Circuit Bent » General http://circuit-bent.net Circuit Bent Instruments by Kevin Rees Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:36:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en Mutator for sale. http://circuit-bent.net/mutator-for-sale.html http://circuit-bent.net/mutator-for-sale.html#comments Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:43:42 +0000 admin http://circuit-bent.net/?p=155

I have a completed Mutator up for sale. It’s in one of the cooler cases that I’ve recycled thus far. This Mutator is of a new design. I’ve found a way to make this pedal work as a Fuzz as well as an insane noise maker. This mutator has a Volume knob, Gain Knob, Mutation knob, Mutation switch, Stomp switch to go between Fuzz and Mutation with a bright blue LED, and a Bypass switch with a bright blue LED. I’m listing this one on ebay, and starting the bidding at 100.00 plus 8.00 to ship. Here is the eBay link. Please send me a line through the Contact Page if you are interested in getting a Mutator custom built for you. You can get more info on the Mutator pedals I build here.

]]> http://circuit-bent.net/mutator-for-sale.html/feed Tutorial Repair Complete http://circuit-bent.net/tutorial-repair-complete.html http://circuit-bent.net/tutorial-repair-complete.html#comments Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:06:57 +0000 admin http://circuit-bent.net/?p=148 Still working on some of the other pages, but all the old Tutorials should be good now. I guess I should write some more of those one of these days…

 

]]> http://circuit-bent.net/tutorial-repair-complete.html/feed Circuit Bending Challenge http://circuit-bent.net/circuit-bending-challenge.html http://circuit-bent.net/circuit-bending-challenge.html#comments Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:26:20 +0000 admin http://circuit-bent.net/?p=52 On October twenty-eighth two-thousand seven, a prestigious challenge was put forth. Thrift stores raided, fingers moistened, soldering irons heated, and toys violated. When the solder smoke finally cleared, only one could stand victorious with their ears covered. This is the story of my part in that challenge….Ok, enough with the epic narratives.

The challenge was to pick up a toy, bend it, and document it on the web all in one day. I was interested in the challenge as soon as I heard about it, and figured I would double up the fun by making an event of it. I invited some friends over to have a “Bending Workshop” on “Circuit Challenge Day” (soon to be nationally recognized). Three of them thought it sound like a slightly strange, but fun idea, so plans were laid.

10/28/07
After eating a hearty breakfast we set off to the nearest Goodwill:

After spending sometime trying different toys with some batteries I brought (I am an experienced bender) student benders G,S, and M made their selections and we were on our way.

Bender S chose this monkey toy. It activated when shook. and played music with monkey noises peppered through it. It had what looked like motorized wheels on the bottom, so we assumed that it was supposed to move also (that part seemed broken.

Bender M chose this Cookie Monster Saxophone. It plays full, or parts of songs with the buttons, and the cookie monster button plays a few phrases from the monster himself.

Bender G chose this Foot toy that functions as some kind of hideous game. You tickle the foot’s “toes” when the leds light up underneath the “toenail buttons”.

I chose this “Alphie” Robot toy. It proved to be so difficult in bending that I scraped it and got this:

Blue’s Clues Alphabet Toy. This one ultimately became my entry in the challenge.

After many hours of bending,and tons of soldering by yours truly, we walked away with 4 bent items and one scraped. Here’s some photos of the results.

Bender M’s sax ended up with a 1/8th inch out, pitch control, and body contacts. Bender G’s foot ended up with a 1/8th inch out, pitch control, body contacts in piercing positions, and blue LEDs in the eyes. My blues clues received a 1/4 inch out,pitch control, distortion body contacts, and harsh distortion switch.

Bender S’s monkey couldn’t stay for the group photo. It received two buttons in the eyes to trigger the sounds, pitch control, 1/8th inch output, and a bright blue LED in the nose that pulses with the sounds.

You can check out the flickr set for this stuff here. There are many more pictures of the work, and just general wackyness of the event. Thanks again to CDM and GetLofi.com for starting this event. Can’t wait for the next one!

]]> http://circuit-bent.net/circuit-bending-challenge.html/feed Circuit Bent Samples/Sample Albums http://circuit-bent.net/circuit-bent-samplessample-albums.html http://circuit-bent.net/circuit-bent-samplessample-albums.html#comments Thu, 29 May 2008 23:59:20 +0000 admin http://circuit-bent.net/?p=34 I’ve recently setup my Soundclick page with the ability for people to download the samples of .75 a piece, or as an album for 7.99. I’ve setup two albums, one is a collection of Vocal Glitches (like the Speak and Spells and furbys), and one is a collection of instruments that generate random music, beats, and sounds (like the Casio SA series, and the Musini). Here’s a link to the Store.

]]> http://circuit-bent.net/circuit-bent-samplessample-albums.html/feed Instruments http://circuit-bent.net/instruments.html http://circuit-bent.net/instruments.html#comments Thu, 29 May 2008 21:55:35 +0000 admin http://circuit-bent.net/?p=32 Over the past few years I’ve built a wide variety of instruments. Some are toys/keyboards/whatever that I re-purposed through circuit bending and modification, some are oscillator based instruments that I built from scratch, and more and more I’ve been dabbling in make effects pedals. I’ve built more things then I could ever possibly list here, but I will try and cover some of the more interesting things. If you want a better idea of what all I’ve done you can got to my Soundclick page. I also have a Youtube Page where you can “see” my instruments in action.

I have two effects pedals that I regularly build. One is the “Mutator” which is a heavily modified toy voice changer re-purposed for guitar/whatever. See those here. The other is a modified Fab Echo. I take this rather tame Echo pedal, and modify it into a fully function delay with lots of features. See those here. I’ve also tried my hand at making more traditional pedals, which you can see here.

Keyboards
I’ve modified lots of keyboards, mostly lower end Casios and Yamahas, but also some toy keyboards as well. The mods have been anywhere from a simple pitch control or glitch push button, all the way to an out board RCA patch (Modular Synth Style) with hundreds of possibilites.

Casio SK-1
One of the holy grails of bending. Most benders want one, have done one, or have done many. The first few a did were based on the “Tablebeast” mods (16 point patch bay with on/off switches). Now that I have some experience with them I’ve undertaken some more complex mods.


This is the first SK-1 I’ve modified. It has the “Tablebeast” Patch bay setup with Pitch Knob, Drum Kill, and Poly Kill Switches. This SK-1 is sold


This SK-1 has pretty much the same mods as the above one, but with the addition of body contacts. This SK-1 is sold.


This just the patchbay for my “Glitchstation” SK-1. The keyboard itself only had a 25 pin connector, pitch knob+body contact, drum kill switch, and 1/4 inch output. The patchbay itself contained all the controls. Housed in an old PS2 case (hence the name) it contained a 26 point patchbay (2 points to ground), 8 point switching patchbay, 3 knobs of different values, and sample and hold section, 3 momentary joystics, and an LFO that can be patched with everything else. This project was complicated and difficult, I don’t know if I would ever take it on again. This keyboard/monster has been sold.

Yamaha VSS-30

By far one of my favorite bends. This sampling keyboard does great on it’s own, but with the addition of some bends becomes a sample crushing machine. See my tutorial for pics, and of course how to make your own. If you have one you would like me to modify just send me a line through the contact page

]]> http://circuit-bent.net/instruments.html/feed Clean Up Complete http://circuit-bent.net/clean-up-complete.html http://circuit-bent.net/clean-up-complete.html#comments Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:28:37 +0000 admin http://www.circuit-bent.net/clean-up-complete/ I’m all done straightening up pages. Probably have a few links to fix as I find them.

Hoping to add some new content once I get some photos and such uploaded. Stay tuned! Same Bent Time, Same Bent Channel.

]]> http://circuit-bent.net/clean-up-complete.html/feed Pardon our Solder Smoke http://circuit-bent.net/pardon-our-solder-smoke.html http://circuit-bent.net/pardon-our-solder-smoke.html#comments Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:23:51 +0000 admin http://www.circuit-bent.net/pardon-our-solder-smoke/  This site has needed straightened up for quite sometime, and I’m a little more then half way done. Working on slimming it down to make room for new content and projects.

  You can navigate to different pages through the side bar as always, and I’m working on setting up better links in the pages that follow. Hope to have it all done by this weekend.

 -Kevin

]]> http://circuit-bent.net/pardon-our-solder-smoke.html/feed The results http://circuit-bent.net/the-results.html http://circuit-bent.net/the-results.html#comments Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:46:45 +0000 admin http://www.circuit-bent.net/the-results/ Here

Extensive in process photos here

It was fun. Can’t wait for next time.

-Kevin

]]> http://circuit-bent.net/the-results.html/feed Results of the “Circuit Bending Challenge”. http://circuit-bent.net/results-of-the-circuit-bending-challenge.html http://circuit-bent.net/results-of-the-circuit-bending-challenge.html#comments Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:28:58 +0000 admin http://www.circuit-bent.net/results-of-the-circuit-bending-challenge/ Well it’s all over. 3 friends came over and got their first taste of circuit bending. My initial target “Alphy” the alphabot ended up being a dud, so I went and got a Bloo’s Clues toy was successful with that. Here’s a video with 3 of the 4 that were complete.


 I’ll do more of a write up later, I just wanted to get this up here for the contest.

 -Kevin

]]> http://circuit-bent.net/results-of-the-circuit-bending-challenge.html/feed Are you asking for a Challenge!!!!! http://circuit-bent.net/are-you-asking-for-a-challenge.html http://circuit-bent.net/are-you-asking-for-a-challenge.html#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:54:57 +0000 admin http://www.circuit-bent.net/are-you-asking-for-a-challenge/ Small update + some interestingness.

 Been posting new creations on ebay lately. Also working on finishing up a big project, and an old one that I literally had to dust off before finishing (more of a mod then a bend).

circuitbendingchallenge
I’ve decided to accept the “Circuit-Bending Challenge” put forth by Circuit Master from GetLofi and createdigitalmusic. See links for more info, but basically on Oct. 28th I’m going to get a bending target, bend it while documenting progress, and post the results up on the internet all in the same day.

Be sure to stay tuned, same bent-time, same bent-channel.

-Kevin

]]> http://circuit-bent.net/are-you-asking-for-a-challenge.html/feed