Circuit Bending

[XxHennersXx]

Does anyone else like to circuit bend electronics?

I recently introduced my wife to the concept, and went to a Goodwill and bought this Disney Princess keyboard and showed her how to circuit bend it. Added a few knockoff Sanwa pushbuttons for some crazy effects.

[social_drone]

i had a broken sega genesis a long time ago and swapped some chips around added others, i put in a bunch of potentiometers and switches to see what would happen...it was pretty interesting playing games on but gave me a headache after awhile.

[Calpis]

Know what's more effective than circuit bending? Learning electronics. Then you can coerce them better to do what you want, or better yet entirely build your own devices that do exactly what you want.

[-=FamilyGuy=-]

Know what's more effective than circuit bending? Learning electronics. Then you can coerce them better to do what you want, or better yet entirely build your own devices that do exactly what you want.

Although this is a great way to build interest into electronic. Especially for kids.

It's like playing guitar and composing songs, you can have a lot of fun playing covers as a hobby, no need to ;earn to compose well for most people. And some will develop a passion!

[APE]

Know what's more effective than circuit bending? Learning electronics. Then you can coerce them better to do what you want, or better yet entirely build your own devices that do exactly what you want.

Nothing says awesome like randomly soldering wires to spots on a board that may kill the device in question then proceeding to act like some sort of artist or genius because you randomly soldered wires to components then to switches and potentiometers. Right?

It is interesting to see what modifications are possible to change something like OP's keyboard but it is ridiculous to see people do it to a Genesis. Seriously? Lets just solder a transistor to the RAM, 68k and the LED at once to see what bend we've made! Or we can specifically target the sound and video input/outputs to have change them at will to produce something that could be considered creative.

[Calpis]

Although this is a great way to build interest into electronic. Especially for kids.

Sure, I guess. You know they have lots of simple electronics kits for kids right? What if a kid decides it's OK to circuit-bend his PS3, then is it a good idea? I don't think their parents would think so.

Right now people are circuit bending (amongst other mods) classic synthesizers, is that a good idea? I don't think it's increasing the value at least.

It's like playing guitar and composing songs, you can have a lot of fun playing covers as a hobby, no need to ;earn to compose well for most people. And some will develop a passion!

Playing covers would mean you have some kind of instruction or guidance (the song itself, tabs or sheet music). I think the literal analogy is more like getting an acoustic guitar and guesstimating where to drill holes to change its tonal qualities.

[-=FamilyGuy=-]

Sure, I guess. You know they have lots of simple electronics kits for kids right? What if a kid decides it's OK to circuit-bend his PS3, then is it a good idea? I don't think their parents would think so.

I'm talking about circuit bending cheap synths with a bit of "intelligent guessing" (no "let's put a potentiometer there just to see"), not expensive top notch electronic. I don't know what would be the point really... Some people managed to get pretty interesting sounds with cheap portable synths though, making it possible to use it creatively later on!

Most kids aren't interested in building an am radio anymore. What got me into electronics when I was younger was overclocking a Dreamcast. I can see the analogy with circuit bending as it required no outstanding comprehension of the inner working of the thing, yet it has been an incredibly pedagogical experience and it made me eager to learn more on the subject! Today I'm no electronic engineer, but I can tell you the inner working of a transistor!

[H360]

To circuit bend those pianos, just alter the voltage to the main IC on a potentiometer. You will get a weird result when you under mix the voltage. There are tutorials all over the net, so just search...

[Bad_Ad84]

Oh the irony

[H360]

Oh the irony

Haunted360 Google's the definition of irony...
... Haunted360 ROFL's.

[XxHennersXx]

Know what's more effective than circuit bending? Learning electronics. Then you can coerce them better to do what you want, or better yet entirely build your own devices that do exactly what you want.

Calpis, I've learned a lot about basic electronics. Took classes every year in high school and a few in college. I've been learning electronics since childhood :)

Circuit bending to me isn't just connecting random points, lol I don't want to just create "NOISE". I look for effects on the toy synths. I don't think it's fair to assume all who circuit bend have no idea wtf they're doing.

[Trenton_net]

So what is Circuit bending then? I thought it was modifying a device randomly to get some random effect. Otherwise you would just say "I modded <so and so> to do this. And it does.".

[APE]

So what is Circuit bending then? I thought it was modifying a device randomly to get some random effect. Otherwise you would just say "I modded <so and so> to do this. And it does.".

Whether the circuit benders want to admit it or not, that is exactly it.

Some may develop a method for their madness after learning that certain circuits have some interesting effects with POTs such as audio and video but the vast majority seem to crack something open, spin their soldering iron and pick a spot to do something to and hope for the best. Sometimes they get something good other times they kill it.

[XxHennersXx]

So what is Circuit bending then? I thought it was modifying a device randomly to get some random effect. Otherwise you would just say "I modded <so and so> to do this. And it does.".

It is a form of modding, in fact that's how i fell into circuit bending - because I would mod video game and audio gear. Depending on what it is I consider it to be circuit bending and not modding.

[Calpis]

I don't understand the distinction. Circuit bends just about always do bad things that anybody familiar with electronics would never do, things like shorting two low-Z outputs or putting the voltage rail through a pot. The acts are dangerous to the components and the effects made are very difficult to analyze scientifically, which goes against electronics people's sensibilities. Its very nature is chaos, which is why circuit bends are typically used as noise generators in music.

[Trenton_net]

My guess is that aside from one act being deliberate and one being random, there's also the fact that circuit bending rarely yields anything higher than a "neat" on the congratulatory meter. Where as deliberately modding something to do a specific task can range from "garbage work" to "brilliant idea".

[XxHennersXx]

I don't understand the distinction. Circuit bends just about always do bad things that anybody familiar with electronics would never do, things like shorting two low-Z outputs or putting the voltage rail through a pot. The acts are dangerous to the components and the effects made are very difficult to analyze scientifically, which goes against electronics people's sensibilities. Its very nature is chaos, which is why circuit bends are typically used as noise generators in music.

It's just a fun little gee-wiz thing to do to cheap electronics that would otherwise be useless. I wouldn't do it to a console but childrens toys? Why not? Even my electronics teacher in High School circuit bends toys for fun. As live instruments they're not great besides as goofy noise makers but can be sampled and put to good use

[keropi]

that's just the scientific term for: "I'm gonna solder this shiz on these points and watch it burn"

[XxHennersXx]

sometimes you find interesting stuff.

Example - that disney keyboard had 2 buttons. One played a song from cinderella, one played a song from beauty and the beast.

connecting the demo trace to the trace going to another leg of the IC had a song from The Little Mermaid, and another song from Alladdin!

hidden songs! WTF? put those to another button each and you have expanded on the toy - and it wouldn't be harmful. Circuit bending is more of an exploration of the circuit rather than just connecting random points. If you have experience with electronics, you'll have a better experience with the concept (and less likley to have a failure due to connecting things that shouldn't...)