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 Eighties space 8-bit arcade music.
The instrument is straightforward in idea and operation. Two C-64s are linked through bellows made out of dozens of 5.25-inch floppy disks. The bellows management the “airflow” (quantity) of the notes performed. The keys on every pc act as they might on a regular accordion, with the fitting one producing the melody and the left outputting chords.
Establishing the Commodordion was removed from being as simple 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 have 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 undertaking.
Åkesson mentioned, “No good disks have been harmed within the making of this video.”
As beforehand talked about, an accordion’s bellows management the quantity of performed notes. The more durable 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 fairly than via the adapter port. Different motherboard modifications embrace a hardwired Commodore Tape Drive emulator and the output module. All in all, the gadget 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 pc into accordion notes. As you may see within the video, Åkesson is a talented musician and might play the gadget in real-time simply as he would the usual instrument. The music produced would match completely into any Eighties-era online game.
Åkesson included much more particulars on his weblog for these .