Hi-Kara are you Oke?
There’s a thin line between a psychotic episode and Karaoke. See if you can find that line in this week’s video.
I have to thank Andy here on Patreon for alerting me to the existence of this gadget - it’s lead me down an enjoyable and bizarre rathole.
UPDATE - We’ve found the sound chips.
Thanks to a tip from Vinushika here on Patreon, I’ve reopened the case, removed a few more screws and flipped a board over. If you are interested you can now see the chips that run the show. The updated section starts at around 12:27 or click here: https://youtu.be/Uc79POGOVL8?t=748
Unfortunately the re-upload means that any YouTube comments posted on the first edit of the video will be lost to time.
UPDATE: Attached is a scan of all the song titles on cards 1-10.
UPDATE 2: I’ve uploaded a couple of the tracks in full on YouTube. Understandably they both hit a copyright claim, so are unlisted and aren’t on my proper account.
Cat’s Eye https://youtu.be/AgN20NI1FWQ
Comments (117)
Nice to see you covering a sex pistols' song ;-)
Hi Mat, the correct song title of "就是喜歡你" is actually "悲しい気持ち (JUST A MAN IN LOVE)". This song is by a very famous Japanese singer Keisuke Kuwata. The title you used (which probably came up as copyright claim) is actually from a Taiwanese cover of that song. You can listen to both songs following these links: 悲しい気持ち (JUST A MAN IN LOVE) https://youtu.be/ERwUhm8mRqg 就是喜歡你 https://youtu.be/0GRuxwFHzuI Greetings from Taiwan btw!
My wife is Japanese. I was watching your video in bed while she was reading and she suddenly started singing along to the tunes during the demo segment. Thanks for the laugh.
It looks like that’s your Christmas present idea sorted then.
I’ve only just watched this as it went up on YouTube proper, but this is fantastic. I look forward to “Mat sings the Christmas Hits” later in the year.
I’ll have to see if those new cards contain any Christmas songs, unlikely but they’re still stuck in Japan at the moment.
This was an interesting device... and at the end I was laughing so hard I was running out of air. Well done Mat! 😂 I look forward to your next karaoke devices... but I don’t know how you’d top that outro... unless the muppets joined in as a trio! 👍
LOVED this vid! Yes, I think I’ve seen that guy in the bus.
Rather tempting fate there by singing Sid Vicious's classic. Finger's crossed you will return for another video…
Sinatra sang it for thirty years. I think it's safe to say Techmoan will be OK. 😃
Mat, I’d love if you did some videos on rotary phones (or other unusual phones).
Maybe one day I will. At the moment the wiring in my house makes it rather problematic to use anything other than a normal cordless phone.
Wonderful performance, Mat! :-) Korg is a very respected synthesizer manufacturer, so I'm not surprised about the build quality of this unit. And yes, that definitely is a MIDI chip playing the instrument sounds. You can hear how effortlessly it transposes and changes speed without any sound artefacts. Good job! :-)
If anyone else wanted the "passion fruit" moment as their notification sound as much as I did, I saved you the work: https://files.catbox.moe/njz8t4.mp3
I’ve traveled the world and lived in southeast Asian for almost a decade and My way is a de facto karaoke standard worldwide. In fact so much so in the Philippines is banned in most establishments
Those cards seem to be the same type used for PCM libraries that were compatible with the M1, though the program cards didn't have staggered pins. Roland was using a similar system at the time for their equipment like the R8 drum machine. Considering at the time the most common system in use was floppy disk or a chunky ROM cart like the Yamaha DX7 used, the cards were a much nicer form factor with more memory than a HD floppy.
Thanks Mat. One Karaoke format I still use is CD+G. I have a special Pioneer drive to read them on the PC. Best wishes.
First off "That escalated quickly" had me rolling. The comments above had me laughing too, Kudos to all the people with a dry sense of humor including yourself Mat. Also kudos to all the people that provided the additional insight about the device and the songs. I agree that there is a Rule 34 for technology as well. But what I wanted to say most was that I liked the video even if it is not as "showy" as some. What I get out of it is learning about cool tech that was out of place in time or superseded like the Tefifon or the unit with the super huge magnetic tape built into it. There is computer technology like this on the history of corporate computing when tech was built to meet needs that simply could not exist yet. Things like a machine that would physically sort punched computer cards because computers were not powerful enough to sort data like you do in Excel. Anyway, keep at it Mat!! And don't give up your day job of making great videos. ;-)
That performance at the end was really the cherry on top. :D
Cool thing, gosh that echo was painful, and loved your take on the song 😂 Re the comments on YT, other youtubers I follow and support disable the comments on YT until the video gets listed publically so as to force the discussion and initial feedback to happen on Patreon.
