You're like the lockpickinglawyer of vintage technology but have longer videos which is awesome. I noticed your electronic repair / analysis skills have grown over the years since I started watching you years ago as well! Your videos are getting more and more technical which is fantastic and deserve praise.
@@saintmichael1779 to me the jazz tune sounds more like “St James Infirmary Blues”, a song of uncertain origin though Lous Armstrong made it famous when he recorded in 1928. Since the tune is old enough that it would be in the public domain that would make more sense to me that they would chose it as something recognizable as jazz. That Duke Ellington tune sounds a bit like St. James Infirmary Blues too in parts. Funk and Rock however are too new as genres for public domain tunes so they fake generic funk and rocks tunes instead.
Loved your thorough analysis! I don't know why, but I expected an actual fully functional player for a solid minute was going to be veeery impressed for 12 bucks 😂 It'd make for a great stocking stuffer for a child to give them a way to learn about record players on the cheap, or even as a paperweight/bit of desk decor.
lol, that would actually be a fun little toy for a kid. It's easy to say "those are junk and sound awful" as an adult, but a kid would think it's really cool. The direct hookup also sounds a lot like internet radio 20 years ago! except it's not stopping to buffer every 5 seconds.
i'm getting a record player soon but i got the tiny one for display on a book shelf or something, i'm gonna print out some stickers of music i like and put those on instead and then i took the battery's out :)
I dug mine out and it DID come with three different records. The one you are missing IS 7mm, BUT it only has ONE magnet on it rather than two like the other discs!
I had to down-sample my personal Mp3s to about 56Kbps to make it sounds as bad as these. Honestly, it's impressive what you have to do to make an Mp3 sound _bad_ as opposed to just sounding "not as good."
That jazz tune, at least after the intro part, sounds a lot like the old blues turned jazz tune “St. James Infirmary Blues". It originally was an American blues song of uncertain origin that later became a popular jazz tune starting with Louis Armstrong who made the song famous on a 1928 Jazz recording. Because the tune is in the public domain that probably why it was chosen. The original version has lyrics though it also has been recorded as an instrumental by many Jazz artists too. As for the Rock and Funk, they sound like some sound-a-like bands ideas generic Funk and Rock sounds that pass for genres but won’t trigger any copyright lawsuit. Perfect for when you need a cheap to license generic funk or rock tune (or something sounding “close-enough”) without having to license a known bands music.
It must have seemed like a good idea to someone? I'll give the little playback chip some credit. Hooked up directly it had surprisingly good bass output!
Digital sound has no inherent low frequency limit (just the upper limit imposed by the sample rate and anti-aliasing filters) so that's no special achievement. The only other component (besides the speaker) which could incidentally roll bass off would be a coupling capacitor, in circuits which use them (but this doesn't as can be seen by both speaker connections going directly to the chip, so is presumably a bridge output). That said, if the bass *was* filtered out then that would be beneficial to the tiny speaker (by reducing wasted power and distortion), not that they've bothered of course.
I'm just waiting for techmoan to import one of these... Actually, now that I have watched the video he probably won't as the product itself isn't that interesting.
This once again is a reminder of why I like VWestlife- Besides some more intrincate, "serious stuff" topics, Kevin has a gift of making entertaining and interesting content out of such junk as this.
Thinking outside the plastic box, it would be neat if it was gutted and then outfitted with a bluetooth audio receiver and a decent speaker, nice novelty bluetooth turntable speaker for listening to actual music through... :D
I got a 2024 version of this a few days ago. Mine runs on two AA batteries and only comes with two tunes - jazz and rock (different to those in this video). I pulled it apart and it has a different PCB with only two song chips/triggers.
Hit clips but even lower-tech with a more inconvenient design and shorter songs that aren't even by any recognizable artists. Brilliant! The one they've got labeled as "classic rock" isn't too shabby, though; almost sounds like it could have been the guitar solo from a decent 90s alt rock song.
You have to wonder which toy designer thought... "hmm... i know what kids want. Not a phone, not an ipad or even a cheap mp3 player, no sir. What they want is a fake record player that plays 30 seconds of screeching with no tone controls. Yep, that's what the market is demanding."
