The earliest Casio musical calculator was surely the Melody-80 (aka ML-80, CPU= "NEC D1863G"), which lacks the volume envelope function and so produces a harsh bagpipe-like tone which gets intensified by an LC filter to make it louder. (This was used as sound effect in various sci-fi TV series including "Buck Rogers" and "Battlestar Galactica"). The later ML-81 (CPU= "NEC D1864G") hat a musicbox-like (less annoying?) tone with digital volume envelope. With the broken ML-831 I suspect the reset capacitor (at CPU pin 19?) may be dead or conductive liquid (battery leak?) has shorted something that needs to be cleaned. Be extremely carefull with the brittle LCD foil cable; never scratch or sharply fold it. If it falls off, install an adhesive foam rubber (window insulation) to press it back on.
The Speak and Spell "jingle" is close, but not the same as the "special melody". According to many Kraftwerk fan sites online, and also as seen on the Pocket Calculator record cover, it was actually a Casio FX-501b making many of the sounds. When playing the song live, Ralf played a Mattel Bee Gees toy keyboard, Karl played a Stylophone, Florian played a Texas Instruments Language Translator and Wolfgang used some kind of drum pad. Then again, Kraftwerk were notorious for being private and mysterious, so who knows what they actually used in the studio!
Actually Ben Burt must have sampled this for E.T.'s communicator. Same exact tones. So yes in the movie it was made to sound like the Speak and Spell was playing music tones.
The earliest Casio musical calculator was surely the Melody-80 (aka ML-80, CPU= "NEC D1863G"), which lacks the volume envelope function and so produces a harsh bagpipe-like tone which gets intensified by an LC filter to make it louder. (This was used as sound effect in various sci-fi TV series including "Buck Rogers" and "Battlestar Galactica"). The later ML-81 (CPU= "NEC D1864G") hat a musicbox-like (less annoying?) tone with digital volume envelope.
With the broken ML-831 I suspect the reset capacitor (at CPU pin 19?) may be dead or conductive liquid (battery leak?) has shorted something that needs to be cleaned. Be extremely carefull with the brittle LCD foil cable; never scratch or sharply fold it. If it falls off, install an adhesive foam rubber (window insulation) to press it back on.
Trying to find the right batteries for this calculator. The 1.5V ones i have are too thick to close the lid.
My ML-831 is fitted with LR1130 (Maxell) batteries. Doesn't have to be Maxell, so look for batteries that are the LR1130 type. Hope that helps!
If I'm not mistaken the "special melody" sample is from a Speak and Spell, Casio Chaos Theory.
The Speak and Spell "jingle" is close, but not the same as the "special melody". According to many Kraftwerk fan sites online, and also as seen on the Pocket Calculator record cover, it was actually a Casio FX-501b making many of the sounds. When playing the song live, Ralf played a Mattel Bee Gees toy keyboard, Karl played a Stylophone, Florian played a Texas Instruments Language Translator and Wolfgang used some kind of drum pad. Then again, Kraftwerk were notorious for being private and mysterious, so who knows what they actually used in the studio!
Actually Ben Burt must have sampled this for E.T.'s communicator. Same exact tones. So yes in the movie it was made to sound like the Speak and Spell was playing music tones.