Cheap Keyboard Circuit Bending

[farnea]

These are toys, built for child use, that's why someone buys them and why they don't sound like professional gears. The nice thing is giving them a second chance for some experiments, instead of putting them into the trashcan ... This is called circuit bending

[Ibringthetruth1]

I hate those cheap ass midi keyboards. Never understood why people bought them.

Never sounded like real pianos. Nor a synth.

[farnea]

:-)

[DarkAvatar1313]

0:30 funny that I'm watching this on Halloween

[Kalyg18]

Thank you so much!!! i appreciate it :)

[Kalyg18]

Hey ..how do you circuit bent???ive been trying find out and if you could answer or anyone answer it would be great:)

[farnea]

@Kalyg18 Hi, I've posted some directions in my past replies to other comments here. I wrote also something about this on my site.

[racer927]

First song? it sounds familiar

[PrAnKsTeRJJ]

how did you do that?

[LIGHTRONIX]

haha i lol'd at that first song

[MrBlihcatfacepwned]

Whats the song at 0:30 ? Sounds familiar.

[MGOWNER1]

@MrBlihcatfacepwned its L's theme from deathnote

[MrBlihcatfacepwned]

@MGOWNER1 oh yeah. thanks dude

[oddajpierscien]

@MrBlihcatfacepwned it is Buckethead's "Halloween" ;)

[jckchrstphr]

Where Black Lips gets it's sound from.

[caulyflower]

how can i connect a keyboard with a little speaker to cinch or something?

[benpie12]

i was scared lol MICHEAL MIERS

[redepoch76]

Nice 7/8 (i think) in the beginning.

Halloween has always been a favorite of mine.

Nice stuff!!!

[horsel0v3rl01]

omg so freaken awsome

[DIZZBIZZY]

Hey man, I have a Casio ca 100 that i got for free and am really interested in modding it. Could you kick a few pointers?

[farnea]

I don't know such keyboard. I can suggest to try standard circuit bending mod, like feedback loops on amp stage, playing with internal clock for pitch mod ... Casio are the most bended gears I think you could find a lot of resources on circuit bending and DIY sound sites and forums.

[PHAEDRIDER]

@DIZZBIZZY open it, light it up, make a " bending tool" with two nails attached to wire . then jab around inside of it while its playing a note .. it's kind of like a treasure hunt .. when you find a sound you like solder a wire between the two points, cut the wire and put a switch where you cut it.. continue untill you are satisfied or run out of places to mount switches..

[xanomage]

My bro hooked up an electric damper pedal to his guitar in a way that it could be used as a distortion pedal. (don't ask me how he did it). Would this be considered circuit bending?

[farnea]

I think the are no fixed rules to define circuit bending. In general circuit bending is the hacking of an electronic circuit (audio or not) to generate sounds in a different way the circuit for designed for. Usually this hacking is driven by experimentation and improvisation rather then planning and design. So for my point of view, every time you randomly make short circuits or add component to an electronic device and generate new sounds from it, well you are making circuit bending.

[SkateYourOwnStyle]

@xanomage: Well, if he just hooked the pedal up to his amp it's not a circuit bend, because an electric damper pedal is basically a switch like a distortion pedal. But if he has hooked it up to his guitar, it is circuit bending.

[mantisman96]

I have the same exact keyboard, and just finished attempting to circuit bend it. I got nothing better than noise.

How did you do this? EXACTLY?

(I just started circuit bending stuff.)

[farnea]

there are two bending: one for the pitch and one for the distortion. For the pitch just check the resistors on the little module soldered on the main audio pcb. It is mounted vertically on the pcb and has a black bubble in the middle (the processor). I plugged a pot and a photoresistor to them. For the distortion just play with the pins of the audio amplifier (the 8 pin chip). I've put feedback short from the output back to the input using a couple of capacitor. Nothing special, just try.

[keniakittykat]

sure, play some horror tunes on that thing xD if circuit bending didn't make stuff sound scary eneugh

[panther0567]

OMG THE EXORCIST O.O

[treadmillkitten]

nature of the experiment

[DarrenPie]

Tubular Bells and Mike Myers!

Buckethead fan, maybe?

[farnea]

Mike Myers ???? LOL, where? ;-)

[metalcore929]

You played the Helloween soundtrack.

[farnea]

yep! sure :)

[bradnightmare]

how?

[IrishMisfits]

tubular bells. mike oldfield.

[mindstormsabrewin]

Someone's a horror fan! Nice bizarre bends there. I just discovered the "Bending" culture. Now I'm looking at thrift stores and sidewalk sales very differently. I think I will try my hand at it.

[teddy0014]

kavinsky

[MGdirector]

cool

[schwixol]

i got me a blue one of these, i didnt find the LED bend, we should share notes, i found a crazy rad combo bend using the same distortion doubled over... i need a camera... if i had one id prolly break it trying to bend it for no good reason though.

[craffte]

i'm waiting to get bent ,too.....wait...haha, oh were this guy to use his powers for good.. or evil. on second thougth i think he is using his powers for evil. i hadda ole casio mt68. i coulda ben doing this!!! i could've been the cool kid!!

[dreamera1]

hahahs saww

[invaderzim908]

0:56 lolol

[UBIQUEROL]

Broken down Ice Cream truck

[SetiRabbit]

I so need to learn circuit bending I have old keyboards and other electrical devices just waiting to get bent

[chrismarx85]

thats awesome

[ekkostar]

Stuff like this makes me want to buy cheap thrift shop keyboards and screw around to make Sega Genesis noises.

[LordLazyBoot]

it's possible to just use a sega genesis

[SaosinPoliceClub]

what tone is it at 29 secs

[farnea]

uhmm .. Halloween movie?

[Well108]

I lol'd.

[SaosinPoliceClub]

what tone is taht

[SmashPumps]

The song is tubular bells. It is from the excorsist i think

[MadaSkills1]

....that sounds like the music in a horror movie

[afrokidguitarist]

you mean the halloween theme? XD...prolly spelt it wrong but i think you can figure out what i sed XD

[MadaSkills1]

YES THATS IT..lol its from the movie halloween.

[gammypage]

it's rather like the start of tubular bells by mike oakfield which I think was used in the Exorcist.

[paulorcbarros]

Hey man! Your work is well done.

Greetings from Brazil.

[M4aster]

were you playing a song by kevinsky?

[thivakar]

how much does this cost

[farnea]

It isn't on sale.

The keyboard was a common toy keyboard, the modification required components for more or less 10 euro, some hacking on the keyboard circuit board and a bit of my free time and fun

[numerous95]

0.99 cents

[AMOKIAN]

Cool keyboard.I sent you a video of a version I have.

[HunTerSpoT]

you play on wrong key...

[ratsouffle]

Bent Tubular Bells OWNZ YOU!

[carpeteria]

Sounds great; good use of photocells. That's a nice keyboard for only $15!

[just1n112]

how do u learn to circuit bend?

[farnea]

circuit bending is quite simple ... it's based on experimenting and fantasy, there is not a lot of theory. This is the reason on using battery powered devices: you can't hurt yourself or destroy your home if something goes wrong.

Anyway good electronics knowledge can help you to understand what are you doing and to find faster nice modification. Electronics is my main hobby and I have studied it to university too.

[charrrd]

very cool bend I hope you continue the world needs good benders like you, walk tall circuit bender.