People

Bob Yannes

The ear behind the SID

Chip designer Bob Yannes created the SID 6581, giving the Commodore 64 its legendary sound palette.

C64 chip-designers 1953–

Overview

As an engineer at MOS Technology, Bob Yannes designed the SID (Sound Interface Device) chip for the Commodore 64. His goal: to bring synthesizer flexibility into a home computer, complete with filters and modulation options rarely seen in consumer hardware.

Fast facts

  • Background: amateur musician and electronics tinkerer before joining MOS.
  • Other work: co-founded Ensoniq, producing digital synthesizers and samplers like the Mirage.
  • Design ethos: disliked simplistic square-wave chips, so he built SID to sound musical, not merely functional.

See also