Top 10 Most Musical Printers On The Internet

Posted by Rob Errera on 12/14/2018

Music is the universal language of the human soul, but our mechanical companions like to rock out too. Printers have a song to sing, and their voices will no longer be repressed! What some people call “electronic noise” we call music, and we are not alone. We found a slew of people making music with their printers, writing printer love songs, printer hate songs, printer anthems, and few compositions that defy description.

Here are the top 10 most musical printers on the Internet!

Queen Bohemian Rhapsody Old School Computer Remix

Oh, Momma Mia! Momma Mia! Beelzebub has a devil put aside for this old school computer remix of the Queen classic. An HP ScanJet 3C stars along with a star-studded cast of scanners, floppy drives, and oscilloscopes in this impressive — if somewhat perplexing — feat of programming.

Toccata and Fugue in DOT minor - Bach on a DOT MATRIX PRINTER

This masterpiece for pipe organ has frightened audiences since it debuted in the mid-18th century. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a lot of memorable music, but his Toccata and Fugue in D minor will forever be associated with old horror movies and classic villainy. The scariest part of this dot matrix version is the twisted mind of the programmer who created it.

Imperial March on Dot Matrix Printer

Computer geeks and Star Wars nerds unite! The Imperial March means stormtroopers are coming, and — if you’re lucky — maybe Big Bad Darth Vader himself. (Spoiler: He’s Luke father.) Played on a dot matrix printer, this iconic John Williams score comes off a bit thin, but it’s still better than the awful Cantina Theme.

Eye of the tiger on dot matrix printer

Most music created on dot matrix printers sounds pretty lame, but “Eye Of The Tiger” by Survivor rises up to the challenge of its rivals! Reducing this hit number from the Rocky III soundtrack to electronic data does nothing to rob it of its essential oomph and punch. Plus, Clubber Lang is scary, fool!

What Is Love On Dot Matrix and Floppy Drives

How do you improve on Haddaway’s ear-wormy one-hit-wonder, “What Is Love?” Lionovsky at Hardware Music transposed the catchy track for dot matrix and floppy drive, and the results are impressive, in an organic, Rube Goldberg kind of way. What is love? Baby, don’t hurt me...don’t hurt me...no more.

Harum Scarum Printers - Dot matrix printer music - Nesem vam noviny

This European import features two dot matrix printers playing a Czech Christmas carol called “Nesem vam noviny.” Created using only the print head pins and the stepper motors, the piece has surprising resonance and depth. Created at Czech Technical University as a joke for the Electrical Engineering Department’s faculty Christmas party. Bet you’re sorry you missed it.

Old (musical) Printer

This one is a bit of a stretch, but over 30,000 people have watched this ancient Canon Bubblejet 200 crank out a page of text. As poster Sam Johnson notes, the printer “plays happy and sad music when it’s starting,” and the comments concur, with one viewer gushing, “This video just made me so happy! My husband and I owned this same printer long ago and we still joke about that song.” There’s truly something for everyone on the Internet.

musical printer

This guy has a whole weird thing going on, hot-wiring old dot matrix printers so they’ll trigger midi synthesizers. So far he’s tackled the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey (AKA "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss), and an original composition that’s either avant-garde jazz or a cat running up and down on a piano. Curious to see what he comes up with next.

Crappy Printer Music Video

An HP Deskjet stars in this video, featuring a sad emo song that perfectly captures the angst all printer owners feel at one time or another. It’s loud, slow, and cracks like an egg when assaulted with gardening tools. We feel your pain, bro. Recycle that ink cartridge.

Object Terror: Printer's Song

Web series Object Terror (a fun pun on “abject terror”...get it?) is an animated reality show created by Legoboynj and features inanimate objects coming to life. We really don’t know much about this series, but we found Printer’s Song oddly satisfying.

Rob Errera

Rob Errera is an award-winning journalist embedded in the world of printers and printing supplies. Rob has nearly two decades of experience writing about cutting edge technology, business trends, and the ever-evolving industry of printing.