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kris · Joined: 02 Feb 2011 Posts: 97

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_bending

Has anyone here tried circuit bending..used it in any songs? I think i'd like to try it, but I'm the type of person who would probably get electrocuted and die on the first attempt. Bending is pretty neat though, you can come up with some really cool sounds. I can't decide if I should risk it.

misshelenc · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 943 Location: Cardiff, Wales, UK

No I haven't hun. In fact I'd never heard of it until now. I don't feel I know enough about these things to try it... xx
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jefflewis · Joined: 21 Nov 2005 Posts: 1486

My friend Lucas has been pretty into the circuit bending scene for many years - he often goes by "G Lucas Crane" or "Non-Horse." He was a member of Dufus for a few years, and you can hear a lot of his crazy sounds in the Dufus songs from that time, like on the great Dufus album "1:3:1" ( pronounced "one three one").
Lucas has also done a bunch of stuff with Stanley Brinks, and in recent years he has been a member of the sort-of-popular indie-rock band Woods.

scott · Joined: 14 Jan 2008 Posts: 94 Location: Greenville, SC, USA

I bought a book on circuit bending a few years ago in an attempt to learn. I opened one of my old toy keyboards and was able to get some nice squealing noises from it, but didn't go as far as attempting to weld anything to make it work properly. I'd still like to give it a shot; if only i could attend a seminar.
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jack fe · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 865

I know Dav is a big lover of circuit bending. I've not given it a go yet, but I'm planning to in the not-too-distant future. So many possibilities.

The stuff by Lucas (Non-Horse) is great. I found one of his CDs in a Brighton record shop once, to my surprise. I rushed it up to the counter and the guy working there thought I'd made some mistake. "Are you sure you know what it is? I tried listening to it. It's just noise, I really recommend you don't get this..."
That was a first.
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kris · Joined: 02 Feb 2011 Posts: 97

ahhh, wow. I'm watching some videos of Nonhorse right now. This is so great, thanks!
http://vimeo.com/2008573
http://vimeo.com/5127584

kris · Joined: 02 Feb 2011 Posts: 97

I bought a soldering iron and wires etc this weekend and some electronic toys from the thrift store. So for I've managed to get some pitch change, but not much else (I forgot to buy a potentiometer, but I think I'm going to go get one today and hopefully that should help.) Scott- have you watched any of the demonstration videos online? I've been watching this guy, and he's pretty helpful.
http://www.ehow.com/video_2385800_what-circuit-bending.html

scott · Joined: 14 Jan 2008 Posts: 94 Location: Greenville, SC, USA

i haven't seen that video kris, thanks i'll have to watch it when I get some more time. the book i picked up was this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Circuit-Bending-Build-Alien-Instruments-ExtremeTech/dp/0764588877

I don't know if it'll be of any help, but it's a pretty good starters guide and tells you all the things you need and has diagrams of different instruments you can bend.
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