YouTube user FunToTheHead has created a working organ that uses finely tuned wheezing floppy drives to play rather impressive renditions of music. It’s not easy to sequence for four-note floppy-drive organs, but FunToTheHead has done a rather good job with Tocatta and Fugue — a solid choice for any mad-science organ! I love that he’s got the blinkenlights synched with the music.
People have made floppy drives sing before, but this is my personal take on it.
Features two 3 1/2″ drives and two 5 1/4″ drives connected to a PIC18f14k50 microcontroller. It interfaces to any MIDI source via MIDI over USB. Straight MIDI would also be possible with an additional small circuit and some minor firmware changes. This initial version can respond to all 128 MIDI notes, and pitch bends +/- 2 semitones.
As it can produce only four simultaneous notes, and each drive has a different range and tonal characteristics, best results are obtained by arranging compositions by hand. However, it features two modes of operation: in one mode, MIDI channels 1 through 4 are played directly on floppy drives 1 through 4. In the other mode, all 16 MIDI channels are read, and notes are “intelligently” divvied out on a first-come, first-serve basis. “Note stealing” ensures that melody lines sound, but chords are often cut short. One or the other produces acceptable results for many unmodified MIDI files straight out of your favorite media player.
So I built a musical instrument out of antiquated PC hardware… (Reddit)
(Thanks, Evan!)
- Band releases album on “obsolete” 3.5″ floppy disc – Boing Boing
- Floppy disc pillow – Boing Boing
- A portrait of the floppy disk as a USB drive – Boing Boing
- HP’s USB Floppy Drive Key allows BIOS installation – Boing Boing
- Retro Floppy Flash Drive – Boing Boing
- Radio Shack’s 1986 electronic book – Boing Boing
- Game Boy Color mod reads ROMs from floppies – Boing Boing
Category: Music
Opera Vista presents the world premiere of The Silent Prince, a “Bollywood” opera with music and libretto by Thailand’s leading operatic composer, Somtow Sucharitkul. An aesthetic fusion of east and west, The Silent Prince’s lush score combines western and traditional Indian instruments. Classical and Bollywood choreography, provided by the Anjali Center for the Performing Arts, and a live elephant on stage contribute to an evening of both sophistication and spectacle.
The Silent Prince tells the Buddhist tale of Temiya Jataka, a Buddha who has been reincarnated as a prince. When forced to choose between committing terrible karmic deeds and disobeying his father, Temiya withdraws from the world into silence. The royal court tries to draw him back into the world, but a king’s patience can only last so long….
The opera lasts approximately 95 minutes with one intermission.
Cast (in order of appearance):
Suja/Maya/Concubine Kelly Waguespack
Apsara Nueng/Amba Elizabeth Borik
Apsara Song/Ka Raatchasamnak Sam Vanessa Beaumont
Apsara Sam/Ka Raatchasamnak Si Zina Hemingway
Shakro Devanam Indra/Yama/Procurer Matthew Strader
Ka Raatchasamnak Nueng William Stewart
Queen Chandra Devi Shannon Langman
Sunanda Gregory Smith
Raja of Kasi Timothy Jones
Temiya Ryan West
Dancers of the Anjali Dance CenterMusic Director: Viswa Subbaraman
Stage Director: Joe Carl White
Choreographers: Rathna Kumar and Mahesh Mahbubani
Tickets are $25-$75 ($10 Student and Senior discounts with current valid ID), and are available through the Hobby Center…get yours now!
The Silent Prince has been made possible by:
Jefferies
Houston Arts Alliance and the City of Houston
KUHF
Crisp & Raw Graphic Design
Fresh Arts Coalition
Spacetaker
Uniquely Houston
Lexus
Continental Airlines[From Silent Prince World Premiere at Hobby Center, 10/15 8pm | Opera Vista]
Starts off a little slow, but give it a chance.
No more tickets for ‘Cabildo,’ being staged during FQF – Living/Lagniappe:
As dusk descended across Jackson Square on Thursday, April 16, the light softened in the courtyard of the Cabildo. On the hour, the bells of the St. Louis Cathedral offered the prelude for a magical and historic evening of music as Amy Beach’s opera “Cabildo” came home.
The one-act chamber opera, written in 1932 by the foremost female American composer of her time, received its New Orleans premiere in the very setting of the opera itself. Presented by Music @ Madewood and performed by Houston’s Opera Vista, “Cabildo” is a charming and melodic entertainment, which stands well the test of time.
It will be repeated at Saturday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. at The Cabildo. All tickets for this performance, however, had been claimed by 9:05 a.m. this morning, Saturday, April 18.
The opera tells its story through the eyes of a group of modern visitors touring the Cabildo. As one tourist drifts to sleep on a bench in the courtyard, she dreams an elaborate sequence that tells the story of the pirate Pierre Lafitte and his escape from the Cabildo’s jail with the assistance of the ethereal presence of a former lover.As the tour guide/barker, sung strongly by Joe White, regales the group with the tale of pirates and romance, newlywed Mary (Shelley Auer) expresses skepticism of such a sentimental attitude – before drifting off into the dream that revels in that sentimental Southern Gothic romance. She may well represent the composer herself, a staunch New Englander, seeking permission to tackle this bodice-ripping tale of buccaneers and battles.
Bass-baritone Joseph Rawley brought Lafitte to life with a vibrant charisma and deeply rich voice. Dominique You, who brings word that Lafitte has been enlisted with his brother, Jean, to aid Andrew Jackson’s troops in defense of New Orleans, was powerfully sung by tenor Daniel Buchanan.
The Lady Valerie, Pierre’s love, was utterly captivating in the hands of soprano Lynelle Rowley. The lengthy love duet she sings opposite Rawley was the vocal highlight of the night.
The jailer was well played by Dennis Arrowsmith; Auer gave the tourist Mary a lovely voice. The rest of the members of the strong ensemble are artists of the Houston-based company.
From the dancing overture, conductor Viswa Subbaraman leads the three-piece orchestra with a swashbuckling sweep, fitting to the tale and evoking a strong sound that belies the number of musicians. The music is distinctly of its time, but heard through impressionistic ears. Beach didn’t create pastiches of the dances and folk songs of the day, but reimagined them. Subbaraman moved the 45-minute work along at a steady clip.
That “Cabildo” will be repeated Saturday, April 18, in conjunction with the French Quarter Festival is indeed reason to celebrate.
Modern Opera for Modern Times!
Event: Les Chansons Macabres
Date/Time: October 31, 2008 at 9:00PM
Location: AvantGarden, 411 Westheimer Rd., Houston, TX 77006
Price: Suggested donation of $10
Opera Vista Presents Les Chansons Macabres Halloween Night
Start your Halloween at AvantGarden with Opera Vista’s Les Chansons Macabres, featuring special guest actor Mischa Hutchings from Nova Arts Project. Come listen to a night of fantastical tales and howling arias. The “night wind” will howl as we “bewitch, bother, and bewilder” you with arias by Menotti, Rogers, and Sondheim, to name a few. Opera Vista performers will include Joe Carl White, Shelley Auer, John Weinel, Kinga Skretkowicz, Michael Walsh, and Misha Penton, with Roger Keele accompanying. Come dressed up: prizes will be awarded for the best costume!
Opera Vista was founded in 2007 with the aim of bringing “modern music to modern audiences”. Led by Artistic Director Viswa Subbaraman, Opera Vista has already made a name for itself with its critically-acclaimed fall productions at Bayou Bend and its annual Opera Festival in May. Opera Vista is a 501(c)3 organization.