via this auction."Freak Machine! This is a weird little sound effects box which dub dj`s used to use to toast with - has a little speaker built in and two screws at the back to wire an output to (I can do that for a coupla quid if you need). You`ll have heard the sounds on this thing used on various and nefarious rekkids from back in the day - generally manipulated in some way. True analogue & sounds it - get some Moorish Madess in the mix Bwana! Runs on 2 x walkman batteries (not supplied unless I can find a pair) all the way to Revolutionary Dub Heaven!"
Anyone know more about this piece, specifically who made it and the actual name of the model?
I think these were from Radio Shack/Tandy and designed to be put in your car to vent frustration at other drivers. I remember a later version with more sounds too.
ReplyDeletei got one of these when i was a kid.
ReplyDeleteThe sales pitch in the publicity i remember was that you could use it to scare away thieves(!)
18 pounds for this thing ? I would have thought it's the kind of thing you can find in flea markets for 5$ or something.
Then again, what do i know ?
well, you gotta factor in the time it took for the seller to a) travel to the flea market, b) the $4.50 the seller paid at the flea market, c) fuel costs, d) labour costs to post, so overall $18 pounds makes fine sense.
ReplyDeleteThat's the costs of outsourcing flea market hunting.
I once pinched it off my neighbour and plugged it to my PSS270. Man, that was exciting!!!
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't too long before it was in pieces.
any schematics? looks like a neat bending object (finding myself looking for bend-ability much recently when shopping for new sound thingies...). michael the anonymous
ReplyDeleteThis is currently at £20 - there is no way this is worth that much. I bought the exact same model for my dad over ten years ago and it cost less than £5. The only difference was that my dad's had the ten LEDs in one row instead of two.
ReplyDeleteI opened it up once and as I recall there were two glop tops, one for the LEDs and one for the sounds.
There is no way that any dub/reggae DJ would have used this - it is NOT a dub siren. You might be able to get some mileage out of it if you add a pitch bend to slow down the sounds, but the same is true of just about any electronic toy you could buy in a flea market. You could pick up something similar new in a pound shop. This item is not worth paying twenty pounds for!
"This item is not worth paying twenty pounds for!"
ReplyDeleteLet the desperate idiots who are paying for this find it out the hard way.
I remember you could press the laser and machine gun buttons at the same time to create a new sound. My friend's mom bought one to vent frustration while driving, but was disappointed to find out the other drivers wouldn't be able to hear it.
ReplyDeletePrevious poster is correct - I think that the "Grenade Launcher" button and then either of the "Laser" or "Machine Gun" buttons would give that fifth sound. Sampled into an audio app and then slowed down it would turn into a series of arpegiated bass tones, but unfortunately no variation or control over the notes played.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the auction is over and the final bid was £54.50! Winner was someone in Japan, so who knows what the shipping costs are going to be from England.
Maybe they don't have pounds shops in Japan?