Toy laptop round up

Kids are not interested in stuff without QWERTY keyboards nowadays. They want toy laptops, which come in various shapes and sizes. These new educational devices seem to me like an untapped circuit bending and modding territory. Some are pretty complicated and even have programming languages like BASIC built in. I guess the main prohibiting point is the cost, however I am sure second hand these get pretty cheap. Because these are CPU based they would most likely just crash during the conventional poking, instead reprogramming these devices may be the way to go. [via Benders list] Product links: Link 1, Link 2,Link 3,Link 4,Link 5,Link 6,Link 7

Just about every Vtech Manual out there

Looks like VTech is hosting the PDF versions of their manuals online for most if not all of their toys. I found the VideoPainter and Alphabet Learning Desk. Unfortunately they don't contain schematics but if you need to figure out a particular feature on the product, its all there. Thanks to Tom for finding and posting these on Benders List.

S&M Geetar

This revolutionary Texas Instruments Speak and Math Geetar Mod is sure to turn heads after you strap it on and let the glitches rip Jimi Hendrix slylee. I would suggest that the builder used 1x1 inch for the case and PVC for the neck. Of course the instrument is spray painted mate black to go with the S&M theme. The glitches are activated with alligator clips or wet fingers when placed across the heavy gage copper strings. No sounds clips yet and the pictures are not the greatest. [via Benders list] --Update-- The artist behind this is Wark Atoo and he enclosed a short sample of the device.

Casio PT-10 bending info

From what I can tell, circuit bending Casio PT-10 may not be the most rewarding thing to do. However these board scans and tip lines may be handy for anyone getting started. Also note that even though Casio PT-10 and Concertmate 350 have similar external looks their boards are not the same as pointed out by the Univac. The above boardscans were posted on the benders forum as links to here , and now they are also archived on GetLofi.

Weller Cordless soldering iron

Holly Crap this thing is sweet! Today I saw these 6 Watt cordless soldering irons at my local hardware chain on sale for $10.49 and had give one a whirl. Impressed was I indeed. After initial 15 seconds of holding down the button the tip got very hot and melted huge blobs of solder with no sweat at 900 Degrees. The package says that it will do about 120 joints on 3 AA batteries, which is quite a bit really, but those kinds of specs are always overblown. To boot there is a $3 rebate from Weller until end of May. With summer coming up I would suggest for everyone to get out and work on projects outside, in parks and such. So go and check your local store for one or google for Weller BP645MP or use my Amazon link: Weller Cordless soldering iron.

Guild of Acquired Technology Circuit Bending workshop

The Guild of Acquired Technology will be having their Monthly circuit bending festivities this Sunday March 26th, 2006. Downtown Chicago, IL USA. Location is here. I am pretty sure that this is open to anyone who is curious about circuit bending and circuit building. I was asked to visit this event and if everything goes well I will be present to share some of my tips.

Free instrument Design from Ciat-Lonbarde

Peter B of Ciat-Lonbarde is offering a new kit with design schematics in order to help buy food for the clean up crew working on the fire ravaged Tarantula Hill. The fire just happened a week ago, I believe. More devastation images can be found through the above link. Donations can also be sent directly to hello@heresee.com via Paypal. Good Luck to everyone at 2118 W. Pratt, sorry to hear about your loss.

Morphotron I

At some point just about every bender has gone through the initial steps of creating a simple yet effective pitch based modification on a common toy. I would like for everyone to stop and take a moment to reflect on their early projects and how much fun it was to discover those bends. After that moment feel free to browse some neat creations at the Manitou's Lair. Including this Morphotron I.

Franklinator

Tom Green recently posted this novel recasing project of the Franklin the Turtle Numbers game to the Bender list. Great job on the knobs and the wooden case. Wiring inside is not too shabby either, zip ties and all. Surprisingly interesting sounds are also achieved from such a simple toy. The seemingly haphazardly placement of knobs, switches, and buttons works well in this case. Very nice job Tom.

Insane ultra rare backwards Oisac 1-KS

Manufactured only for a very brief period of time these ultra backwards versions of the Popular Casio SK-1 are very sought after and possibly this auction may be once in a life opportunity to get your hands on one. It is sitting pretty low, only 5.50 so far with a day to go. Something to keep in mind I guess. <Auction Link>

3 SK-1s on eBay, claimed to be non-working.

The seller is putting up these 3 non working SK-1s for anyone who is willing to "Tone Bend" them. My guess is that with some troubleshooting skills and good cleaning of the battery terminals they will work again. The bid is at $1 with Ireddi laying down the foundation for what looks to be a bloody bidding war. Auction Link.

SoundLab Mini Synth in a VideoPac Case

Fred linked his new creation to me. Its an old TV entertainment system re-incarnated as a SoundLab Mini Synth. Lots of interesting build pictures are available on his blog as well. ++Sound samples have been added!++ Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3 Sample 4 Sample 5 The page is in French. The knobs are pretty kick ass.

Circuit Blasting

From what I hear "Circuit Blasting" is a new technique of blasting devices with extreme voltages using Victorian style science devices and it is something that Mark Pilkington will be dabbling into at 3pm this Sunday 19 March 2006, at the Camden Arts Centre, Arkwright Road, London NW3 6DG. No images or sounds are yet available, except above possibly unrelated shot that was mixed in with some neat live images of various bands on Mark's Flickr page. Blogger still not posting images right, so we are hotlinked once again. Big thanks to Ben for showing this to me.

Impress dudes with a Concertmate!

While searching for something completely unrelated I spotted a band that uses quite a few Concertmate keyboards called Concertmate as well as other consumer synths like the Casio PT-1 and SA-6 during their improvisational scessions. Nothing really circuit bent from what I can tell, but they do have some nice Concertmate and other Synth Porn shots. The reason why I bring up Concertmate is because they made knockoffs for most of the Casio keyboards that are sought after nowadays, like the SK-1, SK-5, PT-1, etc. So for bending purposes Concertmate brand will be comparable. However I read somewhere that there are differences with bends, but I can't confirm that. Also, Blogger seems to be broken AGAIN, so I have to be a nasty "Hot-Linker" to images. Oh well, I think I'm switching to WordPress anyways here shortly.

What Tape canvas sounds like.

Well finally we have a video of what happens when you dettach a tapehead and run it over a strip of tape. Granted I would like to hear more then one slice of tape, but this is good for now. As someone commented it sounds a lot like a record being scratched, not extremely pleasant, but maybe some sine waves should be tried instead of the conventional music. [Link Via Make:Blog, Thanks!]

What dreams are made of

Well here you have it, 2 perfectly good SK systems for only 0.99 cents! ( with 7 days to go). Would someone please bid on them for the love of god!!! The only down side is that the battery cover is missing and some keys are loose, but who cares. There are too many of those anyway.

"Crack Distortion"

This crack distortion unit is finally up for sale from Phil of Ruin projects. The design is a simple but very effective utilization of the low voltage audio amp IC LM386. The spec claims only a 0.2% Total Harmonic distortion, however the actual distortion seems more when gain is all the way up. Some distortion probably comes from signal transfer between the output and the input of whatever device you are using to record or play back with due to impedance and phase mismatching. All good effects if you are looking for nice distortions. <Auction link>

Tested a O.K!

I certainly applaud the fact that the seller of this auction went the extra mile to demonstrate with an oscilloscope that his SK-1 brings all the ducks to the yard. I guess $63 is not that bad for an instantly bendable classic. The photo is almost poster like as well, definitely worth printing and hanging above the workbench.

EasyPic Boards for everyone

These EasyPic development boards and programmers look cool enough just sitting there, however once programmed they can be used for PIC exploration or development of complete prototypes. Everything you need is already there, LCD, buttons, LEDs, ADs and DAs, PIC, software, and cables. Basically these can be used for a variety of musical applications including synth prototyping with the DA converters, sequencer building because boards have several rows of push buttons as well as LCDs and LEDs for note readouts. Drum machines and possibly even samplers can be built to utilize the memory card storage. Basic models start at around $169 from Circuit-ed.com however some places may have them even cheaper, but without extra parts like the LCDs and PICs.

Cheap parts, tools, and kits from MPJA

I've been hanging on to the catalog from Maplin P. Jones and Associates for quite while, however no time is a bad time for a post about cheap parts from a US vendor in Florida. It is usually the case that a single supplier does not have all the best deals on everything. Fortunately for us their switches are very reasonably priced if purchased in quantities of 100 for $32 US plus $8 shipping. Soldering stations are not bad either only $15 for temp controlled. For those who are just starting in DIY electronics this OP-Amp kit is highly recommended, simply replace the pot with a photo resistor and you have an instant optical theremin system with sine, square, and triangle waves for only $4.95 on a PCB that is ready to mount in a case of your choice.

GameBoy case 6 oscillator thinger-ma-bob.

This Gameboy case was inspired by the previous GameBoy mods, however it is based around the 40106 Hex Schmitt Trigger not the 4093 Quad trigger, because I ran out. The oscillator circuit is incredibly simple with output being fed back through a potentiometer to the input pin. Two values of capacitors, 1uF and 10uF are also used between the single input pin and the ground for various LFO and VCO oscillators. Finally I am using am LM324 Low Power Quad OP-Amp to do the mixing of the signals. This works much better then the diodes used in the previous versions of the circuit, more volume and no dead cancellation frequencies present. The entire circuit runs on a single 9Volt battery with ground and +9 running to the OP-Amp. The array of switches controls various internal patching of oscillators to each other and combinations of larger capacitors. Touch contacts are also used to create various signal effects from the OP-AMP inputs and outputs being patched together by body resistance. The sounds are pretty interesting and fun to mess with, especially with through a delay pedal. More inside shots can be viewed in the GetLoFi gallery and a professionally done video clip of a delayed synth and nanoloop jam is also available.

Server back up

The server was down for a few hours last night, but now its back and better then ever. Thanks for holding.