Had this as a little kid, and it later became a key piece of my setup when I first started recording lofi noise back in the 90s! Before I got a 4-track recorder I used this and a dual tape boombox to record over the radio. Good to see it again!

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

I wonder if there are any 4-track with radio? Has to be right? That would be a fantastic next step 😁

In high school, I had a bright orange microphone with this radio feature, very utilitarian looking (it wasn't meant to look like a toy, more like a tool... a hi-vis tool?). It was designed not to interfere with normal radio stations (per USA law?) so it had a fixed frequency. But, I wanted to use it to stop my chemistry teacher from playing a certain radio station. I disassembled the microphone and found there was a potentiometer for tuning it. Tuning it to the radio station in question worked perfectly; silence broadcast by the microphone covered up the radio broadcast. But I wasn't deceitful enough to pull it off. I blocked the radio for all of 30 seconds before explaining how it worked.

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

I would imagine you where kind of more excited to share how it worked when you had got it to work? 😆 cause it is really cool you got it to work!!

This video is deserving of all the love in the world. Everything is perfect.

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Thank you 😁

I have one of these. The kids use it to talk through the radio in the car Very fun little toy

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Nice!!

@13:40 that really came together - I really enjoy that vocal effect going on with the slight delay. I know it's not an autotune situation but I like how it kinda comes off like that, very unique. Thanks for the video, Simon!

@homer1268

Жыл бұрын

edit* finally thought of an example but the vocals give that "I'm up in the woooooods" feel

Awesome I'm so stoked to have a magpie circuit bending video just like the old days. Thank you so much you made my day. Plz me more videos like this. Much love from Canada 🇨🇦 dude

vintage toys always have some cool thing about them, i mean, a toy microphone that catches radio signal? that's really cool you can do so much crazy stuff with old toys

@prokopsklenarik5990

Жыл бұрын

There was one star wars toy that actually used brain chips.

Speaking of radio, you can get a lot of circuit-bent sounding stuff by putting a radio right up to some inexpensive synths that aren't exactly perfectly shielded at close range. I found that out with an SK-1 of all things, while having it on top of some boombox and inadvertently finding the RF noise it generated. Different spots on the radio dial can find different sounds for the same input, and the built-in keyboard rhythms can be really interesting too.

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Wow I am totally trying that out today! Getting drum samples like so might be fantastic! Thank you

@pauljs75

Жыл бұрын

@@SimonTheMagpie It's cool that you're giving it a shot, as I mentioned elsewhere too. (Some people were interested in circuit bending sounds, but not quite willing to hack older things they may be trying to keep original. I doubt you have that issue though.) Generally its the back or underside of the electronic keyboard that doesn't have much shielding, and it has to be really close to the radio receiver. Also use all bands available on the radio to explore for sounds, not just FM. Not just pressing keys, but changing modes, making entries to parameters, taking samples, etc. makes all kinds of weird electronic noises. I can only guess it's some harmonics of the clock chips used that are sweet spots on the dial.

That song sounds like it came straight out of a chill indie farm sim game. The kind were people praise it for their soundtrack.

Before internet, mobile phones and wifi - meaning up to the late 90s, fm transmitters for microphones, tape recorders, cassette tapes and all sorts of music instruments were quite common. It was fir example the easiest way to send a sound to a car radio!

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

For instruments!!?!?!! That I would love to find 😁

the results here were awesome! very cool

OMG you just reminded me of a radio toy I had as a kid it was called “Radio DJ” it was made by Wild Planet. It had an AM transmitter, a microphone and a cassette player in it. And some buttons with awful sound effects. You should definitely try to get your hands on it if you can!

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Wow that thing looks insane!! Must get myself one of those 😆 thank you very much!!

Another thing that would be cool is to put an input jack either inline with the microphone or replacing the mic. Then you could run any sound through the FM radio transmitter to get the lo-fi sound.

I had a little FM transmitter microphone, piezoelectric type, I clipped it inside my acoustic guitar soundbox and the feedback sound was incredible!

I have an antique 1940's AM tube radio, and always dreamed of having a low power AM transmitter to be able to use it as an effect. Love this mic, same idea

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

I wonder if it is hard to diy?

‘Words! Are overrated’ - Simon the Magpie Greatest quote I’ve heard in a while lol

I kinda love the idea that there was someone else close by with a radio on that coincidentally tuned in to the same frequency and wondering wtf radio show this was!? :) Super cool vid, the jam at the end worked out so good! I really need to find a way to send some sounds to a radio and record them, it really added a very distinct sound to it - I guess the top quality mic contributed too but still. Hmm. Inspiring and entertaining as ever sir, thank you. Oh and we need some kind of vote/poll system that works through time instead of only on livestreams: "should I just...mod this now?" - I'm trying to hit the JAJAJA button but...alas :(

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Haha yeah that would be so weird! 😆😆 Oooh a jajaja button would be epic during video makings 😆

Babe wake up, a new black metal recording technique just dropped

Haha this is awesome and kinda wholesome XD and your Casio collection is something else ;D

You can also buy an FM sender for pretty cheap. They generally have a 3.5mm in for your phone or something. The only problem is, where I live there are too many radio stations so I can't get a clear signal even on the multi channel deals. But a cheap mic might be good with it if you can't find this toy.

