What's the story behind the Disco Robo?

[Old school Scott]

All I've been able to find is "Made famous by Afrka Bambata".
How did he make it famous, did he commission it?
Of all the Boom box designs to come out during this time,
what inspired Pioneer to design this?
Why were there no imitators? there certainly were imitators of every other Boombox design.?

Cheers OSS

 

[sony_apm_fan]

Interesting questions OSS.

Pioneer mixed a whole lot of stuff into the Robo, Karoake, line in and Guitar inputs, along with reverb and FM tuner.
Added battery and 12v input, the thing became a portable system.

Kinda like the ultimate good time party machine, Robot stylin'

But was Karoake big in the 80's? Not so sure...when did it start?

They sold massively in Australia, were advertised heavily and were expensive units too.

I wasn't aware of any link to Afrika Bambata, though I do remember a KRS-One song that referred to Bambata....was it called Robot?

But you are right, it hasn't been imitated nor copied....it is such an oddity

 

[AZA]

Good questions OSS
Ones i cant answer im afraid but will be interested to see
what is said.

However i did see at my local Hi Fi outlet an ipod docking
station that could only bedescribed as a modern day version
of a Disco Robo but cant remember the brand ??
Perhaps i should get a pic of both together

Also it is said that the Disco Robo was the choice of many strippers
as their 'music machine' The perfect boombox for placing
in the middle of the room, crancking the music loud and performing
their routine around

 

[Old school Scott]

Nothing huh?
How about this question,
Is it a Boombox?

Cheers OSS

 

[Gluecifer]

The eternal question, OSS!

I'm inclined to not consider it a boombox, more akin to those massive Aiwa and Panasonic carryin' compo type affairs that aren't actually designed to be carried around but more so moved to a specific location and then used while stationary. Although my opinion is probably controversial as this definition could technically then be applied to a VZ as they need to stationary for their turntables to work, but their other functions to work while carrying. It's all a very grey area!

This gets me thinking, again, about attempting to set up definitions to separate boomboxes. ghettoblasters and portable stereos.



Rock On.

 

[shane higgins]

YES arron is write the push for these was around the big Aerobics (remember tight leotards sexy chicks) out break in the 80s
i remember the adds in the paper
also i remembers some thing about these getting banned in Australia for being to loud
i dont know if this was a pioneer scam for getting attention
and they sold for around $495 in oz
and yes they are boombox because a rich kid had one and we used to break dance to his tunes because he was the loudest
until the skin head with the conion came along f..k it was loud
and yes i love them
i want a green one

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

A few more questions and no answers....

Did these units have a cassette deck / cd player?

How many batteries do they take?

It's called the Robo and the speakers can be adjusted to point in different directions, do they move to the music?

This is such an odd design that I kind of think of it in the Kaboom kind of way.

 

[Old school Scott]

This is such an odd design that I kind of think of it in the Kaboom kind of way.

Indeed, and even as odd, the fact that nobody made anything that looks like it after it came out.
I wonder if that's why it's so hard to find today, perhaps they didn't make that many.

This gets me thinking, again, about attempting to set up definitions to separate boomboxes. ghettoblasters and portable stereos.

Bring it on Glue, this needs to happen.

Don't let this thread die. bring in any info you have on this mysterious Boombox, or portable stereo as it may be.

Cheers OSS

 

[jaetee]

I heard that the Robo Disco was the result of R2D2 going on a bender and gang-raped by a bunch of electronics on the bad side of Tokyo????

 

[shane higgins]

I heard that the Robo Disco was the result of R2D2 going on a bender and gang-raped by a bunch of electronics on the bad side of Tokyo????

so this is true :ls-duel: the dark side is dark so take a torch

 

[Strānj-Bōōmbŏks]

Well, being the Strānj-Disco-Bōōmbŏks-Robo that it is... it's no surprise that it's on my most wanted list!!!
I SIMPLY LOVE IT....

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

It surely qualifies as a Strānj-Bōōmbŏks but I have seen things I really HATE and I don't hate this. I could see this sitting on the beach bounding out tunes at the party! I bet with the fact that it has those adjustable speakers that you can really get some stereo separation.

In the video below, it appears to have a full logic cassette deck, it looks to have a speed control adjust to the deck as well as echo and maybe an eq. It looks like the person in the video switches to radio as well.

[youtube]LI8vre8u_JA[/youtube]
[youtube]QvZlvVu7svk[/youtube]
[youtube]37OFPpYQSns[/youtube]

 

[sony_apm_fan]

It surely qualifies as a Strānj-Bōōmbŏks but I have seen things I really HATE and I don't hate this. I could see this sitting on the beach bounding out tunes at the party! I bet with the fact that it has those adjustable speakers that you can really get some stereo separation.

In the video below, it appears to have a full logic cassette deck, it looks to have a speed control adjust to the deck as well as echo and maybe an eq. It looks like the person in the video switches to radio as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI8vre8u_JA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvZlvVu7svk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37OFPpYQSns

Pretty spot on here Chris, but the Robo doesn't have an Eq.

It has sliders for Line In level x 2, FM Tuner level, reverb and pitch control as it was designed to be a Karoke machine.

1/4" jacks for line inputs, one switchable for guitar / mic, and line out.

Yes, full logic "Mu" controls too and "Disco" effect (kinda enhances the output, but really just makes it overall louder)

Separation is improved by opening the speakers out but not by heaps, but it's a nice feature.