차커 Chaco can play calculators with his eyes closed

May 16, 2021 10:13 AM

BTS - IDOL on 2 calculators
Beethoven - Fur Elise on 3 calculators
Radiohead - 2 + 2 = 5 on 4 calculators
Pinkfong - Baby Shark on 5 calculators
Among Us BG Music on cat piano

Calculator Covers playlist
Cat Piano playlist

As promised

posted by carsonb (16 comments total)

This is fun! I was kind of hoping it was making use of the calculator *as a calculator* somehow. But, it's a great example of doing cool stuff with toy instruments. Someone ought to make a giant slide rule keytarculator.
posted by eotvos at 10:43 AM on May 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

About those calculators
posted by flabdablet at 11:47 AM on May 16, 2021 [4 favorites]

Apparently they don't do math when in music mode, which is a shame, because by the end I really wanted to see what Für Elise evaluated to.
posted by phooky at 12:08 PM on May 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

→ Someone ought to make a giant slide rule keytarculator

ahem …
posted by scruss at 12:56 PM on May 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

(the youtube recs led me to the 'melon cover of all star,' which was irresistable and much better than it has any right to be.)
posted by kaibutsu at 1:17 PM on May 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

~but strictly rhythm he doesn't wanna make it cry or sing~
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 1:59 PM on May 16, 2021

I was terribly afraid that this was the cat piano being talked about. I am relieved to see that it is not.
posted by dannyboybell at 2:08 PM on May 16, 2021

"Someone ought to make a giant slide rule keytarculator"

I can't believe this exists (minus the slide rule part).
posted by subdee at 2:24 PM on May 16, 2021

These were humbling demonstrations that there are people who speak musically regardless of the instrument. I couldn't possibly play any of that on a standard keyboard, and OMG I have tried for most of my life. I feel music very deeply and am sensitive all sorts of sonic nuances -- but I just can't perform it
posted by treepour at 3:34 PM on May 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

That cover of 2 + 2 = 5 is a perfect marriage of instrument, interpretation, and source material.
posted by merriment at 6:05 PM on May 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

These aren't calculators. Not even calculators with buttons that make sounds. They do no calculation. The display remains the same and is different for each. What are these calculators you speak of?

Are these some funky calculator with an easter-egg sound mode? They don't seem to be calculating anything. Fancy maybe custom keyboard.

Still suitably impressed either way.
posted by zengargoyle at 7:21 PM on May 16, 2021

Be the operator, with your very own pocket calculator. Easily set up so that when you press a special key, it plays a little melody.
posted by ckape at 8:35 PM on May 16, 2021

Are these some funky calculator with an easter-egg sound mode?

Yes.
posted by flabdablet at 3:13 AM on May 17, 2021

Questions answered. The add-on tape storage and making tones was a bit too much like making a 6502 speaker beep at the right frequency and duration. So not a chip-bending hack. Easter-egg not but yeah is calculator that has playable keys I can grok.

Now I wish that all keypads made playable sounds like punching numbers into a phone. Suitably impressed for playing what's there.

Now just imagine that everything you type is a symphony.
Somebody should send one of those to Calculator Unboxing #1 - Numberphile - Matt Parker so we can see if it's a decent calculator. :)
posted by zengargoyle at 3:34 AM on May 17, 2021

a bit too much like making a 6502 speaker beep at the right frequency and duration

That can be a very satisfying challenge. Best I've done with it is writing a DTMF dialler for an Apple IIe, with which I was actually able to make calls by holding the phone mouthpiece near the Apple speaker. The tones were synthesized as a pulse width modulated waveform with a whisker over 5 bits equivalent resolution. Considering that the Apple II has no sound hardware beyond a software-controlled single-bit output, I was happy with that.

I wish that all keypads made playable sounds like punching numbers into a phone

I wish computers really did make those cheap sci-fi-cliche high-pitched bips and chirps when you type on them or stuff scrolls up in a window.
posted by flabdablet at 7:28 AM on May 17, 2021

I wish that all keypads made playable sounds like punching numbers into a phone

Cheers! But, I couldn't possibly disagree more. The first thing i do when installing a new OS on anything is to turn off every possible system sound. Now that I've switched to Ubuntu on my laptop (I'm lazy. It works) it's become a lot more annoying to do so than it used to be. I've rooted several phones to disable the camera shutter noise. (If that's the way the google corporation has chosen to combat upskirt photos... they clearly don't give a shit and are just performing for the benefit of dumb journalists. Especially when the video record mode has always been silent.)

I usually argue that nobody in the history of the world actually wants their computers to make noise. If your computer doesn't post, you'll know it soon. If it does, hearing about it doesn't help. The startup sound is there so that (1) you feel like an asshole for interrupting a meeting when opening your computer and (2) everyone in the meeting knows what OS you use, which is free advertising. "John's an asshole. But, I hear that everyone around here uses Macs." But, clearly others disagree.

Aside from the lack of seatbelts, the thing that I really can't understand in Star Trek is that every button makes a noise. And every tricorder, wall panel, and medical device. Who could live with that? If I were at con, I'd sabotage the wires in the workstation so that every keypress doesn't beep.

But, a musical calculator is very cool. Assuming one also has access to a silent calculator for calculating.
posted by eotvos at 9:16 AM on May 17, 2021