Truly music lovers don’t complain about spending a lot of money on a good quality piece of audio equipment, so this price of $54,000 for the Self-Contained Hootenanny isn’t nothing so whooping. Especially if have in mind that this luxury machine isn’t some sort of jukebox, but is an autonomous mechanical band using 17 instruments built into the cabinet to generate a verifiable rock party. Nestled in a handcrafted oak cabinet, the Self-Contained Hootenanny’s instruments are played by a system of precisely calibrated pneumatics which are capable of strumming and plucking strings while thumping and tapping drums.
Also, the machine stores 13,000 MIDI, MP3, and Karaoke songs that are selected using a 15″ touchscreen interface, allowing the operator to choose from 10 music categories, including big band, rock, blues, jazz, bluegrass, children’s songs, and more. As for the rhythm section, it relies on a bass and snare drum, which is further augmented by 12 auxiliary percussion instruments, including bongos, agogos, woodblocks, tambourine, maracas, cowbell, and a ride, crash, and splash cymbal. A bass synthesizer supports the entire “ensemble” which adds in plenty of bottom for each tune, while a full-size guitar and banjo provide the melody and harmony for classics such as A Hard Day’s Night and 99 Red Balloons.
Self-Contained Hootenanny is available at Hammacher for already mentioned – cool $54,000.
