Japanese Toy Piano from 1957 has electric bells inside! 

Ugh! The Telegram scammers are out in full force. If someone replies to your comment pretending to be me and saying you won something-ignore them. I don't have a Telegram account and I don't run comment-based giveaways. Stay safe! :)

I like how he always says it like, "so, something exciting just arrived in the mail," like they really just arrive in his mail randomly. If only that happens to the rest of us too.

You do the most amazing work I have ever seen. I can't imagine the engineers behind the design ever thought this would come of their work. Great job!

This is such a cool, weird little niche. No one else is doing anything like this that I know of. I love it.

you're amazing for giving us these obscure intrument sampler instruments for free. you make nerds like me really happy.

I really wish there would be a version with 37 keys (having a classical piano distribution) with a silent dual motor design that would also incorporate some clever "microphone" sensors on the "bells" to be able to amplify the sound in a cheap electrical analog way. (I am drooling at the thought of what this new sound could bring to the modern music)

Seriously--- every time you say "something exciting arrived in the mail" I'm like "oh man where does he find this stuff!?!" and I get excited for you...

What a little treasure from post war Japan! I understand your intent on sampling the best sounding single bell in the array and then using it for your entire sample library; but I would suggest that you go back and sample at least a couple others. My reason for this is that, in my opinion, much of the charm of an instrument like this is going to be in its idiosyncrasy, and this will be even more apparent when the tones are not all identical, and actually reflect some of the fragility and 'unevenness' of the original. Note I'm not suggesting you use them all, but at least use several of the best ringing samples for your library. Just a thought...

This is really cool. Obscure instruments like this kind of fascinate me. Also it's weird thinking about how eventually people are going to be making videos like this about the toys we played with as kids.

I love your voice, and the way your instrumentals always mix so perfectly with the tone of the video, honestly these are so well produced that it gives me chills sometimes watching them. Thanks for making content!

Cool toy! I've seen and heard instruments like this played in street music when I was a kid, for sure. As always, thanks for the very nice freebie :) How did you correct rhythmic striking for each note? That's cool!

Part of what makes this instrument so magical is that when you play the scale it is not tuned in the Ionian mode (AKA a major scale) as one would expect, but in the Lydian mode, in which the raised fourth scale degree (think C major scale but with an f sharp) creates a feeling of upward motion, of lightness and suspension. I call it the “starry night” mode, become it is often used in film music when something flies up into a star-filled sky. Very often a high-pitched metal instrument like a glockenspiel is also used to evoke the twinkling of the stars.

Your channel is one of the few that's an immediate click once I get the notification. The vibe of your channel really embodies one of my life's mantra: "Everything is interesting, all the time." Thank you for your wonderful and easily consumed videos and for providing such unique sample libraries.

the back story behind this is just really interesting to know about

I love these historical, restoration, music making, sample library creation videos - amazing! keep em coming :)

Did you know that the mechanism that strikes the bells (the plectrums? the mallets?) looks like it’s based on the mechanism inside of bike bells? (The old style ones that go like “brrr-brrring!”, not the new ones that go like “PING!”)

I love when you do these unique musical instruments videos.

I honestly thinking there’s some relation to real vibraphones, they also have a motor that creates the “vibrato” effect. That might be where they’re taking the name from.

Another beautiful video - thank you, David! It's wonderful to think how this charming little instrument is now able to ring out across the world - instead of rusting away in a landfill. It all could never have been foreseen.

The fact that you always turn the unstrument into a plugin is too amazing. You are simply great! Thank you

You are inspiration for a new 21 year old music learner.... This type of videos are so satisfying

the motor in my "Big Mouth Singers" toy piano is louder lol ... exactly the same instrument thought ... just made of plastic ... and it has awesome heads with mouths that open when you press a key ... Nice video !

That sounds a lot better than I was expecting. A nice feature to add would be a speed control for the motor, sort of like a Leslie Speaker, that would increase and decrease the rate of the knockers against the bells. Just something to add a little bit of an accent to the sound.