I think with so few songs the novelty very quickly wears out. I mean after the 2 or 3 songs already. The 8 ban is more fun as it actually plays the records and there are more to (not) choose from.
the "Jazz Band" sounds similar to the level music in a particularly poo-ey level of the video game "Conker's Bad Fur day", minus the gross sound FX in it. LOL
I had a Dual turntable exactly like that but full size. This is a kitchy fun little dust collector conversation piece. Made in China or Malaysia or somewhere in that area no doubt. Being a stereo/record buff, were I gifted one, I'd not be the least offended! It's a good gag gift!!!! Good thing classic rock one wasn't "Inagadddadavida" or "Stairway to Heaven"!😜
Reminds me of the “Showa Series” toy electronics from Japan that Techmoan reviewed a while back, but those had much more interesting and clever functionality.
It's like a more modern version of HitClips (but less modern-looking since it looks like a turntable). However the HitClips have bits of actually well-known songs that they could license.
My brother has the same TTT, he showed to me several years ago. I have recorded (with my soundcard) the sound you played via the 'line out' and was really surprised the 'sound' is actually a full sinus wave, no PWM. Maybe it is something like 12Mb/s 8 bit 'audio' (converted it down and didn't notice a huge difference). But this not a toy, rubbish to achive a long play fun. People will do this a couple of times and yeah, you know how it works, fun is done. Binware. A nice addition would be a recording function that enables you to leave a message for somebody (a tiny led or card or record to notice there is a message). Like in Techmoan's golden egg video :-D only with modern tech and with 'vintage' china plastic looks.
I guess the duplicate record comes from the 'super deluxe' box set - with one extra 'remastered' track... Or maybe a reissue? Perhaps there is another model which can play five records?
also this could be rebranded as the hitclips pro or something, or maybe even a cool gadget to have as a office desk toy lol. I had this thing years ago I got at the thriftstore called a executive stress iliminator basically a cheap 8bit woodgrain soundeffects blaster with a keypad
you know I get these barnes and noble kits are basically just funny novelty items, but at least some of them are appreciably usable (the pool table one for instance is reasonably functional)
You can drill a hole with brad point bit and put a magnet in it. There still be a hole in the other side, but it will be nice and flush. And you’ll be able to put the label on the other side.
Is it just me or is the pitch of the songs getting lower the longer the songs play? I imagine that the battery isn't powerful enough to play the audio at a stable speed. Really nice video as always.
If you play around with the magnets enough there's got to be a secret song or encoded message....maybe trigger two points at once or move a hidden jumper on the back. The classic rock sounds like Boston....More Than a Feeling! Can your equipment make my voice sound good too?
Nice job. What a piece of work the toy is, but for 4 year olds it's probably just too cool. I actually liked the jazz piece on direct hook up but certainly not out of the tiny speaker.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
It isn’t a Vwestlife video without taking it apart and giving a direct hookup!
I'm surprised he didn't get a copyright strike for this video. Playing such high-quality samples like that. 🤣
It would be a neat accessory for a Barbie dollhouse but I can't imagine spending money on this for any other reason.
Hey, but there is that booklet... :)
GI Joe could blow it up!
after Ken decorates it because by now we all figured out he is gay
@@pyotyrprepka1875 Thank God, He was too good for her!
You're like the lockpickinglawyer of vintage technology but have longer videos which is awesome.
I noticed your electronic repair / analysis skills have grown over the years since I started watching you years ago as well! Your videos are getting more and more technical which is fantastic and deserve praise.
LOL you just made @VWestlife confirm that watches LPL too! Glad to hear that
That "Rock" record has some notes that remind me of some of Boston's "More Than A Feeling."
And I think the Jazz Band has a slight resemblance to Duke Ellington's "New East Louis Toodle-oo" from 1937.
@@saintmichael1779 to me the jazz tune sounds more like “St James Infirmary Blues”, a song of uncertain origin though Lous Armstrong made it famous when he recorded in 1928. Since the tune is old enough that it would be in the public domain that would make more sense to me that they would chose it as something recognizable as jazz. That Duke Ellington tune sounds a bit like St. James Infirmary Blues too in parts. Funk and Rock however are too new as genres for public domain tunes so they fake generic funk and rocks tunes instead.
The chord progression on “More Than A Feeling” has been used in hundreds, if not thousands of songs. Several of them were huge hits.
The "classic rock" disc sounds a lot more like 90's radio friendly rock than anything
1990 was thirty years ago and by now you're lucky if you catch a pre-2000 title on the "classics" rotation on the radio.
