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The Chipophone — an 8-Bit Chiptune Organ
adunk writes "Linus Åkesson has built an 8-bit synthesizer inside an old electric organ case. 'All the original tone-generating parts have been disconnected, and the keys, pedals, knobs and switches rerouted to a microcontroller which transforms them into MIDI signals. Those are then parsed by a second microcontroller, which acts as a synthesizer.' The Chipophone is perfect for playing classics such as the Super Mario Bros in-game music or Rob Hubbard's Spellbound. A description of the build process, with photos, is available."
THIS KILLS !!!!
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Similar vein, and I always wanted one of these: SIDstation, but sadly they're no longer made anymore.
For those using softsynths, have a look at QuadraSID too (demo MP3 on the right-hand side of that page), particular with the Rob Hubbard expansion packs. I use that a fair amount in what I write. If anyone else knows of some interesting softsynths along the same lines, I'd be interested to hear.
Cheers,
In
him, torvalds, this, that. such kind of people always come up from scandinavian countries.
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this brings back oh so many hours spent in front of the NES.
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
My jaw was already on the desk but when he started playing the Mega Man theme... OMG!
All this destroying of real items just to shove in some micro controller board to pretend it still works has got to stop. Its not cool, it doesn't prove you are special or anything else.. Anyone can tear things up. Real talent is restoring an original object to its true glory.
Has everyone completely lost their value of history in this 'throwaway' culture?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
This synth is great, but it isn't a REAL synthesizer unless it can adequately play the theme music to Leisure Suite Larry. :)
so Scandinavia finally invented the electric piano.
Well, a couple of years back I was thinking of a similar project: use an Atmel AVR 8 bit (RISC) microcontroller to create a sound chip, controlled by MIDI. Well, this Linus dude did that, and MUCH, MUCH more! Pluse, the guy is a great musician (he can actually play a full organ, which in addition to hand, needs also foot coordination), and can play the whole of Rob Hubbard's Spellbound entirely by heart.
In a perfect world, this guy should be famous, make millions, and sportsmen like Tiger Woods would be happy to mow his lawn :o) (that's my geek utopian dream).
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
I like the very DIY flavor of this particular installation. But old organs are commonly stripped and MIDI-fied through a similar process, frequently enough that there are forums and even commercial products to assist. Two of my favorite are Midibox (midibox.org), and Hauptwerk (www.hauptwerk.com). The former is a DIY MIDI hardware site, with a forum for people trying to add MIDI capability to old organs and similar instruments; the latter is essentially a MIDI sampler designed specifically for playback of organ music. I am in the early stages of a similar project to add MIDI capability to an old Allen organ, which I am attempting to do without disrupting any of the existing electronics, which makes it quite a bit more challenging at least for me.
Nonaggression works!
He's apparently also involved in the 8-bit demoscene: Craft by lft.
8 bits are not enough to measure the awesomeness of this device.
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
For cheap cool music, I took a different approach. I wrote an open-source hardware controller for an inexpensive commercial MIDI tone module. The best tone module to use is the Yamaha TX81Z, because they are cheap and very flexible. They are widely available still because there were millions sold new about twenty years ago. They are available on eBay for about $60-$80. The sound engine is a four-operator FM synthesizer that can programmed to make all kinds of weird sounds, along with classic analog-synth sweeps and 80's video game sounds.
Instead of a real organ keyboard, I use a standard PS2 (purple connector miniDIN6) computer keyboard to play the notes. The standard PC keyboard has its own internal microcontroller. It sends a scancode when a key is pressed and also when the key is released, which makes it able to be used as a music keyboard. Its advantage is that it's really cheap, about a few dollars each. The disadvantage is that the keys are small, and, certain combinations of keys (played as chords) don't sound. The specific combinations depend on the keyboard manufacturer.
Google for the Two-Pot controller at the Yamaha TX81Z Homepage. I also do have later versions of the firmware, all open-source.
Watch the video. This is amazing!
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Truly inspiring. It makes me want to get back into the microcontroller hobby. (No arduinos though, where's the fun in that?)
So... this guy takes an electric organ and turns it into a synthesizer? Reminds me of that guy that turned an old guitar into a giant, six stringed ukulele, or the other guy who turned a trombone into a bugle.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
According to TFA, the conversion involves 1)creating MIDI data from the keyboard and 2)synthesizing audio from that MIDI data. Since there are very good synths available (much better than an 8 bit uC), I hope this design has the option for sending the MIDI to such an external device. Now THAT would be awesome.
Have gnu, will travel.
I see a part for him in the next The Royal Tenenbaums / The Life Aquatic...
You see, this guy's a genius, but it shouldn't have to be this hard.
Not so long ago, I enquired to see if there was a keyboard (preferably weighted) which can take VSTs as input to allow for an infinitude of possible instruments.
Guess what? No such keyboard exists.
It would be incredible to use and play a keyboard, but with the infinite range of VST instruments and effects out there. Unfortunately though, manufacturers like to 'lock in' their keyboards with the own limited range. It's pretty sad.
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Is it just me or did he consistently miss the same note when playing the Mega Man Soundtrack.
does it seem like i care much about how much karma i lose ? i speak my mind whenever, wherever. i swear when i feel to, too.
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Just another story explaining why some people never get la*d.