, and his ongoing work was rewarded with membership of the HVSC Team in July 2003. C64 History ----------- My Commodore 64 adventures began in the early 90s: one day I first saw this cute machine whilst at my Uncle's house. This was my first contact with the computer, and I was delighted with its capabilities. On the 15th February 1993, my dream came true when I got a brand new C64 with Datassette. I spent an enormous amount of hours playing games, coding simple routines in BASIC, etc. In 1994 I bought a 1541-II (which I use to this day). Then in 1996 I got some demo-scene productions. I liked them a lot and this led me to join the C64 scene (which my brother had joined a few months earlier). I became a swapper, focussing on collecting disk covers. In late 2001 I discovered HVSC. I was astounded with its content - almost every tune I used to love in the past could be found there. After a few months of going through HVSC's directories, I realised that there are still a lot of tunes missing as well as many miscredited or badly ripped ones. "Why not help out?", I thought, and started experimenting with PSIDEdit. Today I'm a member of the HVSC crew, swapping disk covers and maintaining the Obsession covergroup, which still releases paper-stuff to the C64 scene. ***************************************************** * Chris Abbott - ENGLAND * ***************************************************** Contributions ------------- Got new SIDs out of Fred Gray and Martin Galway, bought Mat Cannon to BIT Live (where he gave new SIDs to Peter Sanden, gave permission to HVSC to feature legally all of the SIDs I administrate on behalf of the composers, also I give advice on copyright, and contribute when people have questions. Comments -------- Now Publisher to many HVSC composers, protecting their work from companies who have nothing better to do than to rip off C64 music for money and not pay the composers any of it. Also I produced the C64 remix CDs "Back in Time 1", "Back in Time 2", "Back in Time 3", "Karma64" and "Crystal Dreamscapes", although there were many other contributors to these CDs (most notable Alistair "Boz" Bowness and Marcel Donne). C64 History ----------- First met C64 in 1982, when one of the guys in my school bought one and programmed machine code Pacman (the guy went on to write "BC Basic" for Kuma, and later was a leading light at Demon UK). Got one quite a bit later, and started doing stuff on Ubik's Music. Eventually did some stuff for Superior Software on that and the BBC (only the BBC stuff actually got published). Eventually started programming MIDI renditions of C64 tunes on my AWE (pre-SID2MIDI), from which the long creative journey in C64 music began. ************************************************************ * Wilfred Bos - NETHERLANDS * ************************************************************ Contributions ------------- Has ripped several tunes and found SIDs from other collections that weren't part of HVSC. Provided a few corrected rips. Helped find some SID tune credits. Found several errors in HVSC. Author of the Acid64 player for Windows, a SID player that makes use of hardware based SID cards such as Hardsid or Catweasel. Comments -------- The 6581 and 8580 chips are incredible sound chips! If you hear all the music in this collection, then you know that most music composers are real artists. They got the best out of the SID chip and made real good music. They made special sound effects that are realy unique. There were a lot of moments that I turned on my C64 only for having some nice background music. Nowadays emulators get better and better and even various sound cards are on the market that have a real SID chip on board. C64 History ----------- I got my first C64 in 1985. In 1987 I started with 3 friends the group Channel Four. My nickname was Fred. I made a lot of demos for this group. In the beginning of 1989 I started making my own music routine. Unfortunately it wasn't finished and I lost it. That same year I sold my C64 with my whole demo collection. A few years later I had many regrets that I sold all the software with it. I bought a C64 again when I heard Sidplay 1.04 for DOS. When I play C64 tunes, a lot of memories come back... Check out my site: http://www.acid64.com *************************************************************** * Emiliano Peruch (iAN CooG) - ITALY * *************************************************************** Contributions ------------- My contribution to HVSC started unexpectedly, I just sent some rips IIRC, some fixes, I helped where I could and when time permitted. Being a fan of 6510 disassembling, it allowed me to improve my ripping skills enough to help the project, but I don't know anything about music and SID composing. From Update #49 I've took over as HVSC administrator. Comments -------- SID emulators and the HVSID helped me return to the C64 scene, which I left in '91 in favour of the PC. I never stopped listening to SID music, and I don't see any reason to stop in the future as the quality is even raised than in the past. C64 History ----------- I started my career of coder thanks to the C64 gifted to me at Xmas'83. My main interest was always peeking into other's code to find out how things worked. This took and still takes me so much time that I don't find time to actually code