George Pantazopoulos is building a hardware digital/analog music synthesizer (codenamed the PhoenixSID 65x81) in the spirit of the Commodore 64?s SID sound chip (6581 and 8580).
The deepest inner workings of the SID chip are faithfully implemented on an FPGA (with an external analog filter), based on interviews with the SID?s creator Bob Yannes, original datasheets, and (soon) comparisons with real SID chips.
This unique effort combines an FPGA with a real analog filter for the best possible sound. PhoenixSID can be controlled in realtime by a host computer via a USB2.0 connection. A drop-in replacement for the original SID is also feasible. PhoenixSID?s hardware design, drivers, tests, and demos are all done using python which has proved to be a tremendously flexible and useful approach.
http://myhdl.jandecaluwe.com/doku.php/p ... xsid_65x81