In the early 70s, Nintendo had not yet decided to focus on (electronic) toys and games only. They were still branching into various markets, trying their luck in areas as diverse as office supplies (
Uni-rack storage system,
Copylas photocopier), home appliances (
Candy Machine for candy floss at home) and baby gear (
Mamaberica stroller and
Twins seesaw).
Most of these ventures had limited success, and did not see more than one or two products per category.
The
Ele-Conga (エレコンガ) is another example of this: an electronic drum machine which was more serious musical instrument than toy.
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| Nintendo Ele-Conga |
The
Ele-Conga was released in 1972 and retailed for ¥9,800. It has product code "ECG".
The
Ele-Conga (short for Electronic Conga) was another invention involving resident engineer and inventor
Gunpei Yokoi. It shows Nintendo getting to grips with increasingly complex electronic products (following the
Love Tester,
Kousenjuu light beam series and the
Light Telephone).
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| Ele-Conga Manual |
The
Ele-Conga came with three removable legs and a carry strap.
A pretty power-hungry animal, the
Ele-Conga required no less than eight batteries to operate: 6 C cells and 2 AA batteries. Thankfully, as is customary for most products sold in Japan, the batteries
were included. The bottom of the
Ele-Conga needs to be removed to insert the batteries.
When switched on, the
Ele-Conga can produce five different electronically generated (analogue) drum sounds. Each of the five buttons on the top represent a single sound. Multiple buttons can be pressed at the same time.
The speaker is located just below the buttons on the top.
The five sounds the
Ele-Conga can produce are: (S) Snare, (M) Maracas, (C) Claps, (HC) High Congas and (LC) Low Congas.
The manual includes a number of rhythm patters that can be played with the
Ele-Conga, showing which buttons to press to produce a Mambo or Cha-Cha.
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| Rhythm patters are provided on the back of the manual |
On the side of the
Ele-Conga, you can find a volume dial and a line-out to connect the Ele-Conga to an external amplifier.
The bottom connector allows the
Ele-Conga to be connected to the
Autoplayer: a clever accessory for people who are somewhat rhythmically challenged.
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| Ele-Conga Autoplayer manual |
The
Autoplayer (アートプレーヤー) was sold separately for ¥1,200. It has product code "ECG-MX".
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| Ele-Conga advertisement: Latin Rhythms for ages 10 and up |
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| Ele-Conga Autoplayer |
The
Autoplayer set includes the
Autoplayer itself, eight programmed rhythm discs, ten blank rhythm discs and a hole puncher.
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| Ele-Conga Autoplayer set, including rhythm discs |
When using the
Autoplayer, it was no longer necessary to press the buttons of the
Ele-Conga at the right time to produce a rhythm. The
Autoplayer would do this for you.
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| Ele-Conga Autoplayer manual |
The
Autoplayer has a dial on the side, which is used to turn the rhythm disc placed on the top.
The rhythm discs work simliar to old fashed computer punch cards. On the left side of the top of the
Autoplayer, you can see five contacts. The holes in the discs contain the rhytm pattern to be played. If a hole in the rhythm disc passes one of these contacts, the corresponding sound would be played by the
Ele-Conga.
The eight rhythm discs that came with the Autoplayer include: Beguine, Bossa-Nova, Cha-Cha, Chindon-Ya (a Japanese March), Mambo, Rhumba, Rock and Samba.
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| Two of the eight rhythm discs that came with the Autoplayer |
By turning the dial of the
Autoplayer by hand, the
Ele-Conga would produce the rhythm programmed into the disc.
I mentioned this was an accessory for the somewhat less musical, but it still requires the dial to be turned at a steady pace to produce a tight beat.
It is also possible to create your own rhythm discs for the
Autoplayer.
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| The manual explains how to create your own rhythm pattern |
You create your own rhythm disc by punching the desired holes in one of the blank discs, using the provided hole puncher.
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| Blank rhythm disc for the Ele-Conga Autoplayer, with hole puncher |
The
Autoplayer's cable is connected to
Ele-Conga, using the port on the side of the
Ele-Conga.
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| Ele-Conga and Autoplayer |
The bottom of the
Autoplayer fits neatly on the top of the
Ele-Conga.
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| Combining Ele-Conga and Autoplayer into a single instrument |
The
Ele-Conga was produced in three colors: yellow, red and green.
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| All three Ele-Conga colors |
The
Autoplayer also came in matching yellow, red and green. However, every color combination of
Ele-Conga and
Autoplayer works just as well.
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| All three Autoplayer colors |
The
Ele-Conga was a high-quality product and quite advanced for its time, given that drum machines had only become available to a more mainstream audience as part of organs in the 60s.
You can see it in action in the video below. And you can hear and download the sounds
here.
Besides the
N&B Block Ringer, the
Ele-Conga would remain Nintendo's only endeavor into the music business. Well, that is, if you do not count
Wii Music.
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| The entire Ele-Conga family |
[2020 Update] I further expanded my
Ele-conga collection, when I added the original carry
Soft Case, which was sold separately as an option.
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| Ele-conga Soft Case |
More on that neat accessory
in this post.
[2022 Update] For a restored version of the Eleconga manual, check out this post.