Bohemian Rhapsody On Old Hardware 137
eldavojohn writes "The sweet sweet melodies of Queen and the late Freddie Mercury are reproduced by hardware almost as old as the song is. 'There are millions of computers sitting idle at home consuming fantom electricity. Let's see where all that power is going. This is dedicated to all fans of Queen and hey let's not forget about Mike Myers and Dana Carvey of Wayne's World. Please note no effects or sampling was used. What you see is what you hear (does that even make sense?) Atari 800XL was used for the lead piano/organ sound, Texas Instruments TI-99/4a as lead guitar, 8 Inch Floppy Disk as Bass, 3.5 inch Hard drive as the gong, HP ScanJet 3C was used for all vocals. Please note I had to record the HP scanner 4 separate times for each voice. I tried to buy 4 HP scanners but for some reason sellers on E-Bay expect you to pay $80-$100, I got mine for $30.'"
Big whoop (Score:5, Funny)
Well duh! (Score:5, Funny)
It's like I always said....... (Score:2)
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It appears that he split the midi tracks up between the instruments, but didn't align them up properly afterwards.
Pretty impressive, but sort of poorly executed.
I'm sorry, but the misalignment is bad enough that I couldn't make out the song for the first 30 seconds D:
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Please submit a link to a post where you have done what you are asking of him.
What, because he hasn't done the same thing, he has no right to criticize? That's fallacy. You may as well say nobody has the right to criticize the president because they've never been president.
FWIW, I felt the same way as the parent - I couldn't even make out the song at first, and that ruined it enough that I just quit listening after about 30 seconds. Not to take away from the guy's effort - I'm sure it was a lot of work,
Chiptunes... (Score:5, Interesting)
...hell yeah!
If you liked this, you might also check out the 8bitpeoples, who specialize in this sort of thing.
http://www.8bitpeoples.com/ [8bitpeoples.com]
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warning: link looks like a myspace page!
*feels dirty after seeing that*
Wannna hear it on an ancient 1982 computer? (SID) (Score:3, Interesting)
I enjoy the remix groups like the one you linked, but there's simply nothing as good as the original hardware. Ahhhh nostalgia. ;-) Unfortunately I cannot provide a direct link so you'll have to do a little bit of navigation to Internet Explorer (does not work on firefox) and click here: http://www.lemon64.com/music [lemon64.com]
Then:
- Click VARIOUS
- Click M-R
- Click Merman
- Click Bohemian Rhapsody
This version of Bohemian Rhapsody is "okay" but I've heard far better music than this coming from the Commodore=64, like
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Close everything if you open that URL!
Sounds fine after closing all Java instances.
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I didn't have any problems.
Is the JSIDplayer not compatible with other java programs, due to high CPU usage? Hmmm. I see it is using 11% of my CPU; maybe I better close it before I go to lunch.
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>>>The SID is great and everything, but if that's the only chip you're listening to you really don't have a clue.
Yeah I agree its great. That's why it was picked as one of the greatest computer chips ever made by PC World. However I don't know what you're talking about in the second half of your sentence. I've listened to lots of different sound chips over the years, Paula on the Amiga (best pre-1990 computer), POKEY on the Atari 8-bits, and the chips that make IBM PCs go "beep". For its time
Takedown? (Score:5, Funny)
How long before the RIAA have this removed from YouTube for copyright infringement?
Re:Takedown? (Score:5, Interesting)
Never -- the RIAA doesn't control the copyright of the melody itself, only recordings of it made by RIAA-affiliated performers. You should be worried about BMI [wikipedia.org] instead, I think.
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Re:Takedown? (Score:4, Informative)
You'd be wrong. The composition is under copyright, regardless of what bizarre contraptions you choose to perform it on.
Nothing to do with the RIAA, though.
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how long is a composition?
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hold-on, so if I copyright my fart "noise", can I stop anyone else from farting the same peculiar notes? how long is a composition?
No one can't stop nobody from farting.
But if you can afford 500k$+ copyright lawyer, you can extort somebody who farted.
If you have millions - you can even jail them in some countries (USA,iran,russia. In sweden they will appeal).
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My guess is that it'd just nix public performances; private poots would still be allowed... The only mainstream artist I know that uses flatulence is "Weird Al", you might want to check to see if your rump-riff is already copyrighted.
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The only mainstream artist I know that uses flatulence is "Weird Al", you might want to check to see if your rump-riff is already copyrighted.
The noises you're thinking of (prominent in several of Al's older songs such as "Another One Rides The Bus" and "I Love Rocky Road") aren't really flatulence; they're hand noises created by "Musical Mike" Kieffer. He can be seen in the video for Headline News [youtube.com]; the hand noises start at 2:39 and Musical Mike can be seen making them at 2:48 and 3:04.
Yes, I am white & nerdy, how did you know?
