The Commodordion

lftkryo · 531K views · 2022 · 11:27

Open on YouTube

Demoscene & retrocomputingEmbedded systems & DIY electronicsMusic performance & songsdemo

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN people recommend it as the work of an unusually creative artist-engineer whose whole channel is worth exploring.

What it is

Linus Akesson demonstrates the Commodordion, a fully functional 8-bit accordion built around Commodore 64 hardware with bellows made of floppy disks. He performs Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag and tells the story of the build.

Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2022 to 2025.

What Hacker News said

Strong rec noman-land · 2025-02 · on “Nine – seemingly impossible C64 demo”

This dude's work is incredible. His entire YouTube channel is amazing. My personal recent favorite, The Commodordion: "A fully functional 8-bit accordion with bellows made out of floppy disks." Legend. [this video]

Recommends Joel_Mckay · 2022-11 · on “Dabblers and Blowhards”

Always in awe of process people even when insolent. ;) In my experience, people who throw around the H word these days are the same lamers you get stuck beside in a plane for 8 hours... talking at you about bitcoin. Talented artists can learn programs with ease, but software guys usually suck at making content that sells. This guy is far more interesting, and perhaps an exception: [this video]

Recommends maxdamantus · 2025-06 · on “Terpstra Keyboard”

I've kind of done this, just without the actual "build" part—I instead use a Wooting computer keyboard (which has the hall effect switches you're referring to), and I've written some program to emit MIDI based on key velocity. I've been using it very frequently for a few years, and can confirm it's quite fun to use, though I don't have much experience playing other keyboard instruments and haven't tried to learn it seriously enough to make proper use of chords etc. Demo of me playing here, though try not to mind the messy desk and bad recording setup (one-hand, MIDI going through phone due to lack of speakers): [LINK] The layout I use is not a regular piano layout, but a B-griff layout, as u

Cites hkwerf · 2023-07 · on “Glyptodont Performed on the Qwertar?”

Other noteworthy other instruments of Linus Åkesson are also the Chipophone ( [LINK] ) and the Commordion ( [this video] ).