More info on the (predominantly) 1950s German music player system. This time thanks to a very generous donation I'm able to demonstrate a Tefi Kurz Band to you. If you just want to see this section jump to 07:31 however if you get time to watch the rest of the video you'll hear more facts and figures and details about the history of the Tefifon and the Tefi company.
Are there any teardown or repair videos available on YT that you know of? Would love to see her inside workings. Thankyou so much for all 3 Tefifon videos, the daughter of vinyl records and the grandmother of the 8 track.
@@tyrgoossens Not sure the reason but I am pretty sure the entire north east of the US would be underwater if Post10 on youtube didn't spend his life unclocking culverts and blockages to unflood streets.
XKCD invented the term "nerd sniping" for intentionally causing someone to obsessively investigate a problem. The derived term "nerd sniped" has an expanded definition for having that happen to someone regardless of whether or not it was intentional. Marcus got nerd sniped _hard_
Markus has found his fixation. Usually it ends up being wargaming or models. This man saw an obscure German audio format and fell in love. You go Markus. You go.
" “Cuba Baion” is a Latin-tinged orchestral composition by German accordionist/bandleader Kurt Drabek, which apparently first appeared in a 1957 album titled Auf den Flügeln bunter Träume. What is also interesting to note is that many years later, the song enjoyed some popularity when it was included on a Techmoan video about the Tefifon, a German audio-playback format that lasted from the ’40s to the ’60s."
Hello A friend forwarded me your video. Thank you it is interesting, I had only seen a machine and cassettes once before, here in Berlin in a second hand record shop. But all without sleeves and a paper insert. I was born in 1955, nobody in our neighbourhood had anything like that. (We had a combined radio-record chest). I find two things interesting. The tape with the Cuba title, it's mixed East and West German artists. That was not a matter of course at that time. Or difficult for the East German artists. Which probably leads to another problem. Tefiphon doesn't seem to have had its own musicians, which means that all music had to be licensed. And in the emerging rock 'n' roll/pop music, hits/names of well-known artists were important. And if they were chart artists, they were bound to be expensive, if they could be licensed at all. If you combine that with your own distribution system, it will certainly have become economically tight. The idea of working for Neckermann was therefore tempting. Neckermann also had its own department stores from 1951, where the products could theoretically have been presented. But I don't know. I also don't know how many Neckermann department stores there were. As far as I know, they only came to Berlin at the end of the sixties. The fact that the track runs faster (apart from carelessness when dubbing) may also have the background that the highs are cut off when the recordings are played back faster and thus the noise is/is less. We have always been surprised that reissues of LPs in Japan have shorter times than the European/American pressings, which is probably due to this idea. Thomas thiws may interessitg for you www.werkladen.de/Walter-Dick-Archiv/Koeln-1950-54/Tefifon-1952
Thanks for the update. I bought a Tefi Holiday after I saw the original video. Model BK-60/UKW, serial number 10433. Glad to help if you need more details.
I'm fairly sure the Tefifon T 541 or at least a very similar model, in the top left of the ad at 4:45, is the one that's extant in our family, so to speak. When I was a kid in the 90s, that one sat on the lower shelf of the TV stand at my grandparents' place, as far as I can remember still plugged in and at least with the radio part working. When their household was broken up after grandma had passed away and grandpa moved to a retirement home some 20 years ago, the Tefifon went to my aunt, who in turn sadly passed away last year, and now it's with my mother. It no longer works, as at least one tube is broken, but still has a cartridge in the Tefifon player on the top, I *think* some paperwork as well (user's manual, possibly?) Edit: Spoke to my mom, it's a Tefifon M 540, very similar-looking to the T 541, with one cartridge, the Tefifon's manual, and one broken tube.
Mat you're rapidly moving into areas different from 'merely' a RUclipsr - besides a Historian of some fascinatingly obscure Tech - I'd always dreamed that you would open a physical museum to allow visitors to see many of these obscure formats (or indeed experience them).And now you're inspiring rejuvenation of these formats, incredible stuff!
I personally would go to such a museum for sure. I’m blind, so just hearing descriptions of these things is like knowing they’re behind a glass display case, but not being able to understand them in detail. I love hearing about all this old tech, but it makes me sad thinking that I’ll likely never get to lay hands on it to truly understand it, and know the placement of buttons/knobs/sliders etc. I literally can’t picture what it looks like in my head.
@@TheBreadlord Matt has already contributed a device to This Museum Is Not Obsolete's collection. As well as recorded some audio that helps demonstrate one of the devices in the museum. (youtube com/watch?v=qvzH7DSsD3g)
@@chaos.corner I think he stopped doing them because a) youtube was flagging them as "only for kids" and threatening to classify him as a "kids channel" which means no money. And b) because he was running out of ideas for what to do with them anyway and those quick skits were still a lot of work; and to put that kind of work in and not even be able to get paid for it on top of writers block, I think he just decided it was better to retire the segment and focus on other things. I miss them too, but I can understand why he stopped if that is indeed the case. *extreme close-up*: Flippin' 'eck. Good times.
“I know it’s been a bit more of a chatty one” 16:33 Honestly, the talking, in depth nature of this channel is what keeps me coming back. There are things that you cover that are so niche that you’re one of the few reliable sources for them- without you information about vintage audio would be a lot less accessible. So keep talking, the world deserves your words.
I swear Mat is the reason RUclips exists. He has covered so many fascinating things on here, that when i see his videos, instant play and instant like.
