The chiptune scene is dominated by Game Boys and other Nintendo hardware, but one should never forget the gorgeous, beautiful tones that come from the hallowed Commodore 64. [Linus Åkesson] knows this well, and it’s at the heart of his work on the Commodordion. Now, he’s built an even better version.
The original idea he had was to build an accordion-like control surface for the SID chip in a Commodore 64. The device is capable of creating beautiful accordion-like music with a simple 8-bit flair. He has since dubbed the original Commodordion the “bass Commodordion,” while the new version is classified as a tenor instrument.
The prime upgrades are ergonomic. The previous instrument was too heavy, with the left hand having to carry an entire Commodore 64 on its own. It was also hard to reach the keys. The new version is much lighter, with one of the two C64s of the original having been removed. The supporting electronics have been redesigned to more neatly fit into a space behind the bellows.
The result is a machine that’s far easier to play, and one that won’t injure the user in extended play sessions. “It’s now a pleasure, not a pain,” says [Linus]. The payoff in usability is obvious, and the tunes themselves are hauntingly beautiful.
We first covered the Commordordion back in 2022, but it wasn’t the first time we saw one of [Linus]’s impressive creations.
And now, Weird Al will bang out his latest hit on his custom Commodordion – “I’m Coding Like a Rock Star!”.
Oh great. Now will will need a defensive instrument. The Kaypropophone? (Trade name of a Blue Bagpipeophone)
C64 had a one chip 3 voice synth on board with possibility to run external signal through filters. With cheap micro controller you could add some extra options (more LFO, envelopes or even new oscillator to run through filter). Are there any similar chips still in production?
Ah, you mean the MOS 6581 ?
The sound chip of early PC soundcards, like Innovation SSI-2001 or The Entertainer by MicroProse ?
Yup! The new chips are called SwinSID, and the controls you’re talking about have been implemented in gear going back 20ish years to The SIDstation (by Elektron! Timbaland has one! The chiptune community got mad when he used it!!), through a great tradition of homebrew, and recently an amazing streamlined unit called simply MIDISID. Not sure about linking in the comments but check it out on Tindie.
nice reworking of a great C64 mod
LFT also made some of the finer tools/frameworks for packaging and running C64 demos and effects
scene legend.
Build it on a 6581 emulator.
Dont sacrefice any more breadboxes.
Don’t worry breadboxes were massproduced just like original Gameboy.
And the C64 functions just fine without one. It’s merely needed for games and x/y paddle/mouse input.
No really, SIDs should be used as much as possible before they die.
They die because of production process, they rust internally.
Even if the C64 sits passively on a shelve. In fact, many C64 do already have slightly defective SIDs. So SID replicas will eventually be good for C64 owners, too.
I’ve forgot, the C64 tends to break a lot.
SID, PLA, Kernal/Char/Basic ROM, head-bumping 1541 drives that de-adjust themselves, a bad power supply that’s eager to overvolt and fry the C64..
The serial interface is broken by design, even.
Both the RS232 emulation on user port (can’t do 1200 Baud reliably, unless workaround is used), as well as the serial floppy interface.
But I don’t mean to troll here. I just mean to say that C64s need maintenance, anyway.
So it’s in good hands of tinkerers, makers or hams.
There’s a site that can help at troubleshooting.
https://www.pictorial64.com/
I was brought up on a Commodore 64, so to see the claim that the chiptune scene is dominated by Nintendo hardware brings back some of that old Commodore vs. Nintendo PTSD. But I would really be interested to see how the respective chiptune scenes compare, considering that there are almost 60k SID tunes on HSVC, and software to produce SID tunes has been on multiple platforms for decades. Is there a similar archive of Nintendo based chiptunes? (Looking for a well respected archvie – Google provides way too many results of varying quality).
I don’t know, but the Famicom format is *.NSF?
Btw, there’s an OPL2/OPL3 scene on PC platform, too.
Search for AdlibTracker II if you like. It’s FM synthesis, though.
Japanese computers such as PC-98 had OPN/OPNA based tunes, which are similar.
On 486 PCs running DOS, there’s both software and hardware to play back chiptunes from different platforms (Tandy 1000, Sega Mastersystem etc).
Various sound cards with Tandy 3-Voice or Game Blaster compatibility can be used, for example.
And by using replicas of Innovation SSI-2001 or The Entertainer (?) you can also playback SID tunes.
The player is called OSP2001, I think.
https://vgmrips.net/wiki/VGM_Players
http://www.oplx.com/code/
What a beautiful idea!
Compared to the old version, he seems to be “pumping” much slower now, more in line with a real accordion operation. However, I still can’t see/hear the effect of the bellow movement.
Maybe this is the recording? Looks like a retro sound device with additional body movement unrelated to the music. (Sorry if this sounds harsh)
I think this can be made into a much better real instrument, played like a traditional accordion
I would expect a noticeable volume modulation from the bellows movement, a zero volume when changing the direction. Maybe the microphone air flow measurement has a low sample rate or too large time constant? Better to use a pressure sensor?
Likewise intending nothing negative, this was my exact thought. Breath control with sophisticated modulation has a long history in MIDI, and everything that makes the SID special is perfect to take advantage of it. Filter cutoff and resonance controlled by pressure and velocity could add so much!
Listening to the dynamics of the last note there definitely seems to be a push that comes from the bellows.