7 ms·

Star wars theme played by a floppy disk hack.

72 points by cfontes 16y ago

Splines 16y ago
I've heard PCM audio through the PC speaker, it'd be interesting to try similar techniques with this setup.
zalew 16y ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmoDLyiQYKw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmoDLyiQYKw phantom of the opera
- Xk 16y ago
  That would be Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
  - jobrahms 16y ago
    Actually, it's Toccata and Fugue in D Drive. Common mistake.
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  That is absolutely fantastic. Much better than the ol' star wars thing. I never thought I'd see floppy drives harmonising.
extension 16y ago
Maybe this is the right time to pimp my "Super Mario Bro's theme for laser engraver": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq4VLwLFXaE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq4VLwLFXaE I'm very interested in the idea of electro-mechanical music. We've all heard machines playing human instruments and machines synthesizing sound, but very few machines built to be novel accoustic instruments in themselves.
- qeorge 16y ago
  This is amazing. I'd like to hear more about this, specifically what gave you the idea and how you did it.
  - extension 16y ago
    The story behind the laser itself is pretty interesting. It was largely built by people at a hacklab in Toronto. Here's a writeup from another member: http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/?p=laser_cutter http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/?p=laser_cutter During the build, we noticed the sound of the stepper motors was unusually melodic. The sound it made while tracing an arc was inescapably musical. One night, I just hacked up a Ruby script to translate a simple ASCII music notation into movement commands. This is actually quite simple. Feed rate * DPI gives you pitch and distance / feed rate is note duration. All the axes are intersected to create a single list of movements. When multiple axes are moving, a bit of trig is used to calculate the right feed rate. The acceleration limits also have to be disabled on the machine. Here is the code. It should work with any G-code based CNC machine: https://github.com/jedediah/lasermuzak https://github.com/jedediah/lasermuzak
unshift 16y ago
direct link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4SCSGRVAQE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4SCSGRVAQE
pettazz 16y ago
This would be more ominous if it played All Along The Watchtower.
cfontes 16y ago
Crazy hack done by someone with a lot of free time and discipline :D
- stuff4ben 16y ago
  pffft...we used to do that on our 1541's back in the day.
wladimir 16y ago
What's a floppy disk?
- cfontes 16y ago
  Hum... born after 96 ? It was the famous B:\ drive discs, they could keep 1.44Mb of data, yes that stands for Megabytes I had a game called Rex Nebular that was 25 discs :D hahaha it toke forever to install.
  - unshift 16y ago
    A: was the 3.5" 1.44MB micro floppy as pictured in the video, B: was the 5.25" mini floppy
    - cfontes 16y ago
      No way. A:\ mostly was for those big square ones that could only fit 750k and were thin like a cardboard.
      - warp 16y ago
        750k? That is a pretty uncommon "big square" disk. (5.25" were 360kB and 1.2MB).
        Sandman 16y ago
        5.25 DD was 360 KB, and HD was 1.2 MB. However, there were also QD 5.25 disks which held 720 KB. But there were no 750 KB disks. Man, I feel so old right now just for knowing that...
- mtrn 16y ago
  For those who didn't stumbled upon it yet: http://superuser.com/q/231273/38447 http://superuser.com/q/231273/38447 (What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for?)
nhangen 16y ago
For some reason, I still have a stack of floppies in my closet. Looks like I found a potential weekend project :)
whyleyc 16y ago
It sounds like someone playing a Kazoo in the background whilst a floppy disk is filmed
potomak 16y ago
Listen to Queen Bohemian Rhapsody Old School Computer Remix http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht96HJ01SE4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht96HJ01SE4
torme 16y ago
If you haven't seen this yet, this is probably the best example of a hack like this that I've seen. It was submitted for a contest that radiohead held, and I believe was the winner (it takes about a minute to get rolling): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmfHHLfbjNQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmfHHLfbjNQ The sound of the scanner is pretty awesome. And the original by radiohead in case you need some context. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ky1td3_6LY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ky1td3_6LY
antirez 16y ago
So PC shipped with a floppy and a speaker only in order to be able to beep while loading? :)
iwwr 16y ago
Music coming out of an electric arc (no moving membrane). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEeWtBAE5LY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEeWtBAE5LY
adaml_623 16y ago
Um isn't that the Imperial March?
zandorg 16y ago
I did something similiar by switching on and off (with BASIC code) the relay in a BBC B, which turns the tape machine on or off. It kind of goes clickety click very rapidly.