something by myself. My first and only C64 group lasted from 1986 to 1989, we did some cracks from originals, but noone could code intros, so we lamed ripping others changing the logos and text. *blush* At that time, not having a modem or snail mail contacts, was the only way to swap lots of disks of games/demos/tools, and spreading those cracks we made at the local schools helped a lot to know what was happening in the scene. Anyway in the 90s we all switched to PC, my group also switched to a legal form, producing freeware/shareware PC tools (anyone ever heard of or used my MultiRipper?). I also tried to do some cracks, which have never been spread, but the knowledge acquired during the C64 days helped a lot to understand x86 asm. In RealLife(TM) I work as a C coder and, rarely because I dislike it but I'm supposed to know and use it, Delphi coder. I did also some C64 scene related tools and maintained some forks of open source/PD tools in C, with my own modifications. I was a member of HokutoForce (2003-2009), now retired from the cracking scene. My main activities on C64 are: recovering lost games for Ready64.org, ripping sids for HVSC and intros for intros.c64.org, hanging about in forums and once in a while on IRC chats. ************************************************** * Sebastian Sprenger (Professor Chaos) - GERMANY * ************************************************** Contributions ------------- Several different fixes, new subtunes, and a few credits. Sometimes touched old SID's. I sent one standardized such pack as an external contributor, and within hours was invited to keep packs coming and join the HVSC Crew. Comments -------- Always wondering how SID musicians get these catchy melodies and incredible sounds! I still find old and new songs in the HVSC to become favorites, big favorites of mine... C64 History ----------- First spotted a C64 on my father's desk, in the early 1990's. It was running Boulder Dash. That alone was love at first sight... We had many disks with games, demos and tools, and I became fascinated by what you could make that machine do! Especially demo-makers were fun... Eventually got my own C64C and around the age of 10, did a few BASIC games with sprites, and custom fonts (preferably in an editor which played Traz by Jeroen Kimmel ;)). Later, I mainly switched between just playing games, trying music editors, and picking other people's programs and sounds apart. I have never been in the scene, just browsed, and posted a bit here and there, mostly at a C64 games forum. The most notable thing from me out there is probably an actual solution to the infamous comic tie-in 'Clever & Smart'; I had spent a week reading almost the entire 6510 code... ******************************* Zack Thompson (Karmic) - CANADA ******************************* Contributions ------------- Several very accurate STIL entries, started ripping tunes and providing fixes. C64 History ----------- First off, this membership was unexpected: out of all the first scene groups I could've joined, the HVSC crew was not what I was expecting. Very grateful for their considering me. I've been interested in retrocomputing for about 6 years now- and I got into the C64 about 3 years ago. Back then I was more of a C64 gamer, but then my focus shifted to the demoscene. During this transition I discovered the HVSC, and I was absolutely amazed- a SID collecting project?! With over 40000 SIDs? Then I found the STIL- and I was even more amazed! I started contributing to it and so far have made 35 textfiles of STIL entries! I started to make my own tunes (all covers, since I know nothing about composing) and then I started to learn assembly language. This allowed me to start ripping tunes. After this I got that email from iAN inviting me to the crew- my life has never been the same (not really :p)! ######################## Retired/Inactive Members ######################## *********************************************** * The Shark of International Network of Chaos * * - USA * *********************************************** Contributions ------------- The grunt work! Sorted and searched and sorted and searched. :) Eliminated a billion repeats by hand (or ear?). Dug up a few C64 titles for friends to rip. Contacted several composers asking (begging) for help. Corrected thousands of credits. Made the original release of the UPDATE tool and other SID tools such as SID2LFN. Now attempting to become a novice ripper. Comments -------- Looking back to the old days on the C64, I can't remember when I first started to really listen to the music, but I distinctively remember being blown away by Commando (Hubbard) and its very famous high-score music. After that, it was all of the tunes jammed into Lettermaker/Futurewriter that really got me hooked. No other system since has been able to compare. Also, thanks to Strider of FairLight for introducing me to SIDPlay! C64 History ----------- Upgraded from a Vic20 to a C64 in 1983. Started INC in 1987 which specialized in importing/exporting software from/to Europe, and we also managed a few USA cracks. Kept C64 to this day in order to still hear the music (and perhaps play an old game or two). ******************************** * Darren, Bod/Talent - ENGLAND * ******************************** Contributions ------------- Providing several C64 