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Well, my very good friend has just bestowed upon me his very nice laptop, and I am grateful. He was able to procure another laptop through means I apparently am not at liberty to discuss.
I now am able to compute like never before, In my well lit living room, sitting in my relatively uncomfortable reclining chair.
In relevant news, I am waiting on parts to arrive so that I may begin work on my sk-1. Unfortunately I somehow forgot to order switches, so it looks like my work with the sk-1 will be somewhat basic. That is unless I can find some way to get radio shack to give me some free parts. Well I already have a way, the question is can I receive them in a timely manner.
Sorry for the no video on #13, but my friend had to go to work today(he has a camera with a mic inside it!). I will probably post some sound samples for it on the morrow, or if it happens to be the morrow now (I have no clock)I will post them in many hours.
I need to get better at posting what I am working on, but I generally can only do one thing at a time. I can't even clean my office/workshop while I'm building something.
My buddy gave me a 500mhz comp, and it works something fierce, compared to the old 300mhz one. It is a dang shame I am so desperately poor.
Want to play with this? Well you will need to buy it. If interested click here. Audio and video at the bottom.
I did it again everyone! Meet #13 (to the left). Of all the things I have made, I like this one most.
I still am no good at describing these things, but I'll give it my best shot.
It generates a simple tone, which is then controlled by eight potentiometers (knobs), and four toggle switches. Five of the potentiometers control pitch; three pitch it up, and two pitch it down.
It is necessary to have all those pots for pitch, as precise control comes into play when the tone is fed into the modulation circuit.
The tone generation circuit has three switches which control it. All three need to be on, but only one can affect the sound, that being the middle one, if my memory serves me. When switched off it deactivates the tone, but in a pleasant way.
It has a separate circuit that the tone is fed into to modulate the sound further. This circuit has one switch, top middle, to turn it on, and three pots, which add different distortion, and generally do insane things. I got five commas in that last sentence.
This really can produce a lot of sounds and I am super proud of it. It also has an input into the sound modulation circuit, and an out put, to your favorite computer, or amp, or tv. Both are rca.
It also features a 1" x 1" likeness of its maker above the top middle knob.
Audio. Its long cause I was just goofing on it, had no real plan, but it gets good nearer the end, so listen to the whole of it:
You really need to see a video, as that would demonstrate how you can control it like a theremin.
Video:
Look for this when I can convince my friend to bring his camera to my house, or I travel over to his. Worst case scenario, it will be next Sunday before I can get it done.
Here is the manual for the assembly and operation of my eleventh instrument.
In the picture below, we can see the brackets on the back of the ca-110 to which the smaller keyboard will be attached
Here the ca-110 is preparing it self to recieve the smaller keyboard.
Unfortunately the camera didn't focus the way I hoped it would, but here are the bolts which will be placed inside the brackets, on the back of the ca-110.
When the ca-110 brackets are fitted over the smaller keyboards bolts, there will be no room to place your nut onto the smaller keyboards bolt. For that reason you can see I am holding the ca-110 up while I place, and turn the nut a few times.
Below is the hole which will receive the bolt for the control box. With the ca-110 held upside-down, it will be to the right of the smaller keyboard.
The bracket on the control box:
First connect the control box to the smaller keyboard; it should be obvious how to do so.
Place the bolt through the hole, form the back, so the nut will be tightened against the control box bracket.
Nextly, find the wire which ought to be protruding from the underside of the ca-110, and attach it to the connector closest to the yellow portion of the control box, like so:
Finally attach the voice changer to the only available connector. It will only go in one way.
Next I will explain the control box:
First the color scheme. The green controls belong to the smaller keyboard. The black belong to the voice changer, and the yellow controls the ca-110.
Knobs, such as greens 1a, correspond to a switch, so to use knob 1a you must flip switch 1.
The toggle switches are on/off/(on), which means one side of the switch is momentary. Flip any switch down and it will stay on, flip it up and it will momentarily stay on. This will not matter though, as no bends were attached to the up position of any switch, or no important bends that is.
The yellow controls are momentary push buttons, ad are not meant to be held down, though holding them down may garner results.
Now for what they actually do.
Green:
1:
Activates pitch and distortion bends which are controlled by the knobs 1a, and 1b simultaneously. Unfortunately these bends work best when not amplified, that is to say, when fed through the smaller keyboards speaker. The bends can be random, and two knobs are necessary to fine tune, and control them.
(If you don't want to amplify this bend, but still want to use the voice changer to add distortion, you could mic the smaller keyboard's speaker, and then feed the output of your computer/amp, into the voice changer, and out again)
2:
Distortion
3:
Activates a sustained tone. You can change the tone by pressing a key twice. Different bends from the voice box, and the smaller keyboard can be layered on top to create pretty interesting effects.
