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Thursday, October 26, 2006

C64 Keytar

While the MIDI keytar still looms at a considerable distance from being finished, here’s something else for the impatient audience:

Commodore itself released a cartridge for their C64 home computer in 1983 called “Music Machine”. While most of the C64’s software was loaded from cassette tapes or floppy disks, there were some games and applications available as cartridges that loaded instantly into memory on power-up, bypassing the usual BASIC screen. This makes cartridges perfect for immediate use: no loading times and no additional hardware to lug around.
Now, Music Machine turns a C64 into a simple musical keyboard. You play the c-d-e-f… scale on the QWER… keys, c#-d#-f#… on the 235… row respectively, so it’s layed out like a standard piano. There are four different “instruments” to choose from, you can transpose the pitch over five or six octaves and add some cheesy vibrato- or chorus-like effects. There’s also a simple adjustable metronome.

While the screen shows the notes played, it is not necessary to use it at all. So… as we now have this C64 mini-synthesizer not requiring any additional hardware to be used, it would be a shame to have it just stand there on a table while you play it. Of course, as rock credibility requires, you have to wear it.

So, I simply drilled two holes on the left and right side of the case, fastened guitar pins (reinforced on the inside by two pieces of metal, so the plastic case won’t crack when being loaded on it’s own weight) and applied a guitar strap. And because having two cables (power and audio) coming out of your keytar just doesn’t look good, I fitted the C64 with a standard quarter inch guitar connector next to the power connector and made a 6 meter extension cable. It’s a standard Cat. 5 network cable (for the sole reason that I have plenty of that and that it has enough wires, as the C64 power requires four lines plus the two for audio) with two plugs on each end. The C64 power supply and a standard guitar cable leading to the amp are plugged into the remote end.

To be used sometime in the future. Until then, enjoy the dorky picture of me that Till wasn’t afraid to take in the backyard.