demos/games on his C64 CD which allowed us to fill in the proper credits for several tunes. Renaming the NemeSIDs collection by hand so that it could be used with SIDPlay (shortly after, a tool emerged that could do this automatically :). Provided around 50-100 SIDs for the collection. Comments -------- Being involved in some way with this SID collection means a lot to me. The 64 was part of me for a long time and listening to some of these tunes bring back so many happy and fond memories of good times and friendship that I have known through the C64 Scene since I started. C64 History ----------- I got my c64 back in 1986 and joined Hotline in 1987. Supplying, trading and cracking. In 1990 me and XXX left Hotline and started our own group Talent, later the same year we joined up with our Danish Friends in Ikari to form the best co-op that ever lived. :) Ikari & Talent. ****************************** * Michael Schwendt - GERMANY * ****************************** Contributions ------------- The author of Sidplay and the libsidplay Library, without which the collection wouldn't probably be here. As well as that, he: Added a bunch of great tune fixes. Helped find repeats in the collection. Helped with the proper identification of SID tunes. Added to and helped correct the musician list. Added several ideas to help with the collection. Answered several questions about SIDPlay and SIDs in general. Added several new tunes to the collection, and indeed wrote the current source to the update tool. Comments -------- I simply adore the SID (the MOS-6581), its sound capabilities and especially the quality of the SID tunes. Imagine, those SIDs consist only out of three voices (neglecting the virtual fourth channel for samples). In comparison, most of the existing MODules from Amiga and PC, which use several hundred kilobytes of high-quality samples, sound like crap ! Disgusting, isn't ? Btw, I think the High Voltage SIDtune Collection will be the new standard on the Net. **************************************************** * Simon White - ENGLAND * **************************************************** Contributions ------------- Back in 2000, Simon first started realising his dream of making a more cycle accurate SID emulator that could facilitiate more accurate and more C64 friendly playback of SID tunes. Through development of the libsidplay2 library used in most new SID emulators, he also fixed many a bad rip for HVSC as well as helped invent the PSIDv2NG and RSID file formats in use by HVSC today. He shadowed the HVSC Team for some time and helped them immensely with PSIDv2NG conversion, and his hard work was rewarded with full membership of the Team in September 2002. C64 History ----------- Had a C64 from about the age of eight which my dad kindly purchased. I loved the games and always aspired to be able to write some of my own. From that very early age I started learning how to program on the C64. Some four years later after a lot of use the C64 was finally retired for an Amiga, although I still have the C64 in working condition to this day. ************************* * Jan Krolzig - GERMANY * ************************* Contributions ------------- Jan provides HVSC with many a quality rip including many a requested tune from the SID Hunt. He also unearthed the whole truth about many of the Magic Disk and Game On tunes by Thomas Detert as well as providing useful credit and STIL information, and also has fixed many tunes to be PlaySID compatible . Comments -------- After seeing a C64 first time, I fell in love with it. "Katakis" was running and it was not only the perfect program or the astonishing graphics, which made me shout for joy. No, it was the great tunes, including nice sound and great compositions, which impressed me. A new period of time started for me and during the following years SID music became an important part of my life. There is no doubt that that will never change. ************************************* * LaLa (Imre Olajos, Jr.) - HUNGARY * ************************************* (note: LaLa's favourite SIDs are also in SIDPlay Lists - get them from the URL below) Contributions ------------- Indirectly was responsible for forwarding many tunes. Maintained the SID Tune Information List (STIL) until Update #16. Also runs the SID Hunt Web page, which is where to go to request a tune to be ripped for HVSC. Rumoured to be writing his first book, "The Power of Perl" at the same time ;) Comments -------- C64 music is the alpha and the omega in my life. I knew there was something special going on when I heard LOCO from Ben. Then I learned it was really Jarre - so I got into Jarre. I remember when I first heard Commando by Rob - I was just totally blown away, but the funny thing is that nobody in my neighborhood really understood why I was so crazy about such blip-blop computer muzak... The rest is history, and music in general became an essential part of my life. C64 History ----------- The first computer I have ever touched: a ZX-81 at age 6. Then came Spectrum, something I really wanted but never got 'cause my Dad bought me a C-64 instead. I don't think I will ever regret his decision. :) Have never been into the scene, but I had good contact with swappers, so I was always flooded with games and demos (who wasn't? ;). Unfortunately, I had to sell my C64 