4:Distortion
Black:
Black controls correspond to the voice box, as stated earlier. The voice box itself has three settings, alien, monster, and amplify. The three black controls will work with the voice box set to any of its own settings.
1:
I believe this activates a tone, just as green 3 does.
2:
Pitch, to be controlled by knob 2a
3:
Distortion
Yellow:
1,2,3:
Random glitches. Use demo mode or select a beat, and then press a button quickly. They can easily crash the ca-110, but pressing repeatedly can bring it back to life. If not turn the ca-110 off, and then back on. Using these buttons will be trial and error.
Now to explain the wiring:
The outputs, and inputs, are marked on the ca-110, and the smaller keyboard, but not on the voice box. The left side, as pictured above, has two inputs, 1, an 1/8" inch, and 2, a 1/4". The right side has two out puts, 3, 1/8", and 4, 1/4".
To use the keyboards with the voice box (anything that has an output which is, or can be adapted to, 1/8" or 1/4" can be used with the voice box; this includes guitar, and microphone.) simply plug the outputs from both into the inputs of the voice box, and then choose which voice box output you'd like to use, and plug that into your computer, or amp, or whatever.
I have been working on this project for a long time, and because of that I tend to worry about how good it is, but soon Dylan will share with us all how well it works.
I added a navigation at the top of the blog there. Hope it is useful to the one million visitors I get a day.
Soon I will be shipping off my custom project, #11, and I can't wait to hear how poor a job I did. Nah, I'm sure it won't be as bad as that, but I can't help but to worry. I took some pictures of the finished product in all sorts of positions, and states of disassembly, so I could write a manual of sorts, which I will probably post up here.
In other news I came across a casio sk-1 a couple of weeks ago, and have been waiting for a less busy time, and some cash, to bend it. Exciting times, y'all.
Here the sk-1 is, underneath the teddy bear.
A picture of #11, all finished up. I suppose my carpet wasn't the best background.
If you would like to trade some cash for this, click here.
I finished the technical aspects of this piece a while ago, but just recently put the finishing touches on it. It functions rather well, and is capable of a lot.
I am sort of at a loss on how to describe it. It is the first non toy(though I did make it from a toy) I have made. I used some on/off/momentary toggle switches. The bottom right switch turns it on, or plays a tone rather. The down position is the permanent one, and plays a high tone, while pushing it up will play the low tone momentarily.
The knobs all do strange things including some distortion, and pitch stuff. Its best to watch the video to see how it all works:
It has two momentary switches, one which acts just as the high tone toggle switch does, and the other activates some distortion, which is fed through a capacitor, so it sounds pretty weird.
It also has a body contact which adds rather random effects, though generally just pitch. If you can get the setting just right, it will even act as an antenna, and you can control pitch without even touching it, sort of like a theremin.
It has a speaker, and an 1/8" audio output, and it is all cased within a cigar box.
Unfortunately, my computer went to sleep and didn't wake up a few days ago. I am now using one of the few computers I didn't sell from when I was a vintage electronics/computer salesman. It is a 300mhz piece of garbage running puppy linux, and is capable of virtually nothing, so no videos until the new motherboard and processor I ordered comes in.
I found this embedded youtube player, provided by youtube coincidentally. I will add a label called "youtube", and then if anyone ever wanted to see all of my videos, all they would have to do is click on the label "youtube"
I am finished with all of the technical stuff with the casio ca-110. I'm sorry it took me so long, and I'm also sorry that I didn't document very well. I get into working, and I can't get out, cause if I do it is definitely possible I would never return to finish.
For those non-believers, here is a video briefly explaining the ins and outs of its functionality. I should make a video tomorrow of it operating.
Click here if you want to practice ownership.
Yeah I just finished it. I actually did most of the work, and put it back together yesterday, but then realized I hadn't put in an output. I used up all my 1/8" jacks, so I put in an rca, or composite, or whatever, out.
It is operated entirely by five body contacts. When you toch them in combination, you get many pitch, and distortion bends.
I mistakenly bought it without realizing the one who operates it might be grateful for a battery cover. You can see my ingenious solution in the second picture. It's a good thing I never throw any useful thing away.
As an interesting aside; the screws which secure the batteries came from a computer desk which I burned a few months ago. It was the kind that had some shelves inside of a cabinet on top. To digress from my aside, I had earlier removed one of the shelves to paint a picture of my mothers dog on it. Back to my original tangent, when I decided to burn it (not because of some dangerous defect in my personality, but because it is the easiest way to get rid of large wooden trash in the country), I didn't want to take the whole thing apart, so in a impressive feat of strength I heaved the thing over my head and threw it some distance. It broke into many, easily incinerated pieces, and I, consequently, hurt my back. You may be asking yourself, "if you broke it so you wouldn't have to take it apart, how did you get the screws?". To that I say, mind your own business.
