YouTuber Sam Battle has thought about making a Furby organ for seven years. And now, he’s done it (but at what cost?)
The tinkerer and musician who also goes by his YouTube channel name, Look Mum No Computer, describes his creation of a 44-Furby choir as a “formant Furby fusion synthesis brain modification surgery procedure,” one that comes complete with custom software and deft wiring and controls to make a sound that will haunt all ’90s babies for the rest of their lives.
Each Furby, either rescued from charity shops or donated to his cause, is connected to two microcontrollers that enables them to respond to commands from the keys of a piano, producing vowels and musical notes specific to the individual Furby.
This isn’t the first machine Battle has designed. He’s also constructed a synth bike, a Gameboy oscillator and a flamethrower organ.
Furbies first hit the market 20 years ago, when Tiger Electronics first released the blinking, talking robotic creatures akin to 1984’s Gremlins. Worldwide, the company sold tens of millions of Furbies, their languages matching their country of origin.
“The only thing that comes to mind is, ‘Why not?’” Battle told Vice when asked what possessed him to create such an instrument. Explaining that he was never allowed the toy when he was young, he said, “So it may be a backlash on that!”
“I mean I think I’m doing the Furbies a favor,” he said.