Circuit Bent DD-10

Published on Oct 26, 2016 Robin Rimbaud-Scanner

"A circuit bent modified Yamaha DD-10 Drum Machine, built by Shane Williams of X1L3. Although a DD-10 won't yield to rom glitching, a number of features