2TAKTARE.MP3
"2TAKTARE.MP3" is the sound byte created by Daniel Malmedahl, which inspired Erik Wernquist to create The Annoying Thing.
Creation
Created by a 17-year-old Malmedahl in 1997, 2TAKTARE was his imitation of the noises produced by a two stroke engine.
2TAKTARE is a shorthand spelling of tvåtaktare, Swedish for "two stroker," referring to the kind of engine Malmedahl imitated. The very first name of sound byte is unknown, most likely it was "Britt-Erik - 2taktare," but the names of the file are known such as
- Britt-Erik - 2taktare
- 2taktare
- tvåtaktare
- tvåtaktarn
- tvåtakt
- Britt-Erik - moped
Daniel created sound not as a joke at first, but as a serious attempt to imitate the 2-stroke engine of a moped of his[1]. His friend put the sound on a CD that they used to play at parties.
According to interview with Daniel Malmedal from the BBC, "an acquaintance of Daniel's had posted the recording on the web", catching the attention of a Swedish television researcher, who convinced him to perform the sound live on air.
Spread
After rapidly spreading on file sharing sites in 2001, the sound byte was quickly included in some Flash animations that spread virally among Internet users. One notable example was the "Insanity Test". This video tested subjects to keep a straight face while staring at a still photo of a Ferrari Formula 1 car while the sound effect was played.
In late 2003, Erik Wernquist encountered the sound effect and was inspired to create a 3D animated character based on the sound. This character became "The Annoying Thing," who later became Crazy Frog.
Trivia
- 2TAKTARE was divided into 4 Jamba ringtones: Original, Nuts, Motor, Stuttering
- In S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky there is 2TAKTARE leftover named "trabantnoise.ogg"[2].