Circuit Bending?

[patrock]

Hey, I just started circuit bending in the past few days and have had INSANE success. Does anyone here have any old little kids circuit based toys, instruments, etc that I could have or buy from you? So far I have learned to adjust volume and pitch with buttons, switches, and knobs as well as make some pretty insane sounds. I also learned how to install standard 1/4 inch line outputs. I'm gonna post some videos up in a few days.

[piaptk]

WEIRD... I just (as in 30 minutes ago) sold 3 huge boxes full of toys, switches, etc. of circuit bending stuff. I did it a lot for several years,and haven't done much in a long time. Most of the stuff in the background of my belle and sebastian cover (see former B&S thread) was done with samples from circuit bent stuff. It's really fun. At some point I want to get back in to it.

[quixoticgoat]

i did some keyboard circuit bending over the summer. its a shit ton of fun. have fun finding the "ghosts" or whatever. ha.

[piaptk]

Wish I had seen this post a little earlier. I seriously sold 3 years worth of thrift store hunting for $20 just to get it out of my house. Furbies, keyboards, switches, pots, RCA cables, patchbays, etc. I still have some speak and spells, SK1s, etc. but I'm not getting rid of those just yet.

[patrock]

DAMN! I have been searching so much. I have fried through a good bit of shit I have been working with, I had an amazing working toydrum but it fried last night.

[piaptk]

Casio SK-1s are super easy... but they are kind of expensive. I've never actually fried anything, though. Here is my old circuit bending crew: www.myspace.com/easternblocrobotcowboy

[jefferoo]

SK1s are awesome, bent or unbent.

[palm springs]

Who are some artists using bent sk1s? the me and you and everyone we know soundtrack was done with one.
What's so special about this particular model?
Is it just a really basic circuit?

[patrock]

It has cool samples and they are relatively cheap and easy to find. Almost all of "Strawberry Jam" by Animal Collective was created using one or more circuit bent device, Geologist has a custom built bent sound generator that is UNREAL if you have a chance to see it in person. I saw them at a small venue not too long ago and had a brief discussion with him and he showed me around it. It is pretty insane, he is a smart guy. He built his own photo cells that are so precise that he can play melodies with it. Like, he was playing Stairway to heaven simly by moving his hands over it.

[piaptk]

The SK1 has a lot of cool sounds, allows for a mic input, sampler, etc. And, when you bend it, there are a lot of combinations that do cool glitches. You can even make a really cool, stable pitch bend. It's super easy to get good results. Some other units are more difficult.

[piaptk]

There are some people making AMAZING stuff that really know what their doing, but even a novice with no electronics knowledge can make something cool.

[palm springs]

http://images.trademe.co.nz/photoserver/28/57454928_full.jpg

Whatcha think? Worth a try?

[patrock]

I would give it a try if it doesnt mean that much to you. I HIGHLY recommend reading this whole page http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend/cb01.html it gave me a good sense of where to start.

[piaptk]

http://images.trademe.co.nz/photoserver/28/57454928_full.jpg

Whatcha think? Worth a try?


I think I may have seen one of those bent somewhere, but you are better off with 80's toys. A lot of the new stuff is so chip based that there isn't much you can do with it.

[piaptk]

Here is one of my favorite bends, you can hear me playing it on the Casper and the Cookies/KJA split (Power Stoopid):
http://sota.llarian.net/album/phonesprinkles.mp3
http://sota.llarian.net/album/sphonesamples.mp3

The top one is just fooling around with the knobs, the second is a sampler that is built into being tweaked with those three screws on the left side. When I opened this thing up, I doubted I could do anything with it. The circuit board was about one square inch, and there wasn't much to it but a few transistors. I replaced them with pots and touch contacts. Lost one of the knobs, unfortunately.

http://sota.llarian.net/album/telephone.jpg