before we moved to the US from Hungary. I still remember that sad date: on October 6, 1991 I waved goodbye to my beloved machine... HVSC and Michael's SIDPLAY has truly saved my sanity!!! LaLa's SID pages (SIDPlayLists, STIL stuff, and other SID-related things) -> http://lala.c64.org ********************************************************** * Laust Brock-Nannestad - DENMARK * ********************************************************** Contributions ------------- Laust's main contributions has been with the STIL. He created the HTML STIL pages, added many new entries, and then later created a STIL-syntax-checker. In addition to helping with the STIL, Laust has identified many incorrect credits and other problems with in HVSC and from Update #16 to Update #49 has been the STIL Administrator. After having formally retired from HVSC, he still helps checking STIL before updates. Comments -------- It will come as no surprise when I say that SID music takes up a large amount of my time. In fact, a day rarely goes by without Sidplay playing in the background while I work. Ever since I made my first tape recording of SID tunes, years ago, I've been comforted and amazed by the diversity of the tunes and the SID chip in general. Especially when you consider the SID's complexity compared to the sound capabilities of other 8-bit systems in the eighties. C64 History ----------- After a brief period with access to a ZX81-clone and a CP/M machine, I finally got the thing I wanted: A C64. Some of my first games were Phantoms of the Asteroid and Commando and even back then I knew there was something special about the music in those games - in fact I bought specific games (such as the not too exciting W.A.R) just because it had music by Rob Hubbard. Now how's that for dedication? :-). As the C64 market dwindled, so did my interest in the C64. I kept my C64 on my desk, but used it less and less. Then one day I bought a shareware CD that had Sidplay v1.10 on it. I was ecstatic! - suddenly having the sound of the C64 combined with the convenience (and storage capability) of the PC. I didn't have any tunes but the four built-in ones, but it was enough to keep me going until I found a 500kb pack of assorted tunes on another CD. Soon after that, I got Internet access, which meant the newest Sidplay and the NemeSIDs collection. However, the NemeSIDs collection was soon replaced with the High Voltage Sid Collection, due to its many advantages. Then after HVSC v2.0 was released I got in touch with LaLa and started submitting STIL entries. Following that, the HTML version of the STIL was born. ******************************************* * Warren Pilkington (Waz/Padua) - ENGLAND * ******************************************* Contributions ------------- Warren is quite an authority on British software houses. This has lead him to send us quite a number of credit fixes in addition to providing some interesting C64 music/game history. Warren has also provided tons of tunes, added several STIL entries, fixed bad rips, and has contacted many composers for some proper information as well as filtering out many a repeat. Took over from The Shark as main admin after Update #11 and retired after Update #34. Comments -------- For me, the SID chip was ahead of its time when launched into the C64 many years ago. The original 6581 was simply a design for life, and soon realised many great themes from the likes of Rob Hubbard and Martin Galway. What was more, most tunes didn't sound like 'chip' music at all, they were soundtracks for a generation of gaming. If you look at most modern game developments, the backbone of C64 musicians are still influencing computer gaming soundtracks today. In years to come may people listen to this collection and realise how memorable C64 music really is. C64 History (now condensed :) ----------------------------- I first got a Commodore Plus/4 in 1985 and spent many a day using one. However I really wanted a C64 and realised my dream in 1987. Imagine my shock when I heard Rob Hubbard's 'Thalamusik' (the Sanxion Loading theme) for the first time. It blew me away, and is still my favourite C64 tune ever written. In September 1988, my first C64 game tips (for Stormbringer) were published in Zzap! 64. From then until late 1991 I contributed a stack of tips, listings and POKEs to Zzap! 64, sometimes under my nickname of "Waz". Whilst contributing, Robin Hogg who worked there also got me into writing music hacks for games. Later, I started to contribute numerous tips and listings to Commodore Format (1991-1996). In 1991, I also formed my 'group' Zaw Productions (even though it's mostly me) for mainly writing C64 music. I also helped Peter de Bie a fair bit with his ambitious 'Screens' collection, and in many ways this was a precursor to what HVSC is now. I've also had some music of mine in games, and I still am writing C64 music as well as writing two regular articles for 'Commodore Zone' magazine and tracking down ex-Zzap! 64 reviewers for old times. I'm also contributing to the last ever issue of Zzap! 64 along with being a member of the C64 demo group Padua. Padua (style is innate): http://www.padua.org/ **************************************** * Gabriele Priarone (G-Knight) - ITALY * **************************************** Contributions ------------- Provided several credit