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Scanjet Music

Posted by Hemos on from the the-hills-are-alive dept.

Popadopolis writes "Hack a day is reporting that HP Scanjets have a hidden ability to play music. According to the article, "The HP ScanJet 3c/4c have a variable speed scan head that is driven by a stepper motor. The Play Tune command can be used to move the head at different frequencies." They also have a video of a scanner playing "Fur Elise.""

34 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. And printers too by suso · · Score: 3, Funny

    And so can printers. (2000)

    Yes, yes, I'm in the process of doing a remake this year along with some other simular songs.

    1. Re:And printers too by Andrewkov · · Score: 4, Funny

      And you can use your mouse as a scanner while you're playing music on your real scanner.

    2. Re:And printers too by LlamaDragon · · Score: 4, Funny

      Musical instruments don't come cheap, it's no wonder the cartridges cost so much.

  2. neat. by User+956 · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's like the guy who made speakers out of some old hard drives.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  3. My C64 floppy could do that! by network23 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I could do that on my Commodore 1541 Floppy Drive.

    Fuck, I'm old. Sigh.

    -

    N3P: Two-year college level training in how to become a successful Project Entrepreneur in Open Source!

    1. Re:My C64 floppy could do that! by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I could do that on my Commodore 1541 Floppy Drive."

      You had a floppy drive? Upstart newbie. I had a tape drive on my PET2001, and the only way we could make music with it would be to record a BASIC program, then play the cassette in an audio tape player.

      Of course, this meant that any music we made had only two tones. Which wasn't so bad, considering the #1 album at the time was "Thriller."

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    2. Re:My C64 floppy could do that! by Ed+Avis · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I remember there was a cricket game for the BBC Micro that used the 'click' of the relay used for the cassette remote control to approximate the sound of leather on willow. (If your cassette player had a remote control socket you could connect it to the computer and then pause/resume of the tape would be under software control.)

      Also, I saw a program published in 'ZX User' or something like that to play music on the ZX80. Despite the fact that the Sinclair ZX80 has no sound chip. I don't know whether it was an April Fool's joke.

      --
      -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
    3. Re:My C64 floppy could do that! by timster · · Score: 2

      Or maybe you have bad taste in scanners.

      --
      I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
    4. Re:My C64 floppy could do that! by Oliver+Wendell+Jones · · Score: 4, Funny

      The drive head on the 1541 gets out of alignment fairly easily, particularly when playing "music" by banging it repeatedly against the the end of the track it was on.... (only a screw to adjust, but it was a real pain to deal with)

      Ye Gods, but that brings back memories. I worked part time at a computer store in Virginia. One of my co-workers was a Navy Master Chief named Bob. I remember a father and son bringing in a 1541 floppy drive for alignment and Bob, with a very serious face, asked the son if the drive was out of alignment from playing games with copy protected discs - or from copying games with copy protected discs - "it takes a different kind of alignment process, don't ya know...". I thought the kid was going to burst into tears right there rather than admit to piracy in front of his father.

      That Bob was a funny guy. He would straighten out a paperclip and drive it lengthwise down the center of a cigarette so the ash wouldn't fall off while he was smoking - then he would walk around the store and demo all the different types of computers we sold (Leading Edge brand PC clones, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore Amigas!) the whole time with this cigarette ash getting longer and longer...

      He's also the guy who taught me the trick for people who work in high-security areas. If you work where people wear an ID badge on a lanyard around their neck - and it's magnetically encoded (hey, this was a long time ago - long before RFID badges became common), you can go down to the local craft store and buy a long roll of magnetic craft tape the same width as the thickness of a desktop surface, and then run a length of magnetic craft tape down the whole front edge of someone's desk and every couple of days they'll find their ID badge has stopped working - again!

      Bob worked at the Navy Research Labs in Washington D.C. and one of his co-workers there asked him to take advantage of his computer store discount and buy him a copy of The Haley's Project, an educational astronomy program that was similar to "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?". The manual was made up to look like an important government document, complete with fake "TOP SECRET" stamps on most of the pages. Problem was, they worked in a secure government laboratory and the security guards weren't too keen on Bob's coworker trying to take home a manual stamped "TOP SECRET". Last I heard, he ended up having to stuff it in his underwear to sneak it out of the building... Oh, that Bob...

      --
      A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
  4. Für Elise / For Elise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not "Animal Skin Elise".

  5. Old BBS flashbacks by dada21 · · Score: 2, Funny

    This reminds me of a program for probably 15 years ago (or maybe 18?) that used an Epson dot matrix printer to make music by printing. I think it only played 3 approximate notes, and really slowly at that. Does anyone recall this software?

    I always figured those motors could be used in this fashion -- whenever you hear them operating you can definitely hear a musical quality.

    HP versus the RIAA, who will win?

  6. Old news guys... by herohog · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Old news... I discovered this some 8 years ago! There was some software on the install floppy that came with it that played several different songs!

    --
    Hero Hog AKA: Speedy, Dr. Speed 01000111011001010110010101101011
    1. Re:Old news guys... by uradu · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yep, and I think they later removed it, since we lost the original floppy and I could never find that app again in any of HP's downloads. Mind you, I think this goes back more than 8 years--when was the 4c relased again?

  7. Wow. This is kinda old. by Mike+the+Mac+Geek · · Score: 4, Funny

    I worked for an outsourcer doing HP printer/scanner pre-sales in late 99. We knew this then, and used the trick to impress the new guys. I found it on the net then, not even from an HP site. I'll have to hit the wayback machine to see if I can find the original place.

    It must be a slow monday. There is either nothing happening, or this has been in queue for over 6 years, and just got approved. Explains why my stuff never gets approved.