Turns out the Tefi factory was about a 20 min. drive away from me.. there are historic photos available from 1956 that show the building. Pretty big factory stretching to the river Rhine. The building was reduced to half the size later and since the 90s there is a very 90s looking residential complex there.
@DM-ei6oo Oh yeah, I remember my childhood going shopping with my mother. You need meat, you go to the meat shop, you need fish, same there. Of course you buy your bread at the bakery, all of which were about one or km apart of each other in a triangle. And there was the wonderful joy of b/w tv when you had a good signal, not to forget streets made of cobblestones. Oh, the wonderful old time back in the 80s, at least on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. The only reason the old times were better is because we were younger and everything was new.
The whole story presented here represent Internet a its finest, and why it had been invented in the first place. Connecting talented people to start and keep the ball rolling on project that gets bigger and more important than ever imagined. One video years ago helped to uncover a whole industrial story about a forgotten audio format, and now everything is getting preserved and archived for the years to come.
That music sounds ancient even for the 1950s. It's hard to imagine kids in the 1950s bopping to a ragtime piano instrumental recorded onto a piece of Fruit by the Foot.
That's the thing that usually killed underdog music formats. Not being able to get licensing deals for the hit songs that teenagers wanted to listen and instead being stuck with whatever the manufacturer of the format could afford
From my understanding the issue was audio equipment used to be expensie kid's really didn't have allowances until the mid to late 50's so the music sold was all marketed towards adults. It wasn't until the late 50's and the 45 RPM records becoming cheap that kids / teenagers could afford to buy music that is where you get a wild switch away from ragtime to Elvis.
Ingenious idea, but a vinyl single is so much easier to store. Kids back in the day would have albums of singles that would keep 20-30 records so they could take them to parties. But the Kurz and would have been very awkward to carry around. Might have been neat for jukeboxes...
One thing that mystifies me: How was a Tefifon ribbon manufactured? I get how disc records were stamped out, and that magnetic tapes could be recorded on multi-deck duplicators. But the Tefifon ribbon is an oddity!
You drew my attention to a book that has been sitting untouched on my bookshelf for at least 25 years: 'Das Tefifon' by Herbert Jüttemann. In it, I even found some jukeboxes based on Tefifons. I knew of a book about Tefifones, but I had completely forgotten about owning it...
16:03 oh wow, Marcus! That machine looks like it has refitted parts! They are probably 3-D printed, and I recognize that type of digital servo motor because a friend and I have used those on projects!
9:27 - The artist is *Der Klimper-Heini Und Seine Rhythmiker (The strummer Heini and his rhythmists),* and the song is _Medley bekannter Evergreens (Medley of well-known evergreens)._ It was released in Germany on a shellac by Bertelsmann (later BMG), and also on the Tefi "album" _Schlager-Favoriten III._ Awesomely catchy! 😁
"Tragedy to farce" honestly describes more and more of my experience with the government at all kevels in the US. Thanks for the update JJ, Appreciate you and hope you have a great week!!
9:17 "You can see, while I'm doing this, that it's not a brilliant idea." My eyebrows started climbing when you brought out the Tefi Kurz Band box, kept going up as you showed us what was in the box, continued to rise as you took it off the cardboard holder, and were most of the way to my hairline by the time you said this. 🤣
Love the Tefi concept and it was much appreciated that you made a few vids here. Thank you. We have a Tefi T-602 radio from 1957 that has a built in Tefi band player in the top of it. We bought it in Nürnburg when we lived there in 2001. Every morning it wakes us up 😊 Sadly we need a cartridge for it to play the cassette bands we have for it.
i use Cuba Baion as my alarm, and it really is the most pleasant sound I've ever found to wake up to. i totally understand how Marcus got hooked; just really nice music in such a fascinating format!
Another way of looking at it Matt, it isn't that your videos don't have longevity. It is the fact that your viewers really really look forward to watching them as soon as they come out. Your videos are a bit like Tomorrow's World on the telly years ago. I used to love when it came on and spent all week looking forward to it. Your videos are part of a great Saturday morning.
This is the only channel I always search for updates. As an enthusiast of vintage audio, I love discovering all the fascinating things I never knew existed. I can’t wait for the next Tefi episodes!
I loved your first two videos on this format. This is a brilliant third edition. Many, many, many thanks for adding to the knowledge on this fantastic format. I am guessing if it caught on, they were would have been a special bad playing machine manufacturered. Marcus is a total star for doing all this. It really great so see the effort and thought that he's put into conserving this intriguing format!
I could understand why someone would become that obsessed with this format. More than any other format you've featured on this channel, the Tefi is easily the most stylish to me. I instantly loved the look of both the player and the carts. Even the way you have to pull out the band yourself to play the music is such a cool idea. The aesthetic is great. It's impressive to see all the innovations that guy is making, especially the band iron.
Me too. As anyone who's owned a modern German car could tell you, German plastic usually disintegrates after about 5 years and crumbles if you look at it wrong. Clearly the Tefi ribbons are some sort of lost technology.
My grandma had a plastic mesh shopping bag in the 50s. It still exists today with my sister. For some reason, the thin plastic strands making up the structure has never perished or broken despite much use.
The bands were made out of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) - the same material as vinyl records actually- which is extremely stable and isn't degraded by UV, ozone, weather, heat, cold, environmental chemicals, etc. In fact it's known as one of the most environmentally damaging plastics because it just refuses to break down with time. And as for the vintage shopping bags, those are typically Nylon, which is the same stuff as stockings and fishing line - also another extremely durable and long lived plastic.
