8ban - Mini Playable Vinyl Records (UPDATED)
I've just managed to squeeze one last video in before the end of the year. In this one I'm taking a look at 8ban AKA eightban AKA Triple Inchophone.
UPDATE - Good news everyone (deliberate Futurama quote) - I've added a section to the video where the record is played on a normal (ish) record player.
After I saw that the majority of the comments were relating to potential ways to play these records on better equipment I decided to revisit this section. I also fixed a couple of sound problems, reworded a few sections, and altered the fades on the music montage. So now thanks again to your invaluable input the video is better than it originally was. This new edit will be going public in a couple of hours.
Comments (30)
You must not have a 3D printer, or you would have simply modeled and printed up a spacer to use the records on a normal turntable. Which brings up the question: how can a handy, techy guy like you not own a 3D printer?
At the risk of upsetting everyone - I don’t like them. It’s not something I’m interested in, I think they are overhyped. The number of times people tell me that I should ‘just use a 3D printer’ like it’s a magic wand. When I’ve looked into it, they haven’t been appropriate for anything - take the centre cog on the DD Walkman, hundreds of people told me that “well they could just replace it with a 3D printed cog” - never once thinking that the chap who had worked for *years* trying to make a solution for the broken cog hadn’t considered it. It couldn’t make the part required, strong enough, small enough, thin enough and accurately enough. Now as far as my record spacer goes - I literally needed to show the thing for 5 seconds in a video. It took me 5 seconds to shoot. If I’d got a 3D printer to make up a suitably sized part it would have taken me a lot longer - it would have added a full day to the video shoot - all just to show something on screen for 5 seconds. Nope - 3D printers are not for me - I’m glad that other people are happy with them, and they find something worthwhile to do with them...but I’ve got a motorbike that sits unused for 350+ days of the year, and that’s fun...I know a 3D printer would be less fun and be used less often.
I've lived in Japan for four years, regularly go to record shops, used hardware stores and the like - have never seen this before! Awesome! Also, my boyfriend and I are huge fans and if you ever need some Japanese translated he's a native speaker and would be happy to help!
Thanks for the offer of the translation. Usually auto translate is sufficient, my main problem is when the original description of an item for sale says next to nothing...the equivalent of “old thing, turns on, untested, may be broken, or may not”.
The little digs at Crosley were quite entertaining. As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed this video from start to end!
I wonder if the Jet Jaguar song from the 1973 classic Godzilla Versus Megalon is available in the 8-ban format .... <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cxV8Bf8ND4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cxV8Bf8ND4</a>
So it’s no coincidence that Jack White (ex-White Stripes) released his “ultra” LP Lazaretto. The songs under the label were inspired by the White Stripe 8-ban record. The Lazaretto LP actually plays the songs on the label-part with my Audio-Technica AT-LP120.
oh heck, that is adorable!
What a fun device! I checked nobody else in these comments has done this, but I did a quick Google Translate on a couple of still frames - not with brilliant results, but still quite interesting. <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZHiCJf5tqcoWL7Bh1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZHiCJf5tqcoWL7Bh1</a>
I used Google translate a few times while making the video to determine things like how many titles were in each set. I was also trying to figure out who the chap wearing red in the middle of Oldies the Best (under the h at 05:22) was because it looked like Johnny Hallyday, but the text was too small for me to read. One title I know I am missing from my set was the Monkees Daydream Believer (on the left of the label).
I've updated the video as a result of the feedback, see the description for more, or play it again as it's now the new one that's embedded above.
Shouldn't you blur out that Ralph Lauren ad at 1:15? Since they probably don't pay you to have their ad in your video.
That’s more of a US TV thing they do (seemingly out of spite)...none of that here, have a free advert Ralph, courtesy of Techmoan.
The audio during the unboxing portion of the video has the “crt wine” very loudly in it. Still Loved the video though!
That noise comes from the camera itself. Perhaps I’ll go back and mute those sections.
Now that's once again adorably cute. And that's more than enough reason to exist for me. Just like this cute pico-sized Space Invaders cabinet standing right before me. All your fault, of course ;-) Thanks for that and thanks for the unexpected video!
A slight modification to a dirt cheap turntable could work, just bend the arm 20 degrees or so in the middle :)
If you get access to a fully manual turntable such as the Technics SL-1200, then you might be able to play these on it. Great video!
I was hoping you'd find a way to play it on a normal turntable, just for kicks. Perhaps there's one with a stationary tone arm and a moving (and spinning disc) ;-)
If you have a cheap, bad quality record player, which, for example, uses a piezo head with a range of 50 Hz up to 12 KHz, you can broke, or disable, if it is possible, the tonearm auto-stop mechanism, and play these records: earlier, came across experimental 5-inch single-sided inserts in postcards (like this: <a href="http://www.russian-records.com/details.php?image_id=16172&lng=en" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.russian-records.com/details.php?image_id=16172&lng=en</a> ), the decommissioned third-grade player of the finely handled with the task.
That's a fascinating web site. Thanks for posting the link.
I suspect the speed control is to account for the batteries starting to drop off at the end of life. Such wonderfully strange kitch.
Considering the growing popularity of vinyl nowadays, I wonder if something like the 8ban could make a comeback. Those mini-records with original-looking labels look positively splendid. I never knew the format even existed until now. Thanks once again for another great video.
I'm going to go see Downsizing tonight, this seems appropriate.
Merry Christmas! The song on the record is the opening tune of the 1967 tokusatsu "Captain Ultra". Opening tune in better quality (the record cut starts around 1:00) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxTiP9xEY0w" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxTiP9xEY0w</a> Also, enjoy these state-of the art SFX: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU5-zYjQzeg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU5-zYjQzeg</a>
I expected it would be in B&W. That looks like it could have been fun. I can see why Thunderbirds was big in Japan now too.
I'm guessing it didn't have a headphone jack or any sort of line-out? I suspect that speaker is probably responsible for most of the terrible sound. I bet you could modify it with a line-output and it'd sound better! :-0
Yes you're right - there are no outputs other than the speaker. I think modifying it might take something away from it though, sounding unpleasant seems to be a deliberate feature.
I love that this exists, because like you say, it's a bit of fun! But it's an odd product all round really. In 2004 records ("that's vinyl my dear boy") were a dying product. The collectability of it, like trading cards and sticker packs, suggests it's aimed at the teenage boy market ...yet it's a nostalgia product very obviously aimed at men 50 plus. Wierd ...and I want one!!
Merry (Post-)Christmas to you. Would not have expected any more videos this year.