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ROTH MOBOT | TOMMY STEPHENSON | PATRICK McCARTHY | CIRCUIT BENDING WORKSHOPS | ELECTRONIC MUSIC | EXPERIMENTAL ELECTRONICS | EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC | HOMEMADE ELECTRONICS } CHICAGO
EXPERIMENTAL ELECTRONICS, CIRCUIT BENDING, PERFORMANCES AND WORKSHOPS

Workshops, Classes, Salons, and Symposia
What is Circuit Bending?
Circuit Bending is the creative recycling of discarded consumer electronics, usually children’s toys, guitar effects units, inexpensive battery-powered musical instruments, portable CD players, etc., to create unique experimental electronic art by adding wires, knobs, and switches to control new connections within the device’s pre-existing circuitry.
No prior knowledge of electronics is required. Examples can be found on our 'Devices' page.

 

 

 

 What's a Good Device to Bend?

Well for starters - don't bend anything you can't live without (especially if you're just starting out). Also never bend anything that plugs into the wall.

There are definitely some "holy grails" of bending - almost anything by Texas Instruments and Casio.

Lately I've been bending musical greeting cards. They don't just beep out a song anymore. They have actual samples in them now. Which brings me to another guideline - toys that have samples in them are the most desirable. If it says, "hi!" or barks or meows or quacks it's probably a good bet. Toys that merely beep and boop are usually not so fun.

Which brings up the obvious - toys that make sound. You'd be surprised how many students bring toys that make no sound to the workshop. True, you can bend them... but the results have less of an "immediate gratification" quality to them.

Battery-powered video devices are a candidate, but require a monitor to see the results (usually not readily available).

 

Usually the older toys are easier to work with. Here's why. There's a trend in electronics these days towards miniaturization and cost-efficiency that manifests itself in things known as SMDs (Surface Mounted Devices). They are tiny tiny versions of basic electronic components.

It's one thing to go after a fairly "see-able" resistor or capacitor in a toy, and it is quite a different thing to go after a little square of metal smaller than half a match head. It can be done, but requires excellent eyesight. I use one of those big magnifying lamps.

Some of the simplest things bend the best. I have this rather stupid Fischer Price toy that does nothing but count, do the ABCs, and that's about it. I put one clock bend in it and I love it. (SMD based, by the way).

Here's another general rule. Try to stay away from games. Not that they won't bend - just that they are more difficult to work with because you have to actually "play" the game in order to get it to make sound. Kind of a drag when you're trying to get at it's internal circuitry.


Upcoming Workshops

Introduction to Circuit Bending Workshop

Take apart your old toys and make a brand new musical instrument! Circuit bending is the art of modifying existing electronics (like children's toys, guitar effects units, inexpensive battery-powered instruments, etc.) to create unique musical instruments by adding wires, knobs, and switches to control new connections within the device's pre-existing circuitry. Enjoy bizarre sounds, electronic loops, sampling, distortion. At the end, you'll be able to identify and name parts of a circuit board. You'll also open a battery-powered device safely, explore its circuitry, install an output jack, switches, body contacts (and more!), and control new sounds like pitch, randomizing sound generation, distortion, (and more!).
No previous electronics experience is required!

How to Build a Simple Contact Microphone Workshop

Contact mics are inexpensive, easy to build, and can be a source for fun and experimental ways of creating new sounds for recording, art installations or various live performances. In just two hours we will show you how to make a simple, effective contact microphone from surplus and discarded materials. Students are encouraged to bring random objects to amplify - sheet metal, cardboard boxes, acoustic instruments, slinkies, coat hangers, textured plastic objects, etc.
No previous electronics experience is required!

Build Your Own Portable Amplifier Workshop

This workshop will guide you step by step through the process of building your own standard, battery-powered, portable amplifier.

This course will show how simple electronics construction can be while emphasizing the basics of soldering, following an electronics diagram, custom circuit design, circuit construction, and finishing techniques. Though students may bring their favorite tools, all that is required is a 9v battery and a "box" to house your completed amplifier circuit (good candidates include cigar boxes, coffee cans, Tupperware, broken radios, small pre-existing speaker cabinets, etc. -- anything that can can be easily manipulated with a hand drill).
No previous electronics experience is required!


Past Circuit Bending Lectures and Workshops
The Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago

The Peter Jones Gallery, Chicago
Nic Collins' Hardware Hacking Class, The School of the Art Institute, Chicago
The Association for Computing Machinery, DePaul University, Chicago
The Peter Jones Gallery, Chicago
The Open Source Open Ear Festival, The Mess Hall, Chicago
The Peter Jones Gallery, Chicago
The PACedge Festival, The Athenaeum Theatre, Chicago
Festival de Música Electrónica Latina, The National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago
The eSymposium, Lizard's Liquid Lounge, Chicago
thank you to Tom Young, Dan Demchuk, Ruth Hnatusko, Tim Invason, Factory Smoke, Carl Broman and Jaimee for the photos

Circuit Bent Saturdays - the weekly electronics symkposium

Circuit Bent Saturdays, the eSymposium

EVERY Saturday, 12:00 noon - 3:00 PM
Lizard's Liquid Lounge, 3058 W Irving Park Rd, (773) 463-7599


To nurture the Midwest experimental electronics community, we host a free weekly "eSymposium," a lateral lecture series where participants are both teachers and students. There's soldering, tinkering, Q&A, show-&-tell, bending circuits, hacking toys, and Chicago's only weekly Circuit Bent Open Mic.
Stop by, join the eSymposium's Google Group
, or check out our work at youtube.com/eSymposiumChicago and soundcloud.com/eSymposiumChicago.


Circuit Bending Links
Bending Links Electronics Supplier Links

 

 

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