    --
    -------------------------------------------------- ---- The man, the myth, the something or other.
  8. Linux Kernel by komodo9 · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you print the linux kernel, it sounds like angels crying.
    --
    United Bimmer - BMW Enthusiast Community

    1. Re:Linux Kernel by schestowitz · · Score: 5, Funny

      Play a Windows CD backwards and you will hear Satan. It gets worse: play it forward and it'll install Windows.

      --
      My Linux - (L)ove (I)s (N)ever (U)tterly eXPensive
    2. Re:Linux Kernel by dosquatch · · Score: 2, Funny

      Play an AOL CD backwards and you'll hear Beelzebub say "Me, too".
      Worse, play it forwards and all of your base are belong to us.

      --
      "Hey, the third matrix movie would have been good except for the plot,story, and acting." --AC
  9. Inspirations... by turtleAJ · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was wondering: where the hell do they come up with these ideas?
    Then I saw the server name:
    ganjatron.net.nyud.net
    The GanjaTron...
    Ok, question answered...

  10. Bah.... by JazzyJ · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let me know when you have a whole lab of these networked and synced together playing like an orchestra. THEN you might have something!!

  11. Latest in a long line of such hacks by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    For instance, as early as 1964, the IBM 1403 line printer was programmed to produce music. Here is a page with a song sheet. While I cannot find a reference, I remember someone else at IBM who used multiple tape drives as a kind of orchestra, also in the 1960s.

    1. Re:Latest in a long line of such hacks by barronVonBackstabber · · Score: 2, Informative

      The Univac engineers did this at a site I worked at in the mid 80s. 19 tape drives configured to play Beethovens 5th I think, was quite a sureal thing.

  12. So did Sinclair ZX80 by jsveiga · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In the 80's, the nerd thing to do was to write assembly programs for the Sinclair. IIRC, you would convert the opcodes (which we all knew by heart) to ASCII, write a REM line with that, and run it (which I don't recall how).

    I'd write loops inside loops, with changing and interdependent step sizes, and it would generate sounds on a FM radio sitting on the computer top (I KNOW my Z80 clock was 3.57MHz, way below FM; it was most probably due to harmonics interference or the radio IF).

    I could get beats and interesting disco-like effects, and make alien phony calls. Then computers started shipping with speakers and sound processors and spoiled all the fun.

  13. Wow, cool. by gbobeck · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow, now this was cool...

    I'm waiting for /. coverage of my dog who can fart Beethoven.

    --
    Navicula hydraulica plena anguilarum est. Omnes castelli tuus nostri sunt. Ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta.
  14. that's nothing by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

    The same guy also made slashdot out of paper and crayon

  15. Re:Marry Had a Little Lamb by Gaewyn+L+Knight · · Score: 2, Informative

    Why yes.... yes you can :}

    3212333 222333 3212333 22321

    Amaze your friends!

    --
    Telcos have alot of dark fibre in the States. Most people assume that's optical fibre...but it's actually moral fibre.
  16. how old is this? by weierstrass · · Score: 3, Informative

    yesterday, this link was posted in a comment as part of the discussion to a story "guy makes scanner out of optical mouse". a couple of other posts pointed out that hackaday.com has lots more stuff like this.
    today it makes the front page.
    slow news day?

    --
    my password really is 'stinkypants'
  17. The USER and Xenophonics by fantoma · · Score: 2, Informative

    Printer and Xerox music

    The User - Symphony #2 For Dot Matrix Printers:
    http://www.emusic.com/album/10735/10735064.html

    Xerophonics:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008NGDB/qid=11 36825794/sr=11-1/103-5928890-1815068

  18. Too Much Spare Time... by Bushido+Hacks · · Score: 2, Funny

    I still belive that the dogs barking Fur Esles (sp) is more entertaining.

    Don't kow about the dogs? Google it! It is probably on the same site as dogs barking Jingle Bells.

    --
    The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
  19. Old news: this was reported in the HP Journal! by rsclient · · Score: 3, Interesting

    HP was happy enough about this that their old "HP Journal" -- a monthly tech. magazine that would go in-depth into HP technology -- had an entire sidebar about the exact escape sequences needed to play the music. It was a sad day when they stopped publication; it was a fun read.

    The same issue had, as its cover story, an article about how strap-on heart monitors work. Very cool, and the cover picture, of a small baby with a monitor on its foot, was striking. The same technology was put onto my oldest several years later when she was in the hospital right after being born.

    --
    Want a sig like mine? Join ACM's SigSig today!
  20. Band which uses old computers/printers etc... by 32bitwonder · · Score: 2, Informative

    The band treewave uses old computers, game consoles and an Epson LQ500 as their instruments. I find it amazing what they can do with old equipment like this.

    --
    www.brownsauce.org
  21. TRS-80 click by The+Conductor · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A similar techinique was used by the LeScript word processor in the TRS-80 model 3/4. The cassette relay clicked on the keystroke to simulate typewiter sound. If I remember correctly, the device independent I/O on the model 4 (TRSDOS 6) permitted inserting a filter on the keyboard input so you could click in any program, or insert the click-filter on the serial port and have your Compuserve input click like a TTY. A cool but useless hack.

  22. Mirror by linuxpyro · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here's a mirror in case it goes down: http://slashdot.whatsmykarma.com/scanjet-elise2.mp g.

    --
    Saying "I'll probably get modded down for this" in a post is the best way to get it modded up.
  23. ScanJet 4p song in firmware by kisielk · · Score: 3, Informative

    My ScanJet 4p has "Ode to Joy" embedded in the firmware. If you set the SCSI channel to 0 and hold the green "scan" button on the front while switching on the power, it will play. I always thought this was a neat easter egg..

  24. Tree Wave did this with a dot-matrix printer... by wikthemighty · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...some time ago.

    Check them out here

    --
    "There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer