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Circuit Bending
Circuit-Bending: Build Your Own Alien Instruments ... Reed Ghazala
That's the book I bought on circuit bending. This subject truly fascinates me. I've never circuit bent anything to date, but this is something I definitely plan on delving into. My brother (known here as Aleph Null) and I have talked about creating a whole album made of 'toyscapes' utilizing circuit bent techniques. I could see a lab/studio full of old broken electro toys all in in various stages of getting bent....Cool stuff indeed.
From Wikipedia below
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Circuit bending is the creative short-circuiting of devices such as low voltage, battery-powered guitar effects, children's toys and small synthesizers to create new musical instruments and sound generators. Emphasizing spontaneity and randomness, the techniques of circuit bending have been commonly associated with noise music, though many more conventional contemporary musicians and musical groups have been known to experiment with "bent" instruments.
Circuit bending is a process that has been developed largely by individuals experimenting with second-hand electronics, often not associated with musical production. Aesthetic value, immediate usability and highly randomized results are often factors in the process of successfully bending electronics. Although the history of electronic music is often associated with unconventional sonic results, such innovators as Robert Moog, Lev Sergeivitch Theremin, etc. were electrical engineers and concerned with the consistency and sound design of their instruments. Circuit bending is typified by inconsistencies in the instruments built in an unscientific manner.
While many pre-fitted circuit bent machines are on offer for sale at auction sites such as eBay, this somewhat contravenes the intention of most practitioners. Machines bent to a repeated configuration are more analogous to the well known practice of "mods", such as the Devilfish mod for the Roland TB-303, or various Analogman or Pedaldoc guitar pedal circuit modifications.
Circuit bending typically involves dismantling a piece of consumer electronics and connecting any two circuit locations with wire, sending current from one part of the circuit into another. Sonic results are monitored through either the device's internal speaker or by connecting an amplifier to the speaker output. If an interesting effect is achieved, this connection would be marked for future reference or kept active by either soldering a new connection or bridging with alligator clips. Often other components are inserted at these points such as pushbuttons or switches, to turn on or off the effect; or components such as resistors or capacitors, to change the quality of the audio. This is repeated in a trial and error basis.
Other components added into the circuit can give the performer more expressiveness. These include potentiometers, photoresistors (for reaction to light), pressure sensors, etc. The simplest and one most identified with circuit bending is the body contact[1], where the performer's touch causes the circuit to change the sound. Often metal knobs, plates, screws or studs are wired to these circuit points to give an easier access to these points from the outside the case of the device.
Since creative experimentation is key element to the practice of circuit bending, there is always a possibility that short circuiting may result in undesirable results, including component failure. It is advised that beginner circuit benders should never "bend" any device that gets its power from the mains (household AC power) to avoid possible electrocution.
Although similar methods were previously used by other musicians and engineers, this method of music creation is believed to be pioneered by Reed Ghazala in the 1960s.
Ghazala's experience with circuit-bending began in 1966 when a toy transistor amplifier, by chance, shorted-out against a metal object in his desk drawer, resulting in a stream of unusual sounds.[2] While Ghazala explicitly makes no claims as to be the first circuit bender, he coined the term Circuit Bending [3] and whole-heartedly promoted the proliferation of the concept and practice through his writings and internet site, earning him the title "Father of Circuit Bending".
Serge Tcherepnin, designer of the famous Serge modular synthesizers, discussed [4] his early experiments in the 1950s with the transistor radio, in which he found sensitive circuit points in those simple electronic devices and brought them out to "body contacts" on the plastic chassis. Prior to Mark's and Reed's experiments other pioneers also explored the body-contact idea, one of the earliest being Thaddeus Cahill (1897) whose Telharmonium, it is reported, was also touch-sensitive.
list of well known toys and instruments used in circuit bending usually because of their low price and 'bendability'
Casio SK-1
Speak & Spell
Speak & Math
Original Furby
Circuit Bending has also found its way into video devices. Video painting toys, PixelVision cameras and old video game systems have all found to be excellent video bends
Artists who create and use circuit bent instruments are featured on a compilation CD entitled "Noise and Toys Volume 1," which was officially released in 2006 on We Are... Records. Many varied musical intentions are apparent in this collection, but there is an almost physical tie binding these compositions.
