Retro Thing

BlueTube Wireless Tube Amplifier

Adam Clarkson writes, "I was hoping that you would take the time to look over a new project that we are just releasing. It is a hand built wood enclosed blue tooth enabled vacuum tube amplifier."

While I'm usually leery of contraptions that meld vintage audio technology with modern digital doodads, the BlueTube Audio Tube Amplifier is nicely done. And, honestly, nearly every modern phone has a bluetooth chip to allow wireless audio transfer; it would be silly not to use it.

This clever little stereo amp puts out 8W per channel from its Class A push-pull design. It includes dual inputs (1/8" audio in and stereo RCA in), built-in bluetooth receiver, a USB charging port, spring loaded speaker connections and a solid 3/4" walnut and cherry hand-rubbed case.

The project was recently posted on Kickstarter, but it's already full funded. That means production will go ahead with the first batch of amplifiers shipping in April, 2013. A pledge of $550 gets you the amplifier for use with your own 8 ohm speakers, while $775 buys the amp with a matching pair of 4" speakers.

BlueTube Audio vacuum tube amplifier with built-in Bluetooth [Kickstarter]

Doctor Who's First Journey

Here's a look at The Doctor's first journey, from the 4-part series 'An Unearthly Child," shot at Ealing Film Studios.

The TARDIS first materialized onto TV screens across the UK on November 23, 1963, exactly 49 years ago today. Seven hundred and eighty nine episodes later, she's still as unpredictable (and noisy) as ever. Somebody really should take a look at those temporal dampeners. 

YouTube via Harris Educational

Commodore 64 Plays Bon Jovi, Retrogeeks Hum Along In Awe

The Commodore 64 debuted in late 1982 at the (then) astounding price of $595. Millions were sold and all sorts of cool things were done with its custom graphic and sound chips. It didn't take long for people to figure out how to play short sound samples, but the machine simply didn't have enough memory to play back an entire sampled song. 

Erin Lassley's brother figured out how to get around the memory limitation by streaming audio directly from a Commodore 1581 disk drive. The Commodore 64 was an odd duck -- its external floppy drives were actually stand-alone computers that read data from the floppy and passed it to the computer using an horrendously slow serial connection. Many C-64 users can attest to countless hours wasted waiting for games and demos to load. 

For this hack, the audio was captured on a Commodore Amiga using a Perfect Sound digitizer and then down-converted to a 4-bit sample (halving the necessary data rate). The data was then streamed off the floppy and played back in real time on the C-64. You could accomplish the same thing with a $2 microcontroller and an SD card these days, but pushing vintage hardware to the limit is far more enjoyable to behold.

Playing Led Zeppelin on a C64 [Hackaday.com]

Moog: A film by Hans Fjellestad

Each generation, there are only a few lucky/brilliant/sufficiently eccentric people who manage to dramatically inspire the world. Dr. Bob Moog was one such character. He wasn't the first to build electronic instruments, nor was he the most successful. However, no one can deny that a classic early 1970s Minimoog Model D has a personality and unique sound unlike anything else. 

Although Bob passed away in 2005, his namesake company continues to release successful new instruments from their factory in Ashville, North Carolina. In many ways, Moog Music is the Harley-Davidson of the electronic music industry. Their devices are distinctly analog, encased in metal and wood, with knobs and switches taking precedence over digital displays and blinking LEDs.

Hans Fjellestad released this 70 minute documentary in 2004. It highlights Moog's obsession with sound and artistic creation, drawing from his wisdom with commentary from the likes of Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson and Herb Deutsch. If you're a synthesizer aficionado, it is definitely worth watching.

Moog: A film by Hans Fjellestad [official site]

Wear Your Politics On Your Sleeve... Or Lapel

It's been a long, negative, and cynical campaign running for President of the United States. Even those of you living outside of the U.S. haven't been spared this seemingly interminable process. That's to be expected I guess since we have the best country in the world (hooray!), the best political process in the world (wince), the smartest, most enterprising and best-looking citizenry in the world (bewildered smirk), etc. etc.  If all of that could even be true, it sure doesn't feel like it. Can't we just say that we have the best strawberry-rhubarb pie in the world and be content with that?

I shouldn't sound so despondent. This is as close as I get to following a sport. Every four years U.S. citizens get to wear their politics on their sleeves - and their lapels. Campaign buttons have been around since at least the late 1800s when mass production make it easier and cheaper than ever to create a giveaway of a candidate's likeness. Thankfully, buttons are also cheap enough to leave room for funny ones. This election thing is a serious business, but it's nice to sneak in a smile when you're pulling down that lever.

I found a big sack of buttons at a thrift store. All indications are that they are from one person's collection, and there were a number that are politically oriented. Let's have a look at a personal pinback time capsule.

Okay - this one didn't come from the thrifted bag I just mentioned. I'm a sucker for any candidate who makes swoopy analog music on the first instrument that you didn't have to touch to play. Obama has been portrayed both as some kind of uber-nerd and wizard, it seems like the theremin would be his jam. Obviously this is just a Photoshop composite (and not an especially good one at that), but it reminds us how important it is for a candidate to reach across the aisle - especially if there's a theremin over on that side.

Pretty much every election inspires TV fans of one polarizing character or another to put him up for president. For those of you who don't remember, J.R. Ewing was from the nighttime soap opera Dallas that ran from 1978 to (unbelievably)1991. The show was all about dirty business, lurid sex, backstabbing, even an "assassination" attempt in the famous "Who shot J.R." cliffhanger that left everyone guessing for months whether the lovable/detestable character was dead or alive. Those all sound like great qualifications to me for any president, past or future.

This is a more serious "message" button, showing double X chromosome support for the Reagan and Bush presidential run from nearly 30 years ago. Say what you will about how much women ultimately benefited from that ticket, but this button does have a clever feminine reference hidden in plain sight. Look how the "o" atop the "f" are connected to look like the astrological Venus symbol for "female". Nice, eh?

Here's an oldie that's true no matter what year you're casting your vote. Taking off from the sci-fi cliche, "take me to your leader", I've seen this button many times over the years. The idea of the government not just leading, but dipping deep into our pockets is an idea that's always going to be there. Maybe I'll wear this pin today along with one advocating the ruthless J.R. Ewing for president. I have a feeling that these are two buttons that voters on both sides can finally agree on.

[note: please don't turn the comments section into a bully pulpit for either candidate. Jokes and intelligently snide comments are always welcome (heck, they're our bread and butter around here), but we don't want our nice comments section to turn into a screechy mess. Inflammatory or cruel comments will be expunged, Nixon-style.]

Get Your Own Designer Radio

Once upon a time, radios were magnificent handcrafted creations that stood regally in the corner of living rooms across the nation. The arrival of cheap plastic-cased transistor sets in the 1950s put an end to all of that, as mass-produced radios became affordable status symbols for youth around the globe. The glamor evaporated as we raced into The Gadget Age.

There are still a few holdouts, however. Tom Kipgen is a retired salesman who launched a second career as a creator of whimsical radio sets a few years ago. Each is a handmade masterpiece, and no two are quite alike. Best of all, they're reasonably priced. 

The E.T. Crystal Radio is Tom's take on a curvy little green alien. In addition to an AM crystal receiver with a hand-wound coil, it incorporates a compact but powerful amplified speaker in its head. There's an on/off volume knob on the front panel, along with a headphone jack on the back. The tuner is a vintage 1937 FADA Radio mechanism that allows a full 360 degrees of motion. In exchange for a mere $245 earth dollars, E.T. could phone home from your house.