Make chiptune on your iPad with SidTracker64

By Ben Rogerson
( Computer Music )
published

New app is unashamedly retro

If you're of a mind to start creating chiptune on your iPad, Daniel Larsson's SidTracker64 might just become your favourite new app.

This emulates the classic SID sound chip that was used in the Commodore 64, and gives you the all-important tracker-style sequencer to work with. The app comes bundled with "songs and sounds in various styles," and you can also create new chiptune classics.

Although this is very much a retro app, you do get such modern niceties as MIDI keyboard/controller input, Audiobus 2 and Inter-App Audio support, and MIDI clock for syncing to other apps and hardware. Songs can be exported as audio or as .sid or even .prg files, which can be run on a real Commodore 64.

Specs are below, and you can buy SidTracker64 now from the Apple App Store for £9.99/$12.99. You'll need an iPad running iOS 7 or later if you want to use it.

SidTracker64 features

SID synthesizer engine specs

  • Fully emulated SID 8580 R5 chip
  • 3 separate voices
  • 8 waveforms - tri, saw, pulse with pwm, noise, trisaw, tripulse, sawpulse, nowave
  • Wavetable editing
  • 3 volume envelopes
  • Dedicated vibrato controls
  • 1 multimode filter LP/BP/HP (12/6/12db) with sweep envelope
  • Filter table editing. Change filter cutoff and modes up to 1/240
  • Hard sync and Ringmod per voice
  • PWM sweep envelope
  • PWM table editing
  • Hard restart
  • Variable emulation speed from 25-240hz (standard 50)
  • 32 instruments per song (copy/paste/rename)

Tracker (sequencer)

  • 3 voice patterns
  • Mute voices on/off
  • Change instrument per step
  • FX pattern - change volume/filter/speed per step
  • Loop pattern
  • Song building
  • Live or step recording
  • Metronome / count in
  • Follow mode
  • Note effects (Glide/sustain/vibrato/filter & pulse reset/tie)
  • Song mode with transpose

MIDI

  • Keyboard input 1-3 voices (mono, duo and polyphonic)
  • CC-assignable synth parameters
  • Modulation wheel vibrato
  • Pitch bend
  • MIDI Clock in
  • Selectable input channel

Export

  • .s64 - native SidTracker 64 file
  • .m4a - audio
  • .sid - for use in sidplayer
  • .prg - exports play data for a real Commodore 64
Ben Rogerson
Ben Rogerson

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.