Karaoke fun time returns - yay!

I don't think there's anyone else in the world could make anything related to karaoke so entertaining - your karaoke-in-the-car was in a class of its own

Now to find more casettes...

I saw the video, and went ahead and bought one. I like that the lyrics are on the display in katakana(which I can read fully) and I can practice the song. And it has the kanji on the tv out. Super useful for learning the songs.

Far too many ties, and the less said about the chapeaux, the better! 🤣 Here’s the original version of BAN BAN BAN https://youtu.be/WtMM4WympjY (it still doesn’t make any sense when you hear it sung by the original artist!)

We need more 'Smart Car Karaoke in an Empty Carpark' Mat, my mouthful of tea nearly ended up on my laptop

Simon Cowell is on the phone… oh, no, he’s not.

Thanks Mat for the video. I was hoping to see the Moans in the Smart car! Anyway I used to do Karaoke and would learn different words to sing some very adult parodies. Can't say any titles they are very naughty.

I blame Pete Waterman, his dodgy lyrics don’t do your vocal talents any justice! Great little boxes, I’m sure this would have been a hit in the UK back in the ‘90s, with some English lyrics and some decent songs, better than the behemoth home karaoke units we used to get here back then.

This looks just like a little US sega genesis II that mounts onto the side SegaCD. But on the opposite side.

Great video ! As someone e whose wife has inflicted a karaoke machine on me (horrible little cd thing) I, really jealous these things exist - it’s far cooler

Mat the Tat Buster to the rescue! Although the device really comes to life (a little) when it's plugged into the monitor. I found the animations cute., halfway expecting Mario to throw fireballs at the crabs. If you wanted to make creepy pasta, you could do an edit just of the "mini in the deserted parking lot" scene at the end and drive 15 year old boys in dark eyeliner mental with confusion and terror! They'd spend years wondering where it came from because of the cultural silos we all find ourselves in nowadays. That being said, I was truly worried that limp muppets would be draped over head rests or discarded on the dash. I will sleep better now.

YGV606 = 5V Advanced video display processor YMW258 = MultiPCM Sound IC also used in the TG100 and various Sega arcade machines YM3413 = Revrb and delay effects HD6416108 = Microcontroller HD6435208 - 16 bit Micro Computer PCM69 = Dual 18 Dual Digital to Anlog Coverter YM7128 = Surround Processor I have to say that some of the music sounded excellent although I would expect that from a Yamaha product. The TG100 Sound module using the same sound generator IC cost £350 when released in 1992.

That was a lot of fun, especially with the song "Bam Bam Bam" and its random lyrics!

Another fun video- many thanks. If you are certain the video will tank with the mass audience- this could be a time to test one of those horrendous clip art monstrosities where your floating head sits agape while looking at a glowing karaoke machine. All the ding-bats I don't watch out there seem to believe in that visual annoyance. (Please don't!) Have a great weekend!

It's funny, I wouldn't say I have an interest in karaoke machines as such, but I definitely have an interest in midi playback machines (or whatever the formal name is, I've worked with MIDI in music making before but never learned the lingo)... And this sounds like a MIDI machine with a display. I remember when, on a dial-up modem, downloading a midi file was the easiest way to get things like game soundtracks. And then you got even more enjoyment out of them using a program like Cubase to mess with the instruments and such.

Wow, got yourself a new outro song now. Brilliant

This was a fantastic video! I really like to see all this old tech. I have been living in Japan for about the last 30 years and so much of what you talk about is familiar to me, including this karaoke device. But I love your take on it all. And you are really respectful as well, which I appreciate. This video was so entertaining, as in both funny and interesting, that I felt compelled to go and upgrade my membership. Your content is worth every penny. By the way, I was hoping you would search in the songs for the old Frank Sinatra chestnut, “My Way”. That is a favorite of Japanese salarymen and I would have been surprised if it wasn’t included in one of the cartridges.

Brilliant end scene, I laughed. I get some sort of sick amusement when I hear a Stock, Aitkin, and Waterman tune these days, they were meant to be the death of music, lol.