You can see all the chips in the updated section here: https://youtu.be/Uc79POGOVL8?t=748
Hey Mat Don't let us down Take a Korg song And make it better In other words, can't wait for the Beatles cover. Careful with the content match, though: your version of "My Way", whether intentional or not, sounded most like the one of Sid Vicious. 😀
Hearing Techmoan belt out that cracking rendition of the Cat's Eye OP, I had to triple check to make sure I had not accidentally clicked onto a VTuber's anime song karaoke stream.
I love it! My kids think I'm a pain all ready but with this I really can drive the out of the house!! Thanks a million! And keep giving us your best. As an amateur actor I know that when I feel like a complete ars everyone can relate... And I did!!
I can't think of karaoke without picturing Michael Palin singing "You Are My Sunshine" in Japan on Around The World In 80 Days!
This is my niche 80s tech and my love of 1970s-1980s japanese pop music! (city pop) I wonder if there are any Tatsuro Yamashita songs on there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rdlHKioR6A this is his most famous song, Ride on Time (1982)
This is the song you play at 10:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCuw5wRbCgg Kita Wing (1984) Akina Nakamori
Thanks for the direct link to the update. The other edit (8k) has not shown up by 1545 UTC ... No matter. It's a goofy device, but it's still quite an innovation. Hard (for me) to remember that we had that level of ability in the 1980s. Many people at that time were still amazed at Walkmans which were already 20-year-old tech (as you have educated us on). Silly as it was (again, to me), technology-wise it was light-years from a Walkman.
Harakiri or Hi-Kara Mat ? When I was invited on an all expenses paid trip by Sony I was asked if I wanted to go to a Karaoke bar. I politely declined and went to Raffles Hotel and had Gin Sling instead.
I’d have done the same.
Great video. Interesting device. By the way, are you allowed to say "rathole" without giving Merlin Mann (formerly of MacBreak Weekly) a few pence?
Well done. Especially the Karaoke part! The 23C4000 is indeed a 4 Mbit mask ROM that has a very unusual housing compared to standardised later parts. And I can hear the odd tech nerd whingeing about the "64K RAM", that it would exactly be "64 Kilo Bit" or "8 Kilo Byte". But not enough to make a re-edit necessary... I hope.
Flippin eck - I thought it was 64K. I've applied an edit on YouTube that may or may not work in a few hours. In the meantime while it's processing it might cause the odd glitch. I rarely have any luck with their editor, so we'll see if it works out this time.
More Paisley shirts!
I’m very restricted in the shirts I can wear in a video. Most of my wardrobe is off limits due to a tendency to moire on camera. I think I’ll have to go shopping.
I guess I missed the original upload of this but I thought I would mention a couple of linguistic/cultural things. The name HI-KARA is a kind of pun. "Hai karaa" is a word in Japanese that means stylish or fashionable, and originally came from the English phrase "high collar." In this case the "kara" comes from karaoke instead.
Interesting, and that pun has been used on more than one portable Karaoke device from various manufacturers.
Great video, thank you!
The YM3411 is apparently a surround sound signal processor; given it has four channel delay capabilities I suspect it's probably being used for the echo effect. The JRC 3414s are op amps. I am guessing whatever is generating the audio signal is actually on the interface board or it might even be built in to the cards themselves. The chip under the interface looks to be a 74HC series logic component of some kind...can't read the full number.
Oh dear . . . Sitting here with tears rolling down my face. That was the funniest thing I've seen in ages. Don't give up making videos and take up singing instead. You are a good sport, Mat! Great video.
Great video and that ending sure had me grinning from ear to ear 😀
Loving the facial hair. You look badass! Keep it!!
FYI, all the lyrics are katakana so it's not less dense than English. It's about the same. I imagine that screen's resolution was way to low for proper kanji. So, everything is phonetic. Awesome video.
Thanks - 16 characters still feel more suited to Japanese than English, although every time the page flips both are starting blind.
This is one time after watching Techmoan I'm not heading straight to ebay to see if I can get the gadget for myself. No way could I live up to that quality.
Wow, Mat, I’d give all my hair to be able to sing as well as you - a pact that would benefit neither of us. Interesting video as ever; I’ve never really understood the Japanese obsession with karaoke as all Japanese people I have ever met have been very reserved - this must be how they let it all out, presumably after a couple of pints of saké. Have you noticed how much better you can sing with headphones on? Thanks, and have a great weekend!
Literally the only youtube channel I drop everything to watch. Matt is such a bright spot in the gloomy days recently.
That was fabulous Mat! Maybe on your next karaoke video you can sing Get Lucky for 12 hours straight;) Seriously, there's gotta be some way to play Cuba Baion on that thing.
Someone's beaten him to it! Though only for a mere 10 hours... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqLQab8jd10&t=51s
Loved the video, but I'm going to be honest; I had no idea so many characters in Japanese meant "blah".
