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

[jack [psychicmodulation]]

Here it is, this time with NO effects

http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=1554

I also edited original post.

Better demo?

( and I'm NOT gonna sell this one )

Tim

Love it!

[_oswald]

Tim, mind strippin' out the FX? I'm more interested in what it sounds like, how how 'riffic Camelspace is.

Ok..yeah..too much FX..I'll do another version soon.

Thanks for the comments

Here it is, this time with NO effects

http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=1554

I also edited original post.

Better demo?

( and I'm NOT gonna sell this one )

Tim

That is goddamn way cool. If I see one of those damn things, I'm buyin it and bendin it.

Fuckin good stuff, Tim.

[intel]

what would be the best device to bend to get bubble-mod type sounds??..I was thinking of a transistor radio..basically it would be great to control pitch, mod amount and rate..but something that creates mod effects. No vocal stuff like a speak and spell..but more synth like, or sine wavy like.

Tim

any suggs?

I guess I'm not following you on "bubble-mod type sounds". there are plenty of cheap keyboards out there that can be bent. additionally there are lots of pedals that, when bent, produce sine waves that can be modulated by the effect and other bends. but if you're looking for something that you can play like a traditional instrument, it'll be a little harder since circuit bent keyboards tend to be best when they least resemble traditional instruments.

circuit bent instruments can be used in a traditional fashion, but in most cases they work better in more atonal and/or experimental settings.

but if you want something that just produces a sound that you can modulate I'd recommend bending an Arion Stereo Phaser (dirt cheap from Musician's Friend) or a Radio Shack Realistic Reverb. bending guides and overviews linked below:

Realistic Reverb: schematic| overview
Stereo Phaser: schematic | overview

[tconrardy]

what would be the best device to bend to get bubble-mod type sounds??..I was thinking of a transistor radio..basically it would be great to control pitch, mod amount and rate..but something that creates mod effects. No vocal stuff like a speak and spell..but more synth like, or sine wavy like.

Tim

any suggs?

I guess I'm not following you on "bubble-mod type sounds". there are plenty of cheap keyboards out there that can be bent. additionally there are lots of pedals that, when bent, produce sine waves that can be modulated by the effect and other bends. but if you're looking for something that you can play like a traditional instrument, it'll be a little harder since circuit bent keyboards tend to be best when they least resemble traditional instruments.

circuit bent instruments can be used in a traditional fashion, but in most cases they work better in more atonal and/or experimental settings.

but if you want something that just produces a sound that you can modulate I'd recommend bending an Arion Stereo Phaser (dirt cheap from Musician's Friend) or a Radio Shack Realistic Reverb. bending guides and overviews linked below:

Realistic Reverb: schematic| overview
Stereo Phaser: schematic | overview

Thanks for the info and links. Bubbles is basiscally high pitched Mods ( lfo to oscillator with
extreme pitch sounds)( think Ozrics or Gong) so I was thinking of a transistor radio, but I guess I can look around. I do have an SK1 I can bend, and may be my next project. I also have an SK5, but may not want to bend it (yet)as it is still useful. I have it set up in my studio

Tim

[tconrardy]

Tim, mind strippin' out the FX? I'm more interested in what it sounds like, how how 'riffic Camelspace is.

Ok..yeah..too much FX..I'll do another version soon.

Thanks for the comments

Here it is, this time with NO effects

http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=1554

I also edited original post.

Better demo?

( and I'm NOT gonna sell this one )

Tim

That is goddamn way cool. If I see one of those damn things, I'm buyin it and bendin it.

Fuckin good stuff, Tim.

Thanks Jack..I really liked your recent bend as well..good stuff there too. Nice paint job as well!

Just in case anyone missed it from the last page: Here is a pic of it




Maybe I should do another pic..as the unit was not on..so you can't see the cool Blue LED :-)I connected it to the output, so it flutters when it starts modulating around. a Mini Light show

Tim

[tconrardy]

Here is my second CB device:

Circuit Bent Nemo story book turns into a random generator and Jabba the Hut speecher





Here is what is sounds like. First few seconds is the actual story, and it goes underwater from there.

