Up for some hardcore music nerd action?
Developer Linus Åkesson, creator of the Commodordion 8-Bit Commodore 64 accordion synthesizer, shared this video, demonstrating live coding for music on the Commodore 64. After demonstrating C64 command-line music coding, he wraps things up with a chiptune jam.
Video Summary:
“In this video, I make 8-bit SID music on a Commodore 64 without any software apart from the built-in BASIC interpreter. This involves poking numbers into memory and hardware registers and writing machine code in decimal.”
Topics covered in the video:
0:00 Introduction
1:57 Groundwork
8:50 Time and pitch
13:23 Interactive editor
17:11 Note on/off subroutines
23:14 Making a pattern
27:06 Varying the instruments
31:05 Drum hack
32:00 Final jam
Are you making music with the Commodore 64 or other vintage computers? If so, share the details in the comments!
Did he refer to the C64 as a “breadbin”? at 39 seconds. If I heard that correctly, is that a common name for the C64 in Europe? I never heard it called that before.
It comes from the side on profile of the c64 case, which is curved and resembles that of an old fashioned kitchen bread container. It distinguishes the ’64 from other home computers of the time and those that followed which were generally a more conventional rectangular shape with angular corners. It’s a term of affection for those that cut their computing teeth on this amazing machine.
Yes, “Brotkasten” (German) or “breadbin” has been a common nickname for the C64 in Europe.