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Michael J. Knudsen

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Home / People - Michael J. Knudsen



Michael J. Knudsen

MISSING PHOTO

Name Michael J. Knudsen
Date 1944-03-09
Year DATE NEEDED
Location LOCATION NEEDED
Notes March 9, 1944 – March 9, 2021
Info Source web sites, obituary
About the Person Info Box


Michael J. Knudsen has always liked music. He plays the guitar and keyboard and in college wanted to start a computer music group, but mini computers were all that was available then, quite large and expensive.

In 1971 there were a few interesting interfaces being developed, and Mike tried some digital synthesis while mentoring some grad students.

In 1977 Mike bought a KIM I kit and used some ideas he read about in Byte magazine to write software that allowed the playback of four-part harmony using a digital-to-analog converter.

In 1982 Mike found the CoCo. "The 6809 was like a 6502 with the brain damage repaired," he said. He wanted to do graphics, and so he wrote a BASIC compiler to transfer information from the KIM to the CoCo. He actually managed a six-voice music program on the CoCo.

When OS-9 arrived for the CoCo, he snapped it up. In fact, he knows he got the first copy of OS-9 Level II in the entire Chicago area.

Along came Lyra, which really fascinated him, even though it was under Disk BASIC. He continued working on UltiMusE, realizing that he liked his own graphics much better. Finally he rolled UltiMusE out of the hangar and showed it to one of the country's most active OS-9 user groups in Chicago. It was well received.

In March of 1988 Mike uploaded the original shareware version of Ultimuse to Delphi and other BBSs. When Spectrum Projects went out of business,and Ed Hathaway and Dave Barnes bought all the stock, Mike went to Ed and discussed UltiMusE. Not long after, at the Chicago RAINBOW fest, Ultimuse Ill made its official debut and achieved unbelievable popularity.

The above from Rainbow Dec, 89. "Play it again, Coco"

Mike is still developing UltiMusE today as "UltiMusELX" for the Linux operating system.