@@GlutenEruptionThe tapes being made from PVC seems to be a myth that has been around for a long time. Unfortunately, the chemical resistance and other properties do not match PVC, so the material mix is still a mystery...
At 6:10 that flip of the machine shows a great flair of showmanship, perhaps unwittingly obtained, but still showcasing the growth and development of my favorite device historian (now read: RUclipsr). What great work!
You keep me in a near-constant state of amazement. I never knew of the Tefi machines before your video about them nine years ago, and clearly you have a devoted following if people are willing to send you rare and valuable stuff to demonstrate these obsolete formats. I would feel incredibly humbled that someone out there went full-bore with conservation efforts based on a video I'd made. It seems to me that Tefi could have made a more practical adapter by using a partial cartridge shell instead of that clamp-on contraption. Still remarkable that there's one still around. Thank you for all the videos you've made and the information you've provided; I absolutely adore learning how technology and media formats are developed and implemented.
Hy Mat, i also got in touch with marcus at an onlineforum, he helped me to repair my tefifon kc1 wich i purchased because if your video about the Tefifon. I now also have this obscure audio device in my stereo collection! Thank you very much for your video about the tefi and other audio formats! Lovely greetings from Swizerland Mika😃😃😃
I had never heard of these before. Thank you. I love how different applications of a concept build off of each other. In the USA cylinders gave way to flat records (78, 45 & 33 RPM), then 8-track & cassette tapes, then Compact Disc, MP3 players now streaming "cloud" music.
INTERIOR. A German record producer's office, late 1950's. Producer: "Alright Hans, this had better be good. I need a hit song for the teens of today." Hans, busily putting thumbtacks into an upright piano: "I've got just the thing, sir."
Just found out how strong the urge to make a 50s radio voice is when reading the catalogues from that era. And now I can‘t stop. Außerdem, Markus, guter Mann das. Mein Hut ist gelüpft ^^
You are becoming the official historian of all things audio. I lost count of how many formats I've never heard of until you showed them here. Thanks for "the timeline" of audio reproduction. And thanks to Markus for additional Tefi history.
I' love this story, Matt. It's real message in a bottle stuff! 🙂 Well done, Markus. BTW - The track A B C Boogie on the list (12:19) is a favourite song of mine, which I've played live.
It's funny to me that I watch these videos. Have none of the tech, have rarely seen or had any prior knowledge. And still, I watch and will rewind if i miss something. Very interesting, as always.
The Tefifon video was the first of yours I stumbled onto, in 2016, attracting me with the perfect mid-century industrial design coupled with the bizarre obscure media format; seeing that you had other videos with fading A/V equipment like that (the wire recorder, the Seeburg, etc.), I immediately subscribed. To me, Tefifon is peak Techmoan, and yet somehow quintessential Techmoan. That’s why that video endures. This one is another hit out of the park, another in the essential Techmoan canon.
Saturday Morning ☑ Cooked Breakfast ☑ Techmoan ☑ All is right with the World! Thanks to Matt and Markus for keeping the memory of Tefi alive! Even the kids chuckle when I play Cuba Baion (Tefi-speed edition).
If you were recording with a microphone, the Tefi had incredible fidelity for its time. I was amazed by the sound quality. There were pretty good tonality. Thanks for the video.
I'm happy to be one of those weirdos that enjoy the niche electronics videos. This type of technology is just fascinating, and many of the products we use today could have been on the ash heap of history had someone not stocked their products, or if an influential celebrity failed to endorse it. And a big thanks to Markus, with his treasure trove of Tefi goodies and oddities!
Hi Mat, this has got to be one of the best channels on RUclips and one of only two I have regularly watched over the years. The other being Tally Ho. Thanks for all the content over the years. You just get better and better. Cheers.
Well, it’s Saturday! Thanks to you, I would’ve never known about this interesting format. Can’t believe just how long you’ve been doing videos. Nine years feels like a lifetime ago.
Never knew this system existed! I'm amazed about the sound quality of the digitized Tefifon music you have used in your video. The story of this system shows again how great ideas can be wiped from history due to human error in sales and marketing management...
Your tefi videos were some of the first videos I watched of yours but only a couple years ago, not 9 years. Very interesting as always. Thank you for making great videos.
I really enjoyed this video. I'd never heard of Tefi before but it reminds me of the stuff Fisher Price used to make for kids in the 1970s, but more solidly constructed. And hearing the music of the period that was available on it has a very beatnik feel, like something you'd hear in an early Peter Sellers movie whilst everyone says things like 'Daddio' or 'thats really groovy man'. A fascinating device so thanks for the history lesson.
I really liked the German version of "Hello Mary Lou" that you played a bit of in your second video. I tried to track down a full version of it some time back, but never had any luck.
Hi Mat, great video, I never knew this existed and was fascinated with your first video on theTefiphone, it is so good to see this update and to see how you inspired Marcus to go geek out and learn almost everything about this and then share it all with you, We live in a wonderful world !
These people from Tefi were way ahead of its time, it's a real pity they didn't continue in business. The idea was nothing short of miraculous at the time; nothing could ever come close to it. Thanks for letting us into so many details of its development, Matt ! 😊
Actually, I'm a bit new here and I've been going through your back videos for about 2 weeks now. So I think your videos have a long life. Love your stuff... Thanks so much!
@@stephenswift9868 Oh blimey, it's so long ago when I did it I can't tell you off the top of my head but I'm pretty sure I downloaded them as .mp3 files, saved them to my phone and then in the settings when you can select them. I'm pretty sure Matt saved them somewhere so people can download them. Sorry, I can't give you much more than that.
