Experimental Garage Sale in Chicago Happening Now

Facebook Event Page here

"Synthesizers, Circuit Bent Toys, Electronic Kits, Unique Musical Instruments, Food, Live Music & Fun!
Please join us for the 7th Annual Experimental Garage Sale organized by GetLoFi.com and hosted by the Experimental Sound Studio of Chicago.
Vendors from all over Midwest ( Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, etc ) will meet for one day to showcase and pass on to a good home tons of gear, electronics, and projects. The sale portion of the day's events will be from Noon - 6:00 pm.

Once again there will be a raffle featuring items donated by the various vendors. Proceeds from the raffle help Experimental Sound Studio continue their programming and services to the regional community.

By Popular Demand- Random Duets Experimental Music Jam! As a celebration of our vendors- most of whom are well-known musicians and performers, we are presenting Random Duets where our artists will be paired up for unique collaborative improvised musical performances- always a lot of fun!! Random Duets will run from 7:30 - 10:30 pm.

Snacks and refreshments will be available (ID required for beer). Sponsored by Chicago's own Revolution Brewing!

This years vendors are:

CLICK FOR MORE »

Roth Mobot Circuit Bent Petting Zoo Coming to FIGMENT Chicago Festival Aug 11

This one in via Brian Comnes via the Roth Mobot email list:

"Roth Mobot has been invited to create a Circuit Bent Petting Zoo at this summer's FIGMENT Chicago Festival. Tommy and Patrick, and other circuit benders from the Chicago area, will set up a table full of experimental electronic art pieces that the public can play with to produce weird sounds and music.

Roth Mobot will be bringing their Phonograpahitephone, an interactive hacked record turntable that plays graphite drawings made by anyone!

FIGMENT demonstrates what the arts can be: participatory, bursting with creativity and completely free, born from the desire to share imagination and invention between artists and the public. FIGMENT is a grassroots effort, organized and run entirely by volunteers as a gift to our cities.

FIGMENT Chicago with the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance
Sunday, August 11, 2013, 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Garfield Park Conservatory
300 N Central Park Ave., Chicago, IL 60624 (map)
~FREE~"

2012 Circuit Benders Ball Nashville on Kickstarter

"The Circuit Benders’ Ball is a daylong symposium dedicated to the art of the bend, taking place on Saturday, September, 29th. It will feature two stages, over a dozen performers, an interactive art gallery, and workshops. Workshops 10am-7pm. Music 8pm-1am. Our inspirations are the multi-city Bent Festival, The Fuse Factory in Columbus, OH, the eSymposium in Chicago, Illinois, and, of course, Reed Ghazala, the father of circuit-bending!

We have invited circuit bent artists from Tennessee and beyond to perform and lead electronic workshops. The afternoon workshops are open to all ages and all levels of experience. In the evening, experimental musicians and sound artists will perform with circuit bent instruments, custom-made electronics, and/or battery-powered electronic devices. Genres will range from ambient soundscapes to aleatoric noise to EDM influenced grooves.

So: if you are into (or merely curious about) experimental music, making, electronics, art, DIY, hacking, and sonic mayhem, this event is for you!

The all-day event will take place on Saturday, September 29th, 2012 at Brick Factory Nashville, a hackerspace, community workshop, educational facility, art gallery, and performance space.

Performers

Roth Mobot - Chicago
Blight Side of Life - Nashville
Brain Lesion - Murfreesboro, TN
Elegant Bassterds (Ben Marcantel and Derek Schartung) - Nashville
Josh Gumiela, Kelli Shay Hix, Lucas McCallister - Nashville
Hadals - Nashville, TN / Montgomery, AL
Joey Molinaro - New York City
Nashville Robotic Philharmonic - DeKalb, IL
Pimpdaddysupreme - Nashville
Pineapple Explode - Nashville
Posttaste - Nashville
Teletron Orchestra - Nashville / Murfreesboro

Workshops

Chip to be Square: Build Your Own Synth w/ Josh Gumiela. 10am - 1pm
Intro to Circuit Bending w/ Roth Mobot. 2pm-5pm
Build a Buckawatt Bent Boost Kit w/ Zach Adams. 5:30pm-7pm

We Can't Do This Without You!

The CBB is a nonprofit festival. The staff volunteer their time and energy with no monetary compensation. In order to attract the best and brightest in the Circuit Bending community from all over the United States, we need your financial support. All donations will go toward artist compensation, advertising, set decoration, and workshop materials. The more donations we generate, the bigger and better the festival! Show your support by donating!"

via Dylan Simon on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

Roth Mobot Experimental Electronic News & Events

1. Special eSymposium
Saturday, May 12, Noon - 3PM
Lizard's Liquid Lounge
3058 W Irving Park Rd., Chicago
~FREE~

In addition to our usual weekly social soldering session and experimental electronics open lab, this week's eSymposium will be in high gear when this Saturday we welcome Tim Kaiser on the final leg of his recent tour before returning to Duluth MN.. Tim will be setting up some of his equipment for people to examine and play with. Also, Roth Mobot's Tommy Stephenson will be making a rare eSymposium appearance. Tommy will be showing off some of his latest "Blamps," and their ability to be driven by musical instruments. This is a rare "under-the-hood" look at these two artists' work. And of course, feel free to bring a project to work on, or perform in the world's only regularly scheduled weekly Circuit Bent Open Mic!