I like that toy for what it is, lots of technical metal folding and forming... a combination of multiple materials that all come together as a toy that probably indirectly inspired someone, somewhere to make music.

This is great, I kinda want one. Also this totally seems like the sort of instrument that Simon the magpie would do something with

Such great work. I'd love to see a sample with the original motor, add some reverb onto it and it would make a great horror movie instrument with the background noise.

This is such a cool, weird little instrument with an interesting history! It's more of a toy than anything else but when you started playing with the sample you got from it, it rally does sound nice! I like the constant percussive ringing of the bells a lot!

Having the spindle does bring it close into the vibraphone territory. Vibraphones have rotating paddles inside the pipes that can either be powered electrically or mechanically by a pedal, which create a very similar vibrating sound to this little piano. Just a little insight that there might be more to the naming than just the popularity of the instrument. I have a vibraphone that also needs its string replaced and it gets stuck on occasion. Mine is electric and the foot pedal releases felt pads allowing the vibration of air in the pipes to ring out.

Anyone else read the thumbnail as "This Japanese Toy Piano is filled with bees"

Is it midi capable? LOL 😆

I expect that the shell mitigated the motor noise somewhat (perhaps not by much).

I love this instrument, it sounds kinda space like. I think I know what I’m going to use it for.

This is some top notch community content. I mean this is too good for RU-vid. Bravo

Hey David, this is an awesome project and instrument, and an even awesomer channel, I must say. Truly insipiring! I am curious about your Decent Sampler. I take it that you are also a software engineer? Could you perhaps talk about (or make a video about) the development of the Decent Sampler? I am also a musician and an aspiring software developer (C/ Java) and doing music and music tech is kinda my dream. I would love to get a sense of how this kind of product is conceptualized, coded, and comes to life.

OMG DAVID! Idk who you are but that piano might have toxic led in it because it's from the 50s!! PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!

I love how the black keys are just painted on the white ones :D Another awesome video! I love watching your content and I really need to get back into making music again...

That's really cool! Where'd you even manage to find it?! I'm definitely going to use this sample pack in one of my upcoming projects. Thanks a lot! :)

As soon as I heard it, I wondered if it was what the Bonzo Dog Band used in the coda of "Sport (The Odd Boy)": ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EH6UBsACHGI.html Really enjoying your videos, David, please keep it up!

This has such a nostalgic sound, but not as a piano.... If you close your eyes when you listen to the sounds, you can totally see kids on bikes (from the 60s-80s) ringing the handlebar mounted bicycle bells (activated with your thumb) - which had a similar repeating bell percusion sound.... =)

This is magical. Thanks for these type of videos. I love how you research the backstory and the way you present it and then even give us a free toy to play with.

the fact that it uses bells screams "Christmas Music"!

Delightful story and delightful sound. On a technical note would not the noise of the motor be fairly easy to reduce with EQ as it's frequency is presumably fairly constant?

The sound reminds me of both calliopes and old phones. The bell you sampled from especially reminds me of phone ringers.

What a wholesome video, loved it. Thank you for sharing, David!

I want to find these instruments. It looks so fun to figure out how they work!!

I just recently discovered your channel and have to say thank you. Not many people sample these types of things and then just put it out there for free. Much love, major respect.

I honestly think you are an Academy Award caliber documentarian.

The sounds feels very 1980’s strawberry shortcake

i would watch the SHIT out of a video that is just going in depth on old ass toys and how they worked

When you’re starting to watch the video and almost say aloud “hi, nice to see you again too”.

Accidentally discovered your youtube channel. Very interesting digging into musical history, please keep up the good work!

oh my mom used to own one of these when she was a little girl but a bit more bigger than that. when we tried searching for it on the basement turns out a family of rats gnawed it's insides rendering it broken. i was gonna take it and recycle it but it got sent to the scrapyard sadly. kinda interesting finding this on my recommended

Really love Dusty Planets David. Great progression ambient electronic vibe! First time listener, just bought the track. Keep up the amazing work!

This seems to be in the same family as the glass harmonicas. The inventor called them armonicas.