A sound sample:
What I did to it:
1) Added five body contacts
2) Added an rca output.
I know, it's been a while, but I have no excuse. So anyways, to update those loyal readers, who DO exist, I spent all of a day last week, can't remember which one, trying to bend up the casio ca-110. I failed rather miserably, and so turned to the internet, who didn't have much to say, though I did find this reference to the ca-110:
"I just bought 2 of the CA110. I was kind of disappointed when I opened them up. Just 2 chips. One synth and one amp. I have not bent very much on this kbd yet, but I found that there is a good but very random glitch on the middle top pin of the synth ic. shorting it to one of the other pins. It is random, so you have to sample rather than live perform. I think this is like what one guy calls "shitshot". I found the bossa nova rhythms hilarious and fun to jam with though."
I was able to find more bends than that guy, but I'm generally better than most people. Even so, they weren't extremely satisfying bends. But then I had an idea.
Then another idea hit me. Why don't I feed this stuff through one of those toy voice changers? Wire the output of both keyboards as the input of the voice changer. I have seen a casio filtered through a voice changer, and It did some stuff, let me tell you! So I bought one.
Well, I got down to the task of bending Dylan's Casio today, and it proved to be a tiny bit more difficult than I anticipated. The first surprise, was that it opened out, which makes working rather precarious. I figured out what the trouble was with the batteries. As you can plainly see the spring was bent behind a piece of plastic. I bent it back, and will most likely fix it so that won't happen again. The speaker wires were holding me up, so I un/de-soldered them from the speaker and moved it out of the case, and then reattached it.
You can see in the third picture that I had all of the parts exposed, but the side I want to solder all my wires, and what not, to is on the other side of the board. In the fourth picture you see that once the board is unscrewed, and the underside exposed, all of the switches (on/off, volume, and accompaniment volume) are now rendered useless, making the keyboard rather usless.
I spent a while trying to figure that one out. I tried to follow the circuit to soldering points and then hard wire the switches closed, but that didn't work. Then I realized that the black points that the switches connect probably act as resistors for some reason, so I added resistors to my hard wiring scheme, and it worked.
The last picture shows the working keyboard. The volume switch must be engaged for any sound to be heard, but instead of hard wiring the switch closed I just took the top part of the switch out, laid it across the connections, and put a pair of pliers on top. It does the job.
Whatever service Dylan used to ship me his casio finally came through, and it got here. It's an awful shame it didn't work. As you can see in the attached picture, there is a small, but destructive, gap between where the battery terminal is, and where it wants to be. But I plugged that hole with some aluminum foil, and everything works great now. Watch out, cause I'll be bending it with ferocity, tempered with my professional restraint, as always.
I made all of these from samples I recorded off of the instruments displayed here, using audacity.
I also included a little doodle, to fill up that empty space.
Update:
I cannibalized (more like I aided another machine in the cannibalization of this. If I had cannibalized it, I would be a machine myself) this to make something far cooler. So you can't buy it.
Think you deserve to have this? Click here then.
I worked on the lawn mower all day long, and couldn't find the time to finish bend 9 til tonight, but I did finish it, despite the odds.
It is cool, as usual. I believe it was geared to a slightly younger market, as it has no keyboard, and only plays little tunes. Thats ok.
I found the pitch, and you can control that variably. I also found a weird sound, which when combined with the pitch bend, with a little amplification, equals strange. Have a listen:
What I added:
1) A switch to activate the pitch bend
2) A switch to activate the weird bend
3) A potentiometer to control the pitch bend
4) 1/8" output, to sample, amplify, or shape tiny clay cylinders with.
Want to buy this here thing? Well, if so click here.
I had to go out and get a new soldering iron before I could finish my latest project. Another reason it took me longer than expected was I had to make a case for it. It was the voice box out of a doll, but the original box portion was too small to add anything, so I put it all into Ernie's (from sesame street) voice box.
Any way, it works pretty well, and makes some cool sounds. It has a switch to activate the voice, a switch to activate the bend, and a potentiometer to control the bend. You flip the voice switch then flip the bend switch, then turn the knob. Pretty simple. It also has an 1/8" output, for sampling, amplifying, or hiding tiny ball bearings.
The bend usually crashes the circuit, so I included a push button switch to reset the device. It's the weird thing at the end of the yellow wires.
Sorry I haven't posted, but I had to go to the movies yesterday, and get some sleeping done, and have just generally been lazy. I've been working on something, and I'll post it tonight I hope.
