This is a drop-in replacement of the original SID (Sound Interface Device) sound chip of the C64. The SID was legendary in its day and played circles around its competition. The SID was an extraordinary chip for the time and for a home computer.

The SID, while an awesome piece of hardware, doesn't last forever and the original chips are getting harder to find and more expensive. We are talking about 40+-year-old semiconductors. On top of that, there are two versions of the chip, one for the older C64 boards and one that was introduced with the latter versions of the C64C, the wedge-shaped 64. These chips run different voltages and are not interchangeable.

This is where the SIDKick Pico comes into play. This is a fully compatible chip based on a Raspberry Pi Pico that does all the heavy lifting. There are several different replacements for the SID out there and the SIDKick is one of the better solutions. It is capable of emulating two SID chips for stereo sound and emulates both the 6581 and the 8580 versions of the chip. This is the version with the built-in DAC and has direct left and right channel audio access via 4 external pins. If stereo sound is required, additional soldering is necessary. Instructions for this are readily available on the Internet

The original SID is an analog and digital device, which makes it hard to reverse engineer. Hence, all replacements are based on emulations of the original. What makes this one special is simply that it offers enough computing power to emulate two SIDs at the same time, is true to the original sound as possible and is reasonably cheap to build, all things considered.

Once installed, power up your C64 and type SYS54301. This will open a little configuration utility where you can set the SID model, whether it is a dual SID setup, the volume and which emulation to use.

If your SID chip isn't socketed, I recommend unsoldering the chip and replacing it with a 28-pin socket rather than soldering the SIDKick onto the motherboard directly. This will allow for easy installation and removal if necessary.

I have set this module up for internal left channel output as it is the most common scenario. If you require both, the left and right channels to be accessible externally, please open jumper "L" on the SIDKick PCB on the top left when seen from underneath.

SIDKick Pico is a shared project by Frntc. All project files and documentation are available on GitHub.

Note: The SIDKick is powered by the socket on the C64, NOT the USB port. DO NOT connect USB while the C64 motherboard is powered up. The USB port is only for flashing firmware.