Free Circuit-bending workshop

[jaypee.livejournal.com]

Free as in beer. Tuesday April 15th from 7 till...

What is circuit bending you say? Basically it's taking an electrical circuit, and making it do strange things.

Go to the blog entry on my circuit bent guitar for an example of what to expect:

Click to get to the flickr set, which has a bunch of information on this bend.
This is just a quick introduction to the concepts, and how to quickly and safely get into a growing art. Follow that link up top to my project blog's description of the workshop, or go here for the official posting. It's at the Willoughby and Baltic. Please post if you have any questions. You just need to bring a cheap toy, some beer, and a willingness to make crazy noises.

Comments

[timclark.livejournal.com]

I'm there.

[ruxxell.livejournal.com]

YEAH! AWESOME!

i may actually go to this.

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

Nice. What sort of equipment's going to provided on your end? I've done my own circuitbending before, but mostly with access to a fully-stocked EE lab bench back in college... I'm just curious as to the tools involved.

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the looping switch in the Flickr set is a pretty nice hack! It reminds me of an analog version of a favorite hack of mine: taking random bits from the digital audio output bus of a sampler, just before the DAC, and running the data back into one of the address lines.

[ifotismeni]

wow! that's freaking amazing. looks like crazy fun :D

btw, what kind of tools would we need to bring? i don't even have my own solder gun at this point @_@;

also, level of expertise needed here? i am of the crafty/geeky persuasion but i'm a total circuit-n00b.

[jaypee.livejournal.com]

Go to the blog entry I linked (http://blog.jimmieprodgers.com/2008/04/circuit-bending-workshop.html) for what you are expected to bring, and what we will have. I'm intending this to be a very basic, low technical entry type thing. That way people can bring in what they have, play with it, and we will all have a jam at the end with what is made.

Mostly what I'm going to cover is the laying of hands. How to do it, and how to find basic pitch modulation points for sound chips. How to wire things up for audio output, and the basics of potentiometers for volume and bending knobs.

I'll bring in some examples of these things as well, and speak about what all is out there right now. This is all meant to be a quick and fun gathering of people who are interested in the subject. If there is enough interest I may do a class with some of the more advanced things, where the materials will be provided.

[jaypee.livejournal.com]

Check out my blog entry on it (http://blog.jimmieprodgers.com/2008/04/circuit-bending-workshop.html) for more info on what to bring.

This will be perfect for you then. It is meant to be a low-level workshop for people who are interested in it and have never tried. I'm going over some of the basic techniques that you need to get started. There will be soldering irons available for people who want to do permanent mods, as well as some drills and the like.

Just bring some toys you want to mod (anything that makes sounds, and you don't care about possibly breaking it), and any switches/buttons/knobs you would like to put in it. A safe bet would be to just go to Radioshack and get a few 1/4" (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103379&cp=2032058.2032231.2032280&allCount=306&fbn=Cable+type%2FPhone+plugs+%26%23038%3B+jacks&f=PAD%2FCable+Type%2FPhone+plugs+%26%23038%3B+jacks&fbc=1&parentPage=family) or 1/8" (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103453&cp=2032058.2032231.2032280&allCount=306&fbn=Cable+type%2FPhone+plugs+%26%23038%3B+jacks&f=PAD%2FCable+Type%2FPhone+plugs+%26%23038%3B+jacks&fbc=1&parentPage=family) audio output jacks, and some simple toggle switches. We will have all the tools.

[ifotismeni]

fabulous. thanks!

[wbaltic.livejournal.com]

If you've got electronic toys (toys that make noise or move) kicking around, and can't donate them to Goodwill anymore, please bring them by Willoughby and Baltic. We'll turn them into something useful and use them for teaching free circuit bending workshops.

I'm usually there between the hours of 4 and 7pm during the week if you want to drop anything off.

Willoughby and Baltic-195g Elm Street- down the alley.

[ron_newman]

Can you figure out which of our existing tags this might fit into, and add them? (I don't understand it well enough to even try.)

[nungnung.livejournal.com]

Good call. I was actually in line at Good Will yesterday wondering what all my circuit-bendy friends are doing now that toys aren't welcome donations. I'm spring cleaning, so if I dig something up I'll drop 'em off!

[jaypee.livejournal.com]

I tagged it. I know that noise isn't exactly being used for the intended purpose, but this will certainly create a bunch of it.

Basically it's a free workshop on modifying electronic toys, and turning them into electronic instruments. If there was a music tag, or a dorkbot (as this is the group hosting it) tag, then I would have added those as well.

[wbaltic.livejournal.com]

That would be fantastic!

Things have been bleak for the circuit-bendy people since toys can't be found at Goodwill. Just yesterday I found a bunch of them hunched over a half a potato in the alley with some wire, a penny, and a nail, just hoping to make a circuit with enough power to light an LED.

These are desperate times.

[jaypee.livejournal.com]

I've had to resort to eBay, target, and hanging around Boston's seedy red LED district. :-(

[nungnung.livejournal.com]

Oh NO! NOT POTATOES!! I'll def see what I can dig up. No promises, though...my hubs might keep the all the noisy gadgets to himself, though he's usually more analog (Happy Apples, etc).

[nungnung.livejournal.com]

::snort!:: ha ha!

[nungnung.livejournal.com]

you strike me as the kind of fellow that would get a kick out of this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpDZ3WotLXY) NOTE: this video is NOT from the 80s. I repeat, NOT 80s.

[wbaltic.livejournal.com]

The red LED district? Really jaypee, I thought you were better grounded than that.

[jaypee.livejournal.com]

HAHA, holy crap. You are 1000% correct that I would enjoy that video. Now I just need to get one, so I can be a hero, and have jam sessions that rad!

[jaypee.livejournal.com]

I tried explain it to my parents, but they cut me short. I didn't expect to run into such resistance.

[nungnung.livejournal.com]

Jam sessions? Or "Quiet Reverie?" Doesn't matter, you can do both! HA HA HA!!!

[jaypee.livejournal.com]

Everyone sounds great!

I could probably make this thing with some IR LEDs, an Arduino, and Max/MSP. It wouldn't be lasers or anything cool like that, but I would be the life of the party. Right?

[nungnung.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on...do you really think you can be the life of the party without lasers? Honestly. Max/msp will only get you so far in this world. You need LASERS.

[jaypee.livejournal.com]

It's so true, my life to this point has been a failure. I have a laser pointer, but it's not the same. It's just not the same...