Mark Mothersbaugh Discusses Mystery Circuits Penatron

Published on Feb 13, 2014 mysterycircuits·24 videos

"Some footage from an interview by Derek Sajbel in 2004, Mark Mothersbaugh demonstrates The Penatron (aka Peanut) built by Mike Walters.

I cut this from raw footage from Derek Sajbel's long running Circuit Bending documentary project (http://absurdity.biz)

Copyrighted footage courtesy of Absurdity.Biz used with permission"

And a live set at BENT04 with Mystery Circuits:

BENT04 Live circuit bent set - Mike Walters Bart Moyers Zeke Graves Chuck Johnson

Published on Feb 13, 2014 mysterycircuits·24 videos

"Most of our set from the first international circuit bending festival BENT04 at The Tank in NYC, 2004. Mystery Circuits set featuring NC musicians Mike Walters, Bart Moyers, Zeke Graves, and Chuck Johnson.

I cut this from raw footage from Derek Sajbel's Bent Festival 2004 documentary
http://absurdity.biz/?page_id=12
Absurdity.Biz » Bent Festival DVDs
absurdity.biz

Copyrighted footage courtesy of Absurdity.Biz used with permission"

International Circuit Bending and DIY Festival Dresden 2011 Part 1 - 3

See Journey to Unknown Soundscapes for more info and pics from the event.

Motherboard TV: The Father of Circuit Bending: Reed Ghazala & NY Fest

via motherboard.tv

This is part of Motherboard’s Sound Builders series that they are running in celebration of Bent Festival's kick-off in Brooklyn today.

"This particular installment takes the Motherboard team to the 'Anti-Theory Workshop' of Reed Ghazala, the father of circuit bending. It’s a nice timely tease for this awesome New York electronic music and arts fest.

With Ghazala as our guide, we navigate the history of circuit-bending sound art from its accidental beginnings in his childhood bedroom to the discovery's lasting impact on electronic music and art. Host Jordan Redaelli even has a shot on the tinkered toys, creating a duet with the legendary circuit tweaker that is unique to say the least."

"In 1967, Reed Ghazala discovered something amazing just by sitting at his desk.

At the time he was a broke teenager, musician, and experimental artist known to friends for his magnetic sculptures and the sort of pyrotechnic displays that once sent him into emergency surgery. And then one day in 1967, his desk began to emit strange sounds. He recognized their sci-fi whirrs and electronic tones as something like the sound of the expensive synthesizers of the day, and he was sure he wasn’t imagining it.

The source turned out to be nothing more than a toy amplifier he had left in a desk drawer, its wires exposed due to a broken case, its power still switched on. The toy’s innards were short circuiting against the inside of the metal desk, and in so doing were making music that neither its creators nor its owner could ever have imagined. Circuit bending was born.

Today thousands of amateur electronics hackers around the planet follow Reed’s lead, customizing or simply breaking their synthesizers, children’s toys and other easy-to-crack-open gadgets with the hope of generating uncanny and wonderful cacophonies of sound..." Full post on motherboard.tv.

Update: I just created the Bent Fest label and added it to a ton of posts. Check it out for a trip back in time and to get a taste of some of what you can see at the event. Note there are a couple of general circuit bending fest posts as well.

First Circuit Bending & D.I.Y. Festival in Dresden - Impressions

via Peter of Journey Into Unknown Soundscapes where you'll find more pics.

"The festival has started on moday an will end on friday with a "noize concert" in an other location. There is less circuit bending today and much more experimental electronic music. Lo-Fi"

Bent Festival 2011 Brooklyn, NY

via bentfestival.org where you'll find more.

"June 23rd – 25th
@ 319 Scholes Brooklyn, NY

Bent is an annual art and music festival celebrating circuit bending and its related creative practices: DIY electronics, hardware hacking, glitch, code bending, software art, abstract video. Now in its 8th year, the festival is a public summit where artists from across the country and around the globe gather to share their craft through performances, workshops, video screenings, art exhibitions, and installations, showcasing the state of the art in DIY electronics and circuit bending culture.