Well, the Japanese language doesn't have the L sound, so they replace it with the R. But that would have been... awkward.
Hi there, I asked a Hi-Kara enthusiast today about the sound generator on this, and the chap said you need to flip the PCB over to see all the Korg chips that handle the sound. I'm told the machine is sample based, not FM synth, so if you're curious you should try and see if you can flip that bottom board without breaking anything.
We were also discussing this above, I guessed already from the data sheet that the YM3411 is not a sound generator, but just for the reverberation/echo effect... Sample-based, but apparently not near as good as the M1 from the same time...
One of the most fun videos I've seen in a long time. The musical finale was something else. Possibly even better than your rendition of "Get Lucky".
The facial hair plus the shirt is pretty fetching I must say - I could easily see you presenting on stage on a broadcast program
Look up "My way killings" on Wikipedia. There have been several killings in the Philippines in Karaoke bars because of that song.
I'll never look at my cat's eye again without thinking of passion fruit
cat's eye is an anime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcqQIt-dF-E
Listened to the video. You pegged it Mat.
I've never tried karaoke, and I'm sure I'd empty a karaoke bar faster than an active fire alarm if I ever did! Nicely done there, at the end. 😃 Can't help but wonder what the target consumer base for this device was. I know the Japanese love their karaoke, but from my understanding many also live in apartments literally the size of a closet with walls made out of cardboard! This device wouldn't be a hit among neighbours, then. And, like you say, it would be even less appreciated on a train. I've heard that even speaking on a mobile phone on public transportation is frowned upon. An attitude we'd do wisely to import, by the way... 😒 So who could really use it? It did look almost BNIB so perhaps it was more of an idea that sounded cool at the time, but ultimately turned out to be impractical. Are there still portable karaoke machines (apps?) made today?
Nice to see John Peel at the end there! You mention Beatles, I've actually got a 3½" floppy disk (had to be careful typing that) of Beatles MIDI files, presumably to be used in some home organ or keyboard, though I guess that MIDI floppy disc player of yours would take it too. I keep meaning to buy a floppy drive to try and play it.
Well, you found a way to foil YT's content match: Just sing over the music .... Hilarious!
I’m surprised it didn’t think it was the original artist recording.
New single out now: TECHNOman - Fall Into The Love Sign Now! (Biggest Heart Princess Brigade)
Mat, your videos ALWAYS cheer me up. Thank you and cheers!
It sure seems like you had more fun making this video than you did making the one about the Pioneer tape deck with the flip-clock! Loved this one.
Hey Andy, love you on MacBreak Weekly...and the late, great Ihnatko Almanac (bring it back!). When I saw your name on the patron credits, I figured there was but one Andy Ihnatko on this planet. You and Mat are definitely cut from the same cloth. :-)
Great video Mat. I had a really rough day and you made me smile for the first time today. Thanks!
That’s the best thing I could hear - thanks and take care. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.
Great video, I'm might just be being ignorant but why does a product meant just for the Japanese home market have so much written in English?
That’s just how it is in Japan - they use a lot of English in things. I suppose it might look jarring given the different character sets, but think how many French words are used in English as a matter of course without anyone thinking twice about it.
Great device and a hugely entertaining installment! There's something comforting about those MIDI like arrangements. Almost as much as I would like one of these devices to take on my next overseas trip (if that ever becomes a realistic possibility), I would dearly love a shirt like that! In all sincerity - I am envious and you wear it well. (Now there's a thought...I wonder if there are any 'wearables' that might benefit from the Techmoan treatment?)
No surprise that Korg would fall back on MIDI-type arrangements, being as they champion - to this day - MIDI keyboards and controllers.
This is how you know Matt isn't a manga-nerd... or was 'Hi-Kara no Densetsu' too obvious? :P
Blah blah blah passionfruit. I had no idea that you knew how to speak Japanese 😂
Neither did I - turns out it’s a doddle, don’t know what all the fuss was about.
I am laughing with you!
OMG, I have Cat's Eye on 7" vinyl. (I've worked on various releases of the anime it came from.) I've attempted it at karaoke before and it is NOT easy for someone who doesn't have a VERY fluid feel for Japanese. Pretty sure I sounded about like you did, here. Holy crap, I also have "Show Me." That was a late-80s freestyle dance song by NYC-based pop group, The Cover Girls (though it would appear that there's a Japanese cover that's being represented here). I had no idea that was popular in Japan!! Good lord, I appear to be a Japanese salaryman from 1989.
You certainly did it your way. Content match unlikely, I would suggest.
Absolutely howling with laughter at the end of the video! Brilliant!
I love your sense of humour. Let's hope Paul Anka doesn't see this lol (writer of my way). Interesting tech hoping you cover how u imported it some time be interesting. Yes some of those tunes took me back to my megadrive (why did USA call it genesis) days. Thanks your hard work as always.
