Ill-Studio, the Paris-based studio by Thomas Subreville and Leonard published a book called ‘Incomplete Inventory’ in 2019, which contains over 300 photographs capturing part of the endless collection of analog and digital machines from the DEEWEE collection,
I dive into the catalogue and dig into the instruments and gear that was photographed for the book by Maxime Verret.
The picture above shows part of a Pioneer J-7 Disco Robo, a boombox made in 1984. It looks like Dave and Steph’s Disco Robo is a black one, though I saw pictures online that it was also available in red, yellow, white and grey. Initially sold in Japan, it looks like it was for sale in the US at one point. Here’s a (very 80s) commercial:
Here’s some more info on this goofy boombox:
It is extremely loud, being powered by 4 high powered speakers in swiveling housings. 109db is prominently and proudly displayed on the lower corner of the right speaker.
It has an electronically actuated tape deck that is simple, yet very reliable and gets the job done, an FM radio that is nothing fancy, just a knob to change stations. The Disco Robo also has very robust mixing features.
The 5-linear slide controls on the top panel looks like an equalizer but in fact, are mixing slide bars, allowing you to mix in the following sources: Mic1, Mic2/guitar, echo, tuner and pitch control. The large orange knob is also the volume control or mix control for tape and line-in RCAs.
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