Circuit bending research project - REPLY TO THIS PLEASE (circuitbenders)

[jamiedodd]

hullo all

i am a 3rd year sound technology student and as part of our final year we have to undertake a research project where we choose a topic related to sound and technology and write a paper on it.

i have chosen circuit bending as it has been a passion of mine for some time

but to really set my research off, i need some primary research, which is where some of you could come in

bascially if any of you could answer the questions below, then it would be a great help to me and much appreicated, as it would provide me with good information from people who are out there and circuit bending.


1. How did you first get into Circuit Bending?

2. How important do you feel it is to have an understanding of true-theory electronics? Is the knowledge necessary to enable one to progress further into the art?

3. What factors do you think have contributed to the development and current state of the art?

4. What do you think makes Circuit Bending such an easy access art form?

5. Do you regularly make music or perform with your Circuit Bent instruments? Or is the thrill in the build?

5. What do you think the future holds for Circuit Bending?

6. Reed Ghazala often mentions how body contacts can enable both an instrument and the player to become one entity – what is your opinion on this coming together of man and machine?

7. To what extent do you feel miniaturisation (both in circuit board and component design) has contributed to the development of the art?

8. What are your opinions on people who Circuit Bend for financial reasons (eg people selling bent instruments on Ebay etc)? Do you think Circuit Bendings cottage industry could ever progress to more of a mass production type?

9. Where do you see Circuit Bending in contemporary music?

10. What first attracted you to Circuit Bending?



thank you for taking the time to read this


if you could respond to any or all of these questions then it would be much appreciated


thank you



Jamie Dodd

[Pehr]

1. How did you first get into Circuit Bending?
I google around about synth-diy and found Anti Theory.

2. How important do you feel it is to have an understanding of true-theory electronics? Is the knowledge necessary to enable one to progress further into the art?
Some knowledge definatley makes it easier. It is good to know how caps, resistors and pots work. But it's really about short circuiting...

3. What factors do you think have contributed to the development and current state of the art?
Internet.

4. What do you think makes Circuit Bending such an easy access art form?
You just need a soldering iron and som pots and switches!

5. Do you regularly make music or perform with your Circuit Bent instruments? Or is the thrill in the build?
The thrill is definatley in the build. I think I have 99% builing and 1% perforimg live.

5. What do you think the future holds for Circuit Bending?
Not much, newer toys have surface mount components and the keyboards are unbendable...

6. Reed Ghazala often mentions how body contacts can enable both an instrument and the player to become one entity – what is your opinion on this coming together of man and machine?
It feels great to be part of a circuit, since I'm in control I don't think it's a bad thing.


7. To what extent do you feel miniaturisation (both in circuit board and component design) has contributed to the development of the art?
-

8. What are your opinions on people who Circuit Bend for financial reasons (eg people selling bent instruments on Ebay etc)? Do you think Circuit Bendings cottage industry could ever progress to more of a mass production type?
I don't really mind. I just don't like those who just does it for the $$$  But I really like sites like this,  casper electronics and anti-theory.Tho9se who really has an interest in circuit bending. I couldn't afford any of the bends but I like what trhey do.

9. Where do you see Circuit Bending in contemporary music?
-

10. What first attracted you to Circuit Bending?
The cute little toy sounding as it just came right from hell. The thrill of letting the ghost of the circuit free (sometimes when I crash my SA-10, I really feel like there is a ghost playing).

[jamiedodd]

thank you for taking the time to reply


much appreciated



jamie

[Circuitbenders]

i will be taking the time to reply once my computer  allows me to do anything for 5 minutes without crashing

[jamiedodd]

thank you!


its all good primary research for my project

im just trying to get opinions on the current state of the art


jamie

[ne7]

i'll be replying once i get a sec!

circuitbenders; how is it crashing? might be spyware or something nasty installed like a dropper especially if it is crashing after the same amount of time everytime... check out hijackthis at www.merijn.org ...