Tefi is one of those companies that makes something innovative, but fails to capitalise on it by making poor marketing decisions. The Tefifon range (and all the adapters) could have been really good, at least until the rise of magnetic cassette tape, if the decisions by marketing (and here I include the ideas behind the product design) had been less conservative. And, kudos to Marcus for letting his passion turn into something creative, too.
I distinctly remember having seen a Tefifon regularly at my old workplace (a university library in Finland, it was on a shelf in the employee space hallway along with other old equipment) and wondering what it was, but never bothering to find out. Techmoan's original video about Tefifon was when I finally found out.
I’m with you, once you figure out how to use it, it’s an elegant little thing. Hopefully the spike you tighten onto the spindle doesn’t wear into it too much, that’s the only real potential flaw I see with it, well, maybe apart from it appearing to be a bit jiggly when you install it.
It's the most bonkers, yet inspired piece of technology you've introduced to me. The thing I love about these technological orphans you introduce us to here, are the interesting and very creative ways of reproducing music and video media.
I love how you introduce us all to long forgotten music devices. Your video on minidiscs made me dig mine out of the attic and enjoy them again and buy a NETMD portable as well as more discs pre recorded (that I never owned when I first bought my sharp MD MT190 in 2003) and blank discs too which I have started recording on again. As always a great highly informative and very interesting video. Thanks for sharing
The fidelity is quite amazing! Thanks for sharing, and for inspiring somebody to go all out on the research and preservation of this format. Very cool!
More info on the (predominantly) 1950s German music player system. This time thanks to a very generous donation I'm able to demonstrate a Tefi Kurz Band to you. If you just want to see this section jump to 07:31 however if you get time to watch the rest of the video you'll hear more facts and figures and details about the history of the Tefifon and the Tefi company.
the most shocking thing on this was ... 9 years ago??? It felt like two years max!
You know what gets me. I cannot get over how good these carts sound. If they had kept going, I bet they would have got even better.
You never said how to contact Markus, unless I missed it?
Are there any teardown or repair videos available on YT that you know of? Would love to see her inside workings.
Thankyou so much for all 3 Tefifon videos, the daughter of vinyl records and the grandmother of the 8 track.
Markus will no doubt be reading through the comments - so this is where I suggest posting any serial numbers.
Love it when someone completely nerds out on a niche topic and goes on a 9+ year binge, well done Markus.
The kids call that "weaponized autism" these days.
@@tyrgoossens It gets shit done.
@@tyrgoossens Not sure the reason but I am pretty sure the entire north east of the US would be underwater if Post10 on youtube didn't spend his life unclocking culverts and blockages to unflood streets.
XKCD invented the term "nerd sniping" for intentionally causing someone to obsessively investigate a problem. The derived term "nerd sniped" has an expanded definition for having that happen to someone regardless of whether or not it was intentional. Marcus got nerd sniped _hard_
@@tyrgoossensweaponised autism
i like that 😅
Marcus did'nt just go down the rabbit hole, he took a shovel and extended the whole warren.
😂
And found a way to heal some of the rabbits and wash the dirty ones.
That's dedication and determination for ya! :)
He basically built a whole Kingdom Under The Mountains all by himself.
Now it is essentially an Euro Tunnel
That Tefi Band adapter is absolutely gorgeous. Impractical but very stylish.
The adapter looks like an art deco “Car of the Future!”
Looks like a VW Beetle :)
it a terrible beautiful idea....i'm sure it will be in fallout next
You and Marcus should get together!
Markus has found his fixation. Usually it ends up being wargaming or models.
This man saw an obscure German audio format and fell in love.
You go Markus. You go.
As a friend of mine once said, "find that one stupid thing only you care about." A hobby can't be a waste of time if you enjoy it.
@@md_vandenbergthis right here.
This is probably far far cheaper than Warhammer
He saw those machines and it was like, "Now I know why I was put on this planet."
" “Cuba Baion” is a Latin-tinged orchestral composition by German accordionist/bandleader Kurt Drabek, which apparently first appeared in a 1957 album titled Auf den Flügeln bunter Träume. What is also interesting to note is that many years later, the song enjoyed some popularity when it was included on a Techmoan video about the Tefifon, a German audio-playback format that lasted from the ’40s to the ’60s."
It has a surprisingly clean sound, to be honest.
And decent bass
@@fritzkuhne2055 Right? I was expecting scratchy, hissing, tinny sound.
Reliable too. Didn't need to take the machine apart and fiddle with it for hours or days.
The double bass on the outro music to this video is superb, really rich and well balanced.
and this is the 19cm/s lo-fi iteration, so yea
"A bit of a kerfuffle starting in 1939 and everything went to heck." 😂😂😂
One of my favorite lines
yea that angry mustached man suddenly took over the world unexpectedly
What auto shenanigans calls the small disagreement
All got a little bit silly for a few years
Yeah, but you really have to dig down to find anything about it. Especially in England.
Don't mention the war! I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with all right.
The design language of the TEFI KURZ BAND logo, is so amazing 😍
Hello
A friend forwarded me your video. Thank you it is interesting, I had only seen a machine and cassettes once before, here in Berlin in a second hand record shop. But all without sleeves and a paper insert. I was born in 1955, nobody in our neighbourhood had anything like that. (We had a combined radio-record chest). I find two things interesting. The tape with the Cuba title, it's mixed East and West German artists. That was not a matter of course at that time. Or difficult for the East German artists.