Great video, Mat. Maybe it'll go viral in Japan. You will then be known, for ever after, as 'BIONIC GRUMPY MAN'.
I’ll take it.
(8:40) Are you saying you haven't watched the world famous anime Cat's Eye? This is its opening song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcqQIt-dF-E I was hoping for some classic anime tunes for this device, and I'm not disappointed! (Ah, scrolling through Patreons dreadful comments system I see someone else noticed that already) Anyway the song at 10:25 is Kita Wing ( which could very well have been the name of the boss in an Sega game) by Akina Nakamori: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCuw5wRbCgg
Sounds like some kind of OPL sound chip, the ones old AdLib sound cards used. The YM3411 is most probably just there for the echo effect, looking at the data sheets... But, as always, the video made me laugh again :-D.
YM3411 was ubiquitous back in the day in all sorts of horrible to half-decent products, Yamaha spat them out by the truckload. I have a handful that I've liberated from broken low-tier Portasounds and the like, never found any use for them as of yet, but... one day they'll save the world!.. or something... It's not an OPL though, it's just a cheap adc-dac with a couple delay lines and a digital lowpass. It doesn't sound anything like FM either, more like a sample&synth GM soundset (decent attack, flat sustain), Korg style. Yamaha's FM-patent was still in effect then btw.
OK, I'm at work and haven't watched the video yet. But I have to say, the cover pic looks like Mat is talking down a possible suicide. Or maybe negotiating with a kidnapper. Could be karaoke, though.
It might be all three.
I love 1980s tech. Enjoyed this, had a good laugh at the end too. Someone really should sample some of those vocals and do a TM remix🎶😆
Well... I thought I saw and heard everything, but this was a completely new experience.. Thanks Mat! By the way, you were nearly as good as the Swedish Elvis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MiJTxlEdtQ
Well that ending raised a chuckle. Thanks for brightening my day!
Passion fruit…EVERY NIGHT! :-D I think that needs to make it onto one of the t-shirts in your merch store. Fascinating as usual, Mat, what a weird device. And that was an…intense interpretation of “My Way”, there. I’d ask you to leave the bus, too. Thanks!
I was pretty tired before I watched this video and I shouldn't have started it. I swear I do not make this up and it has nothing to do with the content or presentation, but I probably doze off at 6:30 and brutally woke up when somebody was "singing". After realizing that there was no danger, and my pulse calmed down. I rewound to the place where I could remember. Amazing what a short nap can do; I am not sleepy anymore, and I am eager to see the other karaoke machine.
I've never seen the KORG logo with the katakana included!
I was expected that final track to be “Never gonna give you up”🤣
I'll be sure to check for it on the next batch of cards. Anything is possible.
You can imitate Karaoke singers WAY better than I can. Interesting device, but yeah ... nutters on the bus. Great video, again, on a pretty obscure musical device. As always, thanks for showing!
Hi-kara causing harakiri? (^.~)
Oy! You nutter! I do like the beard, suits you.
It does suit him!
We need more Techmoan karaoke in our lives. This was great!
The final scene. I've tears in my eye. LOL, Mat, thanks a lot.
"Techmoan has left the building."
...the last one out.
ROM cards with midi files on it from 1989. Did not know those existed. Nice video. One piece of advice though: do not quit the daytime job ;-)
Nice! Go here before all the thousands of Techmoan sent me here comments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcqQIt-dF-E Wonderful rendition, Mat!
So Cat’s Eye was a theme tune - there are probably quite a few of these in there.
What a surreal experience, a product like this could only be Japanese. Since this played tunes that would've been recognised in Japan does it make this device the earliest music player with solid-state storage? Were there any others I'm forgetting that used cartridges?
That’s an interesting point - I think if you narrow it down to a solid state portable personal music player - it must surely be amongst the first.
The HD44780 chip is the same one that is in lots of LCD displays that you can buy for Arduino, etc projects - I bought one recently. I had no idea they were so old.
hilarious, i first thought the japanese ad bit was techmoan himself, in Japanese do, dressed and all... but it seems it is the actual honest Japanese ad of the time ;_)
Next stop...Vegas!
A little machine like this would have been an absolute blast in many office parties with coworkers! (oh, offices, remember those?)
I never noticed the beautiful orange rotary telephone before. "Sir, if you could not ride the bus from now on. I am sure the passengers would greatly appreciate it."
Just got the phone - from Germany. I kept seeing them on ebay and the colour really appealed. Our rotary phones in the UK were a selection of dull shades, so this spoke to me.
b̶u̶t̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶a̶c̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶?̶ nevermind, it's all in the youtube description, a portable karaoke player from the late 80's
woah... beardmoan