CIRCUIT BENDING ... Mini forum in a single thread !!!

[pHz]

a couple of recent threads have shown thats theres at least a small group of us at KVR interested in circuit bending (or data bending) in one form or another and the suggestion was made to have a dedicated forum here for it ...

... now ... im not sure it fits in the KVR remit TBH so what i propose for now is that i sticky this thread and we use this to discuss circuit bending and all its relatives ... show what were working on ... ask questions ... share links and resources ... whatever ...

(if people post links etc then ill try to keep this first post updated with a categorised list of them)

... i know there are places on the net already dedicated to this subject but since it fits broadly into the sphere of digital / electronic music it might be nice to have somewhere based here to drop in and chat about it too ...



KVR CIRCUIT BENDING LINKS LIST

OTHER KVR THREADS ABOUT CIRCUIT BENDING
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... rcuit+bend
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=147551
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... it+bending
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... it+bending
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... it+bending
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2072038 (not STRICTLY circuit-bending but cool DIY stuff nonetheless)

CIRCUIT BENDING RESOURCES
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0764 ... y&v=glance
http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend
http://homepage.mac.com/tmckaskle/bending/broken.htm
http://emusician.com/mag/emusic_art_cre ... index.html
http://www.oscillateur.com/index.php
http://www.getlofi.com
http://www.circuit-bent.net/links.html
http://www.bentpedals.com/index.php
http://www.cementimental.com/links.html
http://www.bplr.com/born_again.htm
http://www.necrosensual.com/bent.html
http://www.electro-music.com/forum/forum-113.html
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/databenders
http://www.em411.com/show/forum/14
http://www.burnkit2600.com/links.html
http://www.eio.com/noise.htm
http://www.mikmo.dk
http://www.notbreathing.com
http://www.sailormouth.org
http://www.klangbureau.de
http://www.machinenoise.com
http://www.bendwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
http://www.experimentalistsanonymous.com
http://stormscorner.com/ewb
http://www.bentfestival.org/workshops.php

EXAMPLE CIRCUIT BENT INSTRUMENTS (SOUND AND VISION)
http://www.roilnoise.com/bending.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSg_KXs2 ... ed&search=
http://www.bplr.com/born_again.htm
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0LcPssLqeCk& ... ed&search= (then just follow the related links)
http://platonicworld.com/bent.htm
http://www.necrosensual.com/bent/gallery
http://www.pbase.com/tyoung/circuitbending&page=all
http://www.getlofi.com/gallery/view_alb ... gly&page=1
http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/gallery.html
http://www.khate.org/bent/index.html
http://www.ciat-lonbarde.net
http://www.feralcatscan.com
http://www.barkonarova.com
http://www.sighup.ca/gif/beq.jpg
http://www.sighup.ca/gif/trem.jpg
http://www.sighup.ca/gif/bent.jpg
http://burnkit2600.com/gear
http://absurdity.biz
http://www.f7sound.com/circuitbend.htm
http://www.mysterycircuits.com
http://www.techdweeb.com
http://www.casperelectronics.com
http://baragon.8m.com/main.html
http://www.xdugef.com
http://alien-devices.com
http://gieskes.nl/circuitbending/
http://www.bplr.com/circuits.htm
http://www.floorshow.com/foodteam/
http://www.blankstare.biz/
http://billtmiller.com/circuitbending/
http://www.jwdavies.com/circuitbending.htm
http://www.happyrobotmusic.co.uk/8bitcircuitbent.html
http://4mspedals.com
http://homepage.mac.com/kaseo/circuit_b ... index.html
http://www.allerian.com
http://computertruck.parishq.net
http://www.mysterycircuits.com
http://www.geocities.com/sean_shameless ... nding.html
http://www.chipmusik.de/monome/sdiy.php?sprache=en
http://www.xdugef.com/x/toys/index.htm
http://www.anoderecords.com
http://qotile.net

STUFF RELATED TO CIRCUIT BENDING BUT NOT QUITE THE SAME
http://www.a1parts.com/newkits/keyboard/
http://www.electrokits.com/electronics/ ... /index.htm
http://www.apogeekits.com/theremin.htm
http://montek-com.canadawebhosting.com/ ... hp?cat=437

PARTS AND TOOLS
http://www.maplin.co.uk/?C=GKW&U=TA&T=B ... EAoddmUNYg
http://www.bent-tronics.com/splashPage.hg
http://highlyliquid.com

MUSIC USING CIRCUIT BENT GEAR
http://www.burnkit2600.com/?page_id=40
http://www.burnkit2600.com/?page_id=29
http://www.whiterabbitdesign.co.uk/cgi- ... evoks.html
http://www.sighup.ca/tunes/SIGHUP_Bend_Machine.mp3

slainte rob

[pHz]

to get the ball rolling ...

... i found one of these (sadly now without the mask and its crappity built in microphone ... seem to remember cannabilising that for something else ages ago) ...


... in a box of stuff and thought id see what could be done with it ... no chips on the board (i think its basically a very simple distortion / pitchshifter / bitcrusher) so options are limited but it will do something i think ...