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One word: Parody [wikipedia.org].
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One word: Parody [wikipedia.org].
A better word: Cover. [wikipedia.org]
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You don't say parody... you say parley!
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I think it is, by sheer virtue of the absurdity of the whole thing.
Parody doesn't have to be funny. It doesn't have to be good. It doesn't have to be insulting.
The man simply made a good parody of a good Queen song. Not a remix, not a cover, not a flailing attempt to repetitiously exploit a riff or a bassline. Just a parody.
IMHO.
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Metonymy of "RIAA" (Score:2)
Nothing to do with the RIAA, though.
Slashdot users often use the term "RIAA" metonymically [wikipedia.org] for its members, just as "the White House" is used for the U.S. executive branch. And many RIAA members, such as the big four record labels, also happen to be members of the National Music Publishers' Association.
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Ah, that's a good point -- I guess you answered my question [slashdot.org].
Of course, even if the MIDI file was bad on purpose, it was still recognizable as Bohemian Rhapsody. I don't think it was changed enough to avoid being declared infringement if BMI decided to go after it.
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he didn't change the song title, he didn't attribute the song to himself...
what he could be forced to do is simply pay the royalty for a reproduction, much like bands do in your local pub/underground station... geez, get a life
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Of course, even if the MIDI file was bad on purpose, it was still recognizable as Bohemian Rhapsody. I don't think it was changed enough to avoid being declared infringement if BMI decided to go after it.
It doesn't matter how terrible a rendition it was. If it sounds nothing like it then it can still infringe. It's called copyright infringement for a reason ... you infringe the persons legal right to a monopoly if you copy from them. That includes creating a derivative work _iff_ you copy from them. If your work was created independently (and you're going to need some evidence here I'm afraid) without copying then there is no infringement.
What precautions (Score:2)
If your work was created independently (and you're going to need some evidence here I'm afraid) without copying then there is no infringement.
Say I write my own song, but I'm not trying to copy anything. What precautions should I take before I publish to avoid being sued for accidental infringement like George Harrison was?
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The ratio of your precautions to George Harrison's should be the same as the ratio between your fame and his.
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If your work was created independently (and you're going to need some evidence here I'm afraid) without copying then there is no infringement.
Say I write my own song, but I'm not trying to copy anything. What precautions should I take before I publish to avoid being sued for accidental infringement like George Harrison was?
There is no try there is only do .. or something.
Either you copy someone (perhaps subconsciously) or you don't. The chances of creating a piece of music independently appear to be quite slim and so the court will probably have a high level of presumed guilt towards you. If you had manuscripts showing developments and adaptations of your own original song that might help.
However, in the US I think a work that closely resembles a registered work may infringe automatically without and consideration of balance
Re:Takedown? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Yeah, that's why I felt necessary to link it.
Re:Takedown? (Score:5, Informative)
>>>RIAA doesn't control the copyright of the melody itself, only recordings of it made by RIAA-affiliated performers. You should be worried about BMI instead, I think.
It doesn't matter.
- If they yank my video I will upload it again.
- If they ban my account, I will create a new one.
- If they ban my IP, I will just roll-over to a new IP.
- If they sue me in court, I won't even bother to show up.
- If they win the case for 2 million dollars per current law, I will not pay. Instead I'll be picking-up the phone and calling CNN, FOX, NBC. I'll be blogging the internet and visiting radio talk shows in order to stir-up outrage among the American people, because 2 million dollars for a single song is cruel and unusual punishment. Unconstitutional law is invalid law. The resulting protests will scare the ____ out of the leaders and change will happen.
C'mon people. Where's your hacker spirit? Fight the man.
More likely it won't escalate that far, so no worries. The video will continue to be spread across the net either by youtube or bittorrent, and Liberty will win by default.
Re:Takedown?-- um No (Score:2)
While I agree that it is ridiculous, your argument is factually incorrect. The eighth amendment deals specifically with criminal punishment. Copyright infringment and the associated penalties are civil matters
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Yes but...
The original $2 million per song punishment was mandated by Congressional law (or so I've been told), and congressional law is limited by the Constitution, so the law would be invalidated by the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause. When you stop and think about it, a multi-million dollar punishment levied against a single citizen is the equivalent to a life sentence, because that's how long you would have to work to pay it off. Issuing a life sentence because you used someone's copyrighted so
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What the copyright holders often fail to consider is the beneficial aspects of stuff like this:
How many Slashdotters, after seeing this video, have gone out and bought the iTunes version of this song? I guarantee there's someone out there!
Kevin.
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Never -- the RIAA doesn't control the copyright of the melody itself, only recordings of it made by RIAA-affiliated performers.
You mean how Disney doesn't control Mickey Mouse?
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No, I mean like how Disney doesn't control Speedy Gonzales [because Warner Brothers* does instead].
