I figured someone in Cali would take interest in this.
http://machineproject.com/archive/events/2011/06/25/apple-ii-concert/
Apple II Concert
Saturday, June 25th, 2011
6pm: Meeting of the Apple II owners/musicians
8pm: Concert
The old Apple II, first introduced in 1977, was a revolutionary computer in many ways.
Sound capabilities were not one of them. The Apple II?s sound system, unlike
contemporaries such as the Atari 800 or Commodore 64, did not use a discreet sound chip,
but rather a simple timer circuit that could be coaxed into creating square-wave tones.
Most chiptune musicians tend to use sound-chip based systems, but there is a certain charm
to square-wave tones. Some may define this charm as ?annoyance.?
So, as a grand ?musical? experiment, noted loon Jason Torchinsky has written a crude
16-step sequencer for the Apple II, and is seeking to gather up as many Apple IIs as
possible to construct an orchestra which will then perform a live, dynamic concert/musical
event. Machine?s resident music guru, Chris Kallemyer, will be on hand to discuss the
nature of music, why some of the Apple?s 256 tones are notes and some are not, and
generally help make things somewhat listenable.
Who knows what the end result will sound like? A chorus of angels, poking at touch-tone
phones? All the computers from the background of every sci-fi movie from the 1950s-80s
going off at once? A serenade by a truckload of R2-D2s? Come on out and listen for
yourselves.
We are currently seeking Apple II owners to contribute to making this happen! Please
contact machine at
machineproject.com if you would like to participate!