Its been a bit quiet around here recently

[Circuitbenders]

I'm thinking it might be an idea to rearrange things so that each board has subsections for individual makers rather than individual machines or else things might get a bit unwieldy. So on the drum machines board we'd have a subsection for Roland, Korg and Kawai etc etc, and if other new brands start getting posts i'll start a new subsection for them.

I'll probably add a DIY synths board as well as there seems to be a lot of talk of DIY oscillators and similar stuff recently.

[Matt the Modulator]

seems fare to me and yeah a synth diy section definitely! like others ive stopped bending as much and moved to basic synth circuits as its easier in a way its getting hard and expensive to find bending victims these days

[Circuitbenders]

Ok, i've added four sections for manufacturers in the drum machines section and added a new DIY synths section under 'circuitbending discussion.

I'll try to add some different manufacturers sections in the toys and Synths & Samplers section asap.

[electoyd]

so much better Paul, really like the new layout 

[SineHacker]

I'm going to randomly de-rail this thread haha, Paul did you ever try bending the RM1X? if not do you fancy selling to me so I can have a go?

Aid

[kitsophrenik]

loudddddddddddd noises

[Circuitbenders]

Can't help you with that one i'm afraid. As with most RM1X's of the planet, half the keyboard buttons have stopped working on mine, so i'm using it as a general sound source for testing effects units and a quick midi pattern player for testing analogue stuff with a midi-cv & midi-din sync convertor.

Its certainly not usable as any kind of music making tool in its current state.

[SineHacker]

no worries

[Gordonjcp]

As with most RM1X's of the planet, half the keyboard buttons have stopped working

If they're just wee clickyswitches then they should be easy to replace.  I did all the buttons on my Redsound Darkstar which improved it massively, and modified my mate's Sequential Sixtrak to have clickyswitches instead of conductive pads.

[Circuitbenders]

They are definately conductive pad jobs but trying to get at the inside of the front panel is a nightmare. I had it open a while back but was faced with about 5 layers of boards that had to be removed before even starting to fix the keyboard buttons.

[nochtanseenspecht]

true, its hell to reach them..
does anyone know the correct part number of these buttons ?
i would hate it to remove all the boards etc to discover that i got just the wrong buttons 
there's only 3 or 4 still functioning on mine..  it is a great sequencer however

[Tyler1144]

THIS FORUM IS GOOD, BUT IT NEEDS EXPOSURE. With that being said, why not have some of our youtube members help by linking to us in the info?

[druzz]

hi ! i'm new here ., i'll try to make some noize.
i will be bending a merlin soon .i want to get decent  solder skills before ... working on it .  chek it out in the toy section i uploaded pics of the inside . i will send info about miy progress . i could not find any useful info about this cool vintage toy on the web so i guess i'm on my own

[Ciderfeks]

The two circuit bending sites I visit the most are this one and casperelectronics.com . I guess I don't post much because it is obvious that the majority of the regular posters here have more knowledge than I do so the stuff I'm learning now is old hat to them, but thats not to say I don't appreciate and value the forum. If I spot a thread that I feel I can contribute to in some small way then I do but I don't want to just flood the forum with constant questions and requests for help and/or stating the obvious! I suppose that is probably true for many newcomers to the scene who don't have the experience of say yourself or Gordon CJP. Anyway, I like the new layout and the addition of the DIY section which is probably a logical next step for most people who get into circuit bending. I reckon once people have got to grips with adding pitch bends and glitches, things like how to build a simple LFO or delay circuit are sure to follow.

That leads me on to Casperelectronics where I really like the schematics archive he's compiled there - they let you learn for yourself and in your own time whilst giving you pointers to useful bends that wont fry the gear you've just paid over the odds for on ebay! Once you've got the basics learnt then it's possible to go on to explore things more creatively for yourself, but you gotta start somewhere. So schematics are good, in my mind anyway...

Anyway cheers for the forum, it's a great resource and one which i hope to be able to contribute more to as I learn. In the meantime I'm off to carve up a Barbie Karaoke machine. 

[Timodon]

Just a thought, following on from what someone else said -  if internet fora are seen primarily as information resources then it's kind of like the eventual aim of them is to get quieter and quieter as more info becomes available on the search function and less people actually need to ask questions. Also it does seem like less people are posting but I'm certainly checking back in every now and then just to see what's happening or search the archives.

If you're trying to drum up a bit of community spirit though (I think it's a good thing btw!) then how about revisiting a couple of old ideas - a circuit bending competition/ song competition or a circuitbenders compilation?