Better than a singing 1541........

Blacklord · February 11, 2011, 02:31 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmoDLyiQYKw

airship · February 12, 2011, 05:54 AM

Love the guy's mask, near the end!

I have 11 1541s. I'm inspired...

Hydrophilic · February 23, 2011, 03:24 AM

And I thought I had a lot of free time on my hands...

But even considering the signifcant fact the guy's instruments were limited to disk drives, he still does a better job than me... my SID music makes an Atari 2600 sound good...

Airship... can't wait to hear your symphony! Maybe you could do the Commodore theme? Something by Bach if memory serves... *PARITY ERROR*

RobertB · February 24, 2011, 09:03 AM

Time for the Andrew Lloyd Webber version of it!

FCUG celebrating 30 years,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug

BigDumbDinosaur · February 24, 2011, 12:43 PM

Those poor floppy drives! Were any disks harmed in the making of this video?

As a long-time machine language programmer, I really admire that bloke's skill in making some read/write mechanisms play music of the Baroque.

Now, if you wish to hear how Old Man Bach himself would have performed this back in the day, take a gander at this video. It was recorded up the road a piece from where Lance lives, on what is arguably one of the finest instruments of its kind in the world.

Toccata & Fugue in d minor (BACH, J.S.)

BigDumbDinosaur · February 24, 2011, 12:55 PM

Quote from: Hydrophilic on February 23, 2011, 03:24 AMMaybe you could do the Commodore theme? Something by Bach if memory serves...

Your memory is correct. The "Commodore Theme," which was used on TV to advertise C-64s, was Two-Part Invention in A-minor, part of the "Fifteen Two-Part Inventions" that J.S. Bach wrote as instruction material for his students. All I have to say is if any of his students were able to actually perform all 15 of them without making mistakes and at the prescribed tempo, they deserved an honorary degree in music right on the spot. I banged away at those things all through high school and never could master a single one.

As the name implies, the musician is only playing two notes at any given time. Yet, due to the highly contrapuntal nature of the music, getting each hand to work independently of the other is very difficult. Probably the only thing worse in that regard was Bach's Trio Sonatas for the organ, one note in the left hand, one it the right and one in the pedals. Mind-bogglingly difficult, yet organists like Virgil Fox made it look so damned easy.

airship · February 25, 2011, 06:08 AM

BDD, Are you old enough to remember PDQ Bach's organ recitals at the Filmore West in SanFran? He'd pack the place with stoned out hippies and they'd go wild for it!

I used to own a couple of antique wooden pipe organ pipes like the ones in this photo:

They have a square cross-section, with a hollow cylindrical wooden connector at the bottom. It is terminated by a lead fitting, and there's a thin lead plate attached to tthe top of the tube for tuning. It's attached at one edge, and you roll it back to tune the pipe. Fascinating design. I'll bet there's a half ton of lead in one of the bigger old organs.

One more tidbit and I'll quit: A friend of mine in high school joined a company in St. Louis that repairs these things. He's travelled the world now for over 40 years keeping these things alive. I can't imagine a more worthy calling.

BigDumbDinosaur · February 25, 2011, 02:36 PM

Quote from: airship on February 25, 2011, 06:08 AMBDD, Are you old enough to remember PDQ Bach's organ recitals at the Filmore West in SanFran? He'd pack the place with stoned out hippies and they'd go wild for it!

Sure am. My high school music teacher turned me on the him.

QuoteI'll bet there's a half ton of lead in one of the bigger old organs.

More than a few old-time organ builders croaked from lead poisoning, just as the haberdashers of the 18th and 19th century got done in by mercury poisoning (hence the term "mad hatter").