This article is more than 1 year old

HP ScanJet 3C takes lead on Bohemian Rhapsody

PC parts' Queen cover combo

And now, because you secretly asked for it in your heart of hearts: a version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody as played by an old scanner, floppy drive and Atari and TI computers.

Not the best sounding version, mind, but squeezing the modern rock classic from creaks, hums, drones, beeps and squeaks of antique kit should soften the hearts (and ears) of any lover of old school computers.

An HP ScanJet 3C fills in for Queen's Freddie Mercury on lead vocals, while a Texas Instrument TI-99/4a takes Brian May's job as lead guitar. Accompanying organ and piano is an Atari 800XL, and an 8-inch floppy disk replaces Jon Deacon on bass. Roger Taylor's percussion is meanwhile faithfully recreated by a 3.5-inch hard drive.

YouTube user bd594 said he composed the piece entirely from noises coming out of the machines themselves, with no effects or sampling added. The scanner, however, was recorded four separate times to accommodate for lead and backing vocals in the song.

It's a bunch of old equipment so don't expect pitch perfect music coming out of 'em - and synchronization comes apart a bit at the end. But hey, we're living in the days where Auto-Tune can fix anything short of cats fighting in a bag. This could be the next gold platter single here. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like