2. 14 Below
Mondays through Thursdays
July 23rd - August 16th, 12:45 - 4:00 PM
Old Town School of Folk Music
4545 N Lincoln Ave., Chicago
Register at www.OldTownSchool.org

Roth Mobot's Patrick McCarthy will be teaching 16 sessions of Experimental Music in conjunction with the Old Town School's NEW 14 Below program, an extended afternoon camp experience for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in the OTSFM's. This session will also cover Gamelan, Hip Hop, and Turntablism. Students will learn tons of new stuff, make new friends, and hang with some great Old Town School teachers. Throughout the afternoon, there will be opportunities for gathering to work on group activities, including a video journaling project. Each four-week session ends with a final presentation in Szold Concert Hall, where we share what we've done with friends and family.

3. Summer Workshops at ESS
June through August
Experimental Sound Studio
5925 North Ravenswood Ave., Chicago
Register at www.ExperimentalSoundStudio.org

Roth Mobot's Patrick McCarthy will be teaching two series of Experimental Music workshops as well as hosting a monthly Open Experimental Sound Lab at Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio. One set of workshops will be geared specifically to children ages 11-16. Focus will be on DIY musical instrument design, DIY Music Theory, Circuit Bending, Electroacoustics, and more! There will be three monthly free open labs where participants can bring in a project of their choice for trouble-shooting, development, show & tell, Q & A, etc. The summer series will culminate in a Recital/Expo of the students' work.

4017 Vactrol Sequencer

YouTube Uploaded by RothMobot on Oct 1, 2011

"A prototype device for teaching workshops on how to use the 4017 sequencer chip to trigger sounds in a circuit bent toy. A 555 is driving the 4017 (in four step mode) which is driving four vactrols which are triggering different sounds on a circuit bent zoo toy. The toy also has a 500k pot controlling its clock frequency."

Getting Bent Summer Workshops in Chicago

"Experimental Sound Studio will be starting a new series of workshops focused on exploratory artistic process and direct creativity, led by local and visiting artists with extensive experience in a range of creative approaches to sound. These will be supplemented by a new initiative to offer individual tutorials on technical and production subjects: one-on-one sessions with experienced artist-engineers that can be scheduled at your convenience year round."

via GetLoFi

actOnePartThreeCroppedCompressed.avi

YouTube Uploaded by RothMobot on May 12, 2011

"Roth Mobot was asked to perform a few of their strategically improvised recursive jazz pieces at TRANSISTOR in Chicago as the opening act for Tim Kaiser's "Numbers Station Test Pressing Tour." A huge "thank you" to audience member, Bob, for recording the performance with his iPhone. The piece is broken up into three main sections."

Teaching 6th Graders How to Solder at Eco Arts Festival

YouTube Uploaded by RothMobot on Apr 26, 2011

"Roth Mobot was invited to conduct one of their circuit bending workshops at the annual Eco Arts Festival in Cedar Rapids, Iowa."

Roth Mobot Workshop on Channel 9 News

YouTube Uploaded by RothMobot on Apr 22, 2011

"Roth Mobot was invited to host a circuit bending workshop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the New Bohemia's Eco Arts Festival."

Bent Casio MT-70

YouTube via RothMobot | January 25, 2011 |

"Commissioned project. Two glitch buttons, a pitch shifting body contact, and two noise body contacts."

Glitching a Circuit with a Trash-Picked Photovoltaic Array and a Desk Lamp

YouTube via RothMobot | January 03, 2011 |

"Resurrected Loud Objects Circuit (battery compartment popped off), Found Photovoltaic Array, Desk Lamp, Stereo Headphones. Moving the desk lamp towards the array causes the circuit to glitch."

MEECAS Montage 1 of 2

MEECAS Montage 1 of 2 from Creme DeMentia on Vimeo.

"Patrick McCarthy opens the event, interactive exhibits Pignose Amplifier by Patrick McCarthy, Photovores by Sam Piro, Jeff Cox plays the slinky through his circuit-bent parrot using a Creme DeMentia bottle-cap contact microphone, Video Installation by Steve Buck, Mike Kana providing the soundtrack via Chaos pads/etc., Stolen installation by ______,
LIFE Synth Installation by Mike Una (visual only), ______ circuit bent Casio synth, Contact Microphones from Creme DeMentia display, circuit bent parrot by Jeff Cox, circuit bent lantern by Patrick McCarthy, LED Flower sculpture by Steve Buck, Roth Mobot announcement, Sam Piro's lecture on Raymond Scott/Circle Machine Junior demos, Hugo Paquette video segment, Circle Machine Junior close-up (Sam Piro talks with Zach Adams), fellow listening to Circle Machine Junior, Photovores by Sam Piro, impromptu performance by Jeff Cox using glitchy circuits and a rotary phone dial gate (aka Kaiserphone), Pelzwik / Sprite Lite Theater performance video, Roth Mobot announcement and performance. Live Mixed video projections by ___________. "

2010 Third Coast Festival Award

YouTube via RothMobot | October 20, 2010

"Roth Mobot was asked to collaborate with Trek Studios in Chicago to create nine interactive awards. Each device plays an excerpt from the recipient's documentary, has a "bent" setting, and a bend frequency control. They will be housed in handmade retro radio replicas."

