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[2HourHiatus]

I've really gotten into the idea of circuit-bending. Wondering if anybody else has heard of it, or if anyone has tips on doing it.

By the way: Circuit-bending is when you intentionally short circuit electronics to create weird noises. Apparently, Speak 'n Spells are really good for short circuits.

[Chad K.]

Some friends of mine bought a speak n say version.  They use it for dj gigs and in their indie rock band. There are pitch shifters, delays, something that makes it auto-repeat, and a volume sensor like on a theremin.   It makes really cool noises, but it is almost uncontrollable.  There's just no telling what will happen at any given time, which is actually fun.  I think they're relatively cheap, too.

[Kai]

I've been working with this sort of stuff actually! although a lot of it is on hiatus because I need to go buy little circuitry things and whatnot. And I'm broke. Which makes buying things hard.

[Johnny C]

I want to learn how to circuit-bend stuff but I'd probably fuck it up and considering there's soldering involved that could be really dangerous.

[imapiratearg]

I watched the video.  I laughed so hard.

[thermodynamics]

circuit bending is for lazy people. use a keyboard/midi controller and VSTs to actually have control over crazy sounds. i would hate to be gigging and not have a general idea of what my "instrument" is gonna do.

but i am a control freak, so take it for what it is.

[McTaggart]

Circuit bending isn't about control at all, it's not really about the sound it makes (though that's kinda important). The most important thing is hack value. Buying something is out because you didn't do it yourself and using things that are made for making noises is out because there's no hack value in making something do what it's supposed to.

Oh, and you'll know exactly what your instrument is gonna do because you've been messing around trying stuff with it and know how to use it to make a sound you're after.

[Ocarina654]

When I heard about Circuit Bending a few months ago I got all excited and wanted to get into it.
So the next time I was out of the house I stopped by a Goodwill and bought some dumb baby's electric guitar toy to see if I could get it to bend.

The thing was a piece of shit in pretty much every way possible.  Annoying sounds, very little circuitry, and bending was so very extremely limited that I eventually chucked it.
I later remembered that I had some pink batteries inside that I had forgot about.  They were new when I put them in, and pretty much still full.  Sadly, someone had already taken the trash out and those batteries were long gone...
Goodbye Pink AAs.

I'm still interested in the concept, and would love to do it, but I don't know what sort of toy to get that'd be better than what I had before.

[Lexington, 125]

My friend is really into circuit bending, I've been calling him bender for the past two years.   We have 2 speak & spells, a theremin, a mini moog, drum machine & korg kaos pad.  good times are had by all.

[valley_parade]

I just use my guitar to make noises. Sometimes it does sound beep/bloopy.


edit: Sam what the shit man, I need one of those.

[ALoveSupreme]

Circuit bending isn't about control at all, it's not really about the sound it makes (though that's kinda important). The most important thing is hack value. Buying something is out because you didn't do it yourself and using things that are made for making noises is out because there's no hack value in making something do what it's supposed to.

In DeKalb the circut bending thing was really big about three years ago, though.  I genuinely thought the "fad" (so to speak) was pretty much over with.

I did see this one guy at a local open-mic-night type thing do a badass set with this light-up turtle child's toy (sort of like if you mixed a plastic turtle toy with a Simon light up game piece).  He had it flashing lights and making tones as he pushed the buttons. 

[McTaggart]

Yeah I think it is kinda dead now. That was more a hacker rant than an impassioned circuit bender rant.

[ALoveSupreme]

But I do agree completely.  What's the point in circuit bending otherwise?  I thought most of the art was coming up with your own sounds.  I've never done it myself but I watched a few friends do it for a while and I always gathered that was the whole idea.

[Cernunnos]

Soldering's not as tricky as you think, either. Nor is it dangerous really. I might just think of it that way because of how often play work with fire, but low- temp solder doesn't even require fire.

[Cernunnos]

Depending on your diet, maybe even easier.