The Benjolin Workshop (Manchester UK – 30th March 2014)

"Open-Circuit is pleased to announce a day of Circuit Bending & DIY Analog Electronics…

In a one-day workshop conducted by legendary synth builder Rob Hordijk and circuit bender Joker Nies, participants will build the Benjolin, an analog sound-device that is different from what you usually find with other DIY-kits. This kit will ONLY be available through the workshop, it is not for sale separately. You will take home an analog synth, and you can tell everyone that you`ve built it yourself!

The Benjolin is a ‘noise box’ that is ‘bent by design’, meaning that it always has a definite amount of unpredictability while it is still intuitive to play. The Benjolin features two eighteen-octave range voltage controlled oscillators that drive a ‘rungler’ circuit, circuitry that in essence uses a special interference technique feeding back into the oscillators to force them into wild chaotic behavior. A special slightly chaotic filter with a unique topology that imparts a layer of all harmonic distortion to the filter outputs is both excited and modulated by the signals from the rungler circuitry, producing sounds between fat drones to grungy noise havoc. The kit is somewhat challenging to build, but with a little patience and accuracy a beginner in DIY can definitely do it successfully.

Rob Hordijk’s benjolin circuit is really like no other synth/noisemaker out there.

Spaces are limited so we are asking for a £50 deposit to ensure a place with the remaining £80 to be paid on the day…. Please follow the link for more info and to reserve a space.

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