Tiger Claw Records (Madison, Wisconsin), specializing in circuit bending artists released a 12-band compilation in 2006 titled "The Blown Circuit Comp - A Tribute to Circuit Bending", and a second compilation CD in 2007 titled "DO NOT BEND", which featured 19 bands.
Absurdity.Biz has been making video documentation of Circuit Bending since 2003. Currently they have released three DVDs of Bent Festival 2004, 2005 and 2006. A full fledged documentary continues to be in the works.
That's the book I bought on circuit bending. This subject truly fascinates me. I've never circuit bent anything to date, but this is something I definitely plan on delving into. My brother (known here as Aleph Null) and I have talked about creating a whole album made of 'toyscapes' utilizing circuit bent techniques. I could see a lab/studio full of old broken electro toys all in in various stages of getting bent....Cool stuff indeed.
From Wikipedia below
---------------------------
Circuit bending is the creative short-circuiting of devices such as low voltage, battery-powered guitar effects, children's toys and small synthesizers to create new musical instruments and sound generators. Emphasizing spontaneity and randomness, the techniques of circuit bending have been commonly associated with noise music, though many more conventional contemporary musicians and musical groups have been known to experiment with "bent" instruments.
Circuit bending is a process that has been developed largely by individuals experimenting with second-hand electronics, often not associated with musical production. Aesthetic value, immediate usability and highly randomized results are often factors in the process of successfully bending electronics. Although the history of electronic music is often associated with unconventional sonic results, such innovators as Robert Moog, Lev Sergeivitch Theremin, etc. were electrical engineers and concerned with the consistency and sound design of their instruments. Circuit bending is typified by inconsistencies in the instruments built in an unscientific manner.
While many pre-fitted circuit bent machines are on offer for sale at auction sites such as eBay, this somewhat contravenes the intention of most practitioners. Machines bent to a repeated configuration are more analogous to the well known practice of "mods", such as the Devilfish mod for the Roland TB-303, or various Analogman or Pedaldoc guitar pedal circuit modifications.
Circuit bending typically involves dismantling a piece of consumer electronics and connecting any two circuit locations with wire, sending current from one part of the circuit into another. Sonic results are monitored through either the device's internal speaker or by connecting an amplifier to the speaker output. If an interesting effect is achieved, this connection would be marked for future reference or kept active by either soldering a new connection or bridging with alligator clips. Often other components are inserted at these points such as pushbuttons or switches, to turn on or off the effect; or components such as resistors or capacitors, to change the quality of the audio. This is repeated in a trial and error basis.
Other components added into the circuit can give the performer more expressiveness. These include potentiometers, photoresistors (for reaction to light), pressure sensors, etc. The simplest and one most identified with circuit bending is the body contact[1], where the performer's touch causes the circuit to change the sound. Often metal knobs, plates, screws or studs are wired to these circuit points to give an easier access to these points from the outside the case of the device.
Since creative experimentation is key element to the practice of circuit bending, there is always a possibility that short circuiting may result in undesirable results, including component failure. It is advised that beginner circuit benders should never "bend" any device that gets its power from the mains (household AC power) to avoid possible electrocution.
Although similar methods were previously used by other musicians and engineers, this method of music creation is believed to be pioneered by Reed Ghazala in the 1960s.
Ghazala's experience with circuit-bending began in 1966 when a toy transistor amplifier, by chance, shorted-out against a metal object in his desk drawer, resulting in a stream of unusual sounds.[2] While Ghazala explicitly makes no claims as to be the first circuit bender, he coined the term Circuit Bending [3] and whole-heartedly promoted the proliferation of the concept and practice through his writings and internet site, earning him the title "Father of Circuit Bending".
Serge Tcherepnin, designer of the famous Serge modular synthesizers, discussed [4] his early experiments in the 1950s with the transistor radio, in which he found sensitive circuit points in those simple electronic devices and brought them out to "body contacts" on the plastic chassis. Prior to Mark's and Reed's experiments other pioneers also explored the body-contact idea, one of the earliest being Thaddeus Cahill (1897) whose Telharmonium, it is reported, was also touch-sensitive.
list of well known toys and instruments used in circuit bending usually because of their low price and 'bendability'
Casio SK-1
Speak & Spell
Speak & Math
Original Furby
Circuit Bending has also found its way into video devices. Video painting toys, PixelVision cameras and old video game systems have all found to be excellent video bends
Artists who create and use circuit bent instruments are featured on a compilation CD entitled "Noise and Toys Volume 1," which was officially released in 2006 on We Are... Records. Many varied musical intentions are apparent in this collection, but there is an almost physical tie binding these compositions.
