EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 019: Cassette Tape Power Supplies

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

018: Cable & Pipe Locator

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

017: Telephone Remote Monitor

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

015: Conference Timer

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

014: Home Intercom

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

013: Indicator Audible Warning

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

012: Egg Timer

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

   011: Anti-Theft Alarm

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

010: Experimenter

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

009: Light To Sound Converter

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

008: Wash-Wipe Controller

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

007: Fuzz Box

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

006: Metal Locator

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

005: Simple Calculator

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

004: Laugh Simulator

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

003: Reactomatic

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

002: Electronome

EVERYDAY ELECTRONICS

 

001: Damp Locator

Earlier in the year, I purchased a job lot of Everyday Electronics magazines, a run that goes from the first issue in November 1971 up to August 1980.  I'm not particularly interested in electronics, to be honest, but I was drawn in by the fantastic mix of the visionary and the banal offered by the featured projects. In this new series, I will simply be sharing some of the most interesting. Circuit diagrams and full instructions may be requested, but will not necessarily be provided.

Kicking off with this ^^^ all time classic... 

THERE AIN'T NO PARTY LIKE A TRAUTONIUM PARTY

The Trautonium is an electric Synthesizer invented by Friedrich Trautwein in 1930. Trautwein's apprentice,  Oskar Sala, loved the instrument so much that he spent the next 72 years playing it and perfecting its design.

In 1963, Sala used an iteration of the Trautonium to provide the eerie chittering soundscapes that provide the only score for Hitchcock's last masterpiece, The Birds.

A fascinating mix of organ, synth and souped up electric cello, the instrument straddles the olde worlde and the science fiction-y simultaneously and, perhaps unsurprisingly, failed to break into public consciousness. Sadly, since Sala's death in 2002, this labour of love has fallen further into obscurity, with only a handful of people left in the world who know how to play it.

See it, and Sala, in action HERE.

JOG ON

You want entertainment and excitement, yeah? The old bread and circuses? You got it, courtesy of hyperactive Italian Ms Raffaella Carra. Now do one.