Roth Mobot Circuit Bending Workshop and Call for MEECAS

"1. Upcoming Electronics Workshops
Introduction to Circuit Bending
Saturday, September 18th, 1:00 - 4:50 PM, The Old Town School of Folk Music
We bring the tools and components, you bring the battery powered toys. This crash course in circuit bending and toy hacking covers the basics of electronics, the tools of circuit exploration, and the techniques of finishing a project. No previous electronics experienced required! More information can be found on our 'Workshops' page.

How to Build a Simple Contact Microphone
Saturday, September 25th, 1:00 - 2:50 PM, The Old Town School of Folk Music
In less than two hours students make a simple, effective contact microphone from surplus and discarded materials and create musical soundscapes by amplifying common objects., No previous electronics experience is required!. More information can be found on our 'Workshops' page.

2. CALL FOR ENTRIES
MEECAS 2010 - The Midwest Experimental Electronics Conference and Showcase
Saturday, November 22nd, 2010, 12 Noon - 12 Midnight
Lizard's Liquid Lounge, 3058 W Irving Park Rd. Chicago, (773) 463-7599 (map)
We are looking for inventors, performers, and electronics artists for installations at our third annual showcase. Please email us with a brief description of your work."

Hybrid Hacked Vocaid Incantor

YouTube via RothMobot | September 10, 2010

"A rare hybrid device by both Tommy Stephenson and Patrick McCarthy. They don't usually collaborate on the circuitry of their various devices. Both artists inserted custom circuitry and Tommy painted the exterior."

Roth Mobot at OFFF Paris 2010

YouTube via RothMobot | July 19, 2010

"Dr. Bleep, of Bleep Labs, recorded a section of our performance at the 2010 OFFF Design Conference in the Loopita Theater in La Grande Halle de La Villette in Paris.

The video has a weird, speeded up quality to it that we will to fix."

Experimental Garage Sale 2010

full gallery on Facebook here

A Roth Mobot event

via brian comnes

Update via Alex_Inglizian in the comments: "there are some more photos from the event on my Flickr page"

Roth Mobot Experimental Electronics News and Events

click here for the newsletter

Events include:

Electronics Workshops
"Sunday, March 14, 1:00 - 4:50 PM, Old Town School of Folk Music

This crash course covers the basics of electronics, the tools of circuit exploration, and the techniques of finishing a project. No previous electronics experienced required!"

OFFF Festival in Paris
June 24, 25, 26, 2010 Roth Mobot is being flown to Paris to perform on the frontline of digital arts events at La Grande Halle de La Villette for the OFFF Festival. OFFF has become a synonym for modernity, both aesthetic and technological. OFFF is spreading the work of a generation of creators that are breaking all kinds of limits - focusing on those separating the commercial arena from the worlds of art and design. Wish us luck on getting our suitcases full of hacked electronics onto the plane. Any advice would be appreciated.

The Weekly eSymposium
EVERY Saturday, 12:00 noon - 3:00 PM
Lizard's Liquid Lounge, 3058 W Irving Park Rd, (773) 463-7599
To nurture the Midwest experimental electronics community, we host a free weekly "eSymposium," an interactive lecture series where participants are both teachers and students. There's soldering, tinkering, Q&A, show-&-tell, bending circuits, hacking toys, recycling discarded electronics and batteries, and Chicago's only weekly Circuit Bent Open Mic.

Be sure to see the link above for more and full details.

Hamburger Drive Thru Demo

YouTube via RothMobot
"One of the principle devices in Roth Mobot's song, 'Hamburger Drive Thru.'"

Newton

"Circuit bent Fisher Price toy. When clocked down the horizontal LED arrays become apparent, and when more LEDs ar needed in a row they drain a multiple quanta of energy from the circuit and cause the toy to jump almost musically from pitch to pitch during the slow execution of a single moment of a single sample. Very cool."

bleep pad

"Awesome wet glitchy hack. This device is the vocal backbone to Roth Mobot's 'The Presidents of the United States.'"

Introduction to Circuit Bending Workshop and Other DIY Events

via ROTH MOBOT (click for more events)
"Sunday, November22, 1:00 PM - 4:50 PM
The Old Town School of Folk Music
7004 N Lincoln Ave., 773-728-6000

We bring the tools and components, you bring the battery powered toys. This crash course in Circuit Bending, and Toy Hacking covers the basics of electronics, the tools of circuit exploration, and the techniques of finishing a project.
No previous electronics experienced required!
More information, pics from past classes, and circuit bending tips can be found on our 'Workshops' page."