Hacker News

8-bit Boléro

• 43 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

  By thomassmith65 21 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/

  By mlsu 18 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...

  By xxr 13 hours ago

• That Commodore C64 accordion made me laugh.
  Ah it's called The Commodordion https://linusakesson.net/commodordion/index.php

  By fodmap a day ago

• It's kind of incredible!
  A direct youtube link for the lazy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6z5__6rP58

  By pavel_lishin a day 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!

  By opello 14 hours ago

• And don't miss the Qweremin:
  https://linusakesson.net/qweremin/
  Brilliant.

  By sivers 20 hours ago

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

  By layer8 21 hours ago

• 0% chance that's a coincidence coming from lft

  By Centigonal 14 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/

  By abetusk 21 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.

  By consumer451 20 hours ago

•     LOADING. . .
      READY
      > RUN

  By jachee 12 hours ago

• > 0 regrets
  That's the most important number in stores like this one.

  By kkkqkqkqkqlqlql a day 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!

  By emptybits 18 hours ago

• Had to check the article because I read that as “greater than zero regrets”.
  <= 0 regrets

  By lll-o-lll 16 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

  By tantalor 19 hours ago

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

  By Sharlin 19 hours ago

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

  By kpilars 7 hours ago

• Thanks, that absolutely made my day!

  By chris_st 2 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

  By arthurdenture 20 hours ago

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

  By timfsu 12 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.

  By drivers99 21 hours ago

• Did you hear his "A mind is born"? It is amazing outright, IMHO.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWblpsLZ-O8

  By Eupolemos 7 hours ago

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

  By codezero 14 hours ago

• The theremin built out of a bar clamp is delightful

  By swiftcoder 6 hours ago

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

  By aldousd666 a day ago

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

  By ramses0 19 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.

  By ageitgey 20 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!

  By nebula8804 19 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.

  By Rochus 19 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.

  By teddyh 21 hours ago

• Sounds interesting. Tell me more?

  By Snild 2 hours ago

• :´)

  By darkmighty a day ago

• Beautifully done! What more can I say?
  Those disc drive sounds are so cool

  By YesBox 20 hours ago

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

  By ramses0 19 hours ago

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

  By Tcepsa 20 hours ago

• Linus never fails to impress. A true virtuoso

  By temp0826 19 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 )

  By B1FF_PSUVM 14 hours ago

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

  By guenthert 7 hours ago

• Nostalgic for Torvill and Dean too

  By nrhrjrjrjtntbt 17 hours ago

• Amazing! Thanks for sharing.

  By disqard 17 hours ago

• I miss dynamic range in music.

  By LanceH 19 hours ago

• so good

  By jfvinueza 21 hours ago