Talkboy

Talkboy, with the microphone extended

The Talkboy was a portable variable speed cassette player and recorder manufactured by Tiger Electronics (now owned by Hasbro) in the early 1990s. Much like other Tiger Electronics devices of the era, this device was primarily marketed to children and teens.

The Talkboy can change it's speed to SLOW the speed of slow is 76% of normal speed. If you record it on SLOW and then speed it up, you have 130% of normal speed. Not all Talkboys are manufactured with the same speed. Some can be 86% of normal speed and then 115% of normal speed, which did very little to change the pitch.^{[citation needed]}

The Talkboy was originally conceived as a non working prop for the 1992 movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, used by Macaulay Culkin's character. In 1993 it was made into a retail version, brought on by a massive letter-writing campaign by young fans of the film. The product capitalized on the success of the film's VHS release. Sales were largely driven by this movie tie-in.

The device itself consisted of a handheld cassette recorder with an integrated grip handle for easy carrying, and an extendable microphone. The function controls were much like any other portable cassette recorder of the day, complete with play, stop, fast forward, rewind, pause, and record buttons. Additionally, and most distinctively, a switch which toggled between normal and slow speed settings for playback and recording was also included. This feature gave the user the ability to manipulate the speed, and in turn, pitch, of the recorded sound to act as a voice changer since the pitch difference wasn't dramatic enough to drag on at SLOW or be too fast to decipher on FAST like you would see at half and double speed.

Several spinoff versions of the device were also created by Ralph Osterhout at Team Machina, including:

• A pink-colored "Talkgirl," marketed towards girls
• Talkboy FX Plus, an ordinary writing pen with a built-in recorder and six buttons that play sound effects
• Talkgirl FX Plus, also marketed towards girls
• Deluxe Talkboy
• Talkboy Jr., a pocket-sized version of the recorder

In popular culture

The Books use found sound recordings from cassettes discovered in Talkboys purchased from thrift stores to create narrative for the track "A Cold Freezin' Night" from their 2010 album The Way Out.

See also

• Yak Bak