fixes. Sent in some SIDs after learning how to rip. Ran the old HVSC News web page which keeps track of the latest rips submitted to the HVSC crew. He is now working on a collection of Amiga game music tunes. Contact him if you are willing to help. Comments -------- I still remember the days passed listening to C64 music. I often loaded some games only to hear their awesome music. I then recorded many tapes with hours of C64 musics on them to hear them whenever I was willing to. Most people don't understand the real meaning of music. It doesn't matter the sounds, doesn't matter the quality, the only thing that should be considered are the melodies. Most people think C64 music is crap only because it doesn't feature real drums or famous musicians' speech.. well, they'll never know what they're missing. C64 History ----------- The first computer I've ever seen was a ZX-Spectrum at the age of 7 ...damn, I can't really remember what I saw, but I was amazed by the things it could do. I and my brother decided to buy it, but my father thought that would have been better to buy a C64. It was 1987. I've never regretted his decision. I still remember my first original game I've ever played: DeathWish 3 with awesome music by Ben Daglish. This was the first happy moment of my life. The second happy moment of my life was 8 years later, when i found SidPlay V1.23b in a BBS with a little collection of music included... Until then I thought I was the only fool who listened daily to C64 music, but I was not alone! :) ************************************************************ * Michal Hoffmann (Smalltown Boy/MultiStyle Labs) - POLAND * ************************************************************ Contributions ------------- Michal contributed to the HVSC effort for some time, whether it be rips from various C64 demos, many correct STIL entries and indeed other useful information along the way. He also is in touch with the current Polish C64 scene providing an important link between the composers and HVSC, and his hard work was rewarded with membership of the HVSC Team in September 2002. He is still an active C64 composer as well. Comments -------- Just thanks to all those freaks writing emulators of old 8- and 16-bit systems for PC. Without them, my life would most probably be a little blank and boring. Go back to the 80's y'all!... C64 History ----------- I got my C64 in 1988, sold it in 1992. What interested me the most in it was games and music, but I had been too young and unexperienced to compose my own songs. However, after I had sold my breadbox, I decided to become a musician - note that the C64 music was the main inspiration for that - and I did so. I discovered the C64 again thanks to emulators in 1999. Since then, I've been fulfilling my childhood dreams by making sidmusic and taking part in C64 scene life. ********************************* * Kristoffer Johansson - SWEDEN * ********************************* Contributions ------------- Ripped a ton a highly requested tunes as well as making better rips of tunes already in HVSC. Also provided credit fixes and some other great information. Comments -------- SID music simply makes me feel good. The songs from the good old 64 have a musical honesty, brought by the crude environment in which they were created. And every now and then, the quality of the these compositions really astonish me. True art, of our time. ****************************************** * Pawel Ruczko (Murdock/Tropyx) - POLAND * ****************************************** Contributions ------------- Provided quite a few quality fixes of bugged tunes to us, kindly assisted with some of the more difficult to rip SID tunes and sent a lot of valuable STIL entries. He's a skilled ripper and thus was awarded HVSC membership in April 2005. Comments -------- C64 music was always the main part of my life, since I got my C64. Since the beginning I was just addicted to several songs from the famous games and cracktros. Mostly I'm into late 80's 0ldsk00l zaks which blow my mind all the time! Looking up nowadays, I'm quite dissapointed that so many people aren't showing their respect to the SID chip and uses PC for composing tunes for C64. Anyway, my life without C64, especially C64 music would be quite boring. So I'm thankful for the luck that I met this computer in the past and stayed where I should be. Big respect for all Music-Coders! C64 History ----------- My first encounter with the C64 was in 1990 at a friend's place. I got my own one in early 1993, but only used it for playing tape games. In 1995 I founded that one person label Tropyx and named myself V-12. I released a fair bit of my selfmade BASIC programs under that handle but only got in contact with the scene in 1999 when I found it's time to change my handle to Howling Mad Murdock (H.M.Murdock), I learned assembler and got some new members to Tropyx. In 2000 I found a new addiction: Ripping tunes out of demos and games just for my own fun, without even know about the existance of HVSC at all. I started composing, first in Hardtrack, later Future Composer and finally in SID Duzz'it! I'm still active in the scene as musician, coder and swapper, and I'm quite proud to say that I'm still doing it all on the real thing, without touching an emulator at all. ***************************************** * Peter Sandén (Panda/Defiers) * * - SWEDEN * ***************************************** Contributions ------------- Peter's long been a regular contributor to HVSC, whether it be rips, STIL info or just general feedback to make the collection better. In addition, he has reported many a bug (and fixed them at the same time) along with quality credit fixes. His work was rewarded with HVSC Team membership as of Update #20. Now maintains the C64 composers gallery page at http://composers.c64.org/ Comments -------- I'd just want to thank all the great C-64 composers for all the lovely songs they made... I've spend countless hours listening to SIDs. C64 History ----------- I got my first C-64 in 1983. I was a member of several unknown groups before I became a member of The Defiers in 1988. Between 1987 and 1991 I was mostly interested in the music, so I ripped all songs that crossed my computer. I had around 10 disks with ripped music at that time. I sold the C-64 (A sad day. I finished my last C-64 demo 2 minutes before they took my computer.) When I got my first C-64 emulator on the Amiga, I started to rip again, and I was one of the contributors for the NemeSIDs Collection. Now I use my PC for ripping using CCS64. Recently I bought a HardSID, which gives me the real C-64 sound again! If you want to see my old crappy demos, take a look at: http://hem1.passagen.se/tralala/index.htm ********************************************* * Jan Diabelez Arent Harries * * Rambones/The Supply Team, 1985-1989 * * - DENMARK * ********************************************* Contributions ------------- Added several hundred new tunes from his collection and others. Helped verified SID musician list. Ripped even more tunes (has this guy ripped the most of anyone?). Helped with giving several tunes the proper credits. Added a few ideas that helped make the collection better. And even now he still tirelessly rips SIDs :) In 2007 he became admin, and has now added ~4500 tunes to the collection. Retired from HVSC in 2011 after a long break. Comments -------- C64 History ----------- I got C64 in 1985, and quickly met TSN and Kaze who then formed The Supply Team. 1986 I made my first assembler code, and 87-88 was spent doing demos and learning to make music. In 1988 I got an Amiga 500, and became quickly a MOD musician. In 1991 came PlaySID for Amiga, and I ported the first 300 tunes to that small collection. In 1993 it became organized, and in those years i ripped thousands of tunes, which were incorporated into the NemeSIDs collection. 1996 came the PC days, and I joined the HVSC crew at birth. 1995-1998 I started to compose C64 music again, and in 2005 I released a new musicdisk entitled SID Expander. Since 2004 I have attended several C64 scene parties on a regular basis, and 2005 saw the birth of my new group Ancients. Joined also Gheymaid Inc. in 2007. ********************************************************** * Adam Lorentzon - SWEDEN * ********************************************************** Contributions ------------- Added new conversion options to SIDPlay (Win) that helped out this collection tremendously. Provided a ton of credit fixes. Helped identify tunes in the collection. Relayed several new SIDs and now has become a proficent ripper himself. Also maintains the up to date Windows version of Sidplay. Comments -------- Check out the C64 Games WWW Page at http://www.gsldata.se/c64/spw/ It has the SIDPLAY/Windows homepage amongst other bits of C64 nostalgia, and a massive list of links. *************************************************************** * Andreas Varga (mr.sid) - AUSTRIA * *************************************************************** Contributions ------------- Has provided several rips and is known for his mega-fast transfering of party competition SIDs to PSID format. Provided some credit fixes and other useful information. The lone MacOS representative. :) Comments -------- SID music is an integral part of my life. Not a single day passes without me spending at least an hour listening to my favourite tunes. I remember the early spring of 1987. I was 11 years old, sitting in school, with my walkman, playing a tape of Commando by Rob Hubbard. My teacher took it away... Man, I was pissed ! :) Gosh, this was FOURTEEN years ago !! C64 History ----------- Laming around in the non-existent Austrian scene. mr.sid's web site -> http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426444/ *********************************************************** * Stephan Schmid - GERMANY * *********************************************************** Contributions ------------- Stephan had ripped many tunes and contributed information to the HVSC effort for the last two years plus. His hard work and dedication in ensuring that demo tunes were ripped correctly along with providing quality STIL entries not only helped his efforts with his Demo Dungeon website, but improved HVSC's quality also, and was rewarded with membership of the HVSC Team in September 2002. He still maintains the Demodungeon site which is a useful place to go if you wish to find which SID tunes appeared in which demo. Comments -------- I'm actually one of the few HVSC members that spends more time in the /VARIOUS directory than with the major composers - and I mean *much* more! Not that I dislike the classic