Which probably leads to another problem. Tefiphon doesn't seem to have had its own musicians, which means that all music had to be licensed. And in the emerging rock 'n' roll/pop music, hits/names of well-known artists were important. And if they were chart artists, they were bound to be expensive, if they could be licensed at all. If you combine that with your own distribution system, it will certainly have become economically tight. The idea of working for Neckermann was therefore tempting. Neckermann also had its own department stores from 1951, where the products could theoretically have been presented. But I don't know. I also don't know how many Neckermann department stores there were. As far as I know, they only came to Berlin at the end of the sixties.
The fact that the track runs faster (apart from carelessness when dubbing) may also have the background that the highs are cut off when the recordings are played back faster and thus the noise is/is less. We have always been surprised that reissues of LPs in Japan have shorter times than the European/American pressings, which is probably due to this idea.
Thomas
thiws may interessitg for you
www.werkladen.de/Walter-Dick-Archiv/Koeln-1950-54/Tefifon-1952
Thanks for the update. I bought a Tefi Holiday after I saw the original video. Model BK-60/UKW, serial number 10433. Glad to help if you need more details.
I'm fairly sure the Tefifon T 541 or at least a very similar model, in the top left of the ad at 4:45, is the one that's extant in our family, so to speak. When I was a kid in the 90s, that one sat on the lower shelf of the TV stand at my grandparents' place, as far as I can remember still plugged in and at least with the radio part working. When their household was broken up after grandma had passed away and grandpa moved to a retirement home some 20 years ago, the Tefifon went to my aunt, who in turn sadly passed away last year, and now it's with my mother. It no longer works, as at least one tube is broken, but still has a cartridge in the Tefifon player on the top, I *think* some paperwork as well (user's manual, possibly?)
Edit: Spoke to my mom, it's a Tefifon M 540, very similar-looking to the T 541, with one cartridge, the Tefifon's manual, and one broken tube.
Mat you're rapidly moving into areas different from 'merely' a RUclipsr - besides a Historian of some fascinatingly obscure Tech - I'd always dreamed that you would open a physical museum to allow visitors to see many of these obscure formats (or indeed experience them).And now you're inspiring rejuvenation of these formats, incredible stuff!
I personally would go to such a museum for sure.
I’m blind, so just hearing descriptions of these things is like knowing they’re behind a glass display case, but not being able to understand them in detail.
I love hearing about all this old tech, but it makes me sad thinking that I’ll likely never get to lay hands on it to truly understand it, and know the placement of buttons/knobs/sliders etc.
I literally can’t picture what it looks like in my head.
I think his real move would be to lend a bunch of this stuff to Look Mum No Computer. Semi-permanent exhibit or something
@@Moonlightshadow-lq4fr What the voice has to do with Look Mum No Computer having an exhibit place called This Museum Is (not) Obsolete?
@@TheBreadlord Matt has already contributed a device to This Museum Is Not Obsolete's collection. As well as recorded some audio that helps demonstrate one of the devices in the museum.
(youtube com/watch?v=qvzH7DSsD3g)
I’d make the trip across the Atlantic for that. I’d go regularly if I end up moving to Ireland like we want to do.
One of the things that I miss about The Moans, (the puppets), is listening to Cuba Baion. I think it added to the humor.
Techmoan and the Moans!
maybe he should start a 2nd channel dedicated to the puppets. i miss them too!
@@Freakaboogie Matt appears to take the complainers a little too much to heart.
@@chaos.corner I think he stopped doing them because a) youtube was flagging them as "only for kids" and threatening to classify him as a "kids channel" which means no money.
And b) because he was running out of ideas for what to do with them anyway and those quick skits were still a lot of work; and to put that kind of work in and not even be able to get paid for it on top of writers block, I think he just decided it was better to retire the segment and focus on other things.
I miss them too, but I can understand why he stopped if that is indeed the case.
*extreme close-up*: Flippin' 'eck.
Good times.
“I know it’s been a bit more of a chatty one” 16:33
Honestly, the talking, in depth nature of this channel is what keeps me coming back. There are things that you cover that are so niche that you’re one of the few reliable sources for them- without you information about vintage audio would be a lot less accessible. So keep talking, the world deserves your words.
We Love Chatty Matty 😂
I swear Mat is the reason RUclips exists. He has covered so many fascinating things on here, that when i see his videos, instant play and instant like.
I was amazed at how clean cut the sound was. I found that really interesting. Thanks 🙏🏼
Turns out the Tefi factory was about a 20 min. drive away from me.. there are historic photos available from 1956 that show the building. Pretty big factory stretching to the river Rhine. The building was reduced to half the size later and since the 90s there is a very 90s looking residential complex there.
@DM-ei6oo Oh yeah, I remember my childhood going shopping with my mother. You need meat, you go to the meat shop, you need fish, same there. Of course you buy your bread at the bakery, all of which were about one or km apart of each other in a triangle. And there was the wonderful joy of b/w tv when you had a good signal, not to forget streets made of cobblestones. Oh, the wonderful old time back in the 80s, at least on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain.
The only reason the old times were better is because we were younger and everything was new.
The whole story presented here represent Internet a its finest, and why it had been invented in the first place. Connecting talented people to start and keep the ball rolling on project that gets bigger and more important than ever imagined.
One video years ago helped to uncover a whole industrial story about a forgotten audio format, and now everything is getting preserved and archived for the years to come.
That music sounds ancient even for the 1950s. It's hard to imagine kids in the 1950s bopping to a ragtime piano instrumental recorded onto a piece of Fruit by the Foot.
It must have been hard not to eat them.
Johnny Maddox had a hit with 'The Crazy Otto' in the mid-Fifties and it started a short-lived ragtime craze.
That's the thing that usually killed underdog music formats. Not being able to get licensing deals for the hit songs that teenagers wanted to listen and instead being stuck with whatever the manufacturer of the format could afford
Nowadays they'd release ultra limited edition purple and orange striped Tefis for influencers to pose with.
From my understanding the issue was audio equipment used to be expensie kid's really didn't have allowances until the mid to late 50's so the music sold was all marketed towards adults. It wasn't until the late 50's and the 45 RPM records becoming cheap that kids / teenagers could afford to buy music that is where you get a wild switch away from ragtime to Elvis.
As awkward as the kurzband setup was, it was really cool seeing the tape go around like that. Huge kudos to Markus
Indeed.
I love how the Kurzband works. Very ingenious - a lot better than the present cassette decks are, that's for sure 🙂
Ingenious idea, but a vinyl single is so much easier to store. Kids back in the day would have albums of singles that would keep 20-30 records so they could take them to parties. But the Kurz and would have been very awkward to carry around. Might have been neat for jukeboxes...
One thing that mystifies me: How was a Tefifon ribbon manufactured? I get how disc records were stamped out, and that magnetic tapes could be recorded on multi-deck duplicators. But the Tefifon ribbon is an oddity!
If it wasn't for Mat's videos, I wouldn't be aware of the existence of the Tefifon.
I'd pick one over a record player
Found an INFJ in the wild
If it weren't for this video, I wouldn't have known there was a kerfuffle in Germany in 1939. You never really stop learning!
Lol same😂
*wasn't😊
@@gapho5198 Clearly this sparked off a larger format war
There's just something so charmingly retro-futuristic about the whole tefifon concept.
Yes ! It's like some weird artifact belonging to the parallel universe in the "Fringe" series ! 😵💫
You drew my attention to a book that has been sitting untouched on my bookshelf for at least 25 years: 'Das Tefifon' by Herbert Jüttemann. In it, I even found some jukeboxes based on Tefifons. I knew of a book about Tefifones, but I had completely forgotten about owning it...
16:03 oh wow, Marcus! That machine looks like it has refitted parts! They are probably 3-D printed, and I recognize that type of digital servo motor because a friend and I have used those on projects!
You see it should sound dreadful but it doesn't.
Why the Tefifon is one of my favourite videos of all the one's you've done 👍
Never thought I’d sit through an obscure tech video but I’m hooked !
9:27 - The artist is *Der Klimper-Heini Und Seine Rhythmiker (The strummer Heini and his rhythmists),* and the song is _Medley bekannter Evergreens (Medley of well-known evergreens)._ It was released in Germany on a shellac by Bertelsmann (later BMG), and also on the Tefi "album" _Schlager-Favoriten III._
Awesomely catchy! 😁
Markus is one amazing man for Going out of his way to restoring the carts, and find the "end" of the carts!!
"Tragedy to farce" honestly describes more and more of my experience with the government at all kevels in the US. Thanks for the update JJ, Appreciate you and hope you have a great week!!
9:17 "You can see, while I'm doing this, that it's not a brilliant idea." My eyebrows started climbing when you brought out the Tefi Kurz Band box, kept going up as you showed us what was in the box, continued to rise as you took it off the cardboard holder, and were most of the way to my hairline by the time you said this. 🤣
thank you Marcus! Without remembering our history, we cannot progress.
Love the Tefi concept and it was much appreciated that you made a few vids here. Thank you.
We have a Tefi T-602 radio from 1957 that has a built in Tefi band player in the top of it. We bought it in Nürnburg when we lived there in 2001. Every morning it wakes us up 😊 Sadly we need a cartridge for it to play the cassette bands we have for it.
These historical devices are an absolute joy to learn about. Thank you for adding to the historical record!
i use Cuba Baion as my alarm, and it really is the most pleasant sound I've ever found to wake up to. i totally understand how Marcus got hooked; just really nice music in such a fascinating format!
Another way of looking at it Matt, it isn't that your videos don't have longevity. It is the fact that your viewers really really look forward to watching them as soon as they come out. Your videos are a bit like Tomorrow's World on the telly years ago. I used to love when it came on and spent all week looking forward to it. Your videos are part of a great Saturday morning.
This is the only channel I always search for updates. As an enthusiast of vintage audio, I love discovering all the fascinating things I never knew existed. I can’t wait for the next Tefi episodes!
I loved your first two videos on this format. This is a brilliant third edition. Many, many, many thanks for adding to the knowledge on this fantastic format. I am guessing if it caught on, they were would have been a special bad playing machine manufacturered.
Marcus is a total star for doing all this. It really great so see the effort and thought that he's put into conserving this intriguing format!
I could understand why someone would become that obsessed with this format. More than any other format you've featured on this channel, the Tefi is easily the most stylish to me. I instantly loved the look of both the player and the carts. Even the way you have to pull out the band yourself to play the music is such a cool idea. The aesthetic is great.
It's impressive to see all the innovations that guy is making, especially the band iron.
I’m completely amazed at how the plastic bands are still intact after so many years.
Me too. As anyone who's owned a modern German car could tell you, German plastic usually disintegrates after about 5 years and crumbles if you look at it wrong. Clearly the Tefi ribbons are some sort of lost technology.
My grandma had a plastic mesh shopping bag in the 50s. It still exists today with my sister. For some reason, the thin plastic strands making up the structure has never perished or broken despite much use.
The bands were made out of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) - the same material as vinyl records actually- which is extremely stable and isn't degraded by UV, ozone, weather, heat, cold, environmental chemicals, etc. In fact it's known as one of the most environmentally damaging plastics because it just refuses to break down with time.
And as for the vintage shopping bags, those are typically Nylon, which is the same stuff as stockings and fishing line - also another extremely durable and long lived plastic.
@@s.murphy8336 I hope someone's got a sacrificial damaged tape they can submit a sample of to see if someone can figure out exactly what it's made of.
@@GlutenEruptionThe tapes being made from PVC seems to be a myth that has been around for a long time. Unfortunately, the chemical resistance and other properties do not match PVC, so the material mix is still a mystery...
At 6:10 that flip of the machine shows a great flair of showmanship, perhaps unwittingly obtained, but still showcasing the growth and development of my favorite device historian (now read: RUclipsr). What great work!
Some great graphics on the Tefi Kurz Band packaging.
I am an avid graphic design and art history buff... I miss unique design like that!
Bauhaus.
Absolutely amazing. I could listen to the 3 minute all day. 🙂
Many thanks for your work Marcus! Anyone else suddenly want a Tefifon t-shirt?
I totally want one!!!
You keep me in a near-constant state of amazement. I never knew of the Tefi machines before your video about them nine years ago, and clearly you have a devoted following if people are willing to send you rare and valuable stuff to demonstrate these obsolete formats. I would feel incredibly humbled that someone out there went full-bore with conservation efforts based on a video I'd made.
It seems to me that Tefi could have made a more practical adapter by using a partial cartridge shell instead of that clamp-on contraption. Still remarkable that there's one still around.
Thank you for all the videos you've made and the information you've provided; I absolutely adore learning how technology and media formats are developed and implemented.
Hy Mat, i also got in touch with marcus at an onlineforum, he helped me to repair my tefifon kc1 wich i purchased because if your video about the Tefifon. I now also have this obscure audio device in my stereo collection! Thank you very much for your video about the tefi and other audio formats! Lovely greetings from Swizerland Mika😃😃😃
I had never heard of these before. Thank you. I love how different applications of a concept build off of each other. In the USA cylinders gave way to flat records (78, 45 & 33 RPM), then 8-track & cassette tapes, then Compact Disc, MP3 players now streaming "cloud" music.
INTERIOR. A German record producer's office, late 1950's.
Producer: "Alright Hans, this had better be good. I need a hit song for the teens of today."
Hans, busily putting thumbtacks into an upright piano: "I've got just the thing, sir."
Just found out how strong the urge to make a 50s radio voice is when reading the catalogues from that era. And now I can‘t stop. Außerdem, Markus, guter Mann das. Mein Hut ist gelüpft ^^
You are becoming the official historian of all things audio. I lost count of how many formats I've never heard of until you showed them here. Thanks for "the timeline" of audio reproduction. And thanks to Markus for additional Tefi history.
I' love this story, Matt. It's real message in a bottle stuff! 🙂 Well done, Markus. BTW - The track A B C Boogie on the list (12:19) is a favourite song of mine, which I've played live.
Bill Haley :-) the one with the whistling intro or the guitar intro? I like the one with the whistling intro best. More boogie :-)
It's funny to me that I watch these videos. Have none of the tech, have rarely seen or had any prior knowledge. And still, I watch and will rewind if i miss something.
Very interesting, as always.
How awesome. It also feels like I just watched the Tefi videos yesterday.... 9 years ago?! I am old 😅
I love the whole concept of the TEFI. Another great video.
Brilliant. This is why I love this channel. Where else would we gain this sort of knowledge. Thanks Matt.
Very interesting! I love that Marcus has gone down such a rabbit hole, and made such efforts to keep this old tech running.
The Tefifon video was the first of yours I stumbled onto, in 2016, attracting me with the perfect mid-century industrial design coupled with the bizarre obscure media format; seeing that you had other videos with fading A/V equipment like that (the wire recorder, the Seeburg, etc.), I immediately subscribed.
To me, Tefifon is peak Techmoan, and yet somehow quintessential Techmoan. That’s why that video endures. This one is another hit out of the park, another in the essential Techmoan canon.
Man, Markus is a _hell_ of a mensch, cheers to him!
Saturday Morning ☑ Cooked Breakfast ☑ Techmoan ☑ All is right with the World! Thanks to Matt and Markus for keeping the memory of Tefi alive! Even the kids chuckle when I play Cuba Baion (Tefi-speed edition).
I know! I haven't been this excited for Saturday mornings since the early 90's.
If you were recording with a microphone, the Tefi had incredible fidelity for its time. I was amazed by the sound quality. There were pretty good tonality. Thanks for the video.
Great memories. I got an old Tefifon and a couple of tapes from my uncle back in the seventies in Germany, still remember it very well.
I'm happy to be one of those weirdos that enjoy the niche electronics videos. This type of technology is just fascinating, and many of the products we use today could have been on the ash heap of history had someone not stocked their products, or if an influential celebrity failed to endorse it. And a big thanks to Markus, with his treasure trove of Tefi goodies and oddities!
Hi Mat, this has got to be one of the best channels on RUclips and one of only two I have regularly watched over the years. The other being Tally Ho.
Thanks for all the content over the years. You just get better and better. Cheers.
I clicked the like button before watching the video. I just saw the title had Tefi and knew I would find it interesting and was not dissappinted. 👍
Markus what a guy! thats dedication i can seriously respect
Thanks Matt for a really interesting video on a forgotten audio playback device / company
Well, it’s Saturday!
Thanks to you, I would’ve never known about this interesting format. Can’t believe just how long you’ve been doing videos.
Nine years feels like a lifetime ago.
Excellent video, many thanks for making this! Wonderful that Marcus is taking time and effort to support these niche items!
What an awesome find! Thanks to the viewer that made this happen.
A Tefi revisit, bravo! Thanks for producing and uploading, and thanks to Markus.
Never knew this system existed! I'm amazed about the sound quality of the digitized Tefifon music you have used in your video. The story of this system shows again how great ideas can be wiped from history due to human error in sales and marketing management...
Your tefi videos were some of the first videos I watched of yours but only a couple years ago, not 9 years. Very interesting as always. Thank you for making great videos.
The single adapter reminds me of the front end of a VW Beetle
I really enjoyed this video. I'd never heard of Tefi before but it reminds me of the stuff Fisher Price used to make for kids in the 1970s, but more solidly constructed. And hearing the music of the period that was available on it has a very beatnik feel, like something you'd hear in an early Peter Sellers movie whilst everyone says things like 'Daddio' or 'thats really groovy man'.
A fascinating device so thanks for the history lesson.
Wow, Markus really doing an amazing job! Thank you for keeping the Tefifone alive! :D
The tefifon video is probably the first video of yours I watched back when it had just been released so it's always nice seeing you go back to it.
I really liked the German version of "Hello Mary Lou" that you played a bit of in your second video. I tried to track down a full version of it some time back, but never had any luck.
Hi Mat, great video, I never knew this existed and was fascinated with your first video on theTefiphone, it is so good to see this update and to see how you inspired Marcus to go geek out and learn almost everything about this and then share it all with you, We live in a wonderful world !
Holy Heck, props to Markus for such dedication !
These people from Tefi were way ahead of its time, it's a real pity they didn't continue in business. The idea was nothing short of miraculous at the time; nothing could ever come close to it. Thanks for letting us into so many details of its development, Matt ! 😊
I'm not surprised the teens didn't go for that single tape... the second tune was My Golden Baby, a German hit tune from 1931.. Swinging!
First one was Alexander’s Ragtime Band, but everyone already knew that, I’m sure.
Actually, I'm a bit new here and I've been going through your back videos for about 2 weeks now. So I think your videos have a long life. Love your stuff... Thanks so much!
I have the Tefifone horns and chimes as my ringtone and message alerts. Thank you Matt!
Is it possible to use the horns and chimes on my IPhone? I’ve been trying to achieve it without success. Thanks in advance!
@@stephenswift9868 Oh blimey, it's so long ago when I did it I can't tell you off the top of my head but I'm pretty sure I downloaded them as .mp3 files, saved them to my phone and then in the settings when you can select them. I'm pretty sure Matt saved them somewhere so people can download them. Sorry, I can't give you much more than that.
i was very impressed with the sound on that machine both the loop and the cart also like all german machines very well made , great video
Tefi is one of those companies that makes something innovative, but fails to capitalise on it by making poor marketing decisions. The Tefifon range (and all the adapters) could have been really good, at least until the rise of magnetic cassette tape, if the decisions by marketing (and here I include the ideas behind the product design) had been less conservative.
And, kudos to Marcus for letting his passion turn into something creative, too.
This was probably the most stressful week of my life. Thank you again Techmoan for bringing some confort content to our lives
Is Marcus on YT, does he have a channel. It would be fascinating to see how he built some of the machines he created, and to see them in action
This was so fascinating to watch. I've never heard or seen this in the 59 years I've been alive. Thank you for sharing this!
I'm still impressed by the sound quality. That single had a lot of surface noise, but the music underneath sounded great.
I distinctly remember having seen a Tefifon regularly at my old workplace (a university library in Finland, it was on a shelf in the employee space hallway along with other old equipment) and wondering what it was, but never bothering to find out. Techmoan's original video about Tefifon was when I finally found out.
Well done Mat and Marcus. Another great informative vid.
Thank you! That was brilliant! I watched the original Tefi-fon video when I first discovered your channel. This update was fascinating! Cheers.
You have to play "Striptease Susi" for us Matt!
I found it! ruclips.net/video/W5HZG9kwA9M/видео.htmlsi=flo_WxSxPFfXnQFT
Yes please!
It is available on RUclips with a clip.
Im glad Im not the only one who saw this.
Nah, RUclips would demonetise it.
I have to say that this episode was the perfect mix of chat, demonstration and information. It was a real pleasure to watch. Good job!
Gently disagree with the ‘not a brilliant idea’ of it all… I think it’s bloody marvellous!
Absobloodylutly. Sheer genius.
How
I’m with you, once you figure out how to use it, it’s an elegant little thing. Hopefully the spike you tighten onto the spindle doesn’t wear into it too much, that’s the only real potential flaw I see with it, well, maybe apart from it appearing to be a bit jiggly when you install it.
It's the most bonkers, yet inspired piece of technology you've introduced to me. The thing I love about these technological orphans you introduce us to here, are the interesting and very creative ways of reproducing music and video media.
Thank you Markus! And Mat as well. Really Great video. 👍
I love how you introduce us all to long forgotten music devices. Your video on minidiscs made me dig mine out of the attic and enjoy them again and buy a NETMD portable as well as more discs pre recorded (that I never owned when I first bought my sharp MD MT190 in 2003) and blank discs too which I have started recording on again. As always a great highly informative and very interesting video. Thanks for sharing
I really enjoyed this episode. Thanks for sharing.
The fidelity is quite amazing! Thanks for sharing, and for inspiring somebody to go all out on the research and preservation of this format. Very cool!