circuit bending/ kraakdoos

a thank you is due here to 'Olmo' a c-md premaster

he showed me some impressive instruments made from old kids toy's like "speak and spell" or the furby. so they open the toy and just tweak the cicuits and play with the soundmodules inside the toy. this way it makes a completely different sound and when done right you'll be able to make some impressive music out of these toy's.

watch the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-1u9mR-9gg

watch the explanation video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Pbyg_kcEk

one step further you have 'de kraakdoos' (cracklebox)

as you'll read in the text below, this is a project by someone associated with STEIM, a dutch foundation for independent live electronic music. This won't mean much to you and it wouldn't have to me if it weren't for my internship at Digitaal Platform where i learn quit a lot about this stuff and STEIM is a name that popped up in an essay i was reading. So it's interesting to see the correlation between my internship and research, at least for me it is.

The Kraakdoos (or Cracklebox) is a battery-powered noise-making electronic device.
It is a small box with six metal contacts on top, which when pressed by fingers will generate all manner of unusual sounds and tones. The human body becomes a part of the circuit and determines the range of sounds possible — different people will generate different results.
The concept was first conceived by Michel Waisvisz and Geert Hamelberg in the 1960's, and developed further in the 1970's when Waisvisz joined the STEIM foundation in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The kraakdoos is a simple device, based around a single operational amplifier (one of the earliest models to be produced) and a few transistors, and can be easily constructed by someone with a basic understanding of electronics. Instructions are provided in the External links.

video's (click on one of the 6 pictures to see the video)

http://www.vimeo.com/user:dimitre/tag:kraakdoos