Excellent, Mat! Only you could make me interested in something I am not interested in and would NEVER buy! The finale of a middle-aged bloke sitting alone in a small car in a deserted car park singing to himself is unforgettable . . . unfortunately. :-)

Re: song list scans P11 028. Nights of the Knife ° a chef's, Ripper's, or coroner's theme song? P03 043. Lat .43° N ~ forty three degrees north latitude ° the Island of Hokkaidō? P01 048. LADY NAVIGATION ° Siri? P01 018. Shake Hip! ° I'd rather not, thank you very much (ouch)

If you ever do another one of these karaoke videos just know there will always be a rendition of Wham's Last Christmas available on one of the discs / carts. I can get into the details as to why, if you're curious but simply put Japan loves this song and they play it around the clock for 2 months of the year. In Japanese it will look like this (Last)ラスト・(Christmas)クリスマス (Wam)ワム and in this case (for the Yamaha ing's) it was available on the cart named "英語曲リクエストBOX 2" basically translates to English Song Request Box 2. I know you have no desire to learn Japanese but maybe the next time you get one of these devices, while you are scanning song listings you might recognize ラスト・クリスマス or ワム Cheers

Hillarious Matt - loved it. Seriously though, Yamaha made/make some quality products - I have used many of them over the years. My surviving cassette deck, PA mixers and amplifiers, Keyboards, a Grand Piano and other concert instruments - all fantastic products.

I was desperately hoping that "Song for USA" would be a midi version of "Song for America" by Kansas, no such luck.

Ahh Matt....the passion, the feeling, the perfect timing, the achingly beautiful harmony, the love of the source material. All the ingredients of a singer at the very peak of musical perfection, absolutely NONE of these qualities came across in your "singing" :) :) ... Did you know that Karaoke means-empty orchestra ? (car!)!! Another classic video, with chips thrown in for good measure!!! Thanks Matt, cant wait for the next one.

Golden Days Karaoke - lol, well done Mat.

Nice to see you have as many real world friends as I do. Interesting video as always, but I just don’t get Karaoke.

Wonderful video! I love the amount of detail that went in to making this a fun device. Also thanks for including photos of the board / chip markings - it’s always fun to see which microcontrollers and other parts were used in these designs..

Bingo on a mobile Karaoke machine now I've seen everything Japan

Trivial song IDs via some Googling: The song at 8:00 is the theme from the 1975 anime TV series adaptation of "A Dog of Flanders" (フランダースの犬 / Furandāsu no Inu). The "BAN BAN BAN" song at 12:30 is by the Kuwata Band (or the Southern All Stars?) from 1986. The Santa Claus song at about 16:00 is "Scatterbrained Santa Claus," (あわてんぼうのサンタクロース / Awatenbou no Santakuroosu) a children's Christmas song with some onomatopoeias in it. It's apparently from or by NHK, the Japanese public TV station. Wild industrial design of the handheld version, and I was very surprised to see the quality of the built-in video output and animations. Seems like Yamaha put a lot of effort into these, and they cost a small fortune when brand new – Thanks for sharing them!

Random comment: where's our usual community regulars - Per Hedetun, GraphicsMonkey, Asaf, others? I miss them and hope they are ok.

Madness or no, still another entertaining video.

I would never voluntarily attend a karaoke event but I really admire the attention to detail on these devices.

This video was very chapeaux! For a second there, I had hoped to see all the puppets in the car with you

Anri it’s one of my favourite Artist of city Pop music, i really love her. And i love this karaoke videos too, thanks!

'Ban Ban Ban' is the rallying theme tune for every-day casual work attire. Well, it should be, anyway.

Great video Mat, particularly liked the William Shatner impression, just needed Lucy in the sky with diamonds 🤣

A lot of really cool little details on those devices! I like how the animations that play during long music breaks speed up at the end to get out of the way, instead of just disappearing or something. Loved the ending too. :D. This was a great video.

'Turn It Into Love' was one of those stock... er... Stock Aitken Waterman tracks that was also recorded by another of their artists, Hazell Dean. Kylie's 'Got To Be Certain' was originally recorded by one-time Mrs Bill Wyman, Mandy Smith, also signed with SAW. Vocal aside, it sounds identical.