[Signal:Noise]

1. How did you first get into Circuit Bending?

was sent a link to an artist recording under the name Toybreaker, she extensively used modified and circuit bent equipment in he music. Googled it to find out more and ended up here.

2. How important do you feel it is to have an understanding of true-theory electronics? Is the knowledge necessary to enable one to progress further into the art?

It is perfectly possible to be an accomplished circuit bender with only a trial and error knowledge of electronics. I do find however that understanding some principles is very useful.

3. What factors do you think have contributed to the development and current state of the art?

The mass marketng of inexpensive electronic instruments and toys maybe.

4. What do you think makes Circuit Bending such an easy access art form?

5. Do you regularly make music or perform with your Circuit Bent instruments? Or is the thrill in the build?

I regularly uses circuit bent sapmles in tracks, but it's not the core of my sound, I do enjoy building machines though.

5. What do you think the future holds for Circuit Bending?

Crisis as the supply of cheap, japanese keybaords drys up. In 2025 a bloody, three day street battle will be fought by two rival tribes of circuit benders desperate to possess the last unbent vss-30 on the planet.

6. Reed Ghazala often mentions how body contacts can enable both an instrument and the player to become one entity – what is your opinion on this coming together of man and machine?

Personally, i think he should lay off the space cakes.

7. To what extent do you feel miniaturisation (both in circuit board and component design) has contributed to the development of the art?

Miniturisation will probably be the bane of circuit bending.

8. What are your opinions on people who Circuit Bend for financial reasons (eg people selling bent instruments on Ebay etc)? Do you think Circuit Bendings cottage industry could ever progress to more of a mass production type?

I sell on ebay, and though i tend to stick to the same machines i do my level best to make each unique.

9. Where do you see Circuit Bending in contemporary music?

Everywhere, seeing as it's the new 'in thing'

10. What first attracted you to Circuit Bending?

I'm a sucker for punishment.

[jamiedodd]

thank you for your reply!


every opinion goes a long way to helping me get some good primary research for my project

if you have anything to add about the development of circuit bending and its place in contemporary music and art, then please post it!



much appreciated for the replies


spread the word! the more the better!


jamie

[ne7]

1. How did you first get into Circuit Bending?
i was bored of standard sounds and especially sample cds and wanted to make something unique
i think i was talking to a pal of mine who does a lot of stuff on c64 and he mentioned circuit bending...

2. How important do you feel it is to have an understanding of true-theory electronics? Is the knowledge necessary to enable one to progress further into the art?
not sure really - i had a little bit of experiance from playing around with consoles... but not much else
just dived right in really

3. What factors do you think have contributed to the development and current state of the art?
i think reed ghazala's book has really help push the information out there, and also people getting more and
more sick of boring synth VST's, dull preset keyboard sound and sample cd sounds in commercial music

4. What do you think makes Circuit Bending such an easy access art form?
not sure how easy it is to just 'do' = u still have to persist and put a lot of effort in

5. Do you regularly make music or perform with your Circuit Bent instruments? Or is the thrill in the build?
i make music professionaly and the instruments i mess around with are incredibly useful -especially for generating sound fx for games

5. What do you think the future holds for Circuit Bending?
more experimentation with adding things like midi control

6. Reed Ghazala often mentions how body contacts can enable both an instrument and the player to become one entity – what is your opinion on this coming together of man and machine?
i think its a valid and very interesting point. it almost brings a bit of analog into the digital circuit

7. To what extent do you feel miniaturisation (both in circuit board and component design) has contributed to the development of the art?
not sure... might make it a bit more fiddly hehe

8. What are your opinions on people who Circuit Bend for financial reasons (eg people selling bent instruments on Ebay etc)? Do you think Circuit Bendings cottage industry could ever progress to more of a mass production type?
there is no problem at all in people selling their stuff - its up to them what they do with it.
i would say that you will always create more interesting sounds if you make the stuff yourself tho

9. Where do you see Circuit Bending in contemporary music?
oh its all over the place...

10. What first attracted you to Circuit Bending?
a need for original sounds and a willingness to experiment

[jamiedodd]

thank you!


keep em coming!

