Musical Calculator
About
Musical Calculator refers to a series of videos and songs featuring a calculator being used a synthesizer keyboard piano.
Top entries this week
Origin
The practice of using a calculator as a synthesizer has existed since before the internet. In 1978, the Casio electronics company released a calculator that could be re-programmed to play music and record to cassette tape.[1] On May 10th, 1981, the German electronic music band Kraftwerk released the album Computer World. The album's second track, "Pocket Calculator," made use of the Casio FX-502P (song below).[2][3]
Spread
While touring on the Computer World album, Kraftwerk manufactured customized Casio VL-80 calculators that contained sheet music to play their songs.[4] Fans could then play songs from the record on the synthesizer calculator.
On April 27th, 2007, YouTuber[8] matanica uploaded a video of the Casio mini keyboard calculator combo electronic piano. The video (shown below) received more than 21,000 views and is the earliest available example of the musical caluclator on the site.
Later that year, YouTuber[9] ccruzado released a pair of videos. On June 17th, they posted a video of Tetris music being played on a Casio ML-81. The video (shown below, left) received more than 171,000 views in 10 years. Three months later, they uploaded a video of the theme to The Simpsons and received more than 28,000 views in 10 years.
On August 25th, YouTuber [5] It's a small world posted a video of a person playing the Justin Bieber song "Friends" on two calculators. Within three months, the video has been viewed more than 17,000 times.
Several days later, on September 1st, the account published a video of a person playing "Despacito" on two calculators. The post (shown below, left) received more than 3 million views and was featured on NPR[6] and the Verge.[7] That week, they published a video of the person playing "All Star" on a calculator, receiving more than 2.9 million views.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wikipedia – Casio FX-502P series
[2] Wikipedia – Computer World
[3] Calculator – Kraftwerk: Pocket Calculator
[4] Dangerous Minds – SHEET MUSIC TO PLAY KRAFTWERK’S ‘POCKET CALCULATOR’ ON A POCKET CALCULATOR
[5] YouTube – It's a small world
[6] NPR – A Man In Japan Plays 'Despacito' On Calculators
[7] The Verge – Calculators are the latest instrument used in creative new ways to make electronic music
[8] YouTube – Casio mini keyboard calculator combo electronic piano
Tags
Entry Editors (2)
Request Editorship
Secretary of Memes
Digital Archaeologist & Treasurer & Collection Butler
Comments
The latest from KYM
The famously outspoken manager has had a few memes over the years, and this one works very well as a reaction image.
Since the dawn of the internet, gamers have made wild predictions about the future of consoles, but no predictions were as memorable as generation eight's. We spoke with the maker of the most viral eighth-gen prediction video to get the inside scoop on an honest video turned epic shitpost.
Steve1989MREInfo, known in person as Steven Andrew Thomas, is a YouTuber that specializes in trying out and tasting vintage MREs. He is well known for his soothing voice, and has jokingly been stated as being "The Bob Ross of MREs".
Show Comments