Green Day and Third Eye Blind are now considered "Classic Rock".
@@vwestlife I realized that a couple years ago when I heard Green Day playing over the speakers at my local grocery store...
@@vwestlife yeah. i hate what radio has become
I was thinking more of a 'classic' ringtone sound, perhaps?
"Classic" rock sounds like an intro to an 80s sitcom.
Yuk, I suppose that's why I'm in front of my computer rather than watching repeates on TV
I think it sounds more like Luka by Suzanne Vega.
The radio stations from the 50s used 16" records,
sounds like hold music on the telephone.
TL;DR:
This is a music greeting card with 3 """songs""".
This is one of those devices where one can't help but wonder: "Why is this a thing?"
Yeah, i thought that. Why does this even exist.
They’re cashing on the people who shop at Urban Outfitters
Would've been ok if they spent the money on making a nicer model, instead of bothering with the useless electronics.
I suppose it would provide 30seconds of entertainment to someone out there
If it takes 30 seconds for it to drop into a live volcano, then yes. Throw those records along with it.
Loved your thorough analysis! I don't know why, but I expected an actual fully functional player for a solid minute was going to be veeery impressed for 12 bucks 😂 It'd make for a great stocking stuffer for a child to give them a way to learn about record players on the cheap, or even as a paperweight/bit of desk decor.
I have a Christmas one that works the same accept you put the "tonearm" on the "record" to play it and there are lights that go around when it plays
*except
Yap sorry my spelling sux
That thing is basically a modern-day "HitClips"
lol, that would actually be a fun little toy for a kid. It's easy to say "those are junk and sound awful" as an adult, but a kid would think it's really cool. The direct hookup also sounds a lot like internet radio 20 years ago! except it's not stopping to buffer every 5 seconds.
Ah, good old RealPlayer...
i'm getting a record player soon but i got the tiny one for display on a book shelf or something, i'm gonna print out some stickers of music i like and put those on instead and then i took the battery's out :)
Pretty cool. I specifically am getting this for a dollhouse I'm building. Looks like it's going to work well for what I intend it for 😊
Well, I need to say with the direct audio hookup this sounds *much* better. Almost as good as telephone music-on-hold.
I dug mine out and it DID come with three different records. The one you are missing IS 7mm, BUT it only has ONE magnet on it rather than two like the other discs!
I love how you figured it out!
Nice a new video from my friend Kevin.
I'm beginning to just love this channel. Brilliant.
I had to down-sample my personal Mp3s to about 56Kbps to make it sounds as bad as these. Honestly, it's impressive what you have to do to make an Mp3 sound _bad_ as opposed to just sounding "not as good."
That jazz tune, at least after the intro part, sounds a lot like the old blues turned jazz tune “St. James Infirmary Blues". It originally was an American blues song of uncertain origin that later became a popular jazz tune starting with Louis Armstrong who made the song famous on a 1928 Jazz recording. Because the tune is in the public domain that probably why it was chosen. The original version has lyrics though it also has been recorded as an instrumental by many Jazz artists too. As for the Rock and Funk, they sound like some sound-a-like bands ideas generic Funk and Rock sounds that pass for genres but won’t trigger any copyright lawsuit. Perfect for when you need a cheap to license generic funk or rock tune (or something sounding “close-enough”) without having to license a known bands music.
oh wow i didn’t know that song was so old!!! i know it from The White Stripes 🤧🤧
"Classic Rock" ouch man..
It was more like a guitar riff from early 2000's country music
It reminds me the song "My Name Is Luka" from Suzanne Vega
@@danielkalilalvesdonascimen3113 The title is just “Luka”
What a cool little device, I always look forward to your videos. One of the best channels on RUclips. Can't wait to see the next video.
It must have seemed like a good idea to someone?
I'll give the little playback chip some credit. Hooked up directly it had surprisingly good bass output!
Digital sound has no inherent low frequency limit (just the upper limit imposed by the sample rate and anti-aliasing filters) so that's no special achievement.
The only other component (besides the speaker) which could incidentally roll bass off would be a coupling capacitor, in circuits which use them (but this doesn't as can be seen by both speaker connections going directly to the chip, so is presumably a bridge output).
That said, if the bass *was* filtered out then that would be beneficial to the tiny speaker (by reducing wasted power and distortion), not that they've bothered of course.
