Loopy DIY: A Swedish musician/engineer created a working accordion utilizing two Commodore 64 computer systems and a bunch of floppy disks. Dubbed the Commodordion, it performs mechanically, similar to its common counterpart, however the output is harking back to Nineteen Eighties space 8-bit arcade music.
The instrument is easy in idea and operation. Two C-64s are linked by way of bellows created from dozens of 5.25-inch floppy disks. The bellows management the “airflow” (quantity) of the notes performed. The keys on every laptop act as they might on a regular accordion, with the precise one producing the melody and the left outputting chords.
Developing the Commodordion was removed from being as easy as its operation. Inventor and YouTuber Linus Åkesson began by making the bellows. Every fold required three floppies minimize in two completely different patterns and held along with tape. The folds had been then interlocked with the earlier one and held tight with extra tape. There are at the least 16 folds, so 48 or extra 5.25 floppies met their demise for this mission.
Åkesson mentioned, “No good disks had been harmed within the making of this video.”
As beforehand talked about, an accordion’s bellows management the amount of performed notes. The tougher it’s pressured, the louder the sounds produced. The Commodordion bellows are hermetic aside from a gap within the again that blows on a microphone. This mic feeds into an envelope follower, translating the mic hiss into quantity. That, in flip, feeds right into a digital-to-analog converter that outputs the sounds.
Every C-64 was additionally closely modified, however you would not realize it till you see them from behind (above). Two energy provides are wired on to the motherboards reasonably than by the adapter port. Different motherboard modifications embrace a hardwired Commodore Tape Drive emulator and the output module. All in all, the machine has three customized circuit boards wired on to the C-64 PCBs.
Lastly is a customized program saved on that emulated tape drive. This software program interprets the keypresses on every laptop into accordion notes. As you may see within the video, Åkesson is a talented musician and may play the machine in real-time simply as he would the usual instrument. The music produced would match completely into any Nineteen Eighties-era online game.
Åkesson included much more particulars on his weblog for these .