Want to buy this? Click here.
I bent this one up quick. I think it was supposed to emulate the style of popular mp3 players. It played one song.
Well I bent it up, and now it does some pretty neat stuff. I found the pitch bends in it, but I didn't really want to waste a pot, so I put a capacitor in the pitch bend circuit. When you flip the switch to activate the bend then press play, it plays super fast, maybe too fast to hear, but as you continue to press the play button, the capacitor charges, and the pitch gets lower and lower, until it breaks down entirely.
You can either flip the on/off switch to drain the capacitor, or just wait a minute, or two. All in all I think it is a pretty cool little bend.
What I added:
1)Bend activation switch
2)1/8" output, for amplifying, or sampling
Howdy,
I'm back from the thrift store with what is hopefully the makings for a weeks worth of bending.
I kept it simple this week, opting for voice boxes over keyboards. take a look at my haul.
I seem to remember a few things that didn't make it into the picture as well. The tape player in the top right is for the potentiometers. I can't be bothered to buy them separately.
I ought to have at least one or two things to post by the end of today, so keep watching.
Got my first custom job from a very special young man named Dylan. We conversed briefly via the dying art of letter writing (through a digital intermediary, aka the internet), before he insisted on having me participate in the antiquated practice of telephoning.
I jest! In all seriousness his soothing voice put me at ease, and lulled me away from whatever qualms I had, convincing me to agree to his proposition; bending his casio tonebank. (I actually had no qualms, I was pretty much on board from the get go)
It ought to be fun, and I plan to really pull out some insanity on this, though it will most likely be user friendly insanity, as per Dylan's instructions.
I think I will post a more in depth piece about my efforts, and will hopefully get some video too.
In other news, I'm goin' to the thrift store tomorrow. I have a notion that I need to buy more non-musical, sound generating toys. We'll see how it turns out.
P.S.
I'll try to fit more parenthetical statements in next time.
Update:
I cannibalized (more like I aided another machine in the cannibalization of this. If I had cannibalized it, I would be a machine myself) this to make something far cooler. So you can't buy it.
Haven't posted in a while. Mainly cause I ran out of toy keyboards to bend. I do have number six ready, or as ready as it will probably ever be. I haven't recorded anything off it, and its not for sale right now, mainly because it is too insane! take a look see.
The yellow wires go into one side of a potentiometer, while the red go into the other. It isn't really set up well, its hard to manipulate, and the holes on the yellow connectors are too small, but you can gat some pretty neat bends off it.
My favorites include :
1) Turning the melody off of demo songs. You press the button for the song of your choice, then turn the pot down and back up, and all you have is the drum beat. turn the pot back down and up, and the melody is back. Neat.
2) Custom compositions. In this setting, if you press a key, or perhaps song, I don't remember, it will play a drum beat, but make up its own melody. Actually it plays random notes, but its almost in time with the beat, and sometimes it sounds cool.
Plus it has normal pitch bends.
Have you ever thought to yourself, "Man; I wish I could see and/or buy The Preposterous Man's fifth bent keyboard"? Well today is your lucky day. (It's sold, so it might not be your lucky day)
This one is controlled entirely through what some call "body contacts", but is more accurately described as bolts, in this case. But sure does make some neato sounds:
(It may get boring, but I saved the best for last, so listen all the way through)
You see, you place your fingers on the bolts, which are attached to wires, which are attached to contact points on the circuit board. Your body conducts electricity, with a high resistance, thus creating some of the wackiest sounds ever heard.
The good news is that I got this one to make the cool sound number three made, but it can be reproduced, and controlled to an extent, with this instrument.
What did I add?:
1) Four bolts
2) One hex screw
3) one 1/8" output (It's sort of noisy, but it was the same with the other one of these I had)
If you are real keen on buying this sucker, click here.
I made this one yesterday, and took some pictures of me doing it as well.
The only bend this one has is pitch, but not normal pitch. As you turn the knob, and the frequency gets lower and lower, the sounds start to break down into a jumble of rhythmic squeaks, tones, and a million other sounds.
The reason why I didn't post it yesterday, when I made it, was I didn't know how to record all of the sounds it made. I still don't; so what I did was record a few interesting sounds, and in the future, I might post more.
Good thing about this keyboard is that it has a volume control, which just limits the volts. When the bend is activated this lowers the pitch even more.
What I did:
1) Added a switch to activate the bend
2) Added a knob (potentiometer) to control the bend (pitch)
3) Rewired the 1/8" input (did virtually nothing as designed) to be an output, for sampling, or amplifying.
Sounds:
Volume button:
Snare drum:
Symbol:
