Can an AI recreate the perfect Commodore 64 SID tune?

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Welcome to 8-Bit Basic. In today's video, we're going to explore what AI can do with SID tunes. So, I'm going to be using Chat GPT. This is based on a comment I got from one of our wonderful users called Genuzie2.

[00:00:15]Very sorry if I mispronounced your name.

[00:00:16]The comment was, "Is there an LLM music generator that will create SID files?"

[00:00:22]So, prompt one has given us a SID file and it's going to be our starting point.

[00:00:26]Before I jump into it, make sure you give me a thumbs up and a like if you enjoy my content. Please consider subscribing. And for something new, if you're interested, jump up and have a look at my Patreon. No obligation whatsoever. And don't worry, nothing around here is going to change. You're still going to get your weekly videos.

[00:00:41]Let's have a listen to tune number one.

[00:00:44]Make sure you stick around to the end and I will show you what our SID tunes sound like on my original Commodore 64C.

[00:00:58]So, that's our tune. Repeats over and over.

[00:01:01]It's a two-bar tune. 1 2 3 4 2 2 3 4.

[00:01:08]The original prompt was, "Create a Commodore 64 SID tune that will be suitable for a 1980s game theme. I want it to be a SID file played in a SID player." So, that's what it gave me.

[00:01:18]That was a really good two-bar pattern that it gave me. What I would like you to do is to stretch that out to a four-bar pattern. Uh use some different chords and then I want those chords to be the basis of us putting a melody on over it. So, stick with what you have.

[00:01:33]Those two bars were good, but I want you to now use some other chords, maybe in the middle, and stretch that out to a four-bar SID tune.

[00:01:42]Of course, I'm using the wonderful SID Play 64 here. So, let's try one of the other color schemes and let's have a listen. So, looking at the prompt that it's given me back, it's created a four-bar pattern. A minor, A flat major seven, B flat seven into A flat, then a G suspended into a G7. So, that's actually quite interesting harmonic language. Those are just the fancy musical words for the chords. It's still going to have that sad minor edgy feel, but I think it's going to give us quite an interesting base to our song.

[00:02:13]All right, let's do it.

[00:02:25]Okay.

[00:02:31]It's definitely a good base that we can put something over, but we have kind of lost sort of the feel of what the original track was.

[00:02:42]So, this is the original.

[00:02:48]Okay, but maybe I could ask it to use this part as an introduction, and then go into the second part. That would be interesting, cuz that would probably work. Okay, let's see what I can do.

[00:03:00]That was definitely a good chordal basis to be able to put a melody over. Are you able to now use four bars of the original SID tune that you created as an introduction, and then go into that SID tune that you just showed me. I would like you to do that.

[00:03:17]We're going to try the next color. It says it's done the four-bar intro, then it moves to the four-bar pattern that it showed us, and then that pattern is going to loop like a proper game theme.

[00:03:26]So, fingers crossed. Has it delivered?

[00:03:30]So, we are down to number three.

[00:03:43]It's like the original, but different.

[00:03:51]Okay, the a that will be coming up now.

[00:03:55]Nope.

[00:04:02]Oh, okay. I think what it's done is it sort of combined the musical feel and idea of the first one.

[00:04:11]And merged it with the second one.

[00:04:15]So, not giving us the two individuals.

[00:04:17]That would have been nice.

[00:04:21]I also love if you look at the title, Red Run, author 8-bit basic {slash} chat GPT. Very, very cool. 2026 four-bar SID tune. Hmm, okay.

[00:04:34]This is tune two. I think I might just try and build on this cuz it seems to be struggling putting different SID tunes together.

[00:04:42]What happened then? It seemed like you combined the feel of the original SID tune that you gave me.

[00:04:49]And then you sort of used SID tune number two with that feel. So, I didn't get the original SID tune as the intro and then the second SID tune as the next section. They were kind of just smooshed together and repeated as one long section. Are you able to just go to the second SID tune that you gave me, which was the repeating chord pattern that we're going to use for a bass? I want you to use the code of that specific second tune. And what I want you to do now is start putting a main melody over the top of those chords. A very big prompt and I know lots of you have given me comments saying that you know, my prompts are very conversational and I guess they are, maybe too much information. I'm just trying to do my best to explain myself to try and get exactly what I want. So, very happy to take that feedback. What I would like you to do is if you have that those comments, just give me an example of something that I've said and maybe if you could suggest how I could have said it much shorter and more specific, I would gladly take that on board. But, I appreciate every single comment. ChatGPT agrees with me, says I was right about the direction, so it's gone back to that four-chord idea.

[00:05:58]Um it's added a lead line above it, which is going to be the melody of the main tune, so it's like a real tune rather than just backing chords. Let me download it, and we will listen.

[00:06:08]Next, color scheme.

[00:06:10]And down to our fourth iteration.

[00:06:23]So, it has kept the underlying harmonic pattern. I can hear that.

[00:06:27]>> [music] >> But, I feel like it's changed.