If you’re the slightest bit curious about electronics, electronic music, handmade electronic art, or if you’ve ever just really wanted to rip your toys apart, Bent Festival is here. On Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th, we are offering a range of presentations and workshops including the infamous intro to circuit bending workshop with expert benders on hand to help you get started. There will be installation artists building circuit-bent artwork throughout the 319 Scholes space. In the evening, a full program of video works and live performances showcases a hand picked selection of some of the best circuit benders in the world. Wonder seekers of all-ages are welcome."

GET BENT 4.0 Circuit Bending workshop this Sunday

via Dr. Bleep (Bleep Labs)
"Sunday, June 19th, 1-5pm, all ages, $10 donation toward supplies requested
Salvage Vanguard Theater, 2803 Manor Rd., Austin, TX

New Media Art and Sound Summit and Artificial Music Machine present the fourth installment in a series of circuit bending events titled Get Bent! The afternoon will begin with a short presentation by Artificial Music Machine co-founder and sound artist Thomas Fang on the history and theory of circuit bending, defined as the creative short-circuiting of electronic devices that produce sounds. Background information.

The bulk of the event will consist of a hands-on workshop in which participants will modify electronic devices to produce new sounds. Soldering irons, wire, switches, potentiometers, and some devices will be provided, but attendees are encouraged to bring screwdrivers and inexpensive electronic toys to bend. Examples: small keyboards, Speak & Spell, Furby, Barbie karaoke machine, toy guitars, etc. No previous knowledge of electronics is required.

After the workshop, from 4-5pm, everyone with a device can plug in for an open jam session!

To ensure a space at this event, please RSVP by sending email to: thomas.fang@gmail.com [let them know you saw this on MATRIXSYNTH!]

More details: http://www.artificialmusicmachine.com
New Media Art and Sound Summit: http://www.nmassfest.org"

Bent Fest

via Motherboard
"It was an average Saturday at the DUMBO, Brooklyn outlet of Mikey’s Hook Up, a computer retailer and repair specialist. Well-groomed arty-types came in, alone, in couples, with lattes in hand, all there to admire the shiny wares or bring in their dead laptop for repair. The air was quiet, calm, tinged with some nail biting concern about lost files, perhaps, but mainly confident. In other words, no sign of the kind of melee happening in the art space just across the street, where the Bent Festival, the annual circus of the art of “circuit bending,” was happening. Bent Festival celebrates DIY audio and hacking culture around the world. There, scattered impromptu groups of hardware hackers were tearing their gadgets apart, literally, in an attempt to do their own kind of fixing. Their only assistance came from men in worn t-shirts and beards whose advice consisted mainly of how to solder circuits together and the best way to break open plastic cases. To open one piece of electronics, someone resorted to simply throwing it at the floor, again and again, until its tiny tinny speaker started making death groans. (Later, he would add a new, louder speaker, and make it make stranger sounds.) Steve Jobs would have been scandalized.

The gadgets in question weren’t the sleek new phones and laptops being serviced across the street, but mainly plastic kids’ toys from the 1980s, built in China cheaply and at breakneck speed. Just as quickly had they been forgotten and trashed, which partly explained their presence, in various states of disassembly, on the workbenches. But apart from being cheap and easy to hack (the smaller and sleeker gadgets have become, the harder they have become to break apart), these all had another thing going for them: they made beeping sounds. If you’re really lucky, some of them, like the Speak ‘n’ Spell, even talk.

Crack open a toy walkie-talkie or a generic mini keyboard, rip off the coverings (sometimes there’s even scotch tape inside!), press a button, and simply lick a finger and touch a circuit: a short will cause the beep to become a bleeooooop, or a danger to become a dddddreeerrrrrrrrr. Wire an output to the speaker wire, plug in an amp, and you’ve got an outer-space music box fit for an intense audio-visual extravaganza.

