8-bit Boléro(linusakesson.net)
232 points by Aissen 20 hours ago | 26 comments
thomassmith65 11 hours ago

  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
mlsu 8 hours ago
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/

xxr 3 hours ago
“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...

fodmap 20 hours ago
That Commodore C64 accordion made me laugh.

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

pavel_lishin 11 hours ago
It's kind of incredible!

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

opello 3 hours ago
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!

sivers 10 hours ago
And don't miss the Qweremin:

https://linusakesson.net/qweremin/

Brilliant.

abetusk 10 hours ago
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/

timfsu 2 hours ago
Possibly best thing ever on Hacker News. There is something quite appealing about the simplicity of Boléro
layer8 11 hours ago
It’s probably not a coincidence that the climax starts at 13:37.
Centigonal 3 hours ago
0% chance that's a coincidence coming from lft
consumer451 10 hours ago
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.

jachee 1 hour ago

    LOADING. . .
    READY
    > RUN
kkkqkqkqkqlqlql 12 hours ago
> 0 regrets

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

emptybits 8 hours ago
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!
lll-o-lll 5 hours ago
Had to check the article because I read that as “greater than zero regrets”.

<= 0 regrets

codezero 4 hours ago
This is my favorite song, and I'm delighted to hear it as a chiptune! amazing work!
tantalor 9 hours ago
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

Sharlin 9 hours ago
drivers99 11 hours ago
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.
arthurdenture 9 hours ago
This is way more pleasant than the kazoo version by famous children's author Sandra Boynton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U14IBek-wNU
ageitgey 10 hours ago
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.
nebula8804 9 hours ago
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!
Rochus 9 hours ago
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.

teddyh 11 hours ago
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.
10 hours ago
aldousd666 11 hours ago
I love projects like this. finally someone found a new use for those dot matrix printers.
ramses0 9 hours ago
darkmighty 11 hours ago
:´)
YesBox 10 hours ago
Beautifully done! What more can I say?

Those disc drive sounds are so cool

ramses0 9 hours ago
nrhrjrjrjtntbt 7 hours ago
Nostalgic for Torvill and Dean too
Tcepsa 10 hours ago
I am so happy that people make things like this <3
temp0826 9 hours ago
Linus never fails to impress. A true virtuoso
disqard 7 hours ago
Amazing! Thanks for sharing.
LanceH 9 hours ago
I miss dynamic range in music.
B1FF_PSUVM 4 hours ago
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 )

jfvinueza 11 hours ago
so good