Wow. Watching this really gives me some respect for Edison, in that he was able to get his phonograph to work despite having to build every component himself with the limited technology available then.
Being an old man now, and having grown up in very rural North Dakota in the 50's it was my pleasure to actually listen to one of the original Edison talking machine's. My uncle, who descended from a rich farming family, only to loose it all through his mismanagement lived in a small cabin on the Ceader Creek. He still had a few items from his family's holdings, and one of them was the tube playing Edison, along with over a hundred tubes of music. The other was a very rare 1882 Winchester, but that is a different story. When we were kids, and our folks drove the back roads to his place to visit, he was married to dad's sister of course, we children went into the loft area of the cabin and dug out the old Edison so we could listen to the music of the past. It was great fun. Well as the years went on, his twin daughters grew up, as did his son, of course, and after an argument with their folks, the daughters torched the house, there went the Edison, and sadly the rifle that was more valuable then his entire farm. Sad days. Oh well, it appears that the remake is just something to look at, and not use but it looked like great fun assembling at any rate. Best luck on the next version.
Actually it goes on much deeper, ending with one of the twins in prison for life following the murder of her husband, well her and her sisters husband, they had each been married to the much older farmer several times and he just would not die, despite his 50 years their senior, so they just killed him and made it look like natural death. Had they not been imprisoned later for (get this) stealing sheep, where she bragged about the crime to the wrong inmate, who reported it to authorities, she would still be free and clear. The other twin, who was not as bright (they were both mildly retarded) got off because the courts found her incompetent to stand trial. Ya it would make a great film, in fact one of those TV real life believe it or not shows, (I forget which now) did an story on national TV about it, they called it "The Lemmon SISTERS" I think, the show played back in the early 90's I believe.
Jerry Ericsson Hm. Too much (for my taste). The first part would suffice, circling around the cabin with various old precious objects as a reminecence of a more glorious past. But thank you for telling the full(er) story! (I hope your personal life is less interesting.)
@@josemendezfr a piece of crap is a piece of crap. The technology used to produce it might be advanced, and such a thin piece of plastic like the cup might be used for something else. But if Edison tried the same as this kit tried, the result would've been the same piece of crap.
And just to clear this up. Of course modern technology could reproduce it. Easily. Yet a few pieces of plastic evidently cannot reproduce what Edison made.
It must have been hugely frustrating building this device after paying over 100pounds for it and finding out it is an utter failure. Please remember, as a little comfort, that I/we had a lot of fun watching you building it and making it work properly. Especially the shouting at the device was hilarious! I also had great fun reading the comments. After all this, I wasn't a failure at all! Thanks for your video and patience!
Bluetac a piece of mirror to the end of the stylus and point a laser pointer at it and then speak into the funnel and see if the darn membrane is actually picking up any vibrations at all.
You're right, it's the ones used for cold drinks, there coated on both sides to stop the condensation making them soggy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_cup#Waterproofing
I could give you a tip from Mr Edision..say... "Mary had a little lamb" Really enjoyed watching this . esp. the assembly intro. .. very entertaining stuff.
LOL, "Nope, haven't even watched it on my own.". Can't ever figure if that's you and your dad, you and your son or just your take on the entitlement technology creates in each new generation but, in any case, you are not only tech savvy, you my friend are a philosopher. Good on you.
I remember making one as a Child aged about 10 out of a toilet roll and aluminium foil and a needle. Make a paper cone and pierce it with a needle as a stylus. It worked. :-)
Try engraving soda cans that have a layer of laquer/paint on them, like the Energy Drink cans, but that have a smooth surface, not textured. Maybe the needle can engrave into the paint layer. And the straight cylindrical shape makes that it rotates at the same speed on the whole length of the can. Also it may be a bit sturdier than a plastic cup.
wrap tinfoil around the cup. i got good results using a paper cone, sewing needle and cutting a cardboard LP sized disc covered in tinfoil. placed it on an old player, recorded, then played back.
I fell asleep twice watching this. I even fast forwarded past most of the assembly. At least the muppets at the end kept me conscious. Then to find out it doesn't work... I'm going to go take a nap.
"Nope I haven't even watched it on my own" LOL. Anyways too bad you could not get the device to work, I wish I had an idea of what you could try but I don't. Makes you appreciate just how great an achievement the original Edison device was.
To me it seems the needle is not vibrating freely. It is very sensitive, snd the combination that works is where the medium is soft enough and the stylus is more free to vibrate. See whether you can make something work, like perhaps a small juice can that you dip in hot wax repeatedly to build up about an eighth of an inch of wax. Make the recording at room temperature, then play it back after the wax roll has been in the refrigerator for an hour to firm up. I would think the softer medium and a more freely moving needle would do it for you. The retainer spring on the stylus might be what is preventing it from being vibrated enough by the input diaphragm.