72 points by cfontes 16y ago

Splines 16y ago

I've heard PCM audio through the PC speaker, it'd be interesting to try similar techniques with this setup.

zalew 16y ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmoDLyiQYKw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmoDLyiQYKw phantom of the opera

Xk 16y ago
That would be Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
- jobrahms 16y ago
  Actually, it's Toccata and Fugue in D Drive. Common mistake.
JonnieCache 16y ago
That is absolutely fantastic. Much better than the ol' star wars thing. I never thought I'd see floppy drives harmonising.

extension 16y ago

Maybe this is the right time to pimp my "Super Mario Bro's theme for laser engraver": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq4VLwLFXaE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq4VLwLFXaE I'm very interested in the idea of electro-mechanical music. We've all heard machines playing human instruments and machines synthesizing sound, but very few machines built to be novel accoustic instruments in themselves.

qeorge 16y ago
This is amazing. I'd like to hear more about this, specifically what gave you the idea and how you did it.
- extension 16y ago
  The story behind the laser itself is pretty interesting. It was largely built by people at a hacklab in Toronto. Here's a writeup from another member: http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/?p=laser_cutter http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/?p=laser_cutter During the build, we noticed the sound of the stepper motors was unusually melodic. The sound it made while tracing an arc was inescapably musical. One night, I just hacked up a Ruby script to translate a simple ASCII music notation into movement commands. This is actually quite simple. Feed rate * DPI gives you pitch and distance / feed rate is note duration. All the axes are intersected to create a single list of movements. When multiple axes are moving, a bit of trig is used to calculate the right feed rate. The acceleration limits also have to be disabled on the machine. Here is the code. It should work with any G-code based CNC machine: https://github.com/jedediah/lasermuzak https://github.com/jedediah/lasermuzak

unshift 16y ago

direct link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4SCSGRVAQE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4SCSGRVAQE

pettazz 16y ago

This would be more ominous if it played All Along The Watchtower.

cfontes 16y ago

Crazy hack done by someone with a lot of free time and discipline :D

stuff4ben 16y ago
pffft...we used to do that on our 1541's back in the day.

wladimir 16y ago

What's a floppy disk?

cfontes 16y ago
Hum... born after 96 ? It was the famous B:\ drive discs, they could keep 1.44Mb of data, yes that stands for Megabytes I had a game called Rex Nebular that was 25 discs :D hahaha it toke forever to install.
- unshift 16y ago
  A: was the 3.5" 1.44MB micro floppy as pictured in the video, B: was the 5.25" mini floppy
  - cfontes 16y ago
    No way. A:\ mostly was for those big square ones that could only fit 750k and were thin like a cardboard.
    - warp 16y ago
      750k? That is a pretty uncommon "big square" disk. (5.25" were 360kB and 1.2MB).
      - Sandman 16y ago
        5.25 DD was 360 KB, and HD was 1.2 MB. However, there were also QD 5.25 disks which held 720 KB. But there were no 750 KB disks. Man, I feel so old right now just for knowing that...
mtrn 16y ago
For those who didn't stumbled upon it yet: http://superuser.com/q/231273/38447 http://superuser.com/q/231273/38447 (What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for?)

nhangen 16y ago

For some reason, I still have a stack of floppies in my closet. Looks like I found a potential weekend project :)

whyleyc 16y ago

It sounds like someone playing a Kazoo in the background whilst a floppy disk is filmed

potomak 16y ago

Listen to Queen Bohemian Rhapsody Old School Computer Remix http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht96HJ01SE4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht96HJ01SE4

torme 16y ago

If you haven't seen this yet, this is probably the best example of a hack like this that I've seen. It was submitted for a contest that radiohead held, and I believe was the winner (it takes about a minute to get rolling): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmfHHLfbjNQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmfHHLfbjNQ The sound of the scanner is pretty awesome. And the original by radiohead in case you need some context. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ky1td3_6LY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ky1td3_6LY

antirez 16y ago

So PC shipped with a floppy and a speaker only in order to be able to beep while loading? :)

iwwr 16y ago

Music coming out of an electric arc (no moving membrane). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEeWtBAE5LY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEeWtBAE5LY

adaml_623 16y ago

Um isn't that the Imperial March?

zandorg 16y ago

I did something similiar by switching on and off (with BASIC code) the relay in a BBC B, which turns the tape machine on or off. It kind of goes clickety click very rapidly.