Free computer sound effects

Free computer sound effects from Yandex Museum!

The Yandex Museum (Moscow) has a special atmosphere and you can catch it even with your eyes closed. The computers on the stands emit sounds that cannot be confused with anything: fans rustle, drive electric motors buzz, speakers squeak, mechanical keyboards click. In such sounds – part of the beauty of the old machines, which worked slowly, but with all their appearance showed how they try.

To preserve this atmosphere crew recorded and published the sounds that accompany the work of museum computers. Listening to them you can imagine yourself as a scientific laboratory employee or an engineer from a design office in the 1980s – then only the lucky few had home computers, and people interacted with computers mainly at work.

Some of those old PC still making music! 

Equipment

Sound engineers handled the equipment and arrangement. Here’s what they brought with them for the record:

1. Sennheiser MKH 8050 supercardioid microphone.
   
2. Two cardioid microphones Oktava MK-012.
   
3. Portable sound recorder Sony PCMD100 with built-in stereo microphone.
   
4. Binaural stereo microphones Soundman OKM II Classic Solo.
   
5. Two pick-up coils for recording sounds from old telephones (for example, such).
   
6. Multi-channel portable sound recorder Zoom F4.
   
7. Multi-channel portable sound recorder Sound Devices MixPre-6.
   
8. Lots and lots of different connecting cords.

What machines were recorded?

• Compaq Deskpro 386S was aimed at business use. The 386S model was equipped with the then modern Intel 386SX processor and has been produced since 1988. A desktop-type computer case, a monitor was usually placed on top of the system unit. On the recording, you can hear fan noise, the sound of overclocking and hard drive operation, disk drive initialization, and a squeak during self-test.

• Robotron 1715 produced from 1984 to 1989 at the VEB Robotron plant in the GDR. Processor – 8-bit U880 (similar to Zilog Z80) with a frequency of 2.5 MHz. The computer did not come with a hard drive, only floppy disk drives. The sound of the cooling fans and the sound of the disk drive can be heard on the recording.

• DVK 3 и Kvant 4C. The interactive computer complex (DVK) is a family of Soviet computers from the mid-80s to early 90s. The DVK 3 computer is made in a monoblock-type case with a connected storage unit. The Kvant 4C computer has a desktop case. Fan noise is heard during operation.

• ЕС-1849 produced in Minsk for a short time since 1991. This computer was the only one manufactured in the USSR (and in the post-Soviet space) based on the Intel 286 processor. The case of the desktop-type system unit, the monitor was also usually installed on top. The sound of the fans, the sound of the hard drive, and the beeps of the self-test system are heard on the recording. Separately comes the sound of the game Paku Paku.

• Iskra 1030M —Soviet personal IBM PC/XT-compatible computer. It has been produced since 1989 on the basis of the KR1810VM86 processor, an analogue of Intel 8086. The case is of the desktop type. On the recording, you can hear the noise of fans, overclocking of the hard disk spindle, clicks of the keyboard and the squeak of the speaker after starting the Arkanoid game. After turning off, a characteristic (dissatisfied) crackling of a hard drive with an MFM interface is being turned off.

• The Soviet personal IBM PC / XT-compatible computer Neuron I9.66 was produced from the mid-80s to the early 90s. The computer is made in the form of two blocks: a processor block and a storage block. It was not equipped with a hard disk, loading was carried out through a disk drive. Each unit had a separate power supply and power switch. On the recording, the noise of the fans of the units and the squeak of self-diagnosis are heard.

• Nivka — is a Soviet 16-bit personal computer, partially compatible with the IBM PC XT. Produced since 1990. Most often used in industrial enterprises of the Soviet Union. Bigtower case. Fan noise is heard on the recording.

• The Facit N4000 tape puncher reader has been produced by Facit in Sweden since the late 1980s in two versions: a puncher and a puncher reader. It was intended for connection to a teletype or machine with program control.

• Recorded the sound of computer keyboard keys Model F which was produced from 1981 to 1994, first by IBM and then by Lexmark. The Model F keyboard is a mechanical capacitive keyboard. When you press the key, a loud click sound (click) is heard, the moment the key is actuated is well felt. Our Model F is part of an IBM PC 5155 portable computer, whose sounds did not interest us, but the keyboard sounds very pleasant. Perhaps we will return to his sounds later.

• Also recorded the sound of the keys of the Elektronika MC7004 keyboard connected to the already mentioned DVK 3.

That’s it! Now go for sounds!