Nice video as always. You should have tired just blasting a speaker in front of the funnel to see if it would work better then with a much louder source.
I really like the Moan-Muppets. They make me laugh more than a lot of tv shows that are supposed to be funny. As for the Edison Phonograph kit, it is interesting and would teach a person how a century old tech worked. The real Edison phonographs were made of steel and iron, made to last for hundreds of years. That plastic kit is expensive to produce, those molds to make the plastic parts cost hundreds of thousands to produce. I bet this thing could work if it had a proper recording medium.
According to some historic records Edison was not patient. He was also egocentric and was torturing animals to prove that his DC current was superior to Tesla's AC, which was not actually the case (except in his head). Edison also had a crew and it is really questionable how many of his inventions were actually creations of his crew members that never got credit.
I actually have an idea.... if you ever listen to old edison recordings, most vocals were people with super loud voices. I bet if you had something like a trumpet, or other equally loud instrument, there may be some result.
I thought one only needed to find a 70s cassette tape recorder with that little microphone to capture truly bad audio reproduction. I have new appreciation for my Tascam 4 trac
After the warning about shouting, I was really hoping Mat would just repeatedly yell *WE'RE UP ALL NIGHT TO GET LUCKY!!!!* into the gramophone at the top of his lungs.
Should have tried putting Reynold's Wrap/aluminum foil/tin foil over the cup, or using an empty pop can/beer can. That might have worked better, as it would have been closer to the actual medium that Edison first used.
Unfortunately, one instruction has been omitted. This involves the preparation of the cups. Once performed the rest of your experience will be much more rewarding. The inside surface of the cups must be soaked with alcohol to soften the plastic. It has been found that Sake, the Japanese liquor, works the best for this purpose. 1.) Fill a cup with Sake. 2.) Wait 30 seconds. 3.) Quickly drink the Sake. 4.) Install the cup on the recorder. 5.) Make your special recording. 6.) Repeat steps 1 thru 5. If you still feel the kit has not met your expectations, repeat steps 1 thru 3. It worked for me!
The material used for recording is much to pliable for any accurate recording enough to listen to and have any legibility. With that cheesy setup, I would tend to try a piece of PVC pipe for a consistently, hard, smooth, readily available, plastic. The cone may need to be stiffened as well to transfer vibrations more accurately. The wax tubes of yore were much more stiff and hardened for recording than one would tend to think of wax being. They made recordings much more reliable than softer materials but they broke easily rendering uselessness, much like the machine in your video :)
i think the needle position for playing and recording should be different. When recording the needle is 90 degree to the cup , while playing the needle should be 135 degree .
I feel like the weight of the stylus and the diaphragm it is attached too is too much to effectively capture a human voice. It might get some audio if you set it up at a Manowar concert on an isolated platform, so that the rumble of the bass wouldn't cause teh stylus to jump.
LOL... well, this contraption certainly has one use, namely, to make an amusing video... I actually laughed out loud at your grief. Maybe you should have gotten a gun and fired a few rounds, or used firecrackers XD
I don't have one of these but just from watching your video I have a gut feeling that the recording stylus is too long. A shorter sharper one might help. Also, the rotation speed is too slow. For a cylinder of this diameter at least 100rpm would be required, your diy version appears to be closer to 50rpm. (The earliest commercial cylinders played at 144rpm, the later moulded variety were invariably 160rpm). It seems odd that the designers of this outfit chose to employ lateral groove modulation over the universally standard (for cylinders), vertical (hill & dale) method. It would be a tad more efficient in this case. If all else fails, instead of attempting to record/playback speech, find a bugle, cornet or trumpet player. Have him or her aim their instrument close to the horn and play their best piece at double-forte. I'm not promising hi-fi results, but you'll definitely hear something when played back 🎺📯😧🎶.
I feel that the tube leading to the needle isn't tight enough and the needle isn't able to vibrate enough. Perhaps you need just enough weight that the cup gets scratched and no more so the needle has zero friction.
So you got a recorder that makes you sound like a dalek from Dr Who...ok ;) Lol but seriously...I do wish the result was better from the get-go. Cheers from Cape Cod, MA USA!
I think the problem was in catching the track.. how do you assure that during playback that the needle moves on the recorded line without a tiny offset
Who knew spending $90 USD was a waste of money. The prices they charge you for plastic, I bet nobody who made this thing even bothered to test if it actually works before selling it.
