Commodore Remix

I suppose the change from bulky valve products to dinky transistorised ones still frightened people who thought they were too delicate. Gear just looked it that's all, though much budget stuff really was trash.

As it happens, valve equipment was most likely to fail.



And a word from Commodore themselves wouldn't go amiss...





http://www.youtube.com/user/OnlyGoodCommie

Heh. Just one of the home computing phobias. Others I remember:

- Computer viruses will damage your hardware permanently

- Fast loaders will break the disk drive

- Room temperature has to remain constant

- Ground yourself before touching the computer

LOL at that audio tape.... think I remember having a mate who got that, damn, its like 1990... were people that stupid with computers then?

It's amazing how basic our introductions to computers were. Most people still want it quick, but they need a lot more than hooking one to the TV now.

Though there were epics, such as this two-hour promo.


Mind, it was the BBC who broadcast what was perhaps the iconic introduction to domestic computers. And in a whole series too:


http://www.youtube.com/user/GameDocumen ... w=0&page=2

MAKING THE MOST OF THE MICRO. Classic: http://www.youtube.com/user/MicroManMachine/videos

This (and the other videos down the side) also look a goldmine. Much to download and be glad of that people had video recorders: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kTYb6O0lVI

Lastly..


Ahoy, April 1985.

That's the changing times for you. Get that question today and you would think someone was taking the p*ss.


_______________

Having said that, retro-fitting pianos is still a niche joy.

Piano MIDI out: http://www.qrsmusic.com/storyclark-p.as ... 1&pid=3394

I don't think they do MIDI in any more: http://www.concertpitchpiano.com/Pianos ... nists.html

Or get someone else to do it for you: http://possessmypiano.com/

That's so funny from today's view. I hadn't known there were actually press-key devices.

You think that's good? Get a load of this:




An automatic violin player with its musical data played from paper rolls. The principle was already there before computer music was ready. It even sounds like a synth or sampler!

Look at episode one of The Computer Programme. Rex Malik said the PCs of 2002 would be so powerful that most of the time they'd just sit idle, 'like a car on the kerb', as if software wouldn't considerably advance after 1982. I love how these people foresaw the horsepower yet had no inkling of what we'd do with it.

Oddly, the BBC were imaginative in predicting how computers could integrate peripherals (like the Laserdisc system for Encarta-style text and video). Yet even with Fairlight and other clues, they didn't see how computers beyond the workstations could do the same jobs themselves.