Anyone into circuit bending?

[mutant]

another interest is added in the already large lot of funky interests of mine!

.........circuit bending

What helped me a lot was a job I got in an uni lab, were on some occasions I worked with a solderer , sometimes in quite tense solderings. so here I am, about a month after first being introduced to circuit bending

check this awesome german site for lots of cool stuffs and information for the cheap keyboard lover and/or bender

http://weltenschule.de/TableHooters/

 

 

The Yamaha PSR-6 is my childhood keyboard. This is the 4rth generation of its use. A 1988 model.

The Bontempi ES3200 is the childhood keyboard of two friendly sisters which I traded for dried edible mushrooms. A 1983 model.

I have also obtained a variety of child musical toys and several projects of bending them are in progress

as well an ambitrious project of bending the awesome 1992 [?] CASIO tonebank CT 670

cheers

[ajna]

awesome man, i'm definately interested in circuit bending but havent got my hands dirty yet!

got a few crappy sound making devices hanging round for the purposes of practice, but i haven't got to buying a soldering iron

would be excellent skills to have, got a couple of instruments that could use some repairs too

let us know how u got with it!

[mutant]

THE FIRE HAS BEGAN

These last 40 something days have been a circuit bending marathon for me, from start to where I am at now, with pretty good and encouraging results. As always, I think I have been a bit [or pretty much!!] lucky...

Anyways, onto the frenzy: I am often like that when I get VERY ethousastic about something. After this ride I have learnt so much about electronics, and in particular keyboards, their technology and their history than I could ever imagine. I understood the process of generation of sounds through circuits in a much deeper level - I did not become an expert, but the leap is gigantic for my perception. Sometimes, when I get really enthousiastic I learn really fast - but of course this all found suitable substrate in my past [fondness for keyboards and especially cheap, unrealistic and strange sounds, electrical engineering education, fondness for exploration, noise, experimentation and control through pots, buttons and switches] .

Gaining the control of an instrument and adding features to it, while it maintains all the charachteristics it originally had has a certain revolutionary charm in it, and the instrument, from a machine identical to thousands of others around the world, becomes an original of its own.

Circuit bending should be taught at school!!! And yeah it opens up a new 'carreer' for mending and fixing stuff of your own, I did a couple of small such tricks and was very happy about it [got an old arion flanger pedal to work, also this is very suitable for bending, ARION effect petals, I fixed several buttons from the toys and the CASIO CT 670, etc ]

Here is a first and very enthousiastic documentation, after I have finished the re-route mod in my PSR6 the frist days, not having tasted it a lot. I haven't actually tested it with all the assignable controls. The video above is only a kind of showing off the randomness of messing with the FM routing of an FM keyboard - oh btw the way psr6 is FM.

http://electro-music.com/forum/topic-11677-75.html

^^^^^^^

These are notes on the designing and performing a bend documented on the net, but also trying to add something nice to it, in my case the assignable switches to control the signal flow more 'handily'

===

along with the bending frenziness, came the obsession long forgotten in me about old and preferably cheap keyboards. The link I gave above, Warranty Void is a fine example of a spokesman for what circuit bending can be. Amazing source of passion and knowledge and original work! I urge you to check this out! Anywayz. Instead of giving big money for a single famous vintage synth or keyboard of a certain fame, one can chose to get a dozen of much cheaper, insteresting cheezy ones, each with its own personality and with a few euros for each [potentiometers, switches, buttons, etc] and some creative work, you can turn them into so much more than they were originally intended. I certainly went for that second plan, and when I got the casiotone mt-800 with the awesome vintage looks and the wonderfully warm sounds I knew I had to get more small keyboard oldies! Of course I instantly decided I am not messing with the 1983 mt800, for now....

I spread the word about my new passion, knowing that in cellars and dusty places in homes are instruments unplayed for years, while simultaneously searching the impossibly funny and tragic flee markets of Greece's capital, Athens, for cheap interesting toys, I managed to collect several of them [toy computers/laptops, toy books, toy phones, toy keyboards, toy guitars ] in no time spending only pennies.

now each potentiometer is more expensive than the cheapest toys that usually cost 1 euro. I think the toy guitars are my faves, they are very easy to pitch bend, and they bring me ideas about ridiculously silly live perfomances with such bend guitars and effects. I still haven't modded none of them yet, I like them so much!

INTERLUDE - EQUIPMENT 4 bending!

now, you can do your first experiments with a single wire and a battery sound toy. but....

stuff you have to get / consider getting, if you're thinking of doing this with the least seriousness:

*soldering pen, consider not getting the cheapest one, the cheapest one with replaceable tip and as fine tip as you can find will be ok. I got mine for 15, but still, having worked with a 150 euro one, eh, its easier to solder on something expensive, something you care about, especially in crucial spots, f.e. when soldering at the pinds of an important and maybe heat sensitive IC.

*various potentiometers

47k, 220k, 470k, 500k must be at your kit to test and modify the pitch - get analogue ones , but sooner or later you will see than on cerain occasions logarithmic pots produce a better control of the effect/parameter , so maybe get a 500k log one too.

*crocodile clips! crocodile clips are you friends, get many of those.

*multi-meter - get one with a continuity tester

*you have to figure out a way to make holes on the instruments to install the controls. I was never very good with my hands, so I had to learn to use the drill, and be careful not drilling into the PCB! not really experienced with this kind of machinery. In certain occasions, it better to use the solder to burn in to plastic, I used this for my casio CT670 mod, then using a file to finish it.. Or some say a dremel. In any case, constructing what you realised into a usable interface is as difficult as realising it, if not more difficult sometimes.

*dont squeeze your mind for the design or finding / modifying the bends you find. You are not a rocket scientist, you are a circuit bender. you use switches, buttons, push-off buttons, potentiometers, dip switches to replace many switches while saving money and space, patch bays to further explore or for assignable controls. You can still be a mechanic of your design without knowling much electronics. Learning electronics is much easier this way.

AT LAST I HAVE A KEYBOARD COLLECTION!

In the mean time, I finished one of the first projects I began, which is a toy keybord (3789) which wasn't very nice to begin with, but at least it was not monophonic and it has some rhythms, 4 similar -in timbre- voices , differing only in their envelopes, and drums/effects buttons. This I bought new from a toy store the first day I was in bending fever, but I never managed to find how to change its pitch. Instead I found some other mods , I put an output jack, installed an old noisy pot along with a switch, a secondary pot and a squeek button, transforming it into a super overdrive little noise maker. Because there is much room in this keyboard, I dont consider my super distortion noisemaker 3789 a finished project - in particular I am very prone to try to install extra circuits to control the feedback generated from the distortion. For this keyboard, and because its very noisy when it squeeks, I disabled the speaker and most importantly I installed an attenuator circuit before the output jack [this is not as fancy as it sounds, its only a capacitor and 2 resistors] - also pretty proud of this even though its pretty basic.

Now, to talk about the giant in the collection, along with my now circuit bend yamaha psr6 , lies a roland sh201 I got a couple years ago, my second keyboard to the psr6 of my childhood times{!) and first true synth. I also got a fine roland unit, a multieffect , drumachine and synth bassline generator, the rather unheard , but really awesome ef-303. Especially the ef-303 which I bought many years earlier, had always a big place in my future projects and planning, I bought this as a hand controlled effect with filter [got various knobs and ways to control the parameters of effects, the effects themselves are powerful as well and the filter kicks ass, unlike the rather synthetic filter of the sh201] and now it makes sense, the little [bent or not] instruments into this nice little 4 channel mixer I got into the ef303 effect unit into to the main mixer.

And in the mean time, a friend who also owns a sh201 and recently bought better equipments plus new keyboards, let me have this old CASIO tonebank ct670 for myself, as he knew I like it - this keyboard has led a busy life, and its a tough muthafucker at that! It has been around a lot of owners, the first one was one childhood friend of ours, anyways, this keyboard is not the type you get to bend easily, its not a toy and its not 'cheap' . In fact its an awesome 5-octave keyboards with great sounds, rhythms and accompaniament chords, a built in synth controlling 4 parameters , and more.

But since I found the bends and glitches, I had to bend it, and I did it. It worked out great, really great , again, I think I was a bit lucky, but whatever the case, I haven't even tested it thoroughly, but I know for one thing it is much more stable than I feared of, and I have even tried some multiple shortcircuitings which dont crash it.

So, the Casio CT670, now bent with a 6x6 dip switch matrix with a glitch button & switch , is also not considered finished. Its box is particularly easy to work with, there's plenty of space, there are many bends to be found, I know for sure there are various other glitches - also I want to work with adjusting the pitch wheel [yep its got one too!] range, and maybe find a way to pitch bend the whole organ, even though I tried a bit with not real success.

For the time being, There are a couple of 'patches' I found that kick ass, two modes of awesome tekno-like distortions and rhythms, controlled by the rich rhythm section of the keyboard, and tone/sound patch witch messes with most of the sounds in interestin way through the internall 4-parameter synth

The Bontempi , also of 1983, monophonic, maybe I consider it finished. I like it, cheasy, nice sound, generated with the help of small waveforms [samples] in combo with some osc signal. There are certainly more bends in there. Maybe because its so crowded in that little plastic box and that it difficult to assemble, I dont really want to bother to put the attenuator before the output. But in this unit its not practical anywayz, since some of the harsh/noisy/interesting sounds it makes are not are loud as the normal sounds, and also its not the more stable or practical to use keyboard. Overall I like it because its got nice sounds, and also this classic blip based rhythms so classic and vintage, and I like it more now because now it also got a super vibrato, because I pitchbended it down to a nice range, found a teknoid/bassy rhythm thing and dubstep/harsh/repetitive organ like sounds, and also a sequence/pattern like option, also pitchable. Now it can produce a variety of noises and/or a mixture of noise + the tone sounds

Actually even if I had found more bends at the time being in the es3200, I had no more space to fit anything else. So if this project ever continues, it should be on a bigger box. but then again, its pretty handsome and awesome as is and its ... monophonic... so....

As lucky as I was to give away some edbile mushrooms as a trade for the little bontempi es3200 , some days afterwards, some friends of my sister came and a dude brought me his childhood keyboard as a gift! I nearly shitted myself when I first saw the unusual, white vintage look of .... a Bontempi again, but this was a more serious instrument. I nearly shitted myself twice when I pluged in a power adapter and saw its working. Later I would find a much more important reason to shit myself: the keyboard , apart from an amazingly versatily and nice, cozy appregiator and automatic chord , has awesome sounds, aparently, because its all analogue!

So Bontempi minstrel Beta it is! I saw a circuit bent on the net and sounded sick, but I am too far from messing with this one.

I love all kinds of keyboards too.

On the top of the cake I have a small collection of Hohner melodicas. The first one I bought new , the green, but the rest very cheap from flee markets.

I also have 2 'child' accordions, but actually they are not cheapy, they're quite cool. I got a good accordion from my sister but it needs some minor repair - I was having so much fun with the accordion until that happened. Must learn to reapair that too!

And I also recently bought [looking for the battery toys] two chord organs, air-keyboards, I dont know if you even know this exists, I know I didnt!

italian companies made lots of these, one is battery powered and is ..... tatata.... a Bontempi.. and the other is another unknown italian plugged straight to AC, has a rich, accordion like sound. This was cheap but dirty. I have to clean it a second round some time.

Future projects

getting some small cheaper casio from the casiotone series from the 80s to bend, not my mt800 , maybe some yamaha from the pss series too.

i would also like to get my hands on one of the bigger PSS's which are FM-based. I love the fm-rerouting potential, and i thinks its a pretty easy bend, at least to spot to the point of the 'glitchy' effect.

also to try to actually find some other cool bend in the my yamaha psr6. a distortion, a pitch control or something. It should be way cooler like that. I could also adda swtich or two, or expand the potential of the patch bay. I consider the pasr6 not only a musical isntrument for improvisations / for creating new sounds, but also a worklab on fm keyboards and fm synthesis, and maybe understanding the synthesis more....

Current list with keyboards owned

[bent] '3789' super overdrive noise maker toy keyboard

[bent] bontpempi es3200 (1983), w/ pitch control, tekno and industrial sounds, super vibrato and sequenceator

[bent] yamaha psr6 (1988) , fm re-route patch bay w/ assignable controls.

[bent] casio tonebank ct-670 (1989), 6x6 glitch matrix w/ button/switch control

[main synth] roland sh201 * 4 octave generator synthesizer

bontempi minstral beta * analogue polyphonic 1983 keyboard

casio casiotone mt-800 * analogue filtered / analogue drums 1983 keyboard

well I got seven, its not bad. with the sh201 as the heart, I got to reach at least ten

I hope you're still reading

you insisted on me telling you how I got to it.

[Xenodimensional]

Awesome, I love a circuit bent device. A friends dog pissed on one of his guitar multiFX pedals effectively circuit bending it, it was the best guitar FX pedal I've ever heard but sadly it died probably due to the corrosion shorting out something, but while it worked it was like the ring-modulated from hell. I wish I had enough time to explore stuff like circuit bending but sadly music isn't something I am able to pursue ATM.

[mutant]

nice to see some people find this interesting!

updates

* got more keyboards , and still waiting for a couple more I have ordered

* created two boxes of my own in old external modems enclosures. the 'atari punk console' , said to be one of the best circuits for a beginer in electronics, based in a 556 IC, which actually is a double 555 IC, of course altered/modified a bit from the original circuit, and another type of 40106 [6xSchmitt triggers] IC oscillator, with pitch pot, pulse width pot and LFO with LFRO rate pot. This box also has bit circuit bending. The two sound devices can be connected for the sound to become more varied, while the atari punk console still has space for more circuitry and controls and I even added a series of 8 leds ripped off some old circuit [only one works currently]

* the casio ct-670 sounds and plays awesome. It really pays to bend something with complicated circuitry, but it is not without its risks. In fact its so awesome, that both makes me hesitate to bend it more for fear of burning it, and also die to make another 6x6 2xDIP matrix with button and switch control , next to the one I already made.

* I bent two toy-'guitars'. one of them became too unstable on its own circuit for reasons unknown, and since I got 3 of similar with same circuit and sounds, I bent one as normally with pitch pot and volume control for the output jack, and the other one I added my own circuitry to produce the sound, and managed to connect that with the toy guitar buttons thus creating a squeeky little noisemaker guitar, playable from the original toy guitar buttons, awesome for nosie solos and shit. The circuit I made is a simple 555 oscilator.

pity not more people are into this shits

circuit bending is amazing, requires no expensive shit or tools and one can start pretty much with minimal knowledge of stuff.

lol this statement

A friends dog pissed on one of his guitar multiFX pedals effectively circuit bending it, it was the best guitar FX pedal I've ever heard

is probably one of the best praises about circuit bending . you dont mind become immortal by being quoted that , huh?

Edited April 3, 2013 by mutant

[Thelema]

can you explore nonlinear logic with this device?

[mutant]

well I am not sure what you mean and which device

its either some trick question or some technical / or building term

I will pretend its some trick question and answer like this:

Circuit bending always involves a part which is not logical at all and it employs luck and chaos.

so yeah so you can explore non -linear shit if you add a little bit circuit bending in your circuits/devices.

[mutant]

 

[Jonny Deformed]

all new synths I acquire get an ashtray poured into them...

may or may not be the secret of te dubious sound.

I have a fucked MC303 and a couple of semi fucked keyboards that are in my bending sights.

Aphex twin is a bender.

keep up the good work.

[mutant]

hey thanks mate. I intend to orchestrate some shit with all this stuff I bought , bent and constructed myself, but its rather early on now, still waiting various awesome shit in the mail [5 more keyboards]. Still making some hiphop shit. Some of the keyboards I recently got are really neat, I love cheap keyboards, and I am only adding an output jack were missing and maybe a true (analogue) nolume control replacing the digital stepped one in the circuit.

very interesting ,and very common in circuit bending is finding some cool sounds AFTER you have finished the bends. I found out that the Bent Bontempi ef-3200 is capable of producing a wider range of sounds from some that originally discovered. This was a blast.

cheers

update

keyboards added to collection

casio mt-52

casio sa-1

yamaha pss-6

yamaha-80

bontempi bt-605

casio pt-22

waiting for

casio ht-3000 [a real synth from 1987]

casio mt-45 [mostly analogue, it seems]

and two awesome mostly analogue bontempis

and another digital strange bontempi

CHEAP LITTLE KEYBOARDS GALLORE !!!!

Edited April 27, 2013 by mutant

[mutant]

a better demo of the bent childhood keyboard

does lots of neat stuffs

lots more to explore!

 

[mutant]

new circuit bent demo of a somewhat not so often seen model, but of one with a very good sound over all...

Casio MT-800

 

[ajna]

finally got me a soldering iron, and in a month ill be moving to a house where i'll actually have the space to have it set up

so hopefully i'll get some circuits bent soon

know any good video tutorials or sites for absolute beginners to learn the basics?

[mutant]

in circuit bending you truly learn by experimenting

there is lots of material in youtube to check out...

this guys channel is awesome and he's a nice funny guy

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8rKFpgFz4pFfLSXyuYXRow

I thought this is pretty useful when I was begining

 

this is a basic pitch bend. it can be done in almost every bettery powered toy

but its not always like its shown in the video, that for sure...

because every circuit is different, knowing they technologies of keyboard and which are better for bending is also helpful

this site is a treasure for cheap keyboards

http://weltenschule.de/TableHooters/instruments.html

====

all in all messing around with a couple cheap toys is the greatest start... you can always have seen a ton of youtube videos, but getting to do it is the best way to see how its done.

all you need is a wire, a screwdriver, a functioning battery toy and a table

if you add to this a couple potentiometers 1kohm ~ 1Mohm and crocodile clips then you got your self really into into it, with multiple connections and creative testing

circuit bending best moments IMO is

1 - when you initially test the circuit for potential bending points,

2 - when you design (in your mind and again through testing of the potential bending points) the interface you will install.

3 - when you at first explore AFTER you have build the whole damn thing and it workd fine, and find new sounds that were not heard or designed through the testing proceedure, that is discovering the fruits of luck. Circuit bending is linked with "chance" or "luck" . But sure its not all that.

The building stage is challenging and adrenaline rushing for me, but I am talking 80s keyboards, and not some 1$ toy from the flee market.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Technics-Keyboard-/190922965825?pt=AU_Musical_Instruments_Instruments&hash=item2c73e54341

this is a very good isntrument. I bought one like this the other day. I did not open it up yet, but its from 1981 or 1982 and it sounds like it can be bent very well. I love the tone sounds, but it can use a little tweeking in the rhythm and chord department...

there's only one video of it in youtube bent, so you can be a pioneer, and not use casio MTs like everyone or the operpriced casio SKs...

(note I dont have an SK yet, I as sure it's worth it though)

anywayz

feel free to ask anything

prices on cheapie keyboards and toyz, or practical advice

if you want you can describe what kind of sounds do you want to have

digital keyboards sound much different from those from earlier years, that have more analogue circuitry.

there are families of keyboards, and it certainly plays a role what you're circuit bending

Edited October 6, 2013 by mutant

[ajna]

thanks heaps mutant

this youtube guy is a great starting point video-wise

would be awesome if u dont mind me shooting a few questions at ya when i do get my hands dirty

i wont bother u with questions til i know more about what im doing

i am particulary interested in analogue sounds n gear, no analogue purist, just a fetishist

i'd be most interested in filters and echo/delay, but just think ill love the experimental process really

would like to play around with fx pedals just as much

but wanna shop round for cheap crappy stuff to tinker with so i dont wreck anything i need

[mutant]

feel free to ask anything, I am particularly knowledgable in regards with cheapie keyboards.

Yeah, experimental and expecially live experimental rules with echos and delays, I want to get me some good one at some point.

so , in regards with filters, you know the ARION effect pedals? I have experimented a bit with a flanger.

ARION pedal effects are totally bendable and it should be quite funny.

You could also make an ATARI PUNK CONSOLE with very little components and house it in a box of your yours. ATARI PUNK CONSOLE is a noise box, lets say

Flee markets seem to me the best source around the world for both keyboards and 1$ toys. When you go to the flee market, take 4 AA batteries with ya and a screwdriver!! (to test the stuff!)

cheers

[ajna]

Haven't heard of the Arion pedals but will look into them

The apc sounds perfect for me to learn on I might get one of those, cheers. Housing the circuit bent instruments into new and interesting things is something I'm very keen to do. I'm actually planning to combine toy instruments and fx pedals into one console so it makes a kind of one-off unique instrument to use.

I have been wondering what parts of other electronic devices are useful to scavenge from the dump? Ie, can any old volume knob be used as a potentiometer for non-volume effects? And how do I recognise useful parts like resistors n whatnot (btw please ignore any questions that are too broad, I'm an absolute electronics noob and understand I should be doing more of my own research) or are they all different in appearance...

[mutant]

Ie, can any old volume knob be used as a potentiometer for non-volume effects?

sure, definately! potentiometers are vital in CB

I wont lie to you , I wont say knowing no electronics is useless. In fact even if you have no pro education on the matter, trying to remember what you were taught about basic behaviour of electri current is helpful.

bending shit is linked with lots of skills/interest.

pure experimental mentality and search for new noise/power electronics sounds, building DIY things, electronics, analogue and retro sounds and more

its really important to be skilled with the hands (I am not into building stuff, so I am quite proud of what I've done aesthetically - I suppose grafting has helped me) - anyways, some people build wonders...

there are no limits

the idea of housing a couple toyz allong with a pedal effect and circuit bend all of them is - of course- awesome.

check the knarzimizer

 

[mutant]

such a small and simple mod - such awesome result