... and a little (2.27Mb) video of the 'prototype' in action being fed a loop from the speak and math in the still above ... http://experimentfour.brinkster.net/ima ... typing.wmv ... its going to be recased (no room in the little oval for switches) and final connections will be a mix of switches and pots / body contacts ... since i did the vid ive found another nice rhythmic bend too ...

slainte rob

[circuitbentpirate]

I've got a bit of circuitbending stuff on my site
http://www.necrosensual.com

[pHz]

added ...

slainte rob

[pHz]

no chips on the board (i think its basically a very simple distortion / pitchshifter / bitcrusher) so options are limited

oops ... having looked again there IS a chip on the board (wasnt really looking very carefully before TBH) but oddly in my (limited) experience of this stuff only 1 out of the 4 bends im putting on this actually directly use chip pins (and that one is the least interesting IMHO) ...

slainte rob

[pHz]

You may want to consider listing stuff you and _os are looking to bend up as people (incuding me) might already have it squirreled away in our weird junk collections. I don't throw out anything that makes sound

slainte rob

[mckenic]

Rob I l ve this!!! Great idea for a sticky/sub forum!!!

I just started last weekend and I dont have a CLUE what Im doing - all I know is only to f**k about with batteries in - no power supply So much fun!!!

I have a crappy old Realistic Concertmate that I added a couple of switches to - one three way for pitch bend and an on/off to drop everything an octaveish

I found a way to filter the sound also but its either on or off - no sweep sadly so not worth a switch. I just hardwired it on!

Anyhoo - here is a bad quality mp4 of it in action! Sorry my camera keeps making a shutter noise and the lighting in my room is crap but hey!

Vid

Gonna check out the links now as I have a new project - a kids KeyBoard that I KEEP frying and having to recharge batteries and wait for it to discharge whatever II messed up!!!



Dave

[Polite Company]

This is a great idea and I look forward to using this as a reference as I'm just getting into building/bending eletronics. But might I suggest that in lew of a forum of its own that it be moved to the Hardware forum.

[pHz]

Rob I l ve this!!! Great idea for a sticky/sub forum!!!
Anyhoo - here is a bad quality mp4 of it in action! Sorry my camera keeps making a shutter noise and the lighting in my room is crap but hey!
Vid
Dave

nice first job dave !!!

... for posterity ... heres my first (only been going a week or so longer than you) ...

Don't forget to give us an mp3 of what the beast sounds like

just to tidy up the loose ends then ... like i said its nothing innovative (all the bends are fairly standard ones borrowed from various sources) but im pretty pleased with it ... now i have the first one under my belt theres a speak and math to do and a speak and read on its way (plus a little yamaha pss-140 that looks pretty bendy) ...
... anyway ...

http://experimentfour.brinkster.net/aud ... ricket.mp3
http://experimentfour.brinkster.net/aud ... chloop.mp3
http://experimentfour.brinkster.net/aud ... dpitch.mp3
http://experimentfour.brinkster.net/aud ... glitch.mp3
http://experimentfour.brinkster.net/aud ... htythm.mp3

slainte rob

slainte rob

[vurt]

You may want to consider listing stuff you and _os are looking to bend up as people (incuding me) might already have it squirreled away in our weird junk collections. I don't throw out anything that makes sound

slainte rob

as rob said in the other thread this is quoted from, anything that uses electronics to make sound is fair game...
baby toys, kids toys, game boys, kids musical instruments... you name it it bends...

ive not done anything yet i havent broke

but in the pipeline i have a couple of pokemon room alarm thingys
a speak and math
a c3po voice recorder/changer
and hopefully a darth vader mask voice changer(although i might not bend that and just give it a paint job and some lights ??? )


if anyone has use for an empty speak n spell shell let me know...

[ugo]

here's a casio SK-5 i bent a number of years back. never got around to giving it a funky paint job though.

and here's 4 minutes of the weirdness it produces: bent casio
i recorded myself tweaking the knobs and switches for while, then spliced the best sounds/loops/glitches together into this file. nearly everything you hear was with the SK-5 set to its built in piano sample.

i have no idea what exactly the switches and knobs i wired up are actually doing to the casio. i just shorted connections pretty much at random and when i found something i liked the sound of, i hooked up a control for it. i nearly started a fire bending this too.

i was using spare parts i had hanging around my messy workbench and i did a fair amount guitar routing at the time. as it turned out, one of the pots had some sawdust in there and when i made one particular connection, the damn thing started to light up! i went running upstairs with a burning potentiometer in my plyers to get it to a sink. of course i did the rest of my bending with a much cleaner bench (no more papers, sawdust and rags anywhere near me), made sure i checked for dust in the controls before using them, and kept a container of water next to me...just in case. thankfully i didnt light anything else on fire during the bending.

i've successfully used it plugged in too, with nothing heating up or smoking. just to be on the safe side though, i only used it for relatively short periods plugged in, and i dont leave it on.

[mckenic]

Great stuff folks!!!

This is AMAZING!!! Plureeeessse can we have a sticky for it????

Love the sounds ugo! Good stuff!

vurt - Im the same with my Speak & Spell - if I had another I'd bend it but I want a working one too!!! Been looking at that midi trigger Rob posted so perhaps I could get the best of both worlds

What do you mean about breaking 'em? Cause Im worried I fried one of my kid keyboads

Cheers dudes - keep it bent!

Dave

[james0tucson]

ive not done anything yet i havent broke

My first experiment with a toy guitar led to some buzzy noises, then I let the smoke out.

[vurt]

What do you mean about breaking 'em? Cause Im worried I fried one of my kid keyboads



Dave

lets just say "skunk, bongs n soldering dont mix"
i became a little over zealous with the solder and ended up soldering a row of about 6 contacts together...
made a sort of screeching noise for a minute or two then started to stutter and eventually died.
now when i switch it on it makes a sort of low distorted on sound and then goes off.

[vurt]

This is AMAZING!!! Plureeeessse can we have a sticky for it????

er yes ok


/me makes this a sticky...