VTech Little Smart Jazz 'n Jam

[Dan Dawson]

This is going to be a fun little project!
This is the VTech Little Smart Jazz 'n Jam, I got it at a local thrift shop for $2 and it seems well worth is so far. Now lets get into the stock specs.

Maine Features:

• 110 Buttons
  
• Flexible Fixed Mic
  
• "Scratch Pad"
  
• Record and Playback Function
  
• Multiple Songs and Instruments

Buttons:

• 14 Light Up Keys (24 Total)
  
• 4 Simple Beat Buttons
  
• Up/Down Octave Knob
  
• Speaker Select (Play Through Left/Right Speaker)
  
• Record/Play
  
• Stop
  
• Lessons (3 Levels of Difficulty)
  
• Instruments:
  • Flute
    
  • Sax
    
  • Clarinet
    
  • Chimes
    
  • Wood Block
    
  • Piano
    
  • Music Box
    
  • Steel Drum
    
  • Kettle Drum
    
  • Bongos
    
  • Cello
    
  • Violin
    
  • French Horn
    
  • Trombone
    
  • Trumpet
    
  • "Crunch"
    
  • Horn
    
  • Water Drop
    
  • "Hic"
    
  • Space Ship
    
  • "Zap"
    
  • Pig
    
  • (Drunk?) Duck
    
  • Electric Guitar
    
  • Banjo
    
  • Synth Bass
    
  • "Do"
    
  • "Mi"
    
  • "Squeeze"
    
  • Frog
    
  • Sheep
    
  • Bow and Arrow
    
  • Nickel Dropping
    
  • Puddle Splash
    
  • Conductor
    
  • Hammer
    
  • Star
    
  • Vocalist
    
  • "Yeah"
    
  • "Da"
  
  
• Songs:
  • The Wheels Of The Bus
    
  • Pop! Goes The Weasel
    
  • On Top Of Old Smokey
    
  • A-Tisket A-Tasket
    
  • The Farmer In The Dell
    
  • Old MacDonald Had A Farm
    
  • This Old Man
    
  • Row, Row, Row Your Boat
    
  • Polly Put The Kettle On
    
  • London Bridge
    
  • Old Dan Tucker
    
  • Hickory Dickory Dock
    
  • Hey Diddle Diddle
    
  • Mary Had A Little Lamb
    
  • Take Me Out To The Ball Game
    
  • Old King Cole
    
  • Three Little Kittens
    
  • Sing A Song Of Sixpence
    
  • When The Saints Go Marching In
    
  • Bingo
    
  • Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me
    
  • Polly Wolly Doodle
    
  • Skip To My Lou
    
  • Hot Cross Buns
    
  • Bicycle Built For Two
    
  • I've Been Working On The Railroad
    
  • My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
    
  • Oh Susanna
    
  • Sailing
    
  • Turkey In The Straw
  
  
• Beats

[/u]

• Hip Hop
  
• Jazz
  
• Rock
  
• Bossa
  
• Disco
  
• Dixie Land
  
• Blue Grass
  
• Polka
  
• Reggae
  
• Blues

[/li][/ul]

Here is a video of some of the basic functions.

[Dan Dawson]

I found some info on bending the DJ Jazz 'n Jam. Not a lot, just a picture of a bent one and a few sound clips. I emailed the pages author for more info but haven't gotten anything back yet. Here is the link. www.blankstare.biz/JazznJampage2.html
There is a another page on BlankStare about the Jazz 'n Jam also with limited information besides a picture and a few sound clips the link for that can be found here. >>> www.blankstare.biz/JazznJampage1.html

Here are the two instruments for BlankStare.




NOTE: These are NOT my bend instruments they were made by the owner of blankstare.biz and all rights to these images and his page belong to him.

[Dan Dawson]

Unfortunetly while messing around with the circuit today I may have ruined it. I think I burned out a resistor or cap some where but I am not sure yet. I really want to get this thing into action so I am going to test all of the resistors and hopefully find one I can replace and fix it! Right now when I turn it on it makes static and some of the keys light up. There is a good chance that I ruined the crystal but I am going to try to replace that with a 555 osc circuit so that I can control the speed and maybe get some interesting results. I have some nice pics of the circuit layout and the brain which is a custom IC made by VTech so I couldn't find much info on it.

[Dan Dawson]

I have totally dismantled the Jazz 'N Jam.
While I was trying to find out what was wrong I messed something up even more and the whole thing started smoking. I am in the process of putting the guts and brains of another toy keyboard into the Jazz 'N Jam's body. Right now this project isn't really a priority. I will continue working on it but at a slower pace so I can work on some other things.
That being said as of now I already have all the main keys wired up so that you can play it. I also have the 4 drum buttons wired up. From here I have to wire up the speakers, microphone, volume buttons and power switch and fit it all neatly in the body. I should have this done by the next time I post.

[Dan Dawson]

I have been trying to collect as much info on the Jazz 'N Jam as I can and in the process found a few on ebay for about $40. I'm glad I got mine for $2!

Ebay Link