I've bought mine a couple of years ago in a Japanese book store in Düsseldorf. It works better, but I wouldn't call it good working. There is one difference: My kit uses a normal gramophone steel needle. It is shorter, so the lever action from the membrane to the writing needle is better. And also it uses 4 of those weights for recording. The needle is in an angle of almost 90 degrees to the cylinder. The result is not quite Hi-fi, but you can at least understand the words I'm shouting into it.
I just came back from visiting Düsseldorf and I think I saw this very device in a store in the Japanese district there. And I happened to come across this comment. Fun coincidence.
I'm wondering if a standard phonograph needle would do a better job. The needle has to be sharp enough, but the tip should also be pointing directly onto the cup.
@@louisnichols I think it was a store called Takagi by the main road along the Japanese district. It mainly had manga and other Japanese crafting gadgets.
I have tried these kits, since Edison used vertical cutting stylus method on cylinders and these use Berliner/Victor lateral method it's very hard considering the composition of the recording media (cup) and quality of the recording/playback stylus to get good (if any) results. The position of the stylus during recording, the stability of the cup and the weights make a difference, I have always added more weight than recommended for recording and secured the cup with inner inserts for stability and have gotten fairly decent results. A sharper stylus other than those provided also cuts a more distinct groove, but always use a less sharper stylus for playback.
From what I remember, the original cutting stylus didn't have vertical weight on it. It was held in a carriage that was at a set distance from the cylinder and the only force on it was longitudinal as it sliced into the surface. It resisted climbing up out of the grove made because of the triangular shape of the needle. This one is pushing and deforming the cup under the needle constantly, regardless of the velocity.
That movie has yet another unsatisfying ending, but I think the joke was that the muppet in question doesn't consider himself to have watched a film unless there is someone there with him so he can have someone to hear his withering criticism.
My thought is that the top of the cup is too far off center relative to the top part that clamps on it. The wobble produced probably throws things like the needle and speed out of the range of usability. I think it would need to be centered on both ends carefully to avoid this wobble. Certainly not easy to do, and this is just a theory, but.. perhaps.
Kevin Carafa That's certainly one of the few problems with this design. Also, you'd have to make sure that the cup rotates continuously, Try out different amounts of weight on steeper angles of the needle, etc. etc. They really should have provided some optimal setup instructions...
It's why phonographs changed from the cylinder-based design to the flat disk. Stylus needs to ride the groove just perfect, and an off-center cylinder makes it bounce with inconsistent force. That is much less of an issue with the later design.
1) dip cup into the molten wax - it will form thin layer on outer surface of cup. 2) record at surrounding temperature +30C or more. (maybe outside when it's hot) 3) put into fridge to lower temperature of wax layer. 4) playback at surrounding temperature +20C or less. (inside with air conditioner switch max on) Above ideas are purely theoretical. However, I totally would try those if I would have this phonograph.
#1 is not a bad idea. This could be achieved by putting a high wattage incandescent light globe inside the wax coated cylinder or even directing a hot-air gun towards the area where the stylus is about to cut, but then you'd have to find a way to isolate the noise.
Sounds like (heh) it'd be worth a try. Just bear in mind that, yknow, Britain. We had a record breakingly hot summer this year and in latitudes significantly north of London (where I am, and where TM almost certainly is) the highest recorded tended to be in the low 30s celcius. The highest I saw personally was about 30~31'C. It does, however, get bone chillingly cold in winter, so it would work about as well to conduct the test indoors in autumn. Crank the heating right up on a sunny afternoon to make the recording (the maximum my thermostat goes to is 30, but you could push that by quite a few degrees by bringing an electric space heater into play after the main heating topped out, or maybe the high-wattage diesel burner TM reviewed a few years back), then turn it off completely, open all the windows and wait for night to fall before playing the recording. Or, yknow, as the cup is quite small but it and the wax should retain a temperature significantly deflected from ambient for the couple of minutes it would take to mount it on the spindle and record or play, conduct the test at a typical British indoor temperature (20ish celcius), but put the cup in a warm oven or airing cupboard (or blast it with a hairdryer) for a few minutes before recording, and chuck it in the fridge for a half hour (the freezer would probably be too harsh and lead to cracking/flaking) before playback.
Wow. Watching this really gives me some respect for Edison, in that he was able to get his phonograph to work despite having to build every component himself with the limited technology available then.
And I bet none of the shops near him even stocked any plastic cups
they'll say aw topsy at my autopsy
Heyo! I love your videos
In case you still own the other edison machine, try blasting the funnel with a big speaker, that might engrave a stronger signal.
so that's why he used foil, no plastic cups.
Not satisfied?
Please send a cup recorded with your complaint to the address shouted to you in Japanese on the About Us cup.
This is beautiful
a single sentence that made my day for the rest of my life.
This comment should be pinned.
And how do you suppose I'm going to send in my complaint cup with a broken machine?? hmmm?
@@ChristmasEve777 exactly ! :P
Being an old man now, and having grown up in very rural North Dakota in the 50's it was my pleasure to actually listen to one of the original Edison talking machine's. My uncle, who descended from a rich farming family, only to loose it all through his mismanagement lived in a small cabin on the Ceader Creek. He still had a few items from his family's holdings, and one of them was the tube playing Edison, along with over a hundred tubes of music. The other was a very rare 1882 Winchester, but that is a different story. When we were kids, and our folks drove the back roads to his place to visit, he was married to dad's sister of course, we children went into the loft area of the cabin and dug out the old Edison so we could listen to the music of the past. It was great fun. Well as the years went on, his twin daughters grew up, as did his son, of course, and after an argument with their folks, the daughters torched the house, there went the Edison, and sadly the rifle that was more valuable then his entire farm. Sad days. Oh well, it appears that the remake is just something to look at, and not use but it looked like great fun assembling at any rate. Best luck on the next version.
Jerry Ericsson Your short family history sounds like a good exposé for a film.
Actually it goes on much deeper, ending with one of the twins in prison for life following the murder of her husband, well her and her sisters husband, they had each been married to the much older farmer several times and he just would not die, despite his 50 years their senior, so they just killed him and made it look like natural death. Had they not been imprisoned later for (get this) stealing sheep, where she bragged about the crime to the wrong inmate, who reported it to authorities, she would still be free and clear. The other twin, who was not as bright (they were both mildly retarded) got off because the courts found her incompetent to stand trial. Ya it would make a great film, in fact one of those TV real life believe it or not shows, (I forget which now) did an story on national TV about it, they called it "The Lemmon SISTERS" I think, the show played back in the early 90's I believe.
law.justia.com/cases/south-dakota/supreme-court/1992/17621-1.html The End of the story, we hope.
Write it up and send it to the Fargo screen writers.
Jerry Ericsson Hm. Too much (for my taste). The first part would suffice, circling around the cabin with various old precious objects as a reminecence of a more glorious past. But thank you for telling the full(er) story! (I hope your personal life is less interesting.)
1877 Edison invents the Phonograph allowing voices to be recorded. 2017 modern technology can't replicate it.
@@robfriedrich2822 Would the materials in this product have been considered "cheap" in Edison's time?
@@robfriedrich2822 Then you're obviously a dumbass.
@@josemendezfr a piece of crap is a piece of crap. The technology used to produce it might be advanced, and such a thin piece of plastic like the cup might be used for something else. But if Edison tried the same as this kit tried, the result would've been the same piece of crap.
And just to clear this up. Of course modern technology could reproduce it. Easily.
Yet a few pieces of plastic evidently cannot reproduce what Edison made.
Working replica th-cam.com/video/bJ8an6LND-U/w-d-xo.html
Perhaps if you use Dolby B while recording.....
I think a Dolby B-cup is too small
DBX, anyone ? :D
Wow, good-times :)
For this turkey you're gonna need Dolby Z.
Don't you mean Dublin?
Surely you would have gotten a better result with Chrome or Metal cups! (I'll see myself out...)
Dont you need to drive them very hard to get something onto them?
I think he couldnt scream that loud to get a recording onto them :P
He needs a digital phonograph with Dolby S!
I know you're joking, but etching a groove into tin might work better.
@Brunosky Inc. Dolby Styrene ?
@Mihovil Beck It might work better, but I'm afraid it's still going to sound rather.... tinny.
I'm kinda glad this didn't work out. I was thinking about how long it would take to convert my whole music library to cups.
It must have been hugely frustrating building this device after paying over 100pounds for it and finding out it is an utter failure. Please remember, as a little comfort, that I/we had a lot of fun watching you building it and making it work properly. Especially the shouting at the device was hilarious! I also had great fun reading the comments. After all this, I wasn't a failure at all! Thanks for your video and patience!
"No, I haven't even watched it on my own!" - LOVE IT!
Change the caps. It always helps. With everything. If there are no caps, put some in it, and change them thereafter.
Actually, if one pronounces "cups" with a south London accent you could be closer to the fix than you think lol...
@@danmackintosh6325 Maybe he should try audiophile wax and paper cups.
Bumble Bee cups? lol
LOCK THE CAPS FOR MORE EFFICIENT SHOUTING!
*_i put caps on my willy_*
Bluetac a piece of mirror to the end of the stylus and point a laser pointer at it and then speak into the funnel and see if the darn membrane is actually picking up any vibrations at all.
You could try dipping the outside of the cup in liquid bees wax and record in the wax layer..
Jerry cool idea
Then you can eat your own words.
Or use them disposable wax coated paper cups... The ones for hot drinks.
But the wax is on the inside on everyone I've seen. I see a flaw here.
You're right, it's the ones used for cold drinks, there coated on both sides to stop the condensation making them soggy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_cup#Waterproofing
I love the puppets. They reveal a different aspect of the subject, deeper and more personal. Bravo! Please keep them.
10:44 - "As you can see I'm shouting quite loudly"
[ youdontsay.jpg ]
I could give you a tip from Mr Edision..say... "Mary had a little lamb" Really enjoyed watching this . esp. the assembly intro. .. very entertaining stuff.
I think you need to look at the diaphragm. Make sure its completely sealed. Its obvious that the needle isn't vibrating enough.
Motoring on... On to the Motor - I see what you did there! :-)
I was expecting a fanfare sound clip every time he said "horn section".
Coat the cups inside with something to make them more rigid. Thet are to soft to get engraved. Centering them will also help. ;-)
The Edison originally used "hill and dale" recording versus this machine using vertical. I think another redesign is in order.
Bingo. Emile Berliner tried to use the vertical diaphragm on a cylinder and found it to not work, hence the eventual transition to the disc.
LOL, "Nope, haven't even watched it on my own.".
Can't ever figure if that's you and your dad, you and your son or just your take on the entitlement technology creates in each new generation but, in any case, you are not only tech savvy, you my friend are a philosopher. Good on you.
I remember making one as a Child aged about 10 out of a toilet roll and aluminium foil and a needle. Make a paper cone and pierce it with a needle as a stylus. It worked. :-)
Try engraving soda cans that have a layer of laquer/paint on them, like the Energy Drink cans, but that have a smooth surface, not textured. Maybe the needle can engrave into the paint layer. And the straight cylindrical shape makes that it rotates at the same speed on the whole length of the can. Also it may be a bit sturdier than a plastic cup.
I’ve actually have been anticipating for this video!!! :)
same
You could have the instructions for Beer Pong etched into the outside of the solo cups as analog audio.... how cool.
wrap tinfoil around the cup. i got good results using a paper cone, sewing needle and cutting a cardboard LP sized disc covered in tinfoil. placed it on an old player, recorded, then played back.
I fell asleep twice watching this. I even fast forwarded past most of the assembly. At least the muppets at the end kept me conscious. Then to find out it doesn't work... I'm going to go take a nap.
"Nope I haven't even watched it on my own" LOL. Anyways too bad you could not get the device to work, I wish I had an idea of what you could try but I don't. Makes you appreciate just how great an achievement the original Edison device was.
I have an original Edison player and a large collection of cylinders so I found this amusing.
"No, I haven't even watched it on my own."
Nice!
To me it seems the needle is not vibrating freely. It is very sensitive, snd the combination that works is where the medium is soft enough and the stylus is more free to vibrate. See whether you can make something work, like perhaps a small juice can that you dip in hot wax repeatedly to build up about an eighth of an inch of wax. Make the recording at room temperature, then play it back after the wax roll has been in the refrigerator for an hour to firm up. I would think the softer medium and a more freely moving needle would do it for you. The retainer spring on the stylus might be what is preventing it from being vibrated enough by the input diaphragm.
For just a little more than twice what you spent on that cheap kit, you could get an actual Edison cylinder phonograph!
Nice video as always. You should have tired just blasting a speaker in front of the funnel to see if it would work better then with a much louder source.
I really like the Moan-Muppets. They make me laugh more than a lot of tv shows that are supposed to be funny.
As for the Edison Phonograph kit, it is interesting and would teach a person how a century old tech worked. The real Edison phonographs were made of steel and iron, made to last for hundreds of years. That plastic kit is expensive to produce, those molds to make the plastic parts cost hundreds of thousands to produce. I bet this thing could work if it had a proper recording medium.
Thank you, Now we know how patient was Thomas Edison !
According to some historic records Edison was not patient. He was also egocentric and was torturing animals to prove that his DC current was superior to Tesla's AC, which was not actually the case (except in his head). Edison also had a crew and it is really questionable how many of his inventions were actually creations of his crew members that never got credit.
I actually have an idea.... if you ever listen to old edison recordings, most vocals were people with super loud voices. I bet if you had something like a trumpet, or other equally loud instrument, there may be some result.
