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Mike Knudsen's Ragtime Music MIDI Linux Ultimuse

Mike Knudsen's Home Page

Last Updated 2008 May 09

New Link to my Crank Organ (Hurdy-Gurdy) Arrangements Page -- go read and listen!

New Composition -- Friends Are Where You Find Them, a jolly good folk and dance arrangement inspired by my organ grinding.

Check out our first Guest Composer, Rachel Newstead and her first opus, Funny Papers Rag, and her second, Manitou Springs Rag.

If you'd like to share your MIDI Ragtime compositions but don't have your own Web site, feel free to contact me about a guest hosting.
Please try My Music below -- Piano Rags and Marches -- and read the description page for my compositions.
UPDATED UltiMusE Composing Program now available for latest LINUX distributions!
You can download this free updated program.
New Features: UnDo edit, International Keyboards, Chord Symbols, Percussion Banks, 32 Parts, MIDI File Importing with Quantization.
Latest Update: 2007 July 10
All the Piano Rags have been upgraded with Reverb and Stereo Pan effects! 2004/9/09

Hear my Latest March -- "Fighters of the Flames" and the Updated Concert Band Version (Read about them)

Hear my "St. George's March" played on a real carousel band organ! 1.7MB MP3 File
(Read all about it)

About Me

Retired AT&T Bell Labs / Lucent Technologies Computer Engineer.
Amateur musician with way too many other hobbies, living in Mid-Coast Maine, USA.
Feel free to add Links to these pages.

My Hobbies and Interests - Way Too Many!

Music (playing, singing, composing, listening); windsurfing, Golf, SCUBA, Ham Radio, collecting and trading self-playing musical instruments (music boxes, player pianos, organs); backgammon, Pinball Machines (collect, restore, and play!),

Organ Grinding, including arranging my own music rolls for my organ, ...

And computer programming, especially for the OS-9 © operating system (MM/1 and Tandy Color Computer (CoCo)), and now LINUX. I've created and used a great music composition program, UltiMusE©, that I have just finished porting to Linux X-Windows. Please download and use it! It includes a time-warp feature to "swing" ragtime and jazz rhythms at will without re-notating the scores. Take a listen below! A brief history of the Color Computer, OS-9, and UltiMusE.

My Music Compositions via UltiMusE

I've composed several Ragtime piano pieces and other good music, which I've arranged for the PC soundcard (or any General MIDI keyboard) as MIDI files that you can download. Enjoy, and send any comments to knudsenmj@aol.com.
Please respect my copyrights © and don't use the music commercially without contacting me first for permission.
Check the dates below for improved versions. Thanks for listening!

Ragtime is alive and well and young in France! Check out Le Ragtime Francais.

My Musical Creations in MIDI

Check the description of the Ragtime and March Pieces (last update 2007/07/10)

Pinball Rag (2004-8-30) Notes
Nadia Rag (2004-9-03) Notes
Trail Bike Rag (2005-8-28) Notes
Chilton Rag (2004-9-03) Notes
Frances, an Artistic Rag (2004-9-04) Notes
Sweetwilliam Rag (2004-8-26) Notes
Sand Trap Rag (Stereo Reverb) (2006-10-10) Notes

The Lonely Coed is not a rag, but she swings! (2004-9-08) Notes
St. George's March (or Pound For Pound) for Carousel Band Organ (2004-8-30) Notes
March of the Red-Capped Penguins for Carousel Band Organ (2004-8-27) Notes
City of Ships (notes and MIDI links) (2002-5-8)
Fighters Of The Flames March for Organ (2002-11-09) or for Concert Band (2004-9-05) Notes
Friends Are Where You Find Them (2007-07-10) Notes

Hint: Newer browsers download MIDI files directly into their Player plug-in and start playing, but will not save a permanent copy on your hard disk. To get a keeper, click your Right mouse button on the same key text (Double-click in Mac), and follow the pop-up menu.

Note: some older PC sound cards have really cheesy FM synthesized sounds for many of the piano and organ patches my pieces use. Be sure to use wavetable mode if available.