I'm just waiting for techmoan to import one of these... Actually, now that I have watched the video he probably won't as the product itself isn't that interesting.
"I've managed to get one from Yahoo Japan, but it's 100V and described as 'junk'"
Honestly, do you want to offend Techmoan?
This once again is a reminder of why I like VWestlife- Besides some more intrincate, "serious stuff" topics, Kevin has a gift of making entertaining and interesting content out of such junk as this.
Thinking outside the plastic box, it would be neat if it was gutted and then outfitted with a bluetooth audio receiver and a decent speaker, nice novelty bluetooth turntable speaker for listening to actual music through... :D
even on the direct hookup that jazz one is so distorted sounding
It's actually a pretty cool replica/toy you can't expect good quality though
Wow. The sound is fine the adjusted audio. Great review 👍
I just picked this up at a local Stationary store. Thx U for the video demo. It helped.
I got a 2024 version of this a few days ago. Mine runs on two AA batteries and only comes with two tunes - jazz and rock (different to those in this video). I pulled it apart and it has a different PCB with only two song chips/triggers.
Even the big bands sound small
Hit clips but even lower-tech with a more inconvenient design and shorter songs that aren't even by any recognizable artists. Brilliant! The one they've got labeled as "classic rock" isn't too shabby, though; almost sounds like it could have been the guitar solo from a decent 90s alt rock song.
You have to wonder which toy designer thought... "hmm... i know what kids want. Not a phone, not an ipad or even a cheap mp3 player, no sir. What they want is a fake record player that plays 30 seconds of screeching with no tone controls. Yep, that's what the market is demanding."
you made me chuckle; you really did a MacGyver on this good stuff what a difference a real speaker makes
Aww, I expected some sort of magnet position/polarity-based recognition 😔
They look like Hall effect switches
It resembles a Dual 1225 (2 levers on the right hand side, the real deal has a single knob instead of the 2 “knobs” on the left hand side).
it looks exactly like my dual 1225! even the platter is identical
To hear the jazz properly, set the speed to 1.5 at 11:22
That's the most 90s sounding classic rock I've ever heard
Isnt it weird that when it was in the box it looked smaller? I am very surprised how much bass response the direct camera hook up had!
That sound quality reminds me of sampled audio on the gameboy advance, and not in a good way.
Techmoan did something on old miniature vinyls a week ago that links up with this. Good video!
The construction and functionality of this product is comparable to that of a happy meal toy
Interesting item. The look of it is great.
Classic rock record: it's 1997, April. You accidentally turn on a cheap plastic radio on a Sunday afternoon.
I reckon you could make a fully functional record player this small
That jazz one is the same song the funeral band plays in the movie Double Jeopardy.
It’s so creepy to me! 😆
I can't be the only one who thought that your note pad was a prescription pad for a second!
Modelled on the Dual record players
I think with so few songs the novelty very quickly wears out. I mean after the 2 or 3 songs already. The 8 ban is more fun as it actually plays the records and there are more to (not) choose from.
My sister had something like this as a kid, it was supposed to be a "kids CD player", but it was using almost the exact same system
Does anyone have links to the full tracks? I'm guessing that these are SoundCloud material.
Read the video description.
The music from these „records“ sounds like ringtones from the ringtone library of an old nokia cell phone
the "Jazz Band" sounds similar to the level music in a particularly poo-ey level of the video game "Conker's Bad Fur day", minus the gross sound FX in it. LOL
Mini the moocher from Blues Brothers.
Bourbon Street Blues riff.
at least no risk of causing a music match copyright strike.
Why would they not put the decals on the records at the factory?
costs less
I had a Dual turntable exactly like that but full size. This is a kitchy fun little dust collector conversation piece. Made in China or Malaysia or somewhere in that area no doubt. Being a stereo/record buff, were I gifted one, I'd not be the least offended! It's a good gag gift!!!! Good thing classic rock one wasn't "Inagadddadavida" or "Stairway to Heaven"!😜
Where can I get one
Reminds me of the “Showa Series” toy electronics from Japan that Techmoan reviewed a while back, but those had much more interesting and clever functionality.
Hi I m from singspore. May I know how can I purchase this toy turntable?? How much in singapore dollars?? Also how to get the recorders? Thanks
“high-fidelity”
It's like a more modern version of HitClips (but less modern-looking since it looks like a turntable). However the HitClips have bits of actually well-known songs that they could license.
that style is really similar to my Dual P55, which is a "portable" record player
Leave it on the shelf at the store.
