Japanese netizen kills time by learning to play a hit J-pop song on…calculators?

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J Dale Roll

It was a moving rendition of Kenshi Yonezu’s “Lemon”.

There are some weird instruments out there, like the otamatone, a funny instrument that looks like a singing musical note cartoon when it’s being played, or, on the opposite spectrum, the waterphone, which is what we have to thank for all of the creepy noises and music in horror films. Some musicians even make music out of unexpected objects, like open tape reels. But would you have ever thought that a plain old, basic desk calculator would ever be able to play a tune?

Apparently they can play a whole song, as demonstrated by Twitter user Atarime (@atarime_400), who played a minute-and-a-half cut of Kenshi Yonezu’s hit song “Lemon” on not one, not two, but three calculators, as easily as if they were playing on a piano.

電卓3台で米津玄師のLemonを弾いてみた https://t.co/h1OdEB7DPS

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あたりめ (@atarime_400) October 08, 2018

The calculators look like ordinary, single-function calculators, and given that the most noise that many desk calculators make is the click-clacking of their keys, it’s a bit surprising to hear them make such melodic tunes. The notes are, amazingly, spot on! Here’s a video of the original song for reference:

It’s no surprise that Atarime was able to play the music so flawlessly, even on calculators; the netizen is also a pianist, and often posts videos of their renditions of popular J-pop, anime, and video game music, like this Ghibli medley:

ジブリメドレーを作ってみました！ Twitterに乗せられる140秒の枠に入れて弾いてみました。（私的） https://t.co/0VvvRb4i1G

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あたりめ (@atarime_400) September 29, 2018

There’s no doubt that this netizen is a talented musician, although it’s perhaps thanks to the above calculator rendition of “Lemon” that they were able to gather their 134,000 followers. They’ve got one or two other videos of calculator music, but none so often retweeted as “Lemon”, so perhaps they’ll be releasing more in the future!

We think they should do a collaborations with some of the other calculator players in the Japanese netsphere. It would be awesome to see (and hear) a calculator orchestra!

Source: Twitter/@atarime_400 via Hamster Sokuhou
Featured Image: Twitter/@atarime_400