The Casio Tone VL-1 Emulator is a Free PC VSTi that accurately recreates the sound, feeling, and most importantly the cheese of the venerable Casio VL-1. You remember that Volkswagen commercial with that “da da da” song? Have you ever heard someone sing a cheesy ballad at an open mic with something that resembles a keyboard calculator? If so, you’re already familiar with the VL-1 sound. Digital, harsh, synthetic, but with lots of character.

Casio Tone VL-1 Emulator [Windows VST]

The VST version is scarily good. It doesn’t just playback the VL-1 sounds, it emulates the entire device to the point where it captures all of the original’s hidden features. Remember the old calculator and ADSR sound trick? Do you still have those 8 digit VL-1 presets you wrote on the back of your calculus notebook in highschool? Dig those out man, because the VL-1 is back, and this time you can save more than a single custom preset.

The only thing you can’t do is play like an uncoordinated idiot on a tiny ass plastic keyboard.
(At least in the ironic hipster sense.)

For those wanting to know more about the VL-1, and the magical sounds that can be made with it, check out the Maximum Cheesecore site, and the text version of the VL-1 manual.

Here in the blogosphere, we only care about up-to-the-minute technology, right?

On the contrary. We still find these talking balloons pretty damn cool. (via a huge post on the MIT Media Lab from Make:blog — go ahead, waste the rest of the afternoon)

State-of-the-art 1995 technology, so get cracking: a piezo sensor
mounted to the front face of the balloon lets the ballon's aluminized
mylar body act as both microphone and speaker. In layman's terms: the
balloons can talk to each other. (Don't say "I invented talking
baloons" and expect to get far in academia, though. The proper term, as
in creator Joseph Paradiso's article for the IBM Systems Journal –
fine bathroom reading, by the way — is "The Interactive Balloon;
Sensing, Actuation and Behavior in a Common Object.")

Yes, that's right, they don't talk to each other, they actuate each
other. Now go, read the paper, and build yourself some baloon speakers
for your next gig.