Jack Tramiel, who died this week, had as deep an impact on computer music for the everyday musician as just about any computing industry pioneer. While Jobs, Woz, Moore, Grove, and Gates get a lot of the attention, Tramiel’s legacy was in making computing affordable and accessible. As such, he was indispensable to the computing revolution, and his computers were early forebears of the digital music-making Renaissance. In an extraordinary microcosm of the 20th Century, Polish-born Tramiel escaped Auschwitz, served in the US army, and built the roots of the most successful desktop computer of all time in a typewriter repair business in the Bronx. And today, when you make music with a computer, you’re connected to that extraordinary story.

Take the Commodore 64. Its ground-breaking SID chip (the 6581, with three oscillators, four waveforms, a filter, an ADSR envelope, and a ring mod) remains sought-after today. It’s easy to forget, but rival computers – including, notably, Apple – were fairly tone-deaf when it came to sound capabilities. Commodore, via a design by Bob Yannes, was the first major computing hit to include high-quality sound. The C64 single-handedly transformed the sound of game music, spawning new genres of game scores, and later becoming a major part of the demoscene and chip music movement. (In fact, you might even argue that the C64, not Nintendo game systems, really produced the initial spark for what would evolve into chip music or 8-bit music.)

Or, consider Tramiel’s second leadership role, at Atari. The Atari ST’s standard inclusion of MIDI set a benchmark that still influences machines like today’s iPad. In fact, if you’ve got an iPad handy, remember that Apple’s pro music focus is led by one Gerhard Lengeling, founder of Emagic and C-Lab, whose first products were all for Tramiel’s computers: the Commodore 64, and then the Atari ST. Maybe it should come as no surprise, then, that suitably infused with Emagic DNA, Apple would make software MIDI support standard on the iPad. Ed.: Okay, I should in fairness note that the OS team at Apple is not led by Lengeling, although I’m sure he’s enjoying that MIDI support on there. Let’s at least say that *all* of us – myself included – have expectations of MIDI that were nudged along by the Atari ST. The Atari ST set the stage for a host of music software, including being the primary platform on which the “tracker” evolved (see today’s Renoise), many of today’s sequencer features (see Logic, Cubase), and, albeit to a lesser extent, graphical music notation.

Musicians who used the ST range from 808 State to Fatboy Slim to Jean Michel Jarre – and, of course, Atari Teenage Riot. In fact, I’d go as far as arguing to say the two Tramiel machines are the only desktop computers that have actually directly touched the sound of electronic music – the C64 for the SID and its influence on game music, the Atari ST for driving a new interest in sequenced sounds and the micro-editing of trackers. There’s no “sound” of an Apple or a Windows (or even DOS) PC, but there’s a personality, a style, in a Commodore 64 or even Atari ST. We love our computers, to be fair, but the Atari and Commodore might be imagined as their own instrument. (This is a debateable opinion, and I don’t want to get too carried away, so I’m happy to hear opposing viewpoints. Or just join me in singing a love song to the SID, and waxing nostalgic about the Steinberg – Emagic – Dr. T rivalry, and we’ll leave it at that.)

What’s most compelling is that the legacy of these machines is more alive than ever. Computer musicians acquire Commodore 64s the way a guitarist might a vintage instrument, and even continue to develop software for them. (When the hardware dies, I expect this will live on in emulation. Us computer musicians don’t die; we just run on a new virtual machine.)

Then, there’s what’s next. I know that Tramiel’s aesthetic of affordability, and the approach of his chips, has inspired us on the MeeBlip open source synth. Now, we can look forward, as well, to the ultra-affordable, DIY-friendly Rasberry Pi, which itself promises to become a compelling music platform. (The moment they’re available in any quantity, I know I’ll be trying that out.)

Watching as we lose our heroes, the men and women who produced the incredible technological world in which we live, could be a sad affair. But because these individuals championed businesses with real ideas and real innovation, we see instead hope. The products of their imagination, the ones for which they fought to run their businesses, are more vibrant and alive than ever. As Silicon Valley becomes obsessed with “exit strategies,” quick fixes and disposable apps, it’s heartening to think of the people who really work to put something physical in peoples’ hands. That computing power has led to the fastest technological advances in a range of fields in the history of humanity – and, boy, can it make some fun noises, too.

