Developer [frntc] has recently come up with a smaller and less expensive way to not only replace the SID chip in your Commodore 64 but to also make it a stereo SID! To top it off, it can also hold up to 16 games and launch them from a custom menu. The SIDKick Pico is a simple board with a Raspberry Pi Pico mounted on top. It uses a SID emulation engine based on reSID to emulate both major versions of the SID chip — both the 6581 and the 8580. Unlike many other SID replacements, the SIDKick Pico also supports mouse and paddle inputs, meaning it replaces all functionality of the original SID!
Sound can be generated in three different ways: either using PWM to create a mono audio signal that is routed out via the normal C64/C128 connectors, an external PCM5102A DAC board, or using a different PCB design that has pads for an on-board DAC and TL072 op-amp. While many Commodore purists dislike using replacement chips, the reality is that all extant SID chips were made roughly 40 years ago, and as more and more of them fail, options like the SIDKick Pico are an excellent way to keep the sound of the SID alive.
If you want to hear the SIDKick Pico in action, you can check out the samples on the linked GitHub page, or check out the video below by YouTuber Wolfgang Kierdorf of the RETRO is the New Black channel. To get your hands on a SIDKick Pico, you can follow the instructions on the GitHub page for ordering either bare PCBs or pre-assembled PCBs from either PCBWay or your board manufacturer of choice.
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