I enjoyed the Ban Ban Ban song. It made me grin. I wonder what it's about 🤔

If this is a descent into madness then I'm glad I joined you on the journey.

Hot damn. The beautiful Yahama sound drivers were giving me major Y's books 1&2 / Lunar Silver Star Story vibes. I can't lie, I'm a huge fan of early MIDI guitar sounds.

This may have come up previously but there's an example of that Sony OLED TV in the Science Museum in London

I'm very surprised at the quality of the midi files, that would take considerable time to create for every single song

"a descent into madness that well might please no-one" That's unironically my favourite kind of youtube video!

😀 One strange man singing to himself in a car park! I can imagine people taking this to a social gathering, and having a Bingo caller could be another useful evening group activity once the karaoke fun had worn off.

Really enjoyed that fun video hope its a hit for you

Also, the scene of a man singing karaoke alone in his car at the far end of a bleak and desolate parking lot is one of the most poignant things to appear on YouTube in quite some time...

I refuse to believe that the handheld one never appeared as a prop or a piece of set detail in a late-90s/early aughts syndicated sci-fi series. Like, spray-painted bronze and brown and in the hands of a Klingon prison warden.

I laughed way too hard at Mat singing in the car. Bravo!

This video is brilliant - I was only able to listen to the audio and my co-workers probably think I'm unstable (more than normal) due to my cackles. Rules For Excellent ™Karaoke: 1. Mat won't sing Karaoke in public, but he will sing to 1.25M international subscribers. 2. Don't ever sing (love songs) and try to make eye contact with Mat. 3. Only sing Karaoke while drunk and never in Mat's presence. 4. Demonstrate Karaoke technology and never use it as intended. 5. All Karaoke and no play makes Jumpin' Jack a dull boy. 6. Re: Ad - Get off the road, fools, you're going to crash while distracted by the Karaoke fun times. F̶i̶n̶a̶l̶l̶y̶:̶ ̶A̶l̶w̶a̶y̶s̶ ̶e̶x̶t̶r̶a̶c̶t̶ ̶a̶u̶d̶i̶o̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶M̶a̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶v̶i̶d̶e̶o̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶c̶r̶e̶t̶e̶ ̶Y̶T̶P̶s̶.̶ We used to have a local bar and grill called 'Rusty Nail' and it kept getting vandalized. Now it's called 'Angry Goldfish.' Maybe that's a Karaoke song, too. Can we get a translation of 'Full of Breasts'? Oh my goodness. Edit: today's comment was brought to you by 3 espresso shots and nervous restlessness.

008: Full of Breasts. Those James Bond parodies are getting out of hand.

Lol@ the end sequence. When you said you were gathering up your friends to sing in the car I was thinking either you were either going to make the joke that you did, about not having friends, or one of the puppets was going to be in the passenger seat. - Anyway, I enjoyed the video! Always fun to see things that didn't make it out of Japan.

*descent

Given that I find the karaoke tech interesting and given that I have no interest in performing or watching others perform karaoke, somehow after watching this video I feel like staying up all night to get lucky😁

Seeing English labels on a Japanese device, it remembered to me Tesla NZC record player range from 1970s and 1980s. They also had English labels but they were manufactured in Czechoslovakia

🤣🤣🤣That ending🤣🤣🤣 Although... I was at least expecting the muppets to join you in the car 🤔 BTW: at 8:04 (with the radio), that's Dutch text, not German!

I swear this was in some kind of scifi thing as a prop

I have an idea why the bingo mode is on there. Karaoke systems often get hooked up to larger speakers and a display, so it's easy enough to repurpose a karaoke bar as a bingo hall by using the microphone to call the numbers.

It really helps that it underlines what to sing...

My wife and our stuffed sea turtle sang "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" at a Mensa karaoke thing we went to

You don’t have to sing. A spoken word version of Rocket Man will do. 🚀

It pleases me. 😃😃😃

Fantastic video. The dogging Karaoke at the end got me laughing out loud. 👍

Removed already?

Where'd it go? BTW, my condolences. God save the king 👑

Another unavailable video… 🧐