With that in mind, I present for your enjoyment the Tramiel machines in images and video, as seen on CDM, with a few extras. And here’s to not only Mr. Tramiel, but all the people who worked to make these machines available.

MSSIAH is still available as an actively-developed cartridge for your Commodore computer. The cart even allows you to connect a MIDI cable.

The MIDIbox SID project produced new hardware, powered by the SID chip.

Combining these projects, here’s one of my favorite mods – a gorgeous, orange, modded C64 with SID2SID expansion and Prophet64 cartridge.

Demonstrating just how significant the machine was to music composition, The C64 Orchestra transcribes classic game music back to full orchestra.

What happens when Guitar Hero meets the C64:

A Commodore 64 speaks and plays:

Digimancy: A Commodore 64 Spouts Philosophy, Plays Modular Synths

And a reminder that Commodore will never die:

Behold sequencers we use today in their early days on the Atari ST:
Main screens of Atari ST sequencers
Pictures of Vintage MIDI Sequencers

Previously:
Musical Mods of the Commodore 64, from Traktor DJing to Knobs for Prophet64 [CDM, vintage 2006]
For Love of Chips: Chipsounds Instrument and EP and the Gear That Inspired Them [this release by Plogue of a chip instrument turned out to be a window into the chip music scene - artists and equipment - as well as a way to get these sounds on more modern computers]

More:
CNET has a nice obituary, as well as an extensive look at Tramiel and his contributions

In some cross between a self-aware, intelligent computer a la HAL and an experimental sound artist, the project Digimancy presents a talking, synth-playing Commodore 64. Get through a few minutes of it spouting theory, and somewhere at about 6 minutes, 30 seconds in this video, that Commodore 64 starts to jam with danceable, glitchy sounds. It’s a bizarre laboratory sonic production – white lab coat included – but eventually, this semi-evil computer makes songs. And it’s just the sort of convergence of analog and digital we love, as the C64 chips drive a nice set of boutique, analog gear. Patch cords and chips – bonus.

Reader Jordan Bartee, the man responsible for this mayhem, sends it our way, which provides entry into, in his words, “the micro-galactic frontier.”

No reason to let him have all the fun, though. He’s shared schematics, source code, and PCB layouts:
https://rapidshare.com/files/1689835312/TLL_Release.zip

Decode that, and find an old C64, and you can go to town.

You’ve heard the chip hype. But there’s something behind it: vintage digital chips can make wonderful sounds. And I’m thrilled that someone has painstakingly reproduced those sounds in an upcoming package.

Emulating analog circuitry, from amps to classic synths, has been long understood. But we’ve finally reached an age when people begin to appreciate the odd idiosyncrasies of digital technology, too. There hasn’t ever been a comprehensive attempt to emulate each detail of a range of 80s sound chips before – until now. Plogue (makers of the highly underrated Plogue Bidule patching environment) and David Viens have tackled just that as a labor of love, and you’ll be able to use the resulting “chipsounds” library later this spring.

Plogue’s chipsounds recreates the blippy personality of the Commodore 64, the Nintendo NES, the Game Boy, the Atari, the Vic20 – and circuit-bent and abused variations, too. It’s got a powerful artist endorsement from 8 Bit Weapon and Computer Her (pictured here). There are arpeggiators, noise patterns, distortion emulation, custom software, all built on the ARIA synth/sampling engine.

The basic specs:

• 7 chips: TIA, 2A03 PAPU, VIC-I, SN76589AN, AY-3-8910, POKEY, and SID. Haven’t heard of all of those? No worries. But you’ve probably heard the chips. The horribly-named SN76589AN was used in my very first computer, the IBM PCjr, my first game console, the Colecovision (boy did I pick them), and in the TI. The 2A03 is from the original NES. The TIA was in the Atari.
• Tricks, built in: One-shot arpeggiators, rapid waveform changes, envelope resync tricks are all built in – stuff that’s hard to pull off, as the creators note.
• Emulations of psuedo noise patterns, distortion
• Switch on each chip’s limited resolution and pitch values – or switch them off, and create sounds the PCjr couldn’t
• Presets from 8 bit Weapon and ComputeHer

When analog synth emulation came out, we all got something more convenient, but it didn’t necessarily do wonders for the music. Here, I think the situation is very different. Many of the original chip instruments have woefully primitive possibilities for actual composition. (The Game Boy’s wonderful LSDJ and Nanoloop are a notable exception.) Compare that to the software emulations of, say, a Moog modular, which lost a lot of what was great about the original – the interface. You can’t necessarily say that about the AY-3-8910, unless you’re the Ludwig van Beethoven of Assembler. (If you are – we love you.)

And the chip scene has also matured to the point that it’s ready to break out a bit. Getting these emulations on computers can help warp them into music and sound ideas they haven’t discovered before. I believe these sounds are really something special, not just a novelty.

I personally can’t wait to use this.

We have extensive details from a Plogue flyer – you can get it here on CDM, or if you’re on the floor of NAMM, you might get it from the Plogue guys themselves.

Flyer – Front

Flyer – Back

And if you want to hear these sounds making fantastic music, go give the artists a listen:

8 Bit Weapon

Computeher

ARIA is an important announcement; I’ll be catching up on news from Gary Garritan soon.

We’ll have sound samples of this too, as well.

One chip to rule them all: over a quarter century later, the sounds of this chip are reborn in the newest mobile devices. Photo (CC) Dejdżer / Digga.

Take a look at the long view of history, and the Commodore 64 fares nicely. It remains the most popular computer of all time. And this newfangled iPhone thing? Well, it now just catches up to the C64, giving people what they really want – a C64-like music player in their pocket.

How else to explain my inbox packed with tips about the new SID Player for iPod Touch and iPhone? Who needs MP3 when there’s SID. A tiny download yields over 33,000 tracks, and the player application itself is open source. Rounding out this (unplanned) day of game music, this seems the appropriate coda.

Now, it’d be easy enough to let a wave of nostalgia wash over you – or, Scrooge-like naysayers, to dismiss yet another novelty download for iPhone. But consider if you will some of the underlying reasons a SID Player works:

• Composition: The compositions aren’t just nostalgia pieces – even classic game tunes like Commando and Arkanoid. The point is, composers like Rob Hubbard were inventive and ingeniously compact. Strip away the instrumentation, and they still work – something that can’t be said of a lot of modern game music (but can be said of hits like “Still Alive,” as it happens).
• Storing scores, not sound: We continue to be force-fed the idea that recorded music is superior to sequenced racks that are synthesized – but no one can say why. Sure, for simulating an orchestra, that makes some sense, even with increasingly sophisticated samplers. But for electronic compositions, it’s nonsense. You can pack more music and more musical structure into a score. If MIDI scores are underwhelming, it’s because the synths playing them, or the limitations of the file format, or both killed the idea.
• SID forever: The SID remains one of the great synth designs of all time, again, because of its economy and its personality. There’s no reason that success can’t be replicated in 2009 by DIY electronics builders on one hand, or smart synth programmers working on mobile and embedded devices on the other.

I have nothing against nostalgia on the one hand, and nothing against healthy skepticism on the other. But if you look at something like a 2009 SID player on the iPhone, there really is something to it – even when history washes both the SID and the iPhone into a forgotten past.

SID Player Project Page, iTunes link (US$2.99; further evidence that you can have a for-fee open source mobile app, folks)

Via Synthtopia and James Lewin’s Twitter and a few of you, as well.

The only way to top this iPhone app? Why, someone needs to build a SID-based pocket music player that does nothing else. There are a few DIY projects that might get you started.

Retro hardware? Vintage game machines? Old computers? New mobile devices? Whatever it is, we’ll make music and motion on it.

The Blip Festival, the legendary international festival of vintage music and visual tech, invades New York today (Thursday) through Sunday. There’s an unbelievable lineup, with fantastic musicians and live visualists playing every single night Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from music from m-.-n to Bubblyfish and visuals from Paris Treantafales to Meneo (and many other friends). In fact, every single musician has their own live visuals, so your eyes and ears are guaranteed to be (over)stimulated at all times.

