Circuit Bending

Nick sent us a bunch of youtube links about the art of circuit bending. He writes:

there is a hobby that nobody talks about called circuit bending. It's great fun, I've done it a few times and I've got a few friends that are really into it. Circuit bending is the act of cracking open a musical toy,radio, tape machine, cd player, walkie-talkie etc. and hapazardly/randomly poking around the ciruit board with a couple of wires to get unique sounds out of whatever you're "bending". You then solder the wire at the points you want and voila, you have a brand new musical insrument. Some people get really crazy with it and add new parts like light sensors, switches, buttons etc. and get some really wild effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Pbyg_kcEk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjO5PtxaNuA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmr9rpv4XoA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKXecfkne38

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hcaW1TvVzE

This reminds me of a dream I've had for years. I want to hack into one of those Big Mouth Billy Bass animatronic toys and make it sing "Let the Eagle Soar" by John Ashcroft. It would be the ultimate piece of kitsch. I guess that makes me a would-be circuit bender. But I don't have the skills to make it happen. Also, I doubt my wife would allow me to keep it in the house.
     Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 02, 2008
     Category: Art | Music | Technology





Comments
Forgot to mention, if you want to give bending a shot the best website to learn about it is

anti-theory.com It is run by a man named Reed Ghazala, a strange man who lives in a tent and is credited with creating circuit bending.
Posted by NightGoat on 09/03/08 at 03:30 AM
Thanks Freddie, I'll check that out. Never heard of that site before
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Posted by NightGoat on 09/03/08 at 02:32 PM
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