[Circuitbenders]

goddamnit, i've answered this twice now and its not posted, my own forum has turned against me!

Will attempt to do it again once i've tracked down the problem

[Griffin]

1. How did you first get into Circuit Bending?
One day I was just screwing around on eBay and saw all those bent-machines. I was amazed by the sounds. Then I realized I had some stuff that could be bent, so I dove in.

2. How important do you feel it is to have an understanding of true-theory electronics? Is the knowledge necessary to enable one to progress further into the art?
No idea there, as I have no knowledge of tru-theory - but it has spurned me to pick up an elec book to learn.

3. What factors do you think have contributed to the development and current state of the art? A healthy sense of one-up-manship. To take something one has done and take it even further(I'm looking at you, Andy, and your buddha box!)

4. What do you think makes Circuit Bending such an easy access art form? The simple genius of it and the ability to make it as complicated as you want

5. Do you regularly make music or perform with your Circuit Bent instruments? Or is the thrill in the build? Both. I've made samples for a few of my DJ friends(trying using a sample with Serato's Scratch setup - its so awesome)

5. What do you think the future holds for Circuit Bending? What ever you can imagine

6. Reed Ghazala often mentions how body contacts can enable both an instrument and the player to become one entity – what is your opinion on this coming together of man and machine? Meh - I cant really get into that hippie stuff, but Im not gonna knock it. Reed is the Father.

7. To what extent do you feel miniaturisation (both in circuit board and component design) has contributed to the development of the art? Both bane and boon. It will eventually lead to higher priced unbent units, while forcing many to create their own circuit boards perhaps. But I lost my psychic abilities years ago. Damn pot.

8. What are your opinions on people who Circuit Bend for financial reasons (eg people selling bent instruments on Ebay etc)? Do you think Circuit Bendings cottage industry could ever progress to more of a mass production type?
Selling your wares is fine by me, but many are overpriced. I think it helps those who want one to make it themselves, but cant afford a pre-bent.
Mass prod? Probably not. I think its really viewed as a fad(not my view though, I love it!) And the sounds we can make aren't exactly embraced by all.

9. Where do you see Circuit Bending in contemporary music? Try Beck's "The Information" track ten. Try Self's "Gizmodegery"- the entire album made with toys. Its everywhere, and yet nowhere.

10. What first attracted you to Circuit Bending?
The chaos. The fun. Plus I got bored screwing around on mySpace. And my porn got lost.

[Circuitbenders]

1. How did you first get into Circuit Bending?

Opened up a push button speak&spell about 6 or 7 years ago to reconnect the battery wire and spotted the preset pot for the pitch, then wondered what else i could do with it. Hadn't even heard about circuitbending before and thought i was onto something new, turned out a whole bunch of people were way ahead of me

2. How important do you feel it is to have an understanding of true-theory electronics? Is the knowledge necessary to enable one to progress further into the art?

I'd have to say yes. There is no need whatsoever to have any knowledge of electronics when you start out but it does help a lot to have an idea of the 'logic' of electronics. Despite this there is only so far you can go with circuitbending without any electronics knowledge. Its perfectly plausable to circuitbend a whole lot of machines with brilliant results and no theory behind it but you can do so much more if you know some terminology and even simple circuits using 555 timers etc open up a whole new world of possibilities.

3. What factors do you think have contributed to the development and current state of the art?

I'm not sure there is such a thing as a 'state of the art' in circuitbending. The state of the art was probably reached the first time someone circuitbent a speak&spell or casio SK-1. Ever since then people have come to circuitbending, circuitbent those machines and realised theres not much more they can do that hasn't already been done. If anything i'd say that the current state of the art is being developed more in regards to interfaces for playing the machines or external aesthetics. If this is the case then i'd say Tim Kaiser's stuff has been the state of the art for years.

