This week Tim Pickup explores the variety of noises, bleeps and melodies produced by the fruit machine.

Audio Adventures: Fruit Machine Music [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Speech disfluencies are parts of speech which are not generally recognized as purposeful or containing formal meaning, usually expressed as pauses such as uh or er, but also extending to repairs (“He was wearing bla—uh, blue pants”), and articulation problems such as stuttering. Use is normally looked down upon in mass media such as news reports or films, but they occur regularly in everyday conversation – Wikipedia
This episode is a celebration of umming and ahhing, the bits between the words in our everyday language.

Audio Adventures: Um [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

An investigation into the sonic possiblities of the SID chip; that famous synthesizer used in the Commodore 64 and other 80’s 8-bit micro-computers.

Audio Adventures: SID Music [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Death through inaction: Tim pickup emulates a number of 80’s arcade games and records the noise of doing absolutely nothing other than inserting an emulated 10p. Frenzied beeping.

Audio Adventures: The Golden Age of Video-Arcade death [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Once again, Tim explores the sonic possiblities of everyday electronics:

“The 555 is an integrated circuit (chip) implementing a variety of timer and multivibrator applications. The IC was designed and invented by Hans R. Camenzind. It was designed in 1970 and introduced in 1971 by Signetics (later acquired by Philips). The original name was the SE555/NE555 and was called “The IC Time Machine”. It is still in wide use, thanks to its ease of use, low price and good stability. Still today, Samsung in Korea manufactures over 1 billion units per year (2003).

The 555 timer is one of the most popular and versatile integrated circuits ever produced. It includes 23 transistors, 2 diodes and 16 resistors on a silicon chip installed in an 8-pin mini dual-in-line package (DIP). The 556 is a 14-pin DIP that combines two 555s on a single chip. The 558 is a 16-pin DIP that combines four, slightly modified, 555s on a single chip (DIS & THR are connected internally, TR is falling edge sensitive instead of level sensitive). Also available are ultra-low power versions of the 555 such as the 7555. The 7555 has a slightly different wiring using less external components and less power.” – (Source: Wikipedia)

Very low frequency or VLF refers to radio frequencies (RF) in the range of 3 to 30 kHz. Many natural electrical phenomena such as storms and lightning produce VLF emissions, and these can be recorded and enhanced using simple radio receiving equipmment.