It does have a vibraphone sound, if you ignore the motor.

2:53 - 3:07 when Americans first discovered guns:

Some restoration and some tuning and I'm sure that little piano sounds good

Amazing. I saw something similar to this thing back in 2017 at a friend's house. It had plastic ducks heads on it and each one was a bell, when the beak opened it made the sound. I tried to sample it but also found it too noisy because of it's motor and didn't have time to try and mod it which was a shame. So this is awesome, gives me that sound I always wanted. Thanks

5:12 i thought it said “John Deacon” and i was like “yeah! That’s what my favorite bass player is for!” until i saw the image a second later and i was like “Oh, that makes more sense.”

Amazing !! recording such sounds and digitalise them for future!

It operates similar to the glockenspiel stop on a theater organ.

You make some of the most amazing content I've seen in a long time.

I used to have a thing very similar to this. It was a Sesame Street keyboard from the 80s, it's keys were directly coupled to xylophone bars that would lift up into a rotary striker a lot like this. I always thought the workings were really cool.

This reminds me a lot of a reverse glass armonica

Wow! That is sooooo 😎 You're a bit of a geniius, Dave 👍

‘TN’ - I recognised this immediately from my robot collecting years. I saw lots of Nomura’s toys, but never this one. Beautiful. Thank you!

I can stop watching these. I like how a story is told and you always end on a happy fulfilling 'note'. It goes full circle :) instant subscribe

This channel is my new antidepressants

This reminds me of a musical toy I had as a kid in the 70's called Big Mouth Singers. It sounded just the same. Thanks for bringing back a fond memory.

I thought it said electric balls 💀

Japanese Toy Piano from 1957 has electric bells inside!　ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qLAzeQfMk4g.html香川県高松市ね。香川県。野崎マキコと夫の野崎春見さんは香川県出身。マブチモーターは松戸に本社がある。うちの近くだ。マブチモーター社長宅放火殺人事件という奇妙な事件があった。脅されたんだとしか思えない。マブチモーター社長宅放火殺人事件wikiを見るとあり得ないくらいに詳しく書かれているので嘘なんだと思う。以前も書いたが、私の父親門倉廣が事件の1週間位前に新聞広告を私に見せて「これ、マブチモーターの馬渕さんかね？」と言った。「庭師募集松戸馬渕電話番号○○○○○○」と書かれており、余程広い庭を持っている人が庭師を募集しているのだろうと思って「そうかもね。」と答えた。でも、だ。いくら金持ちで庭が広くても、その都度植木屋さんに電話して来てもらえばいい話で、常駐する庭師とか毎日のように頼む庭師などいるわけがない。手を入れたいと思った時に電話するだろうし、馴染(なじみ)の植木屋さんに来てもらうに決まってる。庭師とは殺し屋という意味ではないのか？電話番号は日付と時間だったんじゃないのか？犯人あるいは主犯は門倉廣か？と以前も書いた。何しろうちには拳銃が2丁あったからね。本物みたいだった。モデルガンの趣味があるようにも見えなかったのに奇妙だよな。 朝日科学玩具、野村トーイ、がいなかったらマブチモーターは、　ameblo.jp/akasikogorou/entry-12601746212.html ハズブロ wiki 1978-1985　おもちゃメーカーＣＭ集（野村トーイ・ツクダ・エポック他）　ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4wyS3JQPEMA.html 野村トーイ nomuratoy.com 私と同い年の人みたいだな。1962年生まれ。 都民の日・祖父様の誕生日・野村トーイ創立記念日。　pochilog.jp/4322

i know it's totally different, but it sounds almost like an electric marxophone.

The music at the end sounded lovely with this toy piano added to it and would love to hear this in full. Thank you for a great video.

Why do old things make me sad 😞

This is super cool. I'm just a random fellow in Japan, but if you have any other instrument related Japan curiosities please let me know. I'd be happy to help if I can. Keep up the great work!

I recently started my discovery into analog synthesizers and stumbled upon your channel. The creativity, curiosity and production of these episodes hooked me in. Subscribed. ✌️

Your videos are amazing man

This is awesome. Thanks for making this!!!

2:54 Mariah Carrey 🔥‼️‼️⁉️⁉️

The tiny piano is so cute❤

so cool. great video.

Your work is phenomenal. All the research, knowledge, effort and the way you put it all together in this 8 min format without rushing it is really impressive. And to be able to get the sounds you make is a gift, thank you very much!

What a wonderful adventure. Thank you for the "vibraphone" 😀

Ohhh shoot! So no package for me? LOL Great work on the piano though! My only wish on it would be a controllable speed control for the motor. Almost sounds like a mandolin, but with bells!

Play rush e on it pls

Interesting principle. It was probably not a very satisfying toy to play with, though. Can't wait to use the samples to play "One Less Bell to Answer", "If I Were a Bell I'd Be Ringing" from "Guys and Dolls" and anything from the musical "Bells are Ringing". I'll have to wait until next Christmas for the "Carol of the Bells". Thanks for the interesting video! This is the first one of your's I've seen. I'll have to check out the others.

That "Deagan electrical bells" instrument at 5:35... There was one of those attached to a theatre pipe organ at Ye Olde Pizza Joynt in San Lorenzo, CA for many years. The business and organ were there from the early 60's to 2003. Unfortunately, the organ console and anything near it (including those bells) was destroyed in a fire that closed down the business... I remember hearing those bells... did NOT sound good. I called 'em "semi-tuned doorbells".

Love the channel! Seems like such a simple but elegant way to make sounds, just one motor and a couple bells Going to look around to see if someone’s hacked together an easy to build version of this with an arduino or sth.

Your videos are amazingly well put together and just such a delight to watch!

you didi it again! love your video production and writing! Thanks so much for decent sampler!

FUN,......Cool. I was 4 in 1957. I like what you did,....and the music at the end, was probably the best that toy will ever sound. I hated the sound of (child sized) toy pianos when I was growing up. I wish I had known about this (child) sized electric organ I found in a junk store, that also ran on batteries, with a small blower-fan. It was all made of plastic. I was already in my 30s when I found it, and was pleased it was in perfect running order. I'm sure I didn't pay more than $5.00 for it. I played with it for a couple years, it sounded good. I sold it to a retro toy buyer, in my town when I got bored with it. Its either in somebody's collection, or in a display, by now.

This just kept getting better. The toy itself, what it looks like opened up, the crazy Deagan one, the conversion to Decent. Awesome!

It’s haunted stay away

Deagan actually made an electric vibraphone in the 1970s called the Electravibe. It’s got piezoelectric pickups on each bar and no resonance tubes; it was advertised as a portable vibraphone and was built into its case. Unfortunately, it still weighs 80 lbs.

Dashing through the snow In a one-horse open sleigh O'er the fields we go Laughing all the way Bells on bobtails ring Making spirits bright What fun it is to ride and sing A sleighing song tonight, oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh, what fun it is to ride In a one-horse open sleigh, hey! Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh what fun it is to ride In a one-horse open sleigh Now the ground is white Go it while you're young Take the girls tonight Sing this sleighing song Get a bobtailed bay Two forty for his speed And hitch him to an open sleigh And you will take the lead Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh, what fun it is to ride In a one-horse open sleigh, hey! Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh, what fun it is to ride In a one-horse open sleigh Oh, what fun it is to ride In one horse open sleigh!

I really like the tune that you made. It’s a very happy Japanese sound. :)

This is giving me some fairy or pixie vibes. Like, this secret, isolated kingdom of fairies hidden away from human society, untouched by anyone or anything. A magical utopia of thriving beauty, completely unknown to anyone from the outside.

I found your channel today, and I've watched a couple of your videos. I'm in love with your content now. Well, I'll keep watching more.

Your work is great dude! Think about what the people who made that toy would've thought if they knew it was sampled and used in contemporary music - decades and maybe centuries later.

My only problem with this library is that you altered the speed along with the pitch, making the tremolo of the lower notes slower and slower as it goes down. This makes all but the highest octave truly useable, since they don't sync with one another...