Hello everyone,



HVSC Update #35 is now available for you to download
at www.hvsc.c64.org
This update is the first from our new administrator Jan Harries.


Please note: you must use update tool version 2.8.2 to run this

update successfully.  The Windows version is included with the

update, for other OSes please see the Downloads page at the HVSC

web site at http://www.hvsc.c64.org/Downloads/



After this update, the collection should contain 20,660 SID files.



This update features (all approximates):

     276 new SIDs

     102 fixed/better rips

      38 fixes of PlaySID/Sidplay1 specific SIDs (ie: RSID files)

       6 repeats/bad rips eliminated

     368 SID credit fixes




---------------------------------
HardSID Quattro PCI Now Available
---------------------------------

The HardSID Quattro PCI is now available for purchase, with
hopefully the option of a HardSID PCI with just one SID
to come in the future.  For all you PC owners who don't
have an ISA slot, this could be the upgrade you need.  The
Windows drivers work with anything from Windows 98 upwards,
and there's already an unofficial version of the VICE emulator
available which supports the card (as of course does Sidplay2/w)

More information at http://www.hardsid.com/

---------------------------------------
Catweasel Mark 3 PCI card Now Available
---------------------------------------

The HardSID isn't the only PCI card for the PC which allows you
to use a real SID, though.  The Catweasel PCI is also out there
and already looks like a worthwhile purchase, not least as
there's C64 joystick ports so you can use your old favourite
C64 sticks on the PC.  The card is a "flipper" card, so upside
down it can also be used in the Zorro port of an Amiga. 
The product is already supported in various Linux, MacOS and
BeOS products, with Windows support to follow soon (the 1.12
release of the VICE emulator will support it, apparently.)

http://www.jschoenfeld.de/products/cwmk3_e.htm

-------------------------
MacOS SID-related updates
-------------------------

Andreas Varga, one of the HVSC Team, has been very busy on the
MacOS front lately.  He's been involved in three new Mac OS X
releases which are:

* Sidplay 3.1.2, which supports the Sidplay1 and
  Sidplay2 emulation libraries, as well as the Catweasel card,
  as well as many other great features including auto-updating
  of HVSC
* Sidplug, the browser SID plug in, which now has Sidplay2
  emulation library support, meaning you can play RSID files
  from web pages if you wish, as  well as having better SID
  emulation in the plugin.
  (Hopefully someone can port this over to Windows, too)
* GoatTracker, the C64 music editor for PC, now ported to the
  Mac, which again also has Catweasel support built-in.

If you're a Mac OS X user, you simply have to download the lot:

http://www.sidmusic.org/sidplay/mac/

---------------------------
Back in Time Live - Germany
---------------------------

Saturday June 21, 2003 is the date for the first Back in Time
Live! event held outside the UK.  Not only are there going to
be a wealth of C64 remixers there, but also C64 high score
competitions, celebrities including Thomas Detert and Markus
Schneider, and other C64-scene related people from Europe
coming along as well.  To pre-register for the event, and to
find out more, go here:

http://www.backintimelive.de/

------------------------------------------------
SIDWine2 Competition Results and SIDLin Magazine
------------------------------------------------

Recently, SID fan and author of SIDLin magazine, Stefano
Tognon, held the second online SIDWine music competition.
There were a total of twelve entries, with a wide range
of musical styles featured.  Voting has closed and the
end results were very close indeed.  The tunes should be
in the next HVSC Update, but if you're eager to listen to
them before then, why not pay a visit to the competition
page to download all the tunes, including a nice C64 music
selector program at:

http://digilander.libero.it/ice00/tsid/sidwine2/

Stefano's SIDLin magazine is also a good read too, and
features not just about the music, but the technical
aspects as well.  Very interesting reading here:

http://digilander.libero.it/ice00/tsid/sidin/

------------------------------------
Winamp SIDPCC64 plugin now available
------------------------------------

Jakub Wozniakowski has released a plugin for Winamp that
doesn't just play SID tunes (bearing in mind the old
SIDamp plug in is hopelessly out of date these days)
- he's gone one better than that.  The plugin actually
allows playing back SID files on a real C64 connected
to the PC by using the PC64 cable.  So your real C64
does all the playing work using something like HVSC
stored on your PC.  Neato, eh?  Find out more at:

http://strony.wp.pl/wp/xray64/sidpc64/

-----------------------------------------
Domination Disk Magazine SID chip special
-----------------------------------------

The new issue of Domination, Issue #18 deals with the
SID chip indepth.  It has a lot of interesting articles
based around the SID chip, tips and tricks by one of
the best modern-day composers, Søren Lund (Jeff), four
interviews with SID composers, a broad opinion poll, etc.
Why not find out more by downloading the issue here:

http://www.demodungeon.com/zip/domination18.zip

--------------------------------
Press Play on Tape live concerts
--------------------------------

The C64 tribute/remix band, Press Play on Tape recently
played a storming live concert at The Gathering Party in
Norway.  In their new very Kraftwerk-like outfits, the
band produced a tight set which will be well worth a listen
(the band recorded the whole concert and it may well be
available soon).  They also played a small warm up
concert in Copenhagen, Denmark prior to their Gathering 
gig.  For information and pictures of both events, go here:

http://www.pressplayontape.com/

------------------------------
New version of PSID64 released
------------------------------

Roland Hermans has kindly taken time to update his
.sid->.prg converter, PSID64, which is commonly used to
transfer .sid files onto a real Commodore 64. Version 0.6
has some incompatibility problems fixed and is definitely
worth a download, as Roland cooperates with the HVSC team
and his program is progressing so it could play back all
tunes from HVSC flawlessly - and is getting close to that
point.
Note that HVSC team _strongly_ encourages you to use PSID64
for playing .sid files on a real machine, as some of them
will not play otherwise (e.g. those using NMI interrupts and
going back from INIT with the RTS command).

Get this program today from http://psid64.sourceforge.net

------------
C64audio.com
------------

C64Audio.com announced that it has now paid over £20,000 to C64
composers since 1997, in royalties and other payments: many of the composers
were also given generous sales bonuses because we respected them so much,
and because C64Audio.com's mission has always been to work on behalf of
the original composers, form a commercial link between them and the fans
(for both SID covers and original music), and work to bring the SID music
we love into the mainstream.

This £20,000 represents over 50% of the profits generated on the CDs: the
rest has gone into live events, funding future CDs and artists, and of
course
the running costs involved in creating a professional infrastructure.

C64Audio.com also now administers the copyrights of many of the main
composers, and has given explicit permission to HVSC (and only HVSC) to
carry these SIDs. This protects the scene from ripoffs of HVSC, and
ripoffs of SID music by bigger companies who only care about making
a quick buck.

The site will shortly be relaunched with a brand new shop, brand new content
and a brand new mission!

------------------------
Other interresting sites
------------------------
In-depth info about the SID.
The site really is worth visiting.

http://www.kubarth.de/sid/