A toy a probably would have played with if I had it as a kid. Now it's a perfectly good lo-fi making device. I love when things find a new purpose.

I looked away for half a second and it like... became a vocoder? Amazing!

This guy is either a complete mad man or a absolute genius. Either way I love it. 🤘😄

Great video Simon, amazing to see how good you made that little Fisher Price mic sound. That autotune type sound is awesome. I'm also loving the Casio Love with all these Casios showing up in your videos! And a KX Boombox Casio too - it doesn't get more Casiocore than that!

Lovely!

the first sound tests sounds like a good version of i feel fantastic!

Mr Microphone existed since 1978 and it was basically this without a keyboard. It's not even a obscure product it had pop-culture references including the Simpsons.

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I had no idea! So cool 😁😁😁 Must get myself one of the mr. microphones microphones 😆

@scotshabalam2432

Жыл бұрын

@@SimonTheMagpie Mr Microphone is the same thing you have right now except yours has a cool little keyboard. I might suggest modding the microphone in it because they use the cheapest off-the-shelf mic available or maybe a audio input jack.

Simon. You make me feel like a human being, man.

if you got a second one you can play the keyboard over the radio 😆 "Mr. Microphone" is from the 1970's and has a built-in AM transmitter

Excellent video, thank you for making this!

When it comes to mics with radio transmitters I instantly remembered Mr. Microphone, or however it was called. Seems like it used to be a popular toy in US, IDK, I know it only cause it was used in one of Police Academy movies. And there was a very old YT video from kipkey about it.

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I am totally adding that to my list now! Had no idea. Must test 😆😆😆

I can't stop looking at the paper

“Hey, good lookin’! We’ll be back to pick you up later.”

They had one of these in an old episode of The Simpsons. Bart used it to trick people in to thinking there was a boy left in a well by tossing a transistor radio down there and using the microphone to ask for help. He then fell down the well himself, trying to get the radio back and got stuck down there for real. Just the first thing I thought of when seeing a microphone like this in real life :)

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Now I imagine that is what happens in nolans batman begins as well😄

I guess we all want you to circuit-bend just everything in the world!

The second I saw that micro chip I knew it was prime circuit bend material. Ahh the 80s!

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Nice! I need to google it. Just recognized the texas instrument logo and got hyped 😄

@pianokeyjoe

Жыл бұрын

@@SimonTheMagpie Indeed! It is a sound generator. As you know, it is a simple sound generator but yeah. Also, would be more prudent to set a diode somewhere in that tone adjust to keep the voltage from backing into the tuning pin the wrong way? Or at least try and use Vcc= 5V instead of the 9VDC? I fried my Casio MT520 inputting the line AUDIO to a circuit bend point.. and that was not even 9VDC! Something like 5 or 4.5V maybe? I will never do that again without a diode or resistor lol!

Very Cool Video Cheers Simon The Magpie

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Cheers!

boys telling that they dont have an depression and then start making song from toy mic

i’m just a blob from 1982

Thank you for the video! I might have to try out circuit bending... I think the Landscape Noon utilized methods of it.

when i was a kid, i had a hannah montana-branded microphone that sent out an fm signal that you'd tune in to with a radio

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Ooh so same thing but modern! Will have to google that 😁

I would record improvised music to tape via fm signal on this thing when I was in 2nd grade

I like the idea of having one of these just to use to produce radio effects for recording.

The Simpsons episode "Radio Bart" from '92 was about one of these toys, they were a bigger thing then you'd think... but only for about a year then everyone forgot about them.

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Ooh thank you!! I will have to look that up and watch it! They did show simpsons in sweden when I grew up. But always kinda too late at night 😅

the song at the end gives me moomin valley vibes lol

The Beatles used a live FM broadcast of the Shakespearean play King Lear in their song “I am the walrus”. A section of that broadcast can be heard at the end of the track. It was added by John Lennon playing around with an FM radio during a studio session. It’s now infamous because of the whole “McCartney’s dead” conspiracy. Specifically, the conspiracy refers to the line “Oh, untimely death”.

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Thats the same theory that ties to the no shoes on cover and blabla? Very peculiar stuff 😄

@RuthlessMojo

Жыл бұрын

@@SimonTheMagpie Yes it is. I watched a 90 min documentary once that went into the whole thing. About Paul McCartney being decapitated during a car accident and MI6 recruiting a young man named Billy Sheers to replace Paul. The reason they do this is because they fear mass hysteria breaking out because of all the admirers the Beatles had. He undergoes plastic surgery and learns how to play the bass. But the other Beatles feel guilty about the deception so they leave clues in the music and album art. Eleanor Rigby refers to his funeral. Sargent Peppers has the dug up earth on the cover. And when you played a particular song backwards it would say, “Turn me on deadman”.