(*For the purpose of this post, assume that Warner Bothers is equally obnoxious as Disney even though it isn't in reality.)
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whoooooosh!
You only get to "whoooosh" when someone makes a joke and someone doesn't get it.
Whooosh doesn't apply when someone botches a joke.
And while I'm at it, let me just add, cause you people have been using wooosh too often lately. Something funny could be a stupid phrase, but just because you say something stupid, doesn't mean it's funny.
It's like that old mathematical explanation of sets. For example, all mom's are female, but your mom's a fat skank.
Get it?
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No ocpyright infringement. This is an original recording of a unique arrangement. Copyright exists in this new recording.
In the UK, the PRS (Performing Rights Society) will what a fee for the performance of this work because it is a derivative arrangement of an existing protected work. In turn the PRS will protect this arrangement and collect fees for that as well, should they accept a request to protect it.
Just to repeat though - Nothing to do with copyright.
The PRS perform useful and harmful work al
Cool, but needs syncopation (Score:2, Interesting)
The reproduction sounds too -- excuse me -- mechanical. I wonder, was it due to limitations in the timing granularity of the devices used, or just a bad MIDI file?
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Of course it sounded mechanical. All of the notes were being made by various hardware. I doubt anyone could coax human-like musical performance out of the hardware that was used, but the performance kicked ass given the choice of 'instruments' imho.
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I don't think it was necessarily a limitation of the instruments; the problem was -- as I said before -- timing, not timbre. It was inadequate in the same way that a perfectly normal instrument played by a robot would be. I think it was simply that the person who made the (presumably) MIDI file used to drive the thing just did a poor job of it, and that it would have sounded just as wrong if it had been played back using the sound card's synthesizer.
Some of the pitches weren't quite right either, but that r
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Exactly. I thought it seemed pretty well in tune; it was the timing that was off.
If the creator is reading Slashdot: perhaps you could make some of your source material public, so we can see how you programmed each device to play its notes? Perhaps we could help work out some of the rhythmic details.
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The timing is definitely off, and with the timing of each "instrument" a little off, they're not in sync with each other. It's close enough that you can tell what it should sound like, but it doesn't actually sound like that.
For example, the rhythm of "easy come, easy go" starting at 0:36 is clearly wrong. The bass part starting around 1:30 isn't bad by itself, but it's not in sync with the other parts. 3:09 to 3:31 is pretty bad too.
I suspect it was easier to get the timing right with some "instruments"
Re:Cool, but needs syncopation (Score:5, Funny)
I concur re the timing. I suggest replacement of the old hardware with some modern synthesisers and drum machines so that they all stay in time with a master clock. Maybe even get some humans to sing parts of it.
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The timing is definitely off, and with the timing of each "instrument" a little off, they're not in sync with each other. It's close enough that you can tell what it should sound like, but it doesn't actually sound like that.
For example, the rhythm of "easy come, easy go" starting at 0:36 is clearly wrong. The bass part starting around 1:30 isn't bad by itself, but it's not in sync with the other parts. 3:09 to 3:31 is pretty bad too.
I suspect it was easier to get the timing right with some "instruments" than others. The bass part, by itself, seems very rhythmically solid, particularly from 3:29 all the way through to the end, it's just that the other parts aren't in sync with that.
Overall, a brilliant piece of work. If these minor timing details could be cleaned up, it would be awesome.
The OP neglected to take into account (or neglected to do a good enough job taking into account) the latency for each command to each instrument. This is especially evident with the scanner: it has a long startup time, but, once running, does well. When it first starts up after a period of silence, it's horribly late, but if it is just changing pitch, it's snappy. The same is true, but to a lesser extent, with the floppy drive -- but it also is producing a louder tone for the initial few hundreds of mill
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You say that because you've likely only experienced it played through a crappy sound card synthesizer. Remember, the thing about MIDI is that it's not an audio file. It's more like a musical score -- the result depends both on the MIDI file itself (the arrangement) and the synthesizer (the "musicians"). Play a well-composed MIDI file through a decent sythesizer (a newer SoundBlaster that supports those "soundfont" things would probably work, but a standalone one or MIDI keyboard that you'd find at a musical
Have you heard the rumour? (Score:5, Funny)
...about the HP Scanjet 3C?
(not that there's anything wrong with that)
Re:Have you heard the rumour? (Score:5, Funny)
Queen Bohemian Rhapsody Old School Computer Remix (Score:5, Insightful)
one thing......... (Score:3, Insightful)
Bismillah! (Score:2)
Allah your bass are belong to us.
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But without his emotion chip.
Radiohead did it first..... (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, and the Vimeo version is MUCH better quality! (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.vimeo.com/1109226 [vimeo.com]
Radiohead were so impressed that hey linked to it from their homepage for a while.