[00:06:33]And it's refined types as well.

[00:06:42]The melody is quite jumpy, as well.

[00:06:50]Let's go back and listen to number two.

[00:06:52]I did like number two as the basis.

[00:07:00]Yeah.

[00:07:04]Maybe this is as good as I'm going to get.

[00:07:11]I'll try one [music] more prompt.

[00:07:13]I've reattached version number two. I wasn't particularly happy with that last version. So, I want you to use version number two, keep it exactly the same for four bars, then for the next four bars, I want you to re-try and include something like a drum or a percussion line. Now, you might need to be very, very clever, because there's only three voices, so you might need to try and change some of the voices on the fly, so you can alternate between the drums and some of the repeating echoing sound in the harmony, or alternate between the drums and the bassline.

[00:07:46]So, good luck with that. Uh changing voices on the fly is one of the tricks that the great programmers and great composers would do so that it would sound like there is more instruments than actually available cuz we only have the three main voices on the SID chip. I know that's a big ask, but it's my it's my last-ditch effort to see if we can if build on something that was actually not too bad. It says it's kept our first four bars and the next four bars is going to use voice three to switch between the noise percussion and the harmony arpeggio sound. Arpeggio is just when you take the notes of a chord and split them up. Very common to do in game music. And then it's going to loop. So, fingers crossed.

[00:08:31]Here it is.

[00:08:45]Cool.

[00:08:47]Oh, that's getting here, right?

[00:08:53]So, it attempted some drum sounds. It just sounded like wiping and scratching.

[00:09:03]Okay.

[00:09:11]Ooh, maybe I can try one more and give it a bit more direction about what to do for the drum sounds.

[00:09:16]There were some percussion sounds there, but they really didn't work like a drum layer. So, here's my suggestion for improving the drum layer. You need a really deep thud sound for the bass drum.

[00:09:29]You need more of a hollow uh maybe slightly scratchy, almost wooden sound for the snare drum and a high bright can be tinny or scratchy sound for the high hat. So, I would like your drum pattern to repeat this. So, it is a four-bar pattern. You can do the same thing in each bar.

[00:09:54]So, I want the bass drum to go dotted crotchet, quaver, crotchet, rest.

[00:10:01]I want the snare drum to go rest, crotchet, rest, crotchet. And I want the high hat to go quaver, quaver, quaver, quaver.

[00:10:12]Do your best to do something like that.

[00:10:17]Even if the harmony needs to be a bit less so you can make more room for the drum sounds.

[00:10:23]The feedback here says we're going to have a more deliberate drum layer, but to get that we're going to have to sacrifice quite a bit of the harmony.

[00:10:29]So, that's that stuff that was happening in the middle, that repeating arpeggio sound.

[00:10:35]Let's have a listen.

[00:10:40]So, this is the original.

[00:10:51]I'll look at this. Better.

[00:10:55]>> [music] >> Okay, then we have a third version without anything. Wonder if it's going to repeat.

[00:11:04]Back to drums.

[00:11:13]It'd be good if we went back to the original version that's at the start, that has that harmony in.

[00:11:17]>> [music] >> All right, one last prompt, I promise.

[00:11:20]Let's see what it does.

[00:11:22]That section was good. So, there was a section one that had the original tune.

[00:11:26]Section two had the drums added. And then section three was kind of just the main melody without the drums. What I would like you to do there is then go back to the start and repeat those whole three ideas again.

[00:11:41]Because that wasn't happening. So, I want you to make sure we goes original with harmony, part two with the drums and melody, part three kind of with just the melody, then repeat. This is going to be the last prompt for my video. So, good luck.

[00:11:55]Here's our final version. It says it will do the sections as I've asked. I've also turned off my little studio lights so you can enjoy the light show. Version seven, three sections. This is it. I hope it's worked.

[00:12:24]>> [music] [music] >> Not quite, but it has given me three sections.

[00:12:38]And I'm enjoying the light show.

[00:12:40]Here's our drum section.

[00:12:46]And our thinner melody section.

[00:12:49]>> [music] >> It's just a shame I could not maintain this fantastic section that has that harmony.

[00:13:03]Yeah.

[00:13:06]Really love that.

[00:13:09]Here's the short original theme that was my favorite.

[00:13:28]And now let's go down to our final product.

[00:13:34]>> [music] >> Yeah, nice.

[00:13:43]Nice free drums.

[00:13:52]Back to the start and Anyway, thank you so much for watching.

[00:14:03]That's been our AI experience of creating C tunes. So yes, it is possible.

[00:14:08]Please leave me a comment if you have any favorite C tunes or if you've created any wonderful C tunes yourself.

[00:14:14]Perhaps you could send them to me and I could feature them on the channel. Don't forget to have a look at the Patreon.

[00:14:19]You could have your name featured in my videos or I've also got some exclusive content. I've already dropped a nice 40-minute video of extras. So thanks for watching and I'll see you all again soon for some more 8-bit basic.