Phantom of the Floppera
Visit georgewhiteside.net for more information! Test run of my (d)iskette (O)rgan doing Toccata & Fugue. People have made floppy drives sing before, but this is my personal take on it. Features two 3 1/2″ drives and two 5 1/4″ drives connected to a PIC18f14k50 microcontroller. It interfaces to any MIDI source via MIDI over USB. Straight MIDI would also be possible with an additional small circuit and some minor firmware changes. This initial version can respond to all 128 MIDI notes, and pitch bends +/- 2 semitones. As it can produce only four simultaneous notes, and each drive has a different range and tonal characteristics, best results are obtained by arranging compositions by hand. However, it features two modes of operation: in one mode, MIDI channels 1 through 4 are played directly on floppy drives 1 through 4. In the other mode, all 16 MIDI channels are read, and notes are „intelligently“ divvied out on a first-come, first-serve basis. „Note stealing“ ensures that melody lines sound, but chords are often cut short. One or the other produces acceptable results for many unmodified MIDI files straight out of your favorite media player. I apologize for the poor video quality. 
*** Update Feb. 10, 2011: Wow, I just want to give a HUGE thank-you to every one of you for the overwhelmingly positive response! It truly means a lot to me. I’m reading all your comments, and I’ve been answering individual questions–but due to popular demand, I will be posting a web site with …
Video Rating: 4 / 5
FLOPPIIII!
Useless but fun
This is absolutely amazing!!!! I know lots of people have done this sort of thing but I think you’ve really transposed the music to floppy drive well
Echt cool.
So full of win!!
Dude, you got to do One Winged Angel from Final Fantasy 7 on this box
Call it Sephir-Flop or something eh? hahahaha that would be epic!
Que foda! So cool!
Sounds to me like a bit of an old Atari game.
oh and as it clearly says in the description: Test run of my (d)iskette (O)rgan doing Toccata & Fugue.“
„Phantom of the Floppera“ note the sarcasm in the video name … deuces
2:03 When the note goes high and then soft, that’s actually a pretty neat technique I wish real organs could replicate.
This piece is by Bach: Tocatta and Fugue in dminor! Bach never wrote an opera ever!
what happens if you pultse turbo?
@loppytaffy get an old (and I mean OLD) Apple or Apple 2. they ran on these type of drives.
@TheChrisNXT Phantom of the Floppera is a funny little title he meant as a joke. Read the description before commenting, everyone!
How does someone arrange this PERFECTLY for floppy drives and not know this is Bach’s Toccata and Fugue?
@Smythie132 knowing bach requires phd?
@TheChrisNXT play this to someone who isnt like a music major and they will relate it back to the Phantom not Bach dude
@loppytaffy macs used floppys too…
@TheChrisNXT
Read the description, „Phantom of the Floppera“ is just a pun.
@loppytaffy That’s the sound a mac makes when the 3 year old processor in it breaks.
My future eye patch will be a floppy disk…
@synthead turn upside down(laptop) or crack open cover (desktop computer), take out battery, put in new battery. Easy shit.
@loppytaffy I’d like to see you replace your battery
That’s a pretty tits Oscilloscope you’ve got there. How much did that set you back?