In his latest video, David Hilowitz takes an in-depth look at a forgotten record player keyboard for kids from 1977, the Panasonic Do-Re-Mi.

Hilowitz demonstrates how the keyboard worked when he got it, what he did to fix its problems, and then how it works repaired:

Video Summary:

“I recently got my hands on a pretty neat vintage item: the Panasonic Do-Re-Mi. It’s essentially a little analog synth / organ with a built in record player. Panasonic also sold a version with a built-in tape deck, and another even rarer unit that just contained the synth portion on its own. All three versions were released in 1977, along with the Panapic multimedia system.

The one I got was not in very good condition: I had to replace the capacitors, clean the keyboard, and replace the record needle, but I did eventually manage to get it back on its feet.

Naturally, the very first thing I did once I got it working was sample it. This proved to be quite an easy task as it has only one sound. “

The Panasonic Do-Re-Mi is a very limited instrument, but it also has a sound that’s very evocative of its time.

Hilowitz has sampled the Panasonic Do-Re-Mi and made it available as a free sample library.