I just learned about wacked out mod from Del.icio.us bending group. Looks to be a completelly recased Roland 505 in an Old PC case. The buttons have all need redone with arcade type switches and a Joystick is embedded to control future planned bends. Definatelly and undertaking, but I’m sure it will look cool when its done.
Category Archives: Recasing
Recasing Projects to note
Atari Punk Console + Filter + Amp = Cigar Box Modular Synth
Tuomo from Finland has posted this neat video on the OikoSulku blog. It contains an Atari Punk Console circuit patched to a Filter stage and then to an LM386 Amp stage. The filter on a square wave synth sounds pretty cool and creates an ADSR Envelope to shape the sound. I dig the little cigar boxes in particular and also the aesthetics’s of the exposed speaker. One time I remember a band whose name I can’t recall was headlining after my band at a bar. Their instruments were 2 laptops and a bunch of speakers turned upside down with mics on them. Needless to say the ambient sounds of the bar crowd getting rowdy ruined any chances for a glitchy micro house set.
Atari Punk Console in an Atari Mouse
Herre from Holland spent 3 whole days creating this incarnation of the Atari Punk Console circuit in an actual Atari Mouse case. It features touch contacts for pitch changes and knobs for wobbly controls. No website yet just an image, however it goes to show that anything can be turned into a sound making gizmo.
Squelchbox’s Flickr stream
A very nice collection of custom painted circuit bent instruments and case modifications can be previewed on Squelchbox’s Flickr stream. Some of the later instruments do look good and reflect the dedication that it takes to paint every single button of the future circuit bent synth.
[via Benders Forum]
Folk-tek
The Folktek website features works and collaborations of Ben Houston and Arius Blaze some of which were up for sale on eBay like the Optic Nerve, Music Box,and Cataract Granulator. Very “mad scientist” looking stuff encased into vintage instrument boxes with brass hardware and radio knobs. I used to be sticker shocked by the $300-$400 price tags on some of Arius Blaze’s instruments, but now it certainly seems more plausible given the amount of work that could go into building devices like this. For the cataract series of devices the internal circuitry is still somewhat of a mystery to me. The description states pitch shifting and granular distortion and after listening to the sample I would go with a Bucket Brigade Delay circuit. Those tend to pitch shift at lower clock speeds and definitely cause distortion. Judging from other samples on the website many instruments also contain Speak and Spell guts and combinations of feedback and strings. Very fun to peruse through. Via [eBay], but also [SubtleNoiseMaker post helped to remind me]