4. What do you think makes Circuit Bending such an easy access art form?

I could probably leave the house right now and go to a charity shop where i could get some kind of musical toy for about £2. Within half an hour of getting it home i could have it making noises that you just can't reproduce any other way. It really is that easy. All it takes is spending an hour or so learning how to solder properly and you've got a whole new world of sounds available to you for virtually nothing. It annoys me intensely when people on the Yahoo circuitbending group atart suggesting that circuitbending is some kind of mystical art that shouldn't be revealed to 'commoners'. Basic circuitbending is about as difficult as falling over.

5. Do you regularly make music or perform with your Circuit Bent instruments? Or is the thrill in the build?

I have to say that i'm sick of the sight of the insides of speak&spell machines and certain drum machines but for me it is mainly about the thrill of the build. Personally i love just making bizarre instruments and even when you think that yu've heard every noise you can get out of circuitbent machines something will happen totally by random that will astonish you. I do make music with circuitbent sounds, rarely with the machines themselves as i have gigabytes of interesting samples and if i held onto every good machine i built i wouldn't be able to get into my studio anymore, but i have yet to take any circuitbent machines out live

5. What do you think the future holds for Circuit Bending?

It depends how totally ridiculous the prices for speak&spell machines and casio SK's become. As i said before, most developments i've seen recently are in terms of interfaces and aesthetics rather than actual sound production. It seems to be a common path for people to get into circuitbending and then start building their own analogue synths when they realise that its really not that hard to do. At the moment it seems to be just taking off as a fashion thing so its only a matter of time before Roland kill circuitbending stone dead by releasing a 'virtual bent' synth.

6. Reed Ghazala often mentions how body contacts can enable both an instrument and the player to become one entity – what is your opinion on this coming together of man and machine?

umm, Reed is a really nice guy but he is a bit of a hippy. Having said that, you could say the same about any instrument in sufficiently skilled hands. Watching Jimi Hendrix lost in an epic guitar solo i'd be perfectly willing to suggest that he and the guitar are one entity.

7. To what extent do you feel miniaturisation (both in circuit board and component design) has contributed to the development of the art?

Its contributed nothing and will probably eventually destroy circuitbending. SMT boards are very difficult to circuitbend, even the leap in technology from the early digital drum machines like the TR707 to 'hundreds of sampled sounds' machines like the Boss DR550 meant that nobody could decently circuitbend any modern drum machine.


8. What are your opinions on people who Circuit Bend for financial reasons (eg people selling bent instruments on Ebay etc)? Do you think Circuit Bendings cottage industry could ever progress to more of a mass production type?

Well, obviously i have a slightly biased opinion but i am astounded at some of the crap that sells on ebay for ridiculous money. Not because thats what people are willing to pay but because theres a whole section of so called circuitbenders out there that think they can just add a couple of switches to an SK-1 and sell it for £150. I'm amazed that people think they can rehouse a £2 toy in a new case and then call it a 'super analogue noise thrashing zappy box' or something and START the bidding at £150! Has anyone ever heard of the regurgitron? They basically consisted of a load of electronics in a clear box that did absolutely nothing apart from flash a couple of LED's. Someone on the Yahoo group was listing them on ebay as 'overpriced circuitbent crap, does nothing whatsoever' or something similarand sold quite a few but the people on that group tore him to pieces as they just didn't see the irony. Its only a matter of time until 'virtual bent' is a household phrase, and them i'm alerting the UN.

9. Where do you see Circuit Bending in contemporary music?

In popular music its very subtle but i do hear definate circuitbent sounds buried in the mixes of Hip-Hop & R&B tracks. Apparently one of our drum machines was used on the new Bloc Party album. i don't think circuitbent sounds will ever be overused in popular music as they tend to be harsh by their nature but you hear bent sounds all over contemporary breakbeat and 'electronica'.

10. What first attracted you to Circuit Bending?

The ability to cheaply make my own instruments to my own specs to make noises that are actually interesting rather than the same old tired Oscillator - filter - envelope rubbish.





That was a bit of an essay

[jamiedodd]

some great answers coming through here


really good stuff for my project


thank you all!


jamie

[jamiedodd]

anyone else?