"You know that moment when someone takes something impossibly complicated and makes it look like the most natural thing in the world? That's exactly what happens when you watch Linus Akesson perform Maurice Ravel's Boléro on nine homemade 8-bit instruments. And honestly, it's the kind of thing that makes you stop scrolling and just stare. Akesson isn't your average musician or engineer. He's both, which is probably the only way a project like this could exist. The Swedish creator has spent years building custom electronic instruments from vintage computer parts and retro gaming hardware, and this 15-minute performance might just be his magnum opus."
"We're talking about a piece that required nearly 10 hours of footage and 52 mixer channels to capture. This isn't just a fun weekend project. It's a full-blown technical and artistic achievement. Ravel's Boléro is one of those classical pieces that you recognize even if you don't think you know classical music. It's hypnotic and repetitive, building slowly over 15 minutes with the same melody cycling through different instruments until it reaches this massive crescendo. It's also notoriously difficult to perform because of how exposed every musician is. There's nowhere to hide when you're playing the same pattern over and over. Now imagine tackling that with a collection of beeping, blooping 8-bit computers that you built yourself."
"The instruments in Akesson's arsenal include things like the Chipophone, an organ-like device that uses old computer sound chips, and the Commodordion, which is essentially a Commodore 64 turned into an accordion. Yes, you read that right. These aren't instruments you can just buy off the shelf or even find in some obscure music shop. Akesson designed and built them from scratch, combining his deep knowledge of electronics with a genuine love for the aesthetic and sound of vintage computing."
Linus Akesson arranged and performed Maurice Ravel's Boléro using nine homemade 8-bit instruments built from vintage computer and retro gaming hardware. The performance runs about 15 minutes and required nearly ten hours of footage and 52 mixer channels to capture. The musical piece relies on a hypnotic, repetitive melody that grows to a massive crescendo, exposing every instrument and player. Instruments include the Chipophone and the Commodordion, a Commodore 64 converted into an accordion. Each instrument was designed and built from scratch, combining electronics expertise with a passion for vintage computing aesthetics and sound.
Read at Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]