While beginners and more expert circuit benders tinkered in workshops, small bands of musicians were huddled in the corners, preparing their homemade instruments for an all-out exposition of exploded instruments. At one point near the end of the night, a musician called Computer at Sea (and introduced as “the handsomer Dan Deacon,” though that would only barely approximate his sound), began his set by excitedly rallying the audience the only way that would have made sense: inviting them up to play his instruments. My hand shot up before he was finished asking, and soon it was on a keyboard, on a Simon Says knockoff, and there were all the other hands surrounding the table’s electronic feast, bathing in the torrent of sound and light and energy of our own creation. It wasn’t just the most fun I’d had at a concert in a while; it was the best kind of fun.

Like the toys we were all playing, the music came in all shapes and sizes, in bright colors and from another world. The best part: the musicians, like everyone else, weren’t just pressing buttons to play music. They were making the buttons themselves."

::vtol:: @ bent festival 2010

::vtol:: @ bent festival 2010 from ::vtol:: on Vimeo.

http://vtol.tk



performance at Bent Festival 2010



Dumbo, NY, 2010



http://www.bentfestival.org/

"vtol.tk

performance at Bent Festival 2010

Dumbo, NY, 2010

bentfestival.org/"

::vtol:: @ traumpunkt Tel Aviv, 30.04.10 from ::vtol:: on Vimeo.

intencive analog care

2010 Bent Festival

" The 2010 Bent Festival will take place at 81 Front Street in Dumbo (Brooklyn, NY), April 22-24, 2010. The festival space has been generously donated by Two Trees.
The Bent Festival is an annual art and music festival celebrating DIY electronics, hardware hacking, and circuit bending. Each year we invite artists from across the country and around the globe to perform music with their home-made or circuit bent instruments, teach workshops to adults and children alike, create beautiful art installations and to generally come together, face to face, and showcase the state of the art in DIY electronics and circuit bending culture."

Playboy's Bend - Bent Festival 2009

YouTube via DrRek — April 18, 2010 — "from the 2009 Bent Festival DVD by Absurdity.Biz
http://absurdity.biz
http://bentfestival.org
http://www.playboysbend.com/"

Gannon - The Positive Rail

YouTube via mimsey — April 06, 2010 — "The first video from the Toy Volcano album. I owe great thanks to the man behind the video magic, Mr. Chris Messina. He used a combination of Canon 5D (pre firmware update) and the new Varicam to create the stunning light show.

All Gannon info can be found here http://www.mygannon.com

All Chris Messina info can be found here http://workingforblueribbons.com/

Also... You can see me play all these contraptions LIVE at Bent Festival 2010!!! In Dumbo (Brooklyn) NY. April 22-24

All Bent Festival info can be found here http://www.bentfestival.org/"

A preview of some new toys for Bent Fest NYC 2010

YouTube via mimsey
"Gannon will be performing live at this years Bent Festival in NYC April 22-24 at The Tank. Here's a preview of some of the new gear I'm building for the show.

More info on Bent Fest http://www.bentfestival.org/
http://www.thetanknyc.org/"

Bent Festival on Twitter

http://twitter.com/BentFestival

Bent 2010 Open Call for Performers, Artists, and Instructors

via Brendan Byrne
"We're hoping to make next year's Bent Festival the biggest one yet by starting a little earlier than usually. We we're hoping that you could possibly post this on your blog/website as we see you as a node of the circuit bending community

The Tank is currently accepting proposals for:
Bent 2010 : The 7th Annual Circuit Bending Festival

Tentative Festival Dates:
New York, NY Bent Festival - April 22, 23, and 24

Proposals:
Proposal Deadline: December 1, 2009
Participant Notification: December 11, 2009

In keeping with the expanding interests of the community, this year we are continuing to open the Bent Festival to performers and artists that create their own electronics as well as to those who hack, bend, modify and destroy them. We are currently seeking performers and artists to participate specifically in these categories: Performers, Installation Artists, Artwork Submissions and Workshop Instructors.