Tiger Claw Records (Madison, Wisconsin), specializing in circuit bending artists released a 12-band compilation in 2006 titled "The Blown Circuit Comp - A Tribute to Circuit Bending", and a second compilation CD in 2007 titled "DO NOT BEND", which featured 19 bands.
Absurdity.Biz has been making video documentation of Circuit Bending since 2003. Currently they have released three DVDs of Bent Festival 2004, 2005 and 2006. A full fledged documentary continues to be in the works.
Tags: bending, circuit, experimental, music
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by bunkdata on -
Great topic! Mineapolis just had their annual Bent Fest http://www.bentfestival.org/ My friend Matt (Datura 1.0) does all of his music using personally customized circuit bent toys. Check out his site for some pictures of him playing live with his 'toys' http://www.daturaonezero.com/photos.html
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Permalink Reply by AlephNull on -
John...
I hope all is well with you. I was having some thoughts in reguards to circuit bending this morning. Different ideas of the gizmos we can pervert...twist...mould...warp ...bend. I have had the idea for a long time...I know you have too...just lacked snappy terminology(Yet are we not the fabricators of coin phrases and snappy terminology?) When I was in Santa Barbara,Ca ...the little mexican coin wash I would go to on Saturdays,had some old arcade games in there...one in particular being STARGATE pinball machine,which has a bad ass sound chip in it. Then I started thinking about pinball soundchips and how they might be wired together in some sort of series, and triggered thru various mediums. THAT got me thinking of a subject that came up in experimental music with Matt and I yonder aeons ago in reguards to either YELLO or Severed Heads(I cannot recall which) set up a room of laser beams criss crossing a room. They were hooked up to triggers that set off sequences and sounds as they walked thru. I thought of this in conjunction with circuit bending,and how one might create an entire multimedia experience that changed each time depending on the path one would take thru out a room...triggering robotic simulations...various kenetic art forms...sound,lights,floor movements,video sequences...etc.
It's rough ideas towards this TOYS concept....alas I digress...yet I wanted to touch on that this
afternoon. I would be cool to gut old video game sound chips,pinball machines,and such and look at some how unifying them under one hellish master(CPU) software that perhaps sent out different random electrical triggers thru I/O ports....Have you thought of I/O #2 for Elf Machine?
Aleph Null
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Permalink Reply by Vir Unis on -
I'm sure the elves would be into this, as they are transdimensional amorphous machine entities....-:)
It was Severed Heads that did the laser beam/midi trigger. I'm sure something like this could be set up again and probably really expounded upon. The pinball chips would be great; I would imagine a audio to midi converter or something like that could turn the chips into receiving and transmitting midi data. Exactly how that would work requires one to delve into this much deeper. My knowledge of circuit bending and these type of techniques, at this point, is rather cursory. It is very intriguing however and I would highly suggest keeping this thread open and active for anyone to jump in with ideas. Excellent ideas on this so far Jim.
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Permalink Reply by John Koch-Northrup on -
Yeah - it was severed heads... weren't they also the ones that has a tribute to the pumpkin capitol of the world on one of their releases? Yep... it was:
http://www.discogs.com/release/1078278
Rotund for Success.
"Big Car Intro" was recorded live in Morton Il. Pumpkin Capital of the World.
And hey... how did I miss hearing about a severed heads live show in Morton in '89???
...and for anyone reading this wondering where Morton is... I work in Morton - and it's right next to Peoria, IL. ok - back to your regularly scheduled circuit bending conversation.