Saturday afternoon is a lineup of workshops, including making your own visual electronics with VBLANK and putting music on NES albums with NO CARRIER.

Sunday is the debut of Reformat the Planet, the documentary film.

2008 Blip Festival

And before the Friday night Blip festival starts, get your 32-bit / mobile gaming + music device / happy hour mixer on:

Mobile Music: 32-Bit Blip Drinkup/Meetup with CDM + Boing Boing [Facebook]

Friday 32-bit BB/CDM Meetup @ Bell House Bar

Blip has a strictly 8-bit and/or retro focus. The stated mission is to:

showcase emerging creative niches involving the use of legacy video game & home computer hardware as modern artistic instrumentation. Devices such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Nintendo Game Boy and others are repurposed into the service of original, low-res, high-impact electronic music and visuals…

Now, I love retro tech, but being the subversive character I am, I have to say, cough, “low resolution”? “8-bit”?

And so, with Joel Johnson (Boing Boing / Offworld / Boing Boing Gadgets), we’re hosting a very informal meetup to celebrate all things mobile and 32-bit with the Boing Boing and CDM communities. If you’ve got one, bring your PSP, your Nintendo DS, and your GamePark (or even mobile phone / PDA), and prepare to share. I’m especially hopeful we’ll get some wireless action with multiples of the DS, Korg DS-10, and homebrew. We may be able to unlock your PSP for homebrew (contact us first – likewise, give us a holler if you’re good with a Pandora’s Battery and Magic Memory Stick). If you’ve found a way to hook your 8-bit Game Boy into your new DS DIY MIDI interface, all numbers of bits will be accommodated.  I’ll be bringing my PSP with the incredible PSPSEQ onboard – which sounds utterly beautiful and is really inspiring to use. I’ll have DS homebrew, too.

If you just want to meet me and Joel and folks and see what’s possible and nerd out and have a few drinks, that goes, too!

We’re meeting at the bar at the Bell House, which also happens to be where Blip is happening. So you can come, get some drinks and snacks, and get your mobile music/visual geek on. Bonus: it’s two-for-one happy hour, so bring a friend / significant other and we’ll make them feel at home!

Bell House Food & Drink Menu

RSVP on Facebook

When: Friday, December 5, 6-8p

Where: 149 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215 [Map | Directions]

See you there!

Again, very important rest of the planet, I’ll try to stream live if WiFi cooperates in the bar! Watch http://twitter.com/cdmblogs for updates.

They’ve gone about as fer as they can go …

Yes, just when you thought you’d seen every conceivable take on mods, customizations, clones, homages, robots, artistic reinterpretations, and other cultural artifacts inspired by Guitar Hero, there’s this — a Guitar Hero clone on Commodore 64.

There’s a lot of chatting at the beginning, but jump about five minutes in for the payoff: the Legend of Zelda Overworld theme with deliciously low-fi graphics. (All due respects to Harmonix and new Guitar Hero developers Activision, but I might point out the interface actually doesn’t need an Xbox 360.)

We’re mixing 8-bit systems here (Nintendo and Commodore), but clearly a full 8-bit collection is due. And there’s still further evidence that the Commodore 64 is the digital music platform that will outlive all the rest. Have to boot up my machine and do a C64 feature month or something one of these days.

Details, downloads at creator Toni Westbrook‘s site. Toni’s no one-hit wonder, either — dig philosophical musings on adventure gaming and programming, SQL tricks (seriously), and a do-everything interface for PlayStation controllers that allows them to be used with a variety of classic hardware.

Thanks to Josh Randall (who works for some company called Harmonix — hey, when are you guys finally going to release a C64 version?) and Yarnivore for the tip.

basic64 is a free (donations accepted) VST plug-in for Windows. You can see the full specs on the developer site, but let’s skip straight to what sets this one apart:

• Oscillator sync
• Ring modulation
• Pitch envelopes
• Tempo-synced arpeggiator
• MIDI learn on everything

Pretty powerful for free. It’s not a full SID emulation, but then, I think an “inspired” version is better anyway. Now, enough blogging, I’m off to go play with this thing. And yes, lots of weird and wonderful plug-ins is one excellent reason to use Windows, even if just a justification for throwing XP Home on Boot Camp on a MacBook.