I got one of these for Christmas as a kid. I loved that thing. ❤

You can just imagine the mischief kids got up to with this. "We interrupt this program to bring you an important message. Today, the President announced a recall on all brussels sprouts. If you have brussels sprouts in your home, throw them out."

You should create IRs with this setup

Remember, some robots are evil. I think The Casio Boombox is not your friend. 🤖 😱

14:27 this sounds exactly like something from Botanicula (or Amanita design overall)

I looked at the paper the entire time

Let me guess, without watching the video. It lets you record a sound sample, and then play it on the keyboard, in different notes. That, or it lets you make something like a soundboard, where every button plays different sound. Edit: Well, that was unexpected 😅

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

That would have been super rad though 😁😁😁

@NicStage

Жыл бұрын

That would be nice. Like this + SK-1, et al

Uhhhhg man, I was such an idiot. I got one of these as a kid at a thrift shop and never figured out why the microphone didn't work like the keyboard buttons did ... doh!

This is where I started

Radio mic toys were a whole thing.

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

I had no idea! Please guide me in that direction 😆

I had one of these as a kid

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Nice! I wish I had as well!!

nice

And a new musical instrument is born..... suddenly the price of these things on ebay is going up......

Add an input to this so you can have a radio echo!

Dang, I just got rid of one of these not too long ago. XD

perfect for fooling the citizens of springfield

Good chance if you hack it, you can adjust the transmitting frequency, you just need to know what to look for, possibly by adjusting what's labeled as I7.

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Oooh! I have done very little with radio stuff. So that could be a fun rabbit hole to fall down 😆

the main thing with FM Transmitters is that theyre relatively weak compared to the equipment that broadcast towers use...thats why you usually cant use them on 'actual' radio stations-- you have to find an open frequency somewhere in the fuzz, so that its the only thing ON that frequency...

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Yeah otherwise it would be illegal even? Or not illegal, but it would need certain regulatory stuff? I heard 😅 I am a total fm radio noob. Nut have some friends that dabble

@rtyuik7

Жыл бұрын

@@SimonTheMagpie oh yeah, i was totally avoiding the Legal side of things (like the FCC or whatever regulatory body watches over that stuff for your country), but just on the Possibility Level, its already difficult because Radio Stations BLAST that frequency...so youll have to either Isolate your signal (like, down in a bunker) or Overpower theirs (not likely, with consumer-grade parts)

I just had an idea for your Casio keyboard, tape deck, radio thing. But this might not work. I was thinking if you could take a tape cassette, cut out all the tape and make it a loop. Then if you record yourself playing while the loop is playing, will it be like a delay? Will you get an echo? Will it take too long? I don't know but that seemed like the kind of thing you'd do. In any event, tape loops are cool. I'd love to make a whole Melotron thing with tape cassettes but it would take too many tape machines and you can't buy them cheaply anymore.

@NicStage

Жыл бұрын

That's a good idea! Built-in cassette-based delay.

@PaulTheSkeptic

Жыл бұрын

@@NicStage Well, if it works. One can only try. And if anyone would, Magpie would. If you really wanted to do it right, you'd need some way of speeding up and slowing down the tape which isn't all that big of a trick but he might not want to do that to his machine. Then you'd have to figure out some way of feeding it back. I'm sure people have done it now that I think about it. But it could be a way of doing it on the quick and easy.

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

If you mean the KX-101 , the tape deck sadly doesnt work. So will have to fix that first! I have other keyboards with tape though. But will have to look up how to diy a tape echo first. Cause I dont know how to have it active listening back to recording while playing 😅

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

I’ll hook up some tape wizards I know to help me mod for tape echo. Speed is something I have some really fun and interesting ideas for 😁😁 a new take on it. Together with @nicstage even, haha

@PaulTheSkeptic

Жыл бұрын

@@SimonTheMagpie Cool man. I hope you have fun and don't go into some headache because of my comment. Lol. I'd feel bad about that. But it might prove to be interesting. I've seen others do some really cool things with tape cassettes.

nice, very animal crossing like sound

Sort of like a Kob-Controlled Theramin! A Knobomin! ..Knobomic..?

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Knobomic it is 😆

you child lol. Cool

That guy who plays SpongeBob looks like mark Zuckerberg

Забавный микрофон😂

You could, like, google the chip and read the basic description of what the chip does.

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I’m on it! I just like to explore in the real world before I go online 😁

@Bleats_Sinodai

Жыл бұрын

@@SimonTheMagpie it is fun to poke around and see what it does, I'll admit it. I do it too hahaha

КАК ВСЕГДА БОМБИЧЕСКИ

I totally had this! It's also basically what Bart used to make Timmy fall down the well... "CONVOYYYYY"🎶

Ive seen videos of hot sugar using this toy with impressive results

m

Cåsio (TM)

Now you can make minecraft music.

gnhm

@fuizipra

Жыл бұрын

fuck yes

Did he quit drinking? I can sense something different about him from years back. He's happy or something.

👃

@SimonTheMagpie

Жыл бұрын

Spooky 😆😆😆