I thought one only needed to find a 70s cassette tape recorder with that little microphone to capture truly bad audio reproduction. I have new appreciation for my Tascam 4 trac
After the warning about shouting, I was really hoping Mat would just repeatedly yell *WE'RE UP ALL NIGHT TO GET LUCKY!!!!* into the gramophone at the top of his lungs.
Could you just find some other cylindrical object that might work better? Maybe try a softer cup like one of those paper wax coated cups?
The cups used in the experiment are very flexible; they aren't hard enough again the stiletto/needle. In my humble opinion.
One man, 17 cups.
: /
Should have tried putting Reynold's Wrap/aluminum foil/tin foil over the cup, or using an empty pop can/beer can. That might have worked better, as it would have been closer to the actual medium that Edison first used.
The Michael Caine joke had me giggling. Maybe I'm easily pleased :)
Paraffin coated Dixie brand cups might work a bit more ? They might at some perfect temperature.
Unfortunately, one instruction has been omitted. This involves the preparation of the cups. Once performed the rest of your experience will be much more rewarding. The inside surface of the cups must be soaked with alcohol to soften the plastic. It has been found that Sake, the Japanese liquor, works the best for this purpose. 1.) Fill a cup with Sake. 2.) Wait 30 seconds. 3.) Quickly drink the Sake. 4.) Install the cup on the recorder. 5.) Make your special recording. 6.) Repeat steps 1 thru 5. If you still feel the kit has not met your expectations, repeat steps 1 thru 3. It worked for me!
The material used for recording is much to pliable for any accurate recording enough to listen to and have any legibility. With that cheesy setup, I would tend to try a piece of PVC pipe for a consistently, hard, smooth, readily available, plastic. The cone may need to be stiffened as well to transfer vibrations more accurately. The wax tubes of yore were much more stiff and hardened for recording than one would tend to think of wax being. They made recordings much more reliable than softer materials but they broke easily rendering uselessness, much like the machine in your video :)
Iv've been watching some of your videos and I'm wondering what those puppets are all about.
Thanx for this funny video, you're very talented!
-b
BUNTO! I FOUND YOU!
great video as always man
(well it was a fail but it happens)
The problem is the previous owner of the cups already punched out the record protect tabs. You forgot to put tape over the holes.
Even the actual original Edison wax cylinder recorder didn't sound too good, to be honest (the one that Edison himself made).
Such warm analogue sound, far superior to CDs....
i think the needle position for playing and recording should be different. When recording the needle is 90 degree to the cup , while playing the needle should be 135 degree .
12:18 This is the part where I question myself: “Why am I watching a video about a man screaming into a children’s educational toy?”
I wonder if a candle in the place where the cup is would work better? Maybe instead of removing 2 wieghts you only remove 1?
I feel like the weight of the stylus and the diaphragm it is attached too is too much to effectively capture a human voice. It might get some audio if you set it up at a Manowar concert on an isolated platform, so that the rumble of the bass wouldn't cause teh stylus to jump.
LOL... well, this contraption certainly has one use, namely, to make an amusing video... I actually laughed out loud at your grief. Maybe you should have gotten a gun and fired a few rounds, or used firecrackers XD
I don't have one of these but just from watching your video I have a gut feeling that the recording stylus is too long. A shorter sharper one might help. Also, the rotation speed is too slow.
For a cylinder of this diameter at least 100rpm would be required, your diy version appears to be closer to 50rpm.
(The earliest commercial cylinders played at 144rpm, the later moulded variety were invariably 160rpm).
It seems odd that the designers of this outfit chose to employ lateral groove modulation over the universally standard (for cylinders), vertical (hill & dale) method. It would be a tad more efficient in this case.
If all else fails, instead of attempting to record/playback speech, find a bugle, cornet or trumpet player.
Have him or her aim their instrument close to the horn and play their best piece at double-forte.
I'm not promising hi-fi results, but you'll definitely hear something when played back 🎺📯😧🎶.
Good video, what a terrible product, can't believe they bothered to make it.
I feel that the tube leading to the needle isn't tight enough and the needle isn't able to vibrate enough. Perhaps you need just enough weight that the cup gets scratched and no more so the needle has zero friction.
If you can hear me .....don't bother buying this! lol 😃
So you got a recorder that makes you sound like a dalek from Dr Who...ok ;) Lol but seriously...I do wish the result was better from the get-go. Cheers from Cape Cod, MA USA!
You need to replace caps in that.
Not again...
Perfectly fit for an English guy. Kinda antiquated, kinda half assed sloppy engineering but with loads of nostalgia.