Please send all proposals and questions to:
New York Bent Festival - bentnyc *at* thetanknyc.org

PERFORMERS
Bent Festival seeks bands and/or solo artists who incorporate home built or circuit bent instruments or ideas in their performance. Please email a short description of your act, along with a link to mp3s and photos if you have them. Please do not send attachments larger than 1MB.

INSTALLATION ARTISTS
Bent Festival is looking for installation artists who can commit at least 15 hours to creating site-specific pieces of art at each of the venues during the duration of the festival. Installation artists will be provided with space, materials, electronic equipment and tools. Please submit via email a brief description of your installation idea along with examples of your past work. Please be prepared to commit to spending time in the installation space during the festival and be prepared for a shared and at times hectic work environment. No white walls here!

ARTWORK SUBMISSIONS
In addition to installation artists, we would like to have featured art work that fits with the spirit of the festival from people who might not be able to join us in person or who cannot commit to working in the space during the duration of the festival. Please submit via email digital images or links of your work and a brief description.

WORKSHOP INSTRUCTORS
Bent Festival is seeking workshop instructors to present on various topics. Topics in previous years have included: General circuit bending workshops for beginners and extremely technical, hands on workshops on a particular aspect or niche of the genre. Please describe the subject you would like to lead a workshop on and provide a one-page description of that workshop, in addition include links or examples of your current and past work in the field.

COMPENSATION
Stipends for all festival performers, artists, and workshop leaders will be provided. We have a limited number of travel grants available as well. Please contact us for more information.

CONTACT INFO
New York Bent Festival - bentnyc *at* thetanknyc.org
Thank you,
Brendan Byrne"

Bent Festival 2009

YouTube via eddie23a
Bent Festival 2009 : Lesley Flanigan - Speaker Synth
Bent Festival 2009 : Tristan Perich - Impulse Manifold
Bent Festival 2009 : Burnkit 2600
Bent Festival 2009 : Pixel Form
Bent Festival 2009 : Boring Machine
Bent Festival 2009 : Playboy's Bend
Bent Festival 2009 : Computer at Sea

headphone session

YouTube via EA78751. "camping in brooklyn"
"this video is warmup for some gigs we have in NYC. In the video you see the Big Box o' Techno (BBoT) on the left and Another Box o Techno (ABoT) on the right. Ragsdale is playing the TX606 in the background. ABoT and BBoT are handmade by me, really fun and abstract to play b/c most of the patterns are algorithmic.

BBoT: 808 clone kick, snare, hats + experimental pattern sequencer + drone commander + dR0NEMATr1X optical synth

ABoT: algorithmic bassline generator (fibonacci generator + 4069 VCOs + sync LFO & LFO sequencer), and SP0256-AL2 speech synth

TX606: modified TR606 w/ extra 808-style kick drum osc, noise source crossfader & two external audio inputs to the noise section.

E-Squared plays tonight and tomorrow in NYC... electro/techno

Thu 4/16 - Handmade Music Night at 3rd Ward (brooklyn) ... free event, w/ free PBR!
http://www.3rdward.com/events/handmademusic

Fri 4/17 - Bent Festival (manhattan) $... more"

Dr. Rek - Bent Festival 2008 MPLS

YouTube via DrRek
"from the new DVD from
Absurdity.Biz 's ongoing circuit bending documentary project
Shot by Mike Una, Edited by Dr. Rek
this is my karaoke bent toy set
its rather absurd"

E-Squared April Tour

YouTube via EA78751
"Apr 17: Bent Fest NYC (9PM)
Apr 19: SMOG Garage, Bard College, Tivoli NY w/ Swordman
Apr 25: Judi Chicago presents DANCING at 529, Atlanta GA

www.myspace.com/operationplaymate"

Eraser - Bent 2008 Minneapolis

Eraser - Bent 2008 Minneapolis from Derek Sajbel on Vimeo.
"from the upcoming DVD from absurdity.biz's Circuit Bending Documentary Project. Available at the 2009 Bent Festival and soon on the intertubes"

Dr. Bleep at Bent Festival NYC '08

YouTube via drbleep. bleeplabs.com