{"id":3153,"date":"2025-01-17T16:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T15:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/?p=3153"},"modified":"2025-01-31T10:44:47","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T09:44:47","slug":"a-history-of-the-commodore-64-in-twelve-objects-12-the-commodordion-two-c64s-one-accordion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/2025\/01\/17\/a-history-of-the-commodore-64-in-twelve-objects-12-the-commodordion-two-c64s-one-accordion\/","title":{"rendered":"A History of the Commodore 64 in Twelve Objects #12: The Commodordion \u2013 two C64s = one accordion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>On the occasion of my new book <a href=\"https:\/\/jesperjuul.net\/c64\">Too Much Fun: The Five Lives of the Commodore 64 Computer<\/a>, I am writing\u00a0<\/em>A History of the Commodore 64 in Twelve Objects<em>, posted weekly from November 1<sup>st<\/sup>, 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Commodordion.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3156\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Commodordion-450x252.webp\" alt=\"The Commodordion\" width=\"450\" height=\"252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Commodordion-450x252.webp 450w, https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Commodordion-150x84.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Commodordion-768x430.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Commodordion-1200x671.webp 1200w, https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Commodordion.webp 1287w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 85vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Linus \u00c5kesson&#8217;s\u00a0<\/em>Commodordion<\/p>\n<p>The final object:\u00a0In the very first post of this \u201cHistory of the Commodore 64 in Twelve Objects\u201d series, I talked about the Commodore 64 itself &#8211; the iconic beige machine. Since then, I have explored ten other objects, from games and floppy disks to cartridges, BASIC programming, music, magazines, and even a paper invitation to a demo party.<\/p>\n<p>It is now 43 years since the Commodore 64 was introduced at the 1982 Consumer Electronics Show. Amazingly, it went on sale the same year as the first CD player.<\/p>\n<p>The C64 is now a historical device, but its story isn\u2019t over. Users and developers are still finding new uses for it. When I started writing <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/c64\/\">Too Much Fun<\/a> <\/em>in 2022, the charts for best demos and best games on <a href=\"https:\/\/csdb.dk\/\">CSDb<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemon64.com\/games\/\">Lemon64<\/a> were dominated by old releases. Today, most top spots belong to new creations. There is a real resurgence of activity on the Commodore 64.<\/p>\n<p>There also is a culture of Commodore 64 hardware experimentation. For my final object, I choose Swedish hardware hacker and musician <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linusakesson.net\/index.php\">Linus \u00c5kesson<\/a>\u2019s 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linusakesson.net\/commodordion\/index.php\">Commodordion<\/a>. It is a charming, musical, technically impressive, and obviously absurd project, making an accordion by combining two C64s connected by a bellows constructed from floppy disks.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Commodordion\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EBCYvoC4muc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00c5kesson\u2019s work exemplifies the continued fascination with the C64. It is about discovering new tricks and properties of the C64, Amiga, and other hardware, it is about programming expansive and minimal demos, making new hardware. Here the hardware is sometimes musical instruments used for musical performances.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the C64&#8217;s resurgence is also fueled by the availability of high-quality emulators. As I discuss in <em>Too Much Fun<\/em>, you can now experience the C64 without needing the original hardware. But this easy access makes projects like the Commodordion even more appealing, a way to connect with the physicality of the machine and experience it in a completely new way.<\/p>\n<p>What song is the Commodordion playing? Ragtime tune <em>Maple Leaf Rag<\/em> by Scott Joplin, which has its own C64 history as music for excruciatingly difficult game <em>China Miner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The Commodordion symbolizes how exploring the Commodore 64 today is not just nostalgia. The C64 makes us think about forgotten pasts, re-evaluating our current relationship to technology, and blending ideas from different eras to create something entirely new.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for reading<br \/>\nJesper Juul<br \/>\nCopenhagen, January 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the occasion of my new book Too Much Fun: The Five Lives of the Commodore 64 Computer, I am writing\u00a0A History of the Commodore 64 in Twelve Objects, posted weekly from November 1st, 2024. Linus \u00c5kesson&#8217;s\u00a0Commodordion The final object:\u00a0In the very first post of this \u201cHistory of the Commodore 64 in Twelve Objects\u201d series, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/2025\/01\/17\/a-history-of-the-commodore-64-in-twelve-objects-12-the-commodordion-two-c64s-one-accordion\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A History of the Commodore 64 in Twelve Objects #12: The Commodordion \u2013 two C64s = one accordion&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c64"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3153"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3164,"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3153\/revisions\/3164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jesperjuul.net\/ludologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}