basic64 on de La Mancha
and lots of other free/donationware plugs from them

Via the good peoples of Sonic State

I Want My Nerdster TV

Having made my obligatory crack about generic college rock at CMJ, musical taste is something CDM generally likes to avoid. I believe technology can serve music of all kinds; the idea that computer tech has to be genre-specific was shattered long, long ago. But if you write a love song featuring Commodore 64s and floppy disks — well, come on, everybody’s got to appreciate a gimmick sometimes, especially with a catchy tune. Computer Camp Love comes to us from Datarock, who earn extra cred by collaborating with fellow Norwegian rockstar Annie, and generally being from Norway, which is one of CDM’s Favorite Countries. Sadly, I can’t go see them Thursday, because I’ll be too busy hanging out with Simian Mobile Disco.

Computers are love:

And I also believe electro is important: it takes a campaign to get America’s plain-vanilla taste in rock instrumentation (guitar, bass, drums again, eh?) out of the box in this decade. (That’s why it’s especially cool Thomas Dolby recently added live brass.)

But how to do it? I think you just have to do something funky, danceable, with the word electro repeated over and over again. The punky UK-based Tigerpicks demonstrate. Witness:

I like the alternative electro dimension they inhabit.

Update: Yes, I know they’re cheesy. Yes, I know this is the word electro, not the music. They intend nothing else. I had a friend in college who would spray Cheez Whiz into his mouth. It’s like that. (Wait … suddenly hungry.) Just play along. Now I’m going to work on a track that shouts “Trashcore Jazzadelic IDM Glitch Funk!” I’ll see you in 72 hours. End of line.

CMJ Notes

If you’ve got any hot band tips or you yourself are playing here, let me know. I’ll come say hi. The more obscure you are, the better.

cnet’s Caroline McCarthy (a fellow “downtown Manhattanite”) has a terrific take on the digital music side of CMJ:
CMJ’s Music Marathon: What’s in store for digital music?

The Sound Destruction Unit:

DIY modular synth made putting together a lot of things I’ve built in the last times. There is a Weird Sound Generator, a Crackle Box, a random pattern generator, some filters (cutoff, square to sine), a gate controller, a Vactrol based controller, optical sensors and body contacts, mixing and power stuff.

Orange Commodore 64 Synth: A lovely, custom-painted “Modded C64 with SID2SID expansion and Prophet64 cartridge.”

The C64 also has a helpful discussion of paint. Music DIY extraordinaire Fibra advises:

Always apply at least one layer of plastic primer. Let it dries enough after each layer. Also apply at least 2-3 layers of paint. I also used spray canned paint (for cars) which is probably better than acrylic based.

Hmmm, I’ve got a few keyboards that could use a custom job. (“Pimp my Synth,” anyone?) Please don’t be shy about joining in on our Flickr group, by the way. It seems like it could be a great way not only to document impressive hardware DIY projects, but also custom software patches in Max/MSP and Reaktor, unusual clip configurations in Ableton Live, racks in Reason, musical scores, performances — all kinds of things.

Another nice example: choking sun’s very nice studio.

Now, some videos of the Sound Destruction Unit:

Every year synth die-hards migrate East for AHNE. It is an amazing gathering filled with vintage gear as you will see in the links that follow. This year’s event looks like it did not disappoint. Unfortunately I was not able to make it due to having to make a trip out East just before the event due to unforeseen circumstances, but one year I will make it! The following are links to photo sets and some video of the event.

Stretta’s Flickr Set
AHNE 2007 via alt-mode
AHNE Collage on SonicState – features some great video coverage and words by Dave below.

Minimoog & Minimoog Voyager Side by Side via Dave

Here’s an example of some of what can be had at events like AHNE. This video was done by cartoonist and synthesist, Dave of umop and his synth toon classic The Packrat. BTW, check out Dave’s video for Weird Al Yankovic’s Virus Alert.

Custom Synth Madness

CustomSynth UK

What you are looking at is a Roland SH-09 monophonic analog synth. They are normally white font and details on black. Why is this one Orange? Before purists rank on the change in design, well, the original was in pretty bad shape. It was picked up by an outfit that goes by CustomSynth they do custom designs for a number of synths including a white Juno-106, JX-3P, Korg Polysix and more. Check out this JX-3P with the PG-200 knob box built in. They are very well done and surprisingly well received in the synth community.