Clever!
My brother has the same TTT, he showed to me several years ago. I have recorded (with my soundcard) the sound you played via the 'line out' and was really surprised the 'sound' is actually a full sinus wave, no PWM. Maybe it is something like 12Mb/s 8 bit 'audio' (converted it down and didn't notice a huge difference). But this not a toy, rubbish to achive a long play fun. People will do this a couple of times and yeah, you know how it works, fun is done. Binware. A nice addition would be a recording function that enables you to leave a message for somebody (a tiny led or card or record to notice there is a message). Like in Techmoan's golden egg video :-D only with modern tech and with 'vintage' china plastic looks.
12Mb/s?, maybe you meant kb/s? A regular audio CD is 1.4Mb/s.
I suppose it could use PWM with a small capacitor to smooth the output.
@@DoubleMonoLR At 8 bit, not 16 or 24 bit, that makes a huge difference.
I think the sample rate is 12khz at 8 bit. However it appears that it's oversampled since you can hear aliasing at a frequency of 4khz.
I guess the duplicate record comes from the 'super deluxe' box set - with one extra 'remastered' track... Or maybe a reissue? Perhaps there is another model which can play five records?
also this could be rebranded as the hitclips pro or something, or maybe even a cool gadget to have as a office desk toy lol. I had this thing years ago I got at the thriftstore called a executive stress iliminator basically a cheap 8bit woodgrain soundeffects blaster with a keypad
:D - Perhaps you could always superglue a used (or worn out) stylus to it to make the effect of a 'proper' tone-arm look? Just a thought.
I need to get my ferret one of these 😂
I think it's the DUAL "1229" they were going for overall, with some "generic" BSR "vibes" coming from the platter itself.
you know I get these barnes and noble kits are basically just funny novelty items, but at least some of them are appreciably usable (the pool table one for instance is reasonably functional)
You can drill a hole with brad point bit and put a magnet in it. There still be a hole in the other side, but it will be nice and flush. And you’ll be able to put the label on the other side.
I just took mine apart to see if there was any way I could reprogram the songs into actual songs.. I’ll keep looking
so it's basically a posh version of hitclips.
Good lord this thing sounds absolutely dreadful.
the warning label probably says "will cause bleeding ears"
Careful not to scratch them, these are high quality audiophile discs you know!!
Is it just me or is the pitch of the songs getting lower the longer the songs play? I imagine that the battery isn't powerful enough to play the audio at a stable speed. Really nice video as always.
The Jazz music was very good. reminds me of Grim Fandango.
do you know the name of it ???
Drill a divet where the magnet should be and super glue it.
Didn't sound too bad when you hooked it up . Sound Hound never had any matches.
PS They had some good taste copying the Dual 1200 series, but the tonearm offset angle is way overdone! 🙀😸
What a hillariously useless product!
You could take the batteries out and use them....
You could say that about any toy/novelty.
How dit you the direct Hoke up?
crocodile clips mushed onto the speaker output connection. that gives you mono. it'll be louder than a line level output.
damn those sounded pretty good with the direct hook up. the bass was decent on the classic rock "record" lol
If you play around with the magnets enough there's got to be a secret song or encoded message....maybe trigger two points at once or move a hidden jumper on the back. The classic rock sounds like Boston....More Than a Feeling! Can your equipment make my voice sound good too?
My ears!! I expected it to suck, but not this much! But a brilliant work of reverse-engineering from vwestlife!
Get down with the funk ya'll. ;)
Jazz Band sounds *almost* like St. James Infirmary? It's possible they're aping actual songs here just enough to skirt copyright issues.
A Nice Happy Meal Toy ;-)
The small numbers are cavity numbers from the mold, they aren't part numbers for the "records".
That 'Classic Rock' record sounds a lot more like country than classic rock (I'm getting some Rascal Flatts vibes from the song it plays).
You could use the sticker to hold the magnet on, instead of tape
The turntable looks like it was designed to look like a ‘70s BSR changer.
Nice job. What a piece of work the toy is, but for 4 year olds it's probably just too cool. I actually liked the jazz piece on direct hook up but certainly not out of the tiny speaker.
I bought this and its literally so cute
Does Techmoan know about this ???
That sound is the sound of Westlife pissing his money against the wall so we don't have to.