I think the problem was in catching the track.. how do you assure that during playback that the needle moves on the recorded line without a tiny offset
The next model will have 2 needles and a source/cup monitor switch.
The cup is off-axis, causing the angle of the needle to change and the speed to vary. A record player would do equally badly under those conditions.
He sounds like Phineas and Ferb's dad
Who knew spending $90 USD was a waste of money. The prices they charge you for plastic, I bet nobody who made this thing even bothered to test if it actually works before selling it.
They should have included a pre-recorded cup so you could test the playback without using up your own cups.
15:05 Skip to best part of the video!
Could've put foil tape on it stuff the cup with paper to make the sound more solid
But you did it wrong! You were supposed to say "Mary had a little lamb whose fleas were white as snow." Everybody knows that!
Try a much softer material like a wax.
Not all the money is wasted. At least you can drink some Coffe out of the Cups. :)
I bet it has something to do with the material used in the cup
Isn't plastic construction the problem here? Does it not absorb vibrations?
Try using a speaker and play stuff into it.
You should have resited Mary had a little lamb! , As people say that. That Is what Edison first tried
Skip to 12:40 if you don’t want to see him make it.
I know what your issue is. I watched an 8BitGuy video when he was restoring an Apple II. You need to put the mother board in the dishwasher.
Is here Murray Walker commenting about the Edison Phonograph ?🙄😏
What if you use aluminum foil, and apply it by surrounding the cup with tightly applied foil?
My thoughts exactly, he should have tried that😃
That's cool as heck, especially the satanistic replies.
This comment is a surreal expirience
yes its Robbaz! i need to start watching your videos again!
Late to the party, but surprised to see the king of Sweden here
@@cursedcliff7562 you know I was just thinking the same thing because I am the same age Robbas was when he made the comment. This video is a milestone
I'm dead 😂😂😂
The lady has the face of satisfaction in knowing that she trolled you into buying this POS device
xD
TWICE.
cosmicrdt in hindsight it seems as if that's the exact case lol
TT
Haha baka gaijin will buy this useless plastic machine.
I think the biggest problem you were not shouting loud enough, I use mine to record jet engines and it works perfectly.
LOL
I use mine to record the sound of a needle scraping on the outside of a plastic cup.
I used mine to record Hiroshima and Nagasaki
I used mine to record meme review
I used this device to record Schwerer Gustav’s cannonfire
Does it have DRM software to prevent copying from one cup to another?
Good one, made me laugh out loud. 👍
It’s called the low volume of the cups’ sound
Yeah, and they even managed to solve the otherwise universal problem of "the analogue gap"
Funny!!!
Don't copy that cup. :p
The look on that woman's face says to me: "You're a fool for spending $100.00 on a cup scratcher."
Same thought i had.... Sorry Techmaon.... But guess you understand.
That is Very accurate with a V
🤣🤣🤣🤣
The look of a con man.
Damn, I was hoping to back up my old ZX Spectrum programs in used cups...
Lol
You should definitely try with some pre-recorded cups.
He needs the royalty-free TH-cam music library on every conceivable medium.
Why wasn't a pre-recorded one included? Cost?
The comments section on this video is pure gold.
Try HMV
I've bought mine a couple of years ago in a Japanese book store in Düsseldorf. It works better, but I wouldn't call it good working. There is one difference: My kit uses a normal gramophone steel needle. It is shorter, so the lever action from the membrane to the writing needle is better. And also it uses 4 of those weights for recording. The needle is in an angle of almost 90 degrees to the cylinder. The result is not quite Hi-fi, but you can at least understand the words I'm shouting into it.
I just came back from visiting Düsseldorf and I think I saw this very device in a store in the Japanese district there. And I happened to come across this comment. Fun coincidence.
I'm wondering if a standard phonograph needle would do a better job. The needle has to be sharp enough, but the tip should also be pointing directly onto the cup.
Lol. I happen to also live close to Düsseldorf. Could you share where this Japanese store is?
@@louisnichols I think it was a store called Takagi by the main road along the Japanese district. It mainly had manga and other Japanese crafting gadgets.
@@weegle. Haven't looked for it yet. When I start going back to the office I will try to find a day for that.
"let's have a listen"... then get completely busted watching Techmoan at work.
gtoger there’s worse to be caught watching
You'll have to explain yourself for this one.
You better not be doing what you're implying in front of Pedant.
Im guessing patreon first watchers
You should probably turn on the Dolby C(up) noise reduction.
