Awesome Lo-fi

The 1983 New Order song Blue Monday incorporated plenty of synthesized sounds. Polaroids of the Pyramids thought it might be fun to play the track entirely on those lo-fi Casio synthesizers of the era. They recorded this multi-track rendition on instruments like the VL-1 mini keyboard, SK-1 sampling keyboard, DG-20 digital guitar, and DP-1 drum pads.

Before digital synthesizers and drum machines, instruments like the Mellotron used pre-recorded tape loops to play short sound samples. Musician Hainbach got his hands on a Bandmaster Powerhouse, a 1970s analog drum machine that used custom 8-track tapes to play drum loops. Its now well-worn tape cartridges produce some fantastic lo-fi sounds.

Musician Hainbach got his hands on a 1930s recording device called a Kosmograph. This vintage dictation machine translates spoken vibrations through a tube directly onto a spinning celluloid disc. Its scratchy, low-fidelity recordings add an ethereal texture to music.

This interactive online plaything uses a recurrent neural network to produce loops of music that you can influence by moving around and clicking on objects in its scene. Once you’ve created a sound you like, you can share a link to your tune. Find out more details about the project here.