Circuit Bent Instruments
Circuit bending is the art (or craft) of short circuiting the electronics of battery operated toys and musical instruments. By making these shorts and controlling them with added switches and simple electronic components, the item becomes a unique and often amazing sound generator that is almost always more interesting than the unbent version.
I am attracted to bending because of the dual elements of chance and destructive creativity. In circuit bending there is always the potential for completely frying the device as you experiment. I find that possibility particularly enticing, sort of a Dr. Frankenstein obsession to circumvent the laws of nature, or in this case, the laws of not breaking stuff. I've done a few classes on this with students and it's always interesting to see how it effects them as they carefully poke and prod; at some point after getting their first sound, they suddenly become aggressive prospectors looking for more gold nuggets. it seems to be a good lesson in the payoff of risking - especially since in this case you can ruin the entire project and be left with nothing.
These are just placeholders. Sorry. At some point I'll take pictures and make sound samples. Come back later.
Speak & Spell (bend 1) - my first bent instrument, its basis is Reed Ghazala's basic S&S bend map, which is on his website.
Speak & Math (bend 1) - This bend has some really interesting loops. Generally I find S&M a bit less interesting than S&S, but maybe I've just not poked around enough.
Miranda's Toy Keyboard - a toy my daughter decided she was going to throw away. It doesn't have too many bending points - one makes every note sustain 5 seconds, one drops the pitch of the unit a 5th and alters the timbre, and the third adds a glide to each note. After bending it and decorating it with hundreds of her stickers, she decided she wanted it back.
Casio SK5 - for me, the holy grail of bends because it has the two seconds of sampling that can be assigned to the four drum pads.
Pixer - In progress. I'm not sure how much can be done with this but since there is a visual component, I'm hopeful for something wonderful and odd.
Links to cool circuit bending websites:
Anti-theory.com is the homepage of Q. Reed Ghazala, generally called the Father of Circuit Bending. A very cool website and lots of information for beginners.
Casper Electronics are makers of really wonderful bent instruments. Lots of pictures and a few suggestions on bending certain devices.
The Circuit Bending Documentary is a work in progress. There's a quicktime file to watch.
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