circuit-bending

The creation of electronic music instruments by altering the circuits of an existing gadget. Kids' toys that make sounds, music, or voices are inexpensive yet versatile gadgets to start with.

Popularized to a degree by Quabais Reed Ghazala who encourages experimentation regardless of electronic ignorance. Anybody with rudimentary soldering ability can crack open a toy and find amazing sounds simply by shorting out various points on the circuit board. Anything with an integrated circuit yields amazing possibilites when the resistance between two points is changed.

One example of an artist using this to a creative end is Nine Inch Nails' Charlie Clouser who took Speak'N'Spells apart and modified them in the above manner. Many sites on the internet also describe how one can do this in one's own home, specifically hyperreal.com's Music Machines. Circuit bending casts an interesting light upon the current production of digital music effects which are meant to imitate the sounds of their analog forefathers, as many musicians perfer the warmer or more fluid sound that analog devices provide. Are those new digital fakers worth the money or should we all really just be looking at flea markets for our old toys?