CB Nemo
http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=1557

My wife got this story book thing for me at a thrift shop for $5.00. It was very tricky in that you have to have the book in its case and opened to a page, other wise it won't do anything as it has page sensor devices. So it sounds a bit different from page to page.

The switches are..
1. Power on/ off (and installed a blue LED to let me know)
2. Octave..or rather..it pitches it down, and it may even be playing it backwards or something, because what I get are speech patterns that sound like Jabba the hut
3. Random generator switch. Once I turn this on, I can use the octave switch to get different random sounds. After a while, it goes into overdrive and gets pretty wild. In it's quiet modes, it sounds like a peculating underwater dream boat, so Nemo is a good name for it Was I ever happy when I found this tweak!


There is also an output already on it and a volume control..as well as in INPUT(have to see what that will do) so..cool!

so far so good on my CB tweaks..but it still feels like it's touch and go But..maybe thats why I like it.

Tim

[blaster78]

just in case anyones interested, me and vurt built some simple synths this week under the expert tuition and guidance of fake, here's a few "wip" pics i took while we were building them, couple more to follow along with some noises when i get the time...




















here's 3 more of my complete synth... i was loath to stick mine in a shiny black project box but fortunately bernie swapped it me for an empty octagonal chocolate tin which i thought was much cooler, i also went and bought some more pots in different sizes.

i mounted mine on the sides so the whole thing looks like a mine (of the exploding in the sea variety) i think... anyways....







i was pretty tired by this point and i still had a 2 hour drive home to face so the quailty of the photo's aint great... sorry.

cheers,

steve.

[tconrardy]

just in case anyones interested, me and vurt built some simple synths this week under the expert tuition and guidance of fake, here's a few "wip" pics i took while we were building them, couple more to follow along with some noises when i get the time...

A nice project indeed! It would be great to hear what this sounds like..is this the same that vurt posted about recently and had a mov on youtube?

I see you put the pot knobs in prestigious places

Tim

[vurt]

aye same building session
slight differences in some resistors and capacitors, fake has given a better explanation of the build over in the cafe and mentioned putting up the schematics

[Hanglow]

Cool thread, I've missed it till now.

I haven't done any circuit bending myself, but have really got into building my own guitar effect pedals recently. Done about fifteen or more now. I am now going to raid my parents loft to find all those sound making toys that myself and my brothers had in the 80's

Some good links for parts for the effects that I am sure would be useful for this as well - Maplin is in general fairly shite:
www.rapidonline.co.uk - free postage over £25, good offers (things like bulk prices for individual items every so often)
http://www.smallbearelec.com/StoreFront.bok - US based great service, DIY pedal specific but possibly useful for some discontinued parts

[hoffy]

Hey...

Ages ago I was browsing through all the links listed in the first page, i found a cool site that had a how-to on a "bending box", a cool little device that you can use to find bends. I'm sure for the most part it's just a whole load of different value potentiometers but i want to see what else is in there, and of course, i can't find the link...

does that sound familiar to anyone please? I noticed some of the links are dead... And i really want to see what's in this box so if i make one i don't miss anything.

Cheers

[vurt]

picked one of these up cheap
anyone seen any bends of them? not took it apart yet(too many other things on the boil) so no idea what it looks like inside

[vieris]

My latest (De)creation. Went from 80's cheese to Glitch greatness.
Check it out.
www.rhythminmind.net/tr-505/tr-505.html

[botkiller]

Here's my contribution:



Me rocking on the bent one man jam

[intel]

picked one of these up cheap
anyone seen any bends of them? not took it apart yet(too many other things on the boil) so no idea what it looks like inside

from what I've heard they're SMT and don't yield much. I had my eye on one when they first came out, but there's been so much negative buzz about what they actually do that I never pursued it. let us know if you find anything interesting. I've always been a big fan of PVC instruments, but only went so far as to make a didgerido about ten years ago. didn't work out as well as I had hoped...