HP-3314A Plays the Hallelujah Chorus in 4-part harmony

When engineers design electronic test equipment and write the code that controls the microprocessors, sometimes they include what are called "Easter Eggs" within the code. These are hidden surprises which are not documented in the manuals, but can be activated by using a certain sequence of commands. The HP-3314A is one such device. It takes a few seconds to load the code, and then plays the Hallelujah Chorus.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• HP
• 3314A
• Hallelujah
• Chorus
• Easter
• Egg
• Agilent
• synthesizer

[mikeb56]

@wrtlpfmpf Not much ROM at all; they optimized it -- because they are good engineers.

[wrtlpfmpf]

That must have taken a _lot_ of ROM. Probably several kilobytes. Well back then they probably had to use a full-blown Z80 microcomputer system anyhow. And the price difference between a 16kbyte and an 8 kbyte ROM probably was negligible

[lesty2420]

Play Classical Gas

[crabpot8]

@blkmetlberzerker They show it in the first few seconds of the vid. Hold a few keys at the same time

[blkmetlberzerker]

Muahahaha, how do you activate it? That's what I want to know.

[1ucasvb]

Awesome! Chiptune from 1983 :)