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And of course, the source for some of the tech he used for the art school project, http://www.afrotechmods.com/cheap/hdspeakers/hdspeakers.htm [afrotechmods.com] Almost as old as the internet itself
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The High Quality Viemo version can be viewed here:
http://www.vimeo.com/1109226 [vimeo.com]
Radiohead were so impressed that hey linked to it from their homepage for a while.
Was that "until their record company bosses noticed it was an unlicensed reproduction and sued their asses"???.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_k8_HSA1-o [youtube.com]
queen? (Score:1)
Don't watch youtube vids much (Score:1)
Aaah (Score:1)
The only response (Score:2)
When I saw this video, the first thing that popped into my mind was Get a life! [photobucket.com]
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It was the most complete version I could find. The SNL website doesn't seem to have any kind of search function.
Most parts are good, some are just pushing it (Score:2)
I wish there were another instrument. Some parts feel a little too sparse without one more voice.
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I think it would be cool to dub in the vocals. Maybe run them through a vocoder first or someting.
Kickass (Score:1)
Incidentally, I just discovered that Alan Turing was gay while reading up for class.
Seems like there's potential for some sort of a Turing-Queen tribute concert.
Though perhaps this suffices.
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Because it's badly written, boring as hell and up its own arse trying to be clever with itself.
Shit, I say that as a fan of Snowcrash and The Diamond Age...
Freaking awesome is all I can say. (Score:1)
the best part (Score:5, Funny)
No Synthesizers!
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+1, Funny
For those who do not get the joke: go here [wikipedia.org] and search for 'No synthesizers'.
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No Synthesizers!
What do you call the sound chips in the TI 99/4a and the Atari 800XL? ;)
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You got me there. Didn't realize he was trying to be funny :)
any chance getting this as highquality mp3 o flac? (Score:1)
um... well, it's kinda similar, sometimes, I guess (Score:3, Informative)
This statement holds true only if you use a very broad definition of "sweet".
And "melody".
And "reproduced".
There were large segments where, if I didn't know in advance that it was supposedly "Bohemian Rhapsody", I would have had no idea wtf I was listening to.
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This statement holds true only if you use a very broad definition of "sweet".
And "almost as old": BR came out in 1975, and the 800XL much later, in 1983.
Or does that 8 year difference only matter to people born before 1965?
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Oops (Score:1)
Looks like somebody left those computers in the car for more than a fortnight [wikipedia.org].
Yeah, but... (Score:2)
That was fantastic.
BUT, should someone with that much technical ability, creativity, and imagination, really be allowed to idle so much as to DO that? He should be curing cancer, or making space travel reasonable, or building giant robots to help me take over the planet! Don't you think?
"fantom" electricity ? (Score:1)
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Oddly enough, TFA (the YouTube info from which this text was copied) spells it correctly!
wow (Score:3, Funny)
Brings back memories of a road trip from NYC to Dayton OH to go to the hamfest.
Must have heard that song a gazillon times on the radio. Also Layla.
Maybe he can do Layla next.
Reminds me of the Symphony for Dot Matrix Printer (Score:2, Interesting)
Cool hardware, 4th grade rythm (Score:2)
This sounds like 4th grade chilren playing music together: no one is on the same beat, and nobody follows the rythm. Technically, everybody follows the melody, but what a mess!
Cool use of the scanner and the disk drive, tho!
Make it into a ringtone (Score:2, Funny)
The opposite: Humans singing electronic music (Score:2)
Two guys singing, whistling, and otherwise imitating drum machines and synths. And a perky girl who pops up saying "LATE!"
Sweet and kind work by nice people.
RS
ScanJet 3C (Score:2)
Really Old School (Score:2)
And then there was radio static music on an IBM 1130 mini from a program written in Fortran IV. The bulk of the program, after reading in the data cards with the notes of the song to play, consisted of a DO loop containing ab
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Yeah, right. You're posting on Slashdot; you can't fool us! You were too busy listening to Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space [wikipedia.org] or something, and had no more clue about Queen than I do about Britney Spears (or whatever the Hell it is that popular assholes listen to these days)!
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Maybe in your neck of the woods but in this country (UK) it was massive right from get go. It was number one for nine weeks over the all important Xmas period and returned to number one later - the first single to do that. In 1977, only two years after its release, the British Phonographic Industry named "Bohemian Rhapsody" as the best Briti
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You nuts. It made hit number 2 on the US charts and was the break through song for Queen.
The album it was on hit number four, went triple platinum and was on the charts for 56 weeks.
It may have been no big deal to you but it was a big deal to the music world. The fact that it got any air play at all was a huge deal when you think about how strange and long the song was.
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WTF dude. If there ever was a /. post worth of the "news for nerds" title, this is one.
Absolutely freaking awesome.
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You should waste your angst on Las Vegas or something.
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