game-tunes, not at all. My favourite game- composer is Jeroen Tel - but for the same reason why I listen to so much of the /VARIOUS composers: They managed to push the soundcapabilities of the SID to - and sometimes seemingly over its limits while still main- taining a high level of musical quality paired with skillful compositions. C64 History ----------- My first real memories to SID music are the MASH demo with Hubbard's Sanxion and the Wanderer crackintro with Fred Gray's Hysteria, #3 playing. I remember I could listen to these tunes virtually for hours. Then I got into demos, fascinated by how they expanded the limits of the C64. At about the same time I discovered the HVSC and found fun in locating all the demotunes in the collection, however quite a few of them I couldn’t find. So I requested *tons* of tunes at LaLa's Big SID Hunt before Warren Pilkington and Peter Sandén taught me how to rip. The Demo Dungeon (nearly 300 demos with lots of screenshots, ratings, comments and all the sidtunes that appeared in the demos): -> www.demodungeon.com - for your daily dose of demos! ************************************************* * Stefan Wolff - DENMARK * ************************************************* Contributions ------------- Ripped SidHunt tunes and other requested tunes. Bug reports, STIL info and credit fixes. A long time user of SIDs in general and HVSC in particular, given the chance to give something back, joined the HVSC team as of Update #45. Comments -------- Although there are many good compositions in the VARIOUS and DEMOS directories, the other directories are the ones I listen to the most. Whereas most of the tunes in the former directories sound like Sound Monitor, Future Composer or JCH Editor, the instruments in the latter directories are a lot more varied, more "special". C64 History ----------- Started out with a Commodore 16 in the mid eighties. Hacked around with the built-in machine code monitor and the one tape original I owned (Rockman/Mastertronic). Sold the C16 after about a year to buy a Commodore 64. I began ripping music, programming demos and cracking games for small-time Danish groups until, in the early nineties, when I had to sell my C64 (and disks!) to raise the cash needed to buy an Amiga. Although I coded some demo effects on the Amigas that followed the C64, they never really caught on, so I returned to the C64 in about 1997. ********************************************** * Rafal Szyja (Raf/Vulture Design) * * - POLAND * ********************************************** Contributions ------------- hmm.. some stil entries? Comments -------- C64 music always fascinated me and STIL hunting is just very fun . I listen to SID nearly every day and I'm a fan of various electronic music and sounds. Search for me over the internet if you would like to know more :) C64 History ----------- I started to use my cousin's C64 in 1993 but eventually got mine in 1995 and used it on every-day basis up to early 2000. this is very important machine to me because my IT fascination which still continues started with my old lovely white C64G breadbin. I've got regular access to internet around 2001-2002 and I instantly started to see what's still going on with commie. in the past I always wanted to be part of scene but I was affraid I was too young to be noticed by anyone and at that time surely my parents would make me troubles contacting older ppl ;-) in 1998 I was 12 yrs old and the only in my district who used commie to do other things than exclusively playing games. *sigh* :) ********************************************** * Mariusz Rozwadowski (Ramos/Samar) - POLAND * ********************************************** Sadly, Mariusz unexpectedly died of a heart attack on August 15, 2015. His contribution to HVSC and the Commodore 64 scene was invaluable. He will be sorely missed. Contributions ------------- After ripping over 1000 tunes for HVSC and providing lots of STIL entries we thought it's about time to invite him to the HVSC team together with Murdock. Comments -------- Since I got my own C64 the music from this machine always accompanied me. Because of HVSC I was able to find this music once again. C64 History ----------- My adventure with the C64 has started in 1990 when I got this computer after passing exams to highschool. In 1993 I discoverd the scene, and I founded the group Samar, which is still active today. I was working as a musician, graphician and coder but as I wasn't too good at it I became a swapper eventually. When I discovered HVSC I found that it wasn't all complete and there were a lot of tunes in my personal collection that were missing in HVSC. So I wanted to create my own archive, but after some time I came to the conclusion that it's better to join forces with HVSC rather than having two independent collections out there on the net. *********************************************************************** * Tobias Samuelsson (McLoaf) - SWEDEN * *********************************************************************** Contributions ------------- Has always supported the HVSC crew by submitting numerous bug reports. Due to his great eye for details he has been invited to the HVSC crew's quality assurance team. He even sent his first rip in 2009 (and not a $1000/$1003 tune!), so there's great potential to be uncovered! ;-)