8-bit Boléro | Hacker News Reader

8-bit Boléro

linusakesson.net

345 pointsAissen46 comments

  According to a possibly apocryphal story from the premiere performance, a woman was heard shouting that Ravel was mad. When told about this, Ravel is said to have remarked that she had understood the piece.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bol%C3%A9ro

And, Ravel did eventually go mad. There's a lot of discussion about whether the recurring patterns in the song had something to do with his neurological condition.

https://bigthink.com/high-culture/bolero-ravel-dementia-2/

“Initially, Ravel was to create a variation on the music of Isaac Albéniz, but copyright laws prevented him from doing so.” [your article]

“[Koji Kondo] had planned to use Maurice Ravel's Boléro as the title theme as it perfectly matched its speed, seeing as under Japanese copyright law, music is released into the public domain 50 years after the composer's death. However, Kondo was forced to change it in November 1985, late in the game's development, after learning that it had only been 47 years and 11 months after Ravel's death.”[1]

Funny how things rhyme.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda_(video_gam...

RadioLab did an excellent episode [1] about Bolero, where it asks the question if it was a leading indicator of Ravel’s madness.

1. https://radiolab.org/podcast/unraveling-bolero

That Commodore C64 accordion made me laugh.

Ah it's called The Commodordion https://linusakesson.net/commodordion/index.php

It's kind of incredible!

A direct youtube link for the lazy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6z5__6rP58

And don't miss the Qweremin:

https://linusakesson.net/qweremin/

Brilliant.

Wow, there are multiple things like that!

Qweremin: C64 Theremin: https://linusakesson.net/hardware/theremin/index.php

Qwertar: C64 Keytar: https://linusakesson.net/music/glyptodont-live/index.php

Very neat!

Ha! I almost posted this here but I thought maybe I was posting too many music videos on HN.

I am part of the LOAD "*", 8, 1 generation, and this is really freaking cool.

One of the funniest things in the video is the variety of neck tie configurations, one for each part.

    LOADING. . .
    READY
    > RUN

It’s probably not a coincidence that the climax starts at 13:37.

0% chance that's a coincidence coming from lft

For anyone wanting to know, the keyboard layout is that of a chromatic button accordian [0] [1].

I guess there's a C64 "executable" that he's made available but no source so I don't know what the exact keymapping is. I did find a few different resources that show the layout in action [2] [3].

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwsZ41pA_Vo&t=58s

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_button_accordion

[2] https://okathira-dev.github.io/client-web-api-sandbox/button...

[3] https://www.rmwinslow.com/tones/

Why do I get reminded of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells?

(Yes, I've heard the Ravel before, I mean the presentation style, e.g. Oldfield: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdMtqKZ6GrY )

I too was waiting for the 'grand together' announcement.

> 0 regrets

That's the most important number in stores like this one.

Yes! Linus must really burn himself up, conceiving and executing masterworks like this! But saying "0 regrets" hopefully means he hasn't lost motivation for his next crazy project!

Had to check the article because I read that as “greater than zero regrets”.

<= 0 regrets

Listened to this exact video this morning when it was among the newest videos in my YouTube subscriptions. I've had it stuck in my head since then.

Did you hear his "A mind is born"? It is amazing outright, IMHO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWblpsLZ-O8

I forgot he was the same person who did that! I was somewhat obsessed with it earlier this year. I had found a version you can type into BASIC that pokes it into a block of memory and jumps to it, since I have access to a C64 at a hackerspace that doesn't have a floppy drive, so I've run it at least once on real hardware. (I have a new C64 Ultimate on the way as well.)

Several mentions of "the automaton" but no idea what that is. It's a bit vague.

The photo of "the automaton" appears to be a melamine white particleboard panel.

https://www.linusakesson.net/music/bolero/boxes-large.jpg

It's the "percussion section" https://linusakesson.net/music/bolero/automaton-large.jpg

This is way more pleasant than the kazoo version by famous children's author Sandra Boynton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U14IBek-wNU

Though when things really break out into harmony after the 12 minute mark, it's almost pretty.

(Sandra Boynton is amazing, no matter what she does.)

This guy's other video where he covers Clowncore's 'Computers' on computers is one of the most impressive, incredibly niche things I've ever seen on YouTube. He's a serious talent.

Possibly best thing ever on Hacker News. There is something quite appealing about the simplicity of Boléro

This is my favorite song, and I'm delighted to hear it as a chiptune! amazing work!

I love projects like this. finally someone found a new use for those dot matrix printers.

Radiohead: Nude - https://youtu.be/CgB5DU0uEdg

If you like bolero look at this f guy : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy5Ve3338-E

He has come a long way since Craft. What a total rock star. In that time I have done nothing as awesome with my life (other than enjoying his productions). Heres to 17 more years of awesomeness!

Great music survives everything ;-)

That's such a good idea with this old equipment. And you can see that the guy tried hard not to laugh. And surprisingly, the arrangement sounds great. Hilarious.

If I recall correctly, Boléro (the music piece) has a special meaning in the very early Swedish hacker scene, often used as a sort-of in-joke.

Sounds interesting. Tell me more?

:´)

Beautifully done! What more can I say?

Those disc drive sounds are so cool

Radiohead: Nude - https://youtu.be/CgB5DU0uEdg

The theremin built out of a bar clamp is delightful

I am so happy that people make things like this <3

Thanks, that absolutely made my day!

Linus never fails to impress. A true virtuoso

Nostalgic for Torvill and Dean too

I miss dynamic range in music.

Amazing! Thanks for sharing.

so good

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