The Harvey TR-808

Meet the Harvey TR-808, a rack mounted Roland TR-808 built by Studio Electronics. Before Studio Electronics began building their own synths, they used to rack and MIDIfy the old classics including a TR-909 rack, the original MIDIMini Minimoog rack, the Oberheim “Obie Eight” rack, and the Sequential Circuits “P Five” rack. If you look at the Studio Electronics News page you will see mention of the old school racks as of 5.20.05:

“5.20.05: OLD SCHOOL STUDIO ELECTRONICS RACKMOUNT CLASSICS RETURN!
“Harvey” 808s, P5s, a new TR-909 rack (minus its sequencer), OBIE RACKs, and even OB-8s (I think) are back in the fold!”

I have no idea if they are still taking orders. The Harvey pictured is currently up for auction.

Monster Drum Machine

In this case, literally. This beauty was actually up for auction for a whopping $5000.

The following are the details:

“Add a useful member to your band, an interesting piece to your collection or BOTH… is it Art? Is it an instrument? (Well, the debate is still open on whether or not a drum machine is actually an instrument, but I digress) IT’S BOTH! This fully functional artistic drum machine is perfect for the edgey musician or DJ who needs a pal, the collector of one of a kind art, or the lover of cool electronica… Measures 42″ tall, 21″ at base and 18″ at its widest on the top and has 3 cord jacks… don’t let this lil mutant guy (guys?!?!?) languish in artistic limbo, he needs to lay down some bomb beats with you today!”

Check out this link for the images if the auction is down. It is an interesting piece.

If you know anything about the construction of this one, please feel free to comment.

The Lyricon

The Lyricon is essentially an analog synth that can be played by flute [see update below]. You can find more images and info on MASA, a Japanese site on the instrument. You can find a Google translated version of the site here. The following is a translated excerpt from the site. Apologies for the poor translation. If you know more about this piece feel free to comment.

“‘performing in the orchestra, was the idea like the electric flute which is audible sufficiently in the hole’, so is. It has started from the place where it tries probably to reproduce the performance method of the wooden bobbin musical instrument and the constitution of the timbre electrically. Being afterwards, appeared, become constitution of the general analog synthesizer VCO, VCF and VCA…. whichWith there is no similar point yet, changes harmonic overtone constitution and on the other hand, it can call with the point which does the sound making that it has been similar to [dorouba] of the organ. At this point in time as for [ririkon] of the first generation [ririkon] II which it mentions later, formation differs from [doraivua] completely.”

Update via brian t in the comments: “Small correction re the Lyricon: it’s played saxophone-style, not like a flute. There’s a summary in English at 120 Years of Electronic Music. Probably the most high-profile Lyricon gig was with Steely Dan, tracks like “Hey Nineteen” have Lyricon solos by Tom Scott.”

Viva Commodore64!

And finally I leave you with a little C64 action.

Magnetron by Golgoth 13A

“”Magnetron”, funny Clay animation music video clip from french band “GOLGOTH 13″ and their album called “Bruce Lee died in Galway”. Official golgoth 13 website More of Seb’s work here too.”

“The Mighty MB-6582!”

“four channel stereo synth (8x 6582 SIDs) and the up-coming release of MB-SID V2 is going to blow away all other SID hardware.” via C64Music! You can find the full flickr set of images here. This is a custom version of the MidiBox SID. Via beaker in the comments of this Matrixsynth post: “Yes, this guy is from Australia and he made this version of the Midibox SID himself. It is still based on the Midibox design though. The 6582 was not used in the C64, but it is a 9V version of the SID much like the 8580. They are hard to find, but there was some new old stock floating around that has mostly been bought up. I doubt this will become a production synth (at least not is any real quantity) due to a shortage of 6582 SID’s, especially since he’s using 8 of them in one unit. But apparently he’ll be selling boards for those that have, or can find some SID’s. One thing for sure, it did a bloody nice job of it.”

For or daily synth-related posts check out Matrixsynth.