Euro-Play
- Fix und Foxi Musik Band, Music Band (monophonic
squarewave toy keyboard with blip rhythms)
Fix und Foxi Musik Band
This simple red toy keyboard made by Euro-Play has monophonic squarewave
piano sound and very weird and broken sounding blip rhythms. Unfortunately
it reacts only on slow key presses, which prevents fast keyboard play.
Also a cyan version of this instrument with pink sharp keys was made.
This one is an eBay picture; my specimen is missing
the box and also the speaker grill here is re-drawn since it was invisible
on the photo.
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main features:
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23 mini keys (2 lowest keys are fake and switch rhythm)
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3 blip rhythms {"-.-." , "-..", "-...", off}
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4 rhythms speeds
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monophonic plain squarewave "piano" sound with fixed note duration and
analogue capacitor envelope
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rhythms are made from only 2 squarewave blips
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too slow responding CPU prevents fast playing
On the back of the instrument is a sticker with "BRAND: EURO-PLAY", "Made
in China" and "ART NO.: 69/00530". The case was apparently initially designed
for a more complex instrument, because under the "Fix&Foxi" comic strip
sticker are unpunched outlines for buttons and knobs visible, those this
keyboard doesn't have. Also on the back is an unused area for headphone
or mains adapter jacks.
notes:
The 2 lowest keys are fake; the leftmost white key steps through the 4
rhythm speeds and the leftmost black key through 3 rhythms and rhythm off.
To the right next to the keyboard stands "DYNAMIC MUSIC" and a sort-of
morse code table explaining the 3 available rhythms. But the rhythms sound
not like morse code (short, long beeps) but consist of 2 squarewave blips
(low & high, 1 octave distance) and thus resemble much the ball blip
noises of a historical TV-Tennis (Pong imitation) videogame
with "AY-3-8500" CPU.
This instrument sounds so bizarre - its almost absurd. Its squarewave
piano sound turns the louder, the faster a single key trill is played (likely
by the increasing envelope capacitor charge). Unfortunately only a single
key can be trilled fast because the CPU polls the keyboard with only about
8 Hz, which makes fast keyboard play impossible because it ignores too
fast key presses. This extremely limits playability. After the decay phase
the note ends with a popping noise and particularly with low batteries
all notes howl a little (falling pitch envelope). Also the rhythm blips
start with a pop noise. When rhythm is on, during a note the rhythm fades
quieter and slower and its "pop" component disappears, thus only quiet
blips remain until the note has reached its end. During pauses the rhythm
returns to full volume.
Music Band
(eBay
photo of my specimen)
This simple Euro-Play toy keyboard has only 12 flat keys (no
sharps) but features the same sound and blip rhythm. Both seem to be the
same hardware class.
A similar strange howling toy keyboard is the great Bontempi
- Disney Band.
| removal
of these screws voids warranty... |
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back
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(eBay
photo of my specimen)