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Permalink Reply by Exuviae on -
I am becoming interested in this at present time as well. Current obssession is guitar pedals and feedback loops, but this begins to bleed over into circuit bending/audio tape manipulation and other interesting noise generation techniques when surfing the web for information. I've got a DIY synth project planned for the summer, but it has to be done under the strict supervision of a friend in-the-know as I am intimidated by capacitors, resistors and soldering irons. The DIY modular synth thing has had my interest for years, but it can get expensive fast and there's, of course, no instant gratuity. Seems easier (to me) to look around the studio room and my apartment for other stuff (tape decks, crappy turntable, musical kids toys) and find ways to make these pieces of "junk" into indispensible noisemakers.
Still a virgin to circuit bending, though...
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Permalink Reply by AlephNull on
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John,
Syncronicity and Serendipity are the engines that run my Universe. In the Madison Public library this morning...just casually walking thru the shelves of books,reflecting on this whole circuit bending concept...and I run into the following books!
1)Electronic Sensors for the Evil Genius(54 electrifying projects) by Tom Petruzzellis
2)Pirate radio and Video(Experimental Transmitter projects) by Newton C. Braga
3) Robots,Androids and Animatrons(12 incredible projects you can build!) by John Iovine
4)Collecting Old Radios and Crystal Sets by Max Alth
This whole area of exploration is facinating!! It will be nice to get things up and around with all of this. I will start trying to focus on this particular vein of exploration in conjunction with the Electro-poetics. I think you can probably see where all this could come together quite well. Just starting to look and listen to Matt(Datura 1.0) that bunk data left the link for in this discussion. Seems great.... alot of work to do!!
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Permalink Reply by Vir Unis on
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Datura 1.0 does sound interesting. I looked at his page briefly but plan on checking it out some more.
I have a lot of old and junkie electronics kinda hanging out in an overstuffed closet and sometimes spilling out with all the cable guts and stuff into my studio. Sometimes I just want to solder them all together in some sort of electro junk sculpture and connect some cheap speakers from radio shack....
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Permalink Reply by Andi on -
This is an interesting syncronicity. I was telling my husband I'd really like to figure out a way to create music out of old toys...I was talking about just sampling them, like a child's xylophone, one of those really off-key little pianos, and then I thought about the speak and spell. So this is really timely and interesting to me right now. I think, if I remember right, reading that my friend (the StudioNebula guy) may have done something like this...now I have to go back and see. I wouldn't doubt it, the man's a serious genius! I'm really sincerely excited to see what you and Jim come up with. I have been listening about this in a roundabout way for quite some time now and again, I am just REALLY excited. Hope to be able to jump into the creation zone and learn from all of you!!
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Permalink Reply by Andi on
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Okay I'm finishing my post on circuit bending along the correct thread ~ anyway for NOW sampling the samples is the way I have to go. I do think it takes most of the fun out of it, for sure, and lots of the creativity, but it really does add another dimension to my own absurd music project (don't know if you've heard it or not, Jim has, it's the Moon Kidd stuff on soundclick, not Dead Mime Society) which I was never going to share with anybody, until I found two bands called "The Residents" and "Renaldo and the Loaf." I totally love them both, especially Renaldo, and my own stuff sounds really similar to Ted's stuff (Renaldo). In fact, it's hard to believe I didn't really listen to any Ralph Records bands until AFTER I created my own stuff, because it's so totally similar to that sound. Again, I never thought of sharing it, as it was just "too weird" (I suppose my style is Ambient Absurdist!) and I just did it for myself ~ then after putting it on the net (soundclick) I found I actually had people listening to it and enjoying it. Most were from the UK, so either I'm "big in England" or they all know each other, lol...so when I get my first circuit bending sample song done I'll give you a link. I'm almost done now, it just needs some kind of percussion. I think. Maybe I'll sample something else really obscure for percussion...hmmmm....
Anyway someday, I'd like to have enough room to build a lab (AHA! who does that sound like?) so I can collect goodies & really do it right. And live! Can't do the samples live, one drawback of creating it all electronically.
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Permalink Reply by Exuviae on
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Last weekend I jumped into the deep end with this circuit bending thing-not sure how it will all sort out, but I learned a lot really fast just by spending $3 on a few toys at Goodwill and touching opposite ends of a piece of wire to solder points while triggering the toys sounds.
Jumping into it like this has taken away the "intimidating" factor for me, but now I really, really, really need to work on soldering because I SUCK at it!
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