Post #1109435

2026-04-12 18:10 UTC

Lately, there has been some talk of the Franklin Language Master 6000 SE, a talking dictionary released around 1991, which holds some nostalgia for some of us blind and visually impaired folks. In February of 2025, not long after I acquired one again, during a thing we called #Movuary, I sequenced a silly little song using noises and phrases generated by the LM6000SE, along with a couple of drum tracks, on my then relatively new Ableton Move. I ended up only using three tracks for this project, because it was so busy, I couldn&#39;t think of what to do with a fourth track. I called it &#39;Ya Got Me&#39;, which is a phrase from Keyboard Wizard, and coincidentally one of the few things it speaks without pausing at the end of each word, most likely because it was hard-coded as a single string of phonemes or something. The only other thing I know of like that is the start of the demo, when it says &quot;Welcome to the special edition. Let me show you what I can do.&quot; To this day, this is still one of my favorite things I&#39;ve ever done on Move. It&#39;s just unnecessarily happy, unlike me. Sorry for the transcoding. My instance seems to think that the FLAC version is unprocessable, so I had to convert it to mp3 first. YUCK! Of course, Mastodon transcodes that again, and the artifacts are quite noticeable with the pulse waves, So I will also include a link to the flac. http://www.borris.me/audio/movuary2025/11-Ya_Got_Me.flac

Replies (19)

@dodecahedron@fwoof.space 2026-04-12 18:50

@BorrisInABox it's actually e flat major, but who cares.

Open ##2084493
@mcourcel@allovertheplace.ca 2026-04-12 19:02

@BorrisInABox Hehehe lolol! So much silliness, but hilarious!

Open ##2084498
@startrek2025@mastodon.stickbear.me 2026-04-12 19:24

@BorrisInABox OMG, I loved that dictionary. Totally got little homework done playing Word train and keyboard wizzard. Did they ever release anything updated from the 1991 model?

Open ##2084499
@morganlynn1992@mindly.social 2026-04-12 19:26

@BorrisInABox I'm in quite a bit of pain this morning due to my scoliosis, and this little track has brought me so much joy. thank you! I'd dance to it if I felt like I could move like that right now LOL.

Open ##2084505
@DavidGoldfield@allovertheplace.ca 2026-04-12 20:32

@BorrisInABox That .. is .. wonderful. Thank you.

Open ##2084506
@CreativeChris@tweesecake.social 2026-04-12 20:58

@BorrisInABox @DavidGoldfield I love this! Thanks so much for creating this! After my original unit bit the dust, I acquired another one of these Language Masters a few years ago and it's really fun to have it back. I got an original one around the time when it came out.

Open ##2084507
@JessicatheVIArtist@kind.social 2026-04-12 21:19

@BorrisInABox This is really cool!!! I had a Spanish one in the early 2000s when I was taking AP Spanish & going to Spain with my class.

Open ##2084508
@ednun_p@tweesecake.social 2026-04-12 21:20

@BorrisInABox that was the one with many many many tiny keys and the game where you had to essentially press letters to stop the word bombs from falling right? fun little thing.

Open ##2084510
@JessicatheVIArtist@kind.social 2026-04-12 21:25

@BorrisInABox P. S. How'd you record the Franklin? Does it have a headphone out?

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@KaraLG84@dragonscave.space 2026-04-12 21:38

@BorrisInABox I stil like this. :) how did you extend the saw wave thing? The looper?

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@keao@caneandable.social 2026-04-12 22:10

@BorrisInABox hey how do you get that demo to work? I still got my language master

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@robini71@dragonscave.space 2026-04-12 22:29

@BorrisInABox OOh I did so love the anagram game on that thing.

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@jcsteh@aus.social 2026-04-13 01:31

@BorrisInABox haha cute.

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@jpellis2008@dragonscave.space 2026-04-13 01:33

@simon @BorrisInABox I still have one from 1994 in perfect condition, works 100%.

Open ##2084527
@andrew@social.hodgson.io 2026-04-13 08:58

@BorrisInABox I'm still very curious about the pausing at each word thing. Initially I thought it was because they recorded each word in the dictionary to ROM, but based on that demo, which I never knew about back in the day BTW, I now think its because they are sending each word to the Keynote one at a time so they can keep the screen highlighting in place.

Open ##2084532
@TomGrant91@tweesecake.social 2026-04-13 16:26

@BorrisInABox there is another one in the demo. Thanks for listening. Now go try me for yourself

Open ##2084534
@Mitmee_Pie@tweesecake.social 2026-04-13 20:43

@brian_hartgen @BorrisInABox This little song is seriously awesome! I've always wanted that talking language master, mostly for the anagrams game, but I've never been able to find one I could afford. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Open ##2084535
@SerenaTori@dragonscave.space 2026-04-14 23:34

@BorrisInABox @FreakyFwoof Oh my god! This brings back memories. I am old enough to know what these machines were like. I used one extensively in the mid and late 90s. Pretty much grew up on the damn thing. LOL.

Open ##2084536
@izziegofficial@musicians.today 2026-04-15 18:29

@BorrisInABox I like that a lot! I miss that thing. I had one for a while, and would take it around with me, looking up all kinds of words. then at some point, I encountered the new one, with the different voice. and... didn't like that one as much.

Open ##2084537