Awesome Typewriters

We already know it’s possible to use typewriters as musical instruments. Musician Lord Vinheteiro wanted a little more melody to go with the rhythmic typing sounds, so he rigged up a bunch of strings between two typewriters and a piano so he could tickle the ivories while clacking away on the QWERTYs.

AI tools like ChatGPT are incredibly powerful. Backed by large language models, these systems can create convincingly detailed text, write code, and answer questions. Interaction designer Arvind Sanjeev turned a Brother electric typewriter into an interface to GPT-3. Users can type a prompt, and the AI types its response on the same sheet of paper.

The Boston Typewriter Orchestra is hoping to score a spot on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. Their 2024 submission to the popular show is this mechanical tour de force titled Selectric Funeral, a rhythmic and enigmatic track performed on four vintage typewriters, bells, and effects pedals. It’s also their first song to incorporate an electric typewriter.

With the advent of computers, typewriters became pretty much obsolete. But it’s still amazing to see the incredible engineering that went into this once ubiquitous office equipment. Jake from Animagraffs takes us deep into the inner workings of a mechanical typewriter using a detailed 3D model of an early 20th-century Underwood.

Typewriters might be obsolete, but devices that can print on paper are still useful. One problem with typewriters is that they’re big and heavy. Attoparsec engineered a typewriter that fits in your pocket. He took the striker bars from a typewriter and linked them together in a machined metal case with a built-in ink pad.

This 83-key mechanical keyboard from KnewKey looks just like a vintage typewriter. It offers both wired (USB-C) and wireless (Bluetooth) connectivity and has a built-in tablet stand that mimics the design of a typewriter’s carriage. It also has blue LED backlighting, and its side knob can bye be used as a volume controller.

Jody Del Bianco’s award-winning design for a dedicated typing device pays homage to the cylindrical platens of vintage typewriters, while embracing modern technology. As you type on its round keys, words appear on a high-contrast, curved E-Ink display. To scroll backwards, turn the knob like on a classic typewriter.

If you’ve ever played with a vintage manual typewriter, you know how hard it can be just to hit those mechanical keys with enough force. JBV Creative built a custom robot that uses 3D-printed “fingers” and servo motors to type text and ASCII art on an old Remington Rand Office Riter. Money shot at 15:34.

This LEGO kit is based on a design submitted by LEGO fan Steve Guinness. The production version of the kit has 2,079 pieces with moving carriage and working keys. Its platen can hold paper and the set includes a typewritten letter signed by LEGO Group chairman Thomas Kirk Kristiansen. Drops 7.1.2021.

With just 26 letters in our alphabet, English speakers have it easy. When it comes to Japanese and Chinese, there are literally hundreds of characters. In this video from Typewriter Collector, they show off a rare Toshiba typewriter that can type in all three languages. It uses a spinning drum on a moving carriage to select letters.

From the 1960s to 1980s, the IBM Selectric was the typewriter to get if you wanted to type quickly and accurately. This slow-motion footage from the Hursley Museum and Chronos Cameras shows how the Selectric’s innovative ball rapidly rotated to the correct position, and could type at speeds up to 14.8 characters per second.

Typewriters may have gone the way of the dinosaur for most people, but they served their purpose well and provided the basis for today’s computer keyboards. Editor and film buff Ariel Avissar compiled this great supercut of movie and TV scenes where typewriters played a major role. The track is The Typewriter by Leroy Anderson.

William Sun Petrus took an old 1920s Remington Portable typewriter and modded it into an electronic drum machine. Basically, it works as a MIDI controller, so it can play whatever sounds he loads into Ableton. He had to remix the live audio so you could hear it over the mechanical clacking sounds though.

William Sun Petrus previously showed off a vintage manual typewriter that he converted into a drum machine. Since it’s really just working as a MIDI controller, the keyboard can be used to play any digital instrument, in this case, the fat synths from The Weeknd’s hit Blinding Lights. That’s a Novation Launchpad S to the right.

British artist James Cook specializes in what is basically a primitive version of ASCII art. Rather than digitizing an image and using a computer to print images, he types them out one key at a time using vintage manual typewriters.

Typewriters have gone the way of the dinosaur, rarely used by anyone but the most hipster of writers these days. But the Boston Typewriter Orchestra continues to get use out of these mechanical office relics, even when forced to work from home due to their in-person concerts being canceled.