I have tried these kits, since Edison used vertical cutting stylus method on cylinders and these use Berliner/Victor lateral method it's very hard considering the composition of the recording media (cup) and quality of the recording/playback stylus to get good (if any) results. The position of the stylus during recording, the stability of the cup and the weights make a difference, I have always added more weight than recommended for recording and secured the cup with inner inserts for stability and have gotten fairly decent results. A sharper stylus other than those provided also cuts a more distinct groove, but always use a less sharper stylus for playback.
i think the vibration is pushing the stylus sideways, it needs to push it downwards to cut the material better, i think thats the flaw
Jusb1066 So does a real record player/recorder. The groove depth is mostly constant (for mono), but it swings sideways to draw/read the sound wave.
From what I remember, the original cutting stylus didn't have vertical weight on it. It was held in a carriage that was at a set distance from the cylinder and the only force on it was longitudinal as it sliced into the surface. It resisted climbing up out of the grove made because of the triangular shape of the needle. This one is pushing and deforming the cup under the needle constantly, regardless of the velocity.
Timothy Harnish Exactly.
4:47 The magnetic screwdriver tries to escape, then he realizes he's been caught on camera and acts casual.
-Have you ever seen the italian job with michael caine?
-nope I haven't even watched it on my own
I snorted with laughter
TheMarwa7a can you explain, I don't get it.
erm, it explains itself.
That movie has yet another unsatisfying ending, but I think the joke was that the muppet in question doesn't consider himself to have watched a film unless there is someone there with him so he can have someone to hear his withering criticism.
quality dad jokes from techmoan
@Benjamin Middaugh you didn't get it.
12:20 Now I can imagine Techmoan ordering his McMuffins at a McDonalds Drive-In ...
"IIIIIIIIIIII WAAAAAANT AAAAAAAA MCCCCCMUFFFFFFIN PLEAAAASE."
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
My thought is that the top of the cup is too far off center relative to the top part that clamps on it. The wobble produced probably throws things like the needle and speed out of the range of usability. I think it would need to be centered on both ends carefully to avoid this wobble.
Certainly not easy to do, and this is just a theory, but.. perhaps.
Kevin Carafa That's certainly one of the few problems with this design. Also, you'd have to make sure that the cup rotates continuously, Try out different amounts of weight on steeper angles of the needle, etc. etc.
They really should have provided some optimal setup instructions...
Yes. Though i doubt that functionality was the point of this product. I think it was more for the people who get of on history.
Doubt it. There's a reason that the bell can move up and down like that. You'll notice it on records too where it can be warped but work fine.
🎶Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps.🎶
It's why phonographs changed from the cylinder-based design to the flat disk. Stylus needs to ride the groove just perfect, and an off-center cylinder makes it bounce with inconsistent force. That is much less of an issue with the later design.
"I waste my money so you don't have to", should be his tagline.
1) dip cup into the molten wax - it will form thin layer on outer surface of cup.
2) record at surrounding temperature +30C or more. (maybe outside when it's hot)
3) put into fridge to lower temperature of wax layer.
4) playback at surrounding temperature +20C or less. (inside with air conditioner switch max on)
Above ideas are purely theoretical. However, I totally would try those if I would have this phonograph.
#1 is not a bad idea. This could be achieved by putting a high wattage incandescent light globe inside the wax coated cylinder or even directing a hot-air gun towards the area where the stylus is about to cut, but then you'd have to find a way to isolate the noise.
Keep in mind that he lives in England. You’re lucky if you get above 25C on a hot summer day
Imagine alt reality where this is only music format
Sounds like (heh) it'd be worth a try. Just bear in mind that, yknow, Britain. We had a record breakingly hot summer this year and in latitudes significantly north of London (where I am, and where TM almost certainly is) the highest recorded tended to be in the low 30s celcius. The highest I saw personally was about 30~31'C.
It does, however, get bone chillingly cold in winter, so it would work about as well to conduct the test indoors in autumn. Crank the heating right up on a sunny afternoon to make the recording (the maximum my thermostat goes to is 30, but you could push that by quite a few degrees by bringing an electric space heater into play after the main heating topped out, or maybe the high-wattage diesel burner TM reviewed a few years back), then turn it off completely, open all the windows and wait for night to fall before playing the recording.
Or, yknow, as the cup is quite small but it and the wax should retain a temperature significantly deflected from ambient for the couple of minutes it would take to mount it on the spindle and record or play, conduct the test at a typical British indoor temperature (20ish celcius), but put the cup in a warm oven or airing cupboard (or blast it with a hairdryer) for a few minutes before recording, and chuck it in the fridge for a half hour (the freezer would probably be too harsh and lead to cracking/flaking) before playback.
@@sparkspl You mean the late 1800s and very early 1900s?