Why so much? Or maybe these are just sponsored articles that have been frequently seen lately and are intended to increase sales.

The only serious thing I know about Commodore is that Amiga 1200 was used for creating a liquid metal robot for Terminator 2. But C64?

How about music production? Was it that useful as Atari equipped with MIDI?

 

Only if they redo the sound chips faithfully... which they most likely will not and it's going to be emulation. So I might as well run the emulation on my existing computers or fish out my Amigas out of the storage.

Oh, and the liquid metal CGI in T2 was done using Silicon Graphics gear, like most of the advanced computer graphics of the era.

 

I still have a Passport MIDI interface for mine, came with some 8 track sequencer software. I don't know that I would want to use it for music production, at best all it can do is sequence and it's not like the Passport or even Steinberg's old software can use the SID.

 

Is this the project led by Retro Recipes a.ka Perifractic (Christian Simpson)? Aren’t they only bringing back the 64?

In any case, I don’t recall hearing the 64 being used for pro music that much. Apple (Macintosh) was already a thing. The SID chip was an absolute classic for games, though, and guys like Rob Hubbard and Martin Galway did wonders with it.

The Amiga became hugely popular with its Trackers. Used heavily in the MOD demo scene and among jungle / drum’n’bass heads. The Atari was the pro musician choice, with its included MIDI ports, used lots as a sequencer and basically as an early DAW (it was mostly only MIDI though).

 

C64 + midi interface + Yamaha DX100 + Kawai r100 + 4 Track Fostex = awesome ( I did a lot of work with this setup)

C64 was pretty capable - my current mac bugs out way more often LOL

 

The only thing I can wring from the Commodore C64 is the legendary SID chip. Here are 3 plugins:
HyperSynths - SIDizer v1.4 VSTi
reFX - quadraSID .v1.6.2 VSTi
de la Mancha - basic 65 VSTi - Free
https://delamanchavst.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/basic65-retro-chiptune-synth-is-released-for-free

 

This could be very interesting. The YouTuber behind this project is actually well respected in the retro computing scene so I have good hopes in this.

The C64 was the computer of my childhood and even if I never used it for music (mainly for games TBH), I would be very happy to have my hands on it all over again. What a blast from the past that could be.

As of the SID chip, it has been reverse engineered for a long time so this isn't the main challenge of the whole project. Even a software VICE emulator is emulating the 6581 fairly accurately so I'm not worried about that.

What remains to be seen is how compatible it will be with the genuine hardware accessories such as the 1541 disk drive (among others).

 

There are so many ways to emulate things i don't care.

Only C64 SID chip is worth it to me.
And ppl already scavenged almost all C64 just for the chip, to build synths.
I seen on internet a C64 pile ... only missing part was SID.

C64 still sell at 120 euros.
Add this and run :
https://mssiah.com/

If i have Amiga nostalgia, i use an emulator with Stunt Car Racer
I got an Atari ST too

 

nice selection!

there is also the new: Plogue Chipsynth C64
and the older NI Reaktor Ensemble: Impact Soundworks InSIDious

By the way, still have my Amiga 500, 1200 - also i am still active in the Demoscene.
I have used my Amiga in the early 90s with Octamed Studio and a Midi Interface and some external Synths. It worked very well back then.

 

The 90’s kid in me would still like an actual Amiga 1200 at some point (I had an A500 back then), but emulation has been so good for years now, there’s no point really. These days you can conveniently even play most of those games on a Raspberry Pi (with RetroPie).

 

The Atari reads MIDI files from top to bottom could get slight lag with plenty of tracks, so always used to put drums and bass lines on top tracks, i still do that today only, cos its visually desireable/helpful.

Still got about 140 songs started or finished on Atari MIDI, a fair few made it to vinyl, occasionally bring one into my DAW, a lot of them have JV 1080 Performances, and Akai S3000 etc, not interested though, one day maybe. Taken loadsa my own samples from cassette tapes down decades, will do a free sample pack eventually, there's already two availble on my website for free.

 

I still have a commodore 64 - disks won't work anymore. The dsp chip character can be recreated with digital software. The system itself is nothing special. It takes 5" floppies and you have to query sectors of the drive film to load things. Music workflow is relatively nonexistant and pretty much a programmer's chore - its what they HAD to work it. The OP-1 synth had similar character but with higher definition capabilities.

 

Bars & Pipes!

 

reminds me on that analog times/digital times dynamics . in past pls no noise and today anolog gui and analog degraders and so on , you get what i mean .

same like jungle and s1100 it is with 8 bit stuff...if you really want to come near enough the 1:1 sound you can achive it in modern ways .
... hell who want that 80ies/90ies workflow , me not .....even my second name is nostalgia.

EDIT...ok synth/sampler is another story but i guess c64 dont give me the cs80 or mirage bass eh eh

 

As for C64, it is known for its SID that is considered to be a lofi tool nowadays. Was SID anything special. ZX Spectrum or Atari STE’s sound generator sounded … lofi, too.

Regarding a MIDI interface, what was it? The common an RS232 to MIDI adapter? Or a dedicated device to C64 or Amiga working only with specific app. Once I read about a band that they used to use the Steinberg’s app and MIDI interface on C64. Did Steinberg write an app for Commodore?

 

Who told you that? Amiga 1200 was released AFTER the Terminator 2 movie. Something like a year after.

 

I had Passport Trax (1 floppy) but for DOS 6.22/Win 3.11.

In the Win 3 period I had a Sound Blaster board with kind of serial plug (if I recall was a 15 pins) terminating with DIN MIDI connectors.
I don't have a clue about C64, it probably was RS232 to MIDI, in anyway to my ear was awful, and I never thought it as a musical instrument.

 

As for Terminator 2, I read it long time ago.

Wasn’t it the Steinberg’s Pro-16, and the MIDI interface the Steinberg CARD 32 cartridge first and then Pro-24 for Atari before Cubase?

PS. It looks like SGI computers were responsible for T2 fx.

 

Last edited: Aug 26, 2025 at 1:33 PM

Steinberg Pro16 sequencer from '86 | Cubase's Grandmother

From 1984 to 1986 Steinberg (Research) developed a sequencer for the Commodore 64, a sequencer that would be known as the Pro16. Which in turn evolved into the well known Pro24 for the Atari ST platform a couple of years later, which in turn saw the birth of Cubase, the mother of all Cubase versions we have now.

Steinberg also built their own MIDI interface cartridge for the C64. The Pro16 is very rudimentary by today's standards, but still a very fast, easy and fun program to use to flesh out ideas for new songs. Huge thanks to Chris Wareham for the donation of both the program and MIDI interface for the C64! The program itself can be found online and run from a floppy emulator for the C64.

 

C64 is the #1 selling computer model of all time, so that's why there is hype. Of course PCs nowadays are a variety of makes or generic, so that waters that down a bit, but that's still a big deal.. c64 sold a lot of units. Many people owned it, and nostalgia is big.

As far as making music on it, "chiptunes" music has come back in and out of popularity over the last couple decades too. The C64's SID chip was a popular one. I am probably wrong, but I think that nostalgia has faded a bit, but there's definitely still people that make and listen to that kind of music. Lofi / retro music definitely isn't dead though, there's a market for that.. but most of the hype is targeting the masses whose family owned one when they were kids, and they just want to go back to playing some old cool games again.

They're also just collectors items. I have a mini-NES collecting dust on a shelf here, for example.