Lost Toy with Subliminal Message
Oct 5, 2023 17:43:39 GMT
thedarkoneisrising and almightykingprawn like this
Post by Springy on Oct 5, 2023 17:43:39 GMT
The tumblr post has proven to be very successful! No audio but the word is out, and I got some more photos plus advice for the toy from it. For anyone looking in from tumblr, hello and thank you for your contributions so far!
Sunny from the ETA (Electronic Toy Archive) here!
If anyone is reading this: please check your local thrift store for this soother. Please go and find it, it’ll be worth the 3$ you spent on the rare tugboat soother… if it works.
Now, for some advice on recording audio from most electronic toys: you can either take it apart and direct it, or you can just buy a coil (around 3-8 dollars US) and place it where the speaker is. The coil is an easier method and is recommended if you don’t want to break the toy trying to direct the audio from it, especially for it being a ultra-rare one like the recalled Kid Connection soother. The coil recordings count as HQ audio and the direct recordings are, well, directly from the toy’s motherboard.
But theres a catch with the coil: if the toy has motors it will also pick up the motor noise. (If the soother has a sound-only setting, use that to record with the coil)
It may also pick up some background noise not from the toy.
The coil plugs into a 3.5mm input and will record electromagnetic pulses, like the ones a speaker’s voice coil makes as it makes sound. I record toy audio using Audacity on a computer with a 3.5mm audio input and a coil. Some laptops may also ask what type of device you plugged into the port (the one I have, an Acer laptop, does this)
Before you begin, confirm that it’s recording from the coil by choosing the source for the coil (it would probably be the realtek microphone for most computers since it usually blocks off the built in mic to use the coil.)
Then, set the recording channel to mono. That way, the audio won’t play in the left ear when you play or export the recording. Coils are mono only, and I doubt there are stereo coils out there.
Try speaking for a bit. Coils work different to a microphone - mics pick up sounds around it, and coils pick up electromagnetic pulses. Do you see a waveform on screen? You may have not plugged it in fully, or chose the source that corresponds to the coil. Try again until you don’t see the waveform show when you talk. Now that you got that all set up, get the toy of choice (like the tugboat soother for example) and find where the speaker holes are. Place the coil on the speaker holes and now hit record. Turn the toy on and record the audio from it - all the things it plays, including the lullabies (I’m betting it’s square wave music with 2 note polyphony and that one of the songs are Brahms or Twinkle Twinkle) and the ocean sounds it plays.
Please reblog this as it is very important advice for those who ever find this toy and want to archive the audio properly instead of doing a mic recording.
If anyone is reading this: please check your local thrift store for this soother. Please go and find it, it’ll be worth the 3$ you spent on the rare tugboat soother… if it works.
Now, for some advice on recording audio from most electronic toys: you can either take it apart and direct it, or you can just buy a coil (around 3-8 dollars US) and place it where the speaker is. The coil is an easier method and is recommended if you don’t want to break the toy trying to direct the audio from it, especially for it being a ultra-rare one like the recalled Kid Connection soother. The coil recordings count as HQ audio and the direct recordings are, well, directly from the toy’s motherboard.
But theres a catch with the coil: if the toy has motors it will also pick up the motor noise. (If the soother has a sound-only setting, use that to record with the coil)
It may also pick up some background noise not from the toy.
The coil plugs into a 3.5mm input and will record electromagnetic pulses, like the ones a speaker’s voice coil makes as it makes sound. I record toy audio using Audacity on a computer with a 3.5mm audio input and a coil. Some laptops may also ask what type of device you plugged into the port (the one I have, an Acer laptop, does this)
Before you begin, confirm that it’s recording from the coil by choosing the source for the coil (it would probably be the realtek microphone for most computers since it usually blocks off the built in mic to use the coil.)
Then, set the recording channel to mono. That way, the audio won’t play in the left ear when you play or export the recording. Coils are mono only, and I doubt there are stereo coils out there.
Try speaking for a bit. Coils work different to a microphone - mics pick up sounds around it, and coils pick up electromagnetic pulses. Do you see a waveform on screen? You may have not plugged it in fully, or chose the source that corresponds to the coil. Try again until you don’t see the waveform show when you talk. Now that you got that all set up, get the toy of choice (like the tugboat soother for example) and find where the speaker holes are. Place the coil on the speaker holes and now hit record. Turn the toy on and record the audio from it - all the things it plays, including the lullabies (I’m betting it’s square wave music with 2 note polyphony and that one of the songs are Brahms or Twinkle Twinkle) and the ocean sounds it plays.
Please reblog this as it is very important advice for those who ever find this toy and want to archive the audio properly instead of doing a mic recording.
Sunny has emailed the source of these images, so I wouldn't do more action in that regard.
I can't believe my third most active lost media contribution is a cursed toy lol. Hoping this can help get this toy in safe hands where it can be properly documented.
