Hi I'm new and a question

[Dddavey]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and new circuit bending.

If I have an electrical toy and find contact points that pitch shift the sample when using my hands, with more of an effect if I press harder, but pause the sample when using crocodile clips, does that suggest that I am bypassing the timer resistor?

What I think is happening: the harder I press with my fingers, the higher the resistance. The wire has no resistance, so pauses it.

Am i on the right lines at all? I should stick a pot in there, right?

Thanks in advance.

[wax+wire]

that sounds right.

your body could be either acting as a resistor (therefore, a pot would work, and wire could be too low a resistance)

or it could be a voltage source? or grounding?

[Circuitbenders]

What I think is happening: the harder I press with my fingers, the higher the resistance. The wire has no resistance, so pauses it.

Am i on the right lines at all? I should stick a pot in there, right?

The wire has negligible resistance so the clock speed will run too fast and the machine will crash, or just stop playing. I think the harder you press the lower the resistance will be if you are touching both sides of a clock resistor. if you lick your finger tips the resistance will be even lower and might caus the same effect as the wire.

Try taking out that resistor and replacing it with a pot.

[Dddavey]

Thanks for the advice guys.

in the end, I killed it (first time wielding a soldering iron), but i think I learned some stuff anyway.