midibox sid - control surface density, parts questions

I’m researching building a single channel Midibox sid. I have been reading many postings and have some questions:

  • I am planning on controlling the SID primarily from my Apple iBook, but would like to have enough control surface to compliment the computer control. I was thinking a 20 or 40 character display and 4 - 6 encoders. I was planning on using the DIN module (8 channel) in addition to the CORE and SID modules. Does this make sense?

  • how are people cabling the different boards together? Most IDC headers are 2 row…i could buy headers of the appropriate width and just ignore one row…this would also give me some physical separation between the wires in the cable. 

  • once I’ve got it working and can test all my SID chips (I’ve accumulated seven 6581s from various C-64s), do people trade SID chips? I’d like to get at least one 8580…

Thanks,

Tom

Most male headers are designed to be broken into whatever length desired.  You can get single-row headers and stack them to get a double row.  If you’re talking about single-row female header sockets, Mouser has those.  Make sure you have some cyanoacrylate glue to tack down the headers so they stay straight while soldering them.

Davo