The Knife and Mount Sims are my favorite electronic artists, so it was insane to hear that they collaborated on Tomorrow, in a Year project with another artist Planningtorock. The music was commissioned by a Danish Theater group for an Opera based on Charles Darwin’s “Origin of the Species”. Tracks evolve much like the life on earth from simple, yet surprisingly experimental and packed full of wonderful low frequencies. To complex orchestral compositions with pounding drum machines you’d expect from Mount Sims and heavy synth lines characteristic of The Knife. Great listening experience with a capable sound sound system or nice headphones. This treasure trove of sounds is completely free for listening online. More information: Here
Entire Album:
Tomorrow, In A Year by Rabid Records
Collaborators explain the writing process:

Click here to view the embedded video.

One question that we deal with often is how to control the Atari Punk Console remotely. It is possible to use pins 3 and 11 of the 556 IC for CV input voltage, however that requires tweaked voltages to work correctly and some synth gear can provide that, but what if you play guitar. Well you are in luck and this mod is very simple.

The basic idea of this mod is that you are using the volume potentiometer to control the frequency of the APC. Obviously this is not the same as turning the notes played on the guitar fretboard into the APC oscillations, however it is a pretty good way to control your APC remotely. Note that this will not work with a guitar that has an active pre-amp, it has to be the analog un-powered version and obviously it has to be the first in the chain of pedals. This is similar to the modification done by Properboy with extending the optical sensor in an earlier post.

The tricky part is making this circuit into a guitar pedal. This part is not simple because most guitarists want whats called True-Bypass. The ability to stomp on the switch and select between the clean Guitar signal and the effect, whatever that may be. First problem we had to solve was the fact that the APC output is so much louder than the guitar signal. The solution is to remove the standard 10uF output cap, drop the signal via 100k resistor and then route part of the output from the APC to Ground via a 1K resistor. This creates a simple voltage divider, but then we run into a problem. When you go to bypass the Input jack directly into the Output jack, the voltage divider is still attenuating the signal! Simple fix if you have a 4PDT switch, but most stomp switches are 3PDT. Not to worry! Our friend NPN PN2222 Transistor to the rescue. The Collector is wired to Ground and the Emitter is connected inline with a 1K resistor to the output jack tip pin. To turn on this simple circuit connect another 1K resistor between the Base and the Positive power supply. When the APC circuit is powered on by the Bypass switch our transistor faithfully completes the ground circuit and viola! Only pulls down when the volume drop is needed.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Next step address horrible clicking noise from switching the APC circuit ON and OFF from bypassing the signal. A couple of 1.0uF electrolytic capacitors ought to do the trick. First one is connected to the Ground and the Positive, the second one is from output of the APC to the Positive. The clicking is not 100% gone, but much much better.

So there you have it! GetLoFi APC 2.0 Kit turned into a Stomp Box pedal effect aka the Atari Punk Pedal. Currently is no good schematic, but based on the description and the closeup shots it should be easy to figure out. It might be prudent to even have a variation of the APC PCB accommodating these additional components. Enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There comes a time when it seems every circuit bender hits a wall. I’ve been looking at the wall for a long time and no matter how many times I looked at it the only solution seemed to work with and learn the MIDI protocol.  In short MIDI is a digital protocol developed in the early 80’s by the likes of Dave Smith, Yamaha, Korg, Roland and other big synth manufacturers at that time. So control information and the synths had a standardization in order to communicate with each other between different manufacturers of synthesizers and controllers.

There are a lot of instruments that are circuit bendable that are MIDI capable. Unfortunately some of these MIDI capable instruments are not implemented very well with the protocol. Fortunately there are great devices by companies that really took MIDI and implemented in such ways that offer extremely detailed control over sound that is useful to musicians, sound designers and composers.

We are all familiar with circuit bent toys, they are cheap, safe to work with, and great to learn on. Some can produce a very surprising type of audio output from circuit bending. More often then not if you see a circuit bent performance by a circuit bender: their table is  full of many different toys. This variety is often mixed in real time to produced a shifting array of unusual sounds.  I’ve found each toy is like a “patch” which typically any musician using MIDI can scroll through a lot of patches during a performance. That is only possible through digital interfaces.  As a musician and circuit bender that has lugged around many different bent devices through many city streets, transportation systems, and airports I can say that this is very unpractical for non-benders and professional musicians to carry around many different bent instruments for the sake of having different “patches” during a performance.

Professional digital synthesizers that are implemented well over MIDI will offer a modulation matrix, several MIDI channels (16-32 different voices) of different programmed sounds to play at once with each sound having precise control over each sound’s parameters and triggering. They will allow precise detail in editing and how your control information interacts with customized bent sounds.

When we look at instruments without MIDI we are looking at the device itself and the bender’s hardware designed interface. Often these are strewn with fragile components located on odd shaped enclosures with an interface that makes sense to the bender but often can be very confusing to anyone else. Once the interface is made there is no other way to communicate with the device with your controllers and other equipment in the studio. Depending on the bent interface you are limited to the controls it offers. Whether its a homebrew sequencer or a bunch of switches, a clunky patchbay with lots of cables, you as a musician would have no say in how to communicate with the instrument or whether or not you prefer the patchcables, tons of switches, etc.. unless of course the musician would choose to DIY which is ultimately the best way to approach circuit bending imo, in your own way.

The problem is that I circuit bend professionally and I’ve been listening to complaints of professionals in regards to circuit bent instruments: they’re unstable, hard to travel with, I can’t integrate my existing controllers with the instrument, they are just toys that are severely limited. In response I decided to work with rack synths because they can be racked safely without damage during travel and the ones I’ve been working with are true professional instruments. All the bends are  informed by correctly addressing each chip to ensure stability and by not cross bending any chips on the build.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is a recent release by Spunkytoofers Electronics called the Wavecaper. A circuit bent Alesis QSR Quadrasynth. It features extensive MIDI implementation and a deep synthesis archeticture as well as a comprehensive effects processor and a fully editable drum synth. With this design I wanted the entire bent interface under MIDI control. Any MIDI source: MIDI cc’s, program changes, tempo synch, MIDI machine commands, notation can be routed to any destination on the circuit bent interface via sysex programming. The onboard modulation matrix on the Alesis Quadrasynth has 6 source/destination for the synthesizer itself, 2 source/destination for the fx processor and the added MIDI circuitry for the bent interface adds another 12 source/destinations. In total you have a 20 source/destination modulation matrix. Probally one of the largest I’ve seen on a MIDI controlled hardware synth.

The circuit bent interface features two patch bays on a bank of rotary switches. One patch bay is 10 points dedicated to the effects processor bends while the other patch bay  is 24 points dedicated to the oscillator bends.  With rotaries you can get creative and efficient. No more massive amounts of drilling for point to point patch bays. With rotaries you can select your bends, stack your bends so quickly that if you are sending the rotaries sequenced information you can custom circuit bend your oscillator waveforms, effects and the sample rate on the fly. This is somewhat reminiscent of wave sequencing although this is definately much more unusual and bizarre and completely open to programming and free sequencing and control.

Rather than go into details of exactly how I bent this I want to share some amazing little creations by other benders. These are little plug ins that circuit benders can use rather then develop their own circuitry that is time consuming.  Following in the spirit of circuit bending’s immediacy I find these tools exceptionally invaluable.

The first one is by the owner of this blog, Getlofi.  Alex has created the LTC1799 oscillator kit which allows you to replace the clocks of various functions on devices and control them under variable controls like knobs. in my implementation of the circuit bent Quadrasynth I have the LTC1799 controlling the overall sample rate. The sample rate is controlled via a knob or switchable to MIDI control.

The second device is by Highlyliquid called the MPA, it is a decoder kit that offers potentiometer control in ranges from 10k, 50k or 100k. I have the mpa controlling the LTC1799 kit. Since the LTC1799 offers such stable control and the MPA handles very dense midi information without any hitches these synch up perfectly with each other.

The third device was critical. Sometimes if you do not have true mechanical switches you will not get a proper bend. Any amount of capacitance, resistance, and electronic leakage into the contacts you wish to bend can cause a bend to not sound right or even make the instrument less playable!!!  I tried building my own circuits for quite awhile and spent much more time then I like trying to develop a circuit but the solution and the life saver was highly-liquid msa-r kit which has 8 reed relay switches under midi that offer true mechanical connections that are electronically isolated.

These products allow you to get to your intended results much quicker as a bender. Just like when we approach bending to get quick results over existing devices we do not have to develop deep programmable synthesizers ourselves and do everything ourselves..with these kinds of resources availble to us we no longer have to stare at walls, but can now focus back on what I hope is what originally got us into this circuit bending mess in the first place. The music!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

more information can be found here:

www.spunkytoofers.com

www.highlyliquid.com

http://www.getlofi.com/?page_id=1446

Here is a neat fast motion camera view of a pedal painting process using Testors Enamel model paint. The artist in the video is a pedal maker Devi Ever, more cool pedals here. Via MatrixSynth.

I feel that the devices that we use in the studio should be visually as well as sonically pleasing. It was with this idea in mind that I recently commissioned artist Laura Bennett (she paints all the Zvex pedals), to paint some enclosures for properboy. As you can see they came out fantastic with layer upon layer of textured paint. Laura even numbered, dated, and signed each on the back plate. When they are not powered up the LED seems to disappear in the sea of colour. There is a voltage input on the side to interface with CV equipment. Each is built with a getlofi pcb, as well as a vintage spec Sozo mustard capacitor and some recycled/re-purposed components. From the 4 made we will be selling three (one stays in my studio). Details can be found at www.properboy.com.

Regular readers of GetLoFi will recall announcements for a number of circuit-bent/experimental electronic live events during late 2009 here in the Midwest.  I was lucky enough to catch some of these performances with my camcorder.  I have been slowly adding the footage that I captured to my new Vimeo account and they are available for viewing at the new Creme DeMentia Vimeo Channel.  Below I have embedded several videos with some information about the performances.  Although I have not added every single video I’ve taken, I’ve been trying to add at least one new video a week as upload limits allow.

e^3 Micro Tour – GetLofi contributors Talking Computron, Creme DeMentia and Pelzwik teamed with Tim Kaiser to play a 3-night string of shows.  We started with a show with LWA in Iowa City at the Picador and then continued on to DeKalb, IL to play at Krystal’s Ultra-Lounge;  we ended in Chicago at i^3 Hypermedia,  where we added Roth Mobot to the bill and streamed the entire night of performances live online.  Video captured from the show at i^3 Hypermedia can be seen embedded in an older article here on GetLoFi, the performances I captured in Iowa City and DeKalb are embedded below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cincinnati -  After the e^3 Micro Tour, Tim Kaiser invited me to accompany him to Cincinnati for a couple of shows he was playing there.  I was able to play with Tim and Thriftsore Boratorium at the chilly Semantics Gallery.  Thriftsore Boratorium put on a very interesting set, broadcasting on several different frequencies to a dozen or more portable radios.  It was very bizarre to listen and move around in the field of distributed radios, hopefully the video captures some of that spirit.  The following day I shot some overhead footage of performances from David William and Tim Kaiser at the Contemporary Arts Center.  I had no idea what to expect from David William’s performance and was pleasantly surprised.  His approach is very subdued and I like the way he has re-purposed every-day objects as playable drone generators.   I was very happy to make his acquaintance and catch his performance.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There are more videos available at the Creme DeMentia Vimeo Channel.  I have also posted some full versions of past performances that were originally segmented for the Creme DeMentia Youtube Channel.  I will continue to post to both channels based on video sizes and lengths; Creme DeMentia Vimeo Channel will hold 10+ min. videos of performances, lectures and how-to videos, Creme DeMentia Youtube Channel will hold shorter videos of performances, toy demos, how-to videos, etc.

I finally got a chance to bend my Bliptronic 5000, and while I was sad that there was no active synthesis, I’m pretty satisfied with the results.

First, I replaced the internal crystal with a Getlofi Precision Oscillator kit.  That was easy, and it’s very responsive.  I ended up adding a 25k resistor to limit the upper range of the precision oscillator, because the Bliptronic was prone to crashing during any attempt to “speed up” the sample rate.  Sampling down was fine though, and the downward range is quite huge.

I also found a spot on the audio IC that creates a rich harmonic drone.  I should note here that this bend should be done through resistance- I used a 500k pot and found that the audio would distort and cut out when resistance approaches zero.

Additionally, I used a HighlyLiquid MD24 kit to send 5v pulses to the Bliptronic’s Sync In jack, which let me send a MIDI note from Ableton Live to start the Bliptronic’s sequence at the start of each measure.  This allows the Bliptronic to sync with my other devices with relatively good timing. 

By Michael Una

On a toy with a simple pitch resistor replace that resistor with a LDR (Light Dependent Resistor, call it what you want we all know what they do) and a limiting resistor in series to prevent crashing. While you are making that substitution you might want to wire in a pot in parallel with the LDR so that both the LDR and pot connect to the outer legs of a SPDT switch with center leg connecting back to pcb. The other side of the pot and LDR connections go to the limiting resistor. With that setup you can choose by the switch to use either the pot or the LDR/1458 for pitch control. Now you could leave the toy like that and use the LDR with any light source, but I like to enclose the LDR with one of the leds for the best response of the led light and darkness. The second led of the pair can be used as an indicator of the fade rate. Since the 1458 is just a light source for the LDR you can build this and use it with a toy of any voltage. They do not need to be joined to the same power source and definitely should not unless the toy also uses a 9 volt power source.

This circuit is as easy to build as a 555 to drive a led, so I built both to show the different effect of each. In my sample circuit I have a switch to select either the 1458 or 555 (50% duty cycle) to drive the pair of leds. There is also a switch to select either the pot or 1458/555. The video begins with the pot. Next it goes through the 555 at different rates, and then the 1458 also at different rates. All of those are shorter sounds, and then it goes through longer sounds with each. Lastly it goes back and forth with one longer sound. Next to the flashing/fading led is the other led with the LDR in a piece of plastic tube wrapped with electrical tape to seal out outside light. The 555 is always harsh (fast or slow rate) being full on or off, and the 1458 can give a nice warble with its fade between on and off.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Similar to using a 555 for noise injection you can also do the same with the 1458, again so long as the toy uses a 9 volt power source. For noise injection use a wire coming off of pin 1, the same signal that goes to the transistor.

You may be asking can this circuit run on another voltage than 9 volts? It probably can, but would require figuring out what the new values of components would need to be. It is certainly something that can be experimented with.

You may also be asking can more or fewer leds be run with this circuit? If you want to add more you should add another transistor to power them. If you use a PNP (2n3906) the two sets of leds will alternate fading. Trying to fade a single led removes the usefulness of having a rate indicator. It also means experimenting to find the right led and resistor combination to get the full on and full off fade.

Hope that gives some ideas to you. Now you should go and try them out.

by Sailormouth

Sometimes newer devices get overlooked for purposes of circuit bending.  Two main reasons are price and abundant use of SMT components almost too  small to work on. The Kaosillator is one such device. However once the novelty of the factory sounds wears off it is necessary to explore other possibilities and Kaosillator is no exception.

The first modification is an addition of the LTC precision module in order to control the pitch. Wiring is very simple with only Ground, Positive, and the Output connection. Nothing needs to be cut or removed. The Output from the LTC module can be patched directly to the Crystal leg that controls the Kaossilator CPU.

Here is a closeup of the crystal connection. It is second of the two non SMT  solder spots right next to the IC. It could help to undo the circuit board and take a look at where the crystal is exactly, however, should be simple to tell from this image.

The power connections are pretty easy, Ground goes strait to the spring coil on the left. The positive wire is slightly more difficult. After probing around I found a spot that can be leeched from without the worry of draining of batteries when not in use. An empty pad in the capacitor block is just what we need.

The modification works well at pitching down the Kaossilator and stretching out all sounds. The pitch up is rather limited before the CPU crashes. To prevent the crashing during the LTC modification it helps to add a 5-10K resistor between the board and the potentiometer. This ensures that the resistance never drops below a certain level when the knob is dialed all the way down. So the operating frequency will not raise above the threshold crashing level.

The only  remaining problem is embedding a 250K potentiometer inside of the Kaossilator. The potentioner would however fit perfectly if we remove the unused side of the output RCA circuit board by carefuly cutting it with a dremel, however I don’t advice that just yet. If you are interested in trying out this modification it would probably be easiest to use the Gameboy Pitch control kit or the LTC Modules from the GetLoFi.com/shop. This mod is not the only thing that can be circuit bent in the Kaossilator.  It turns out that there is a Waveform ROM IC on the underside of the circuit board yielding interesting results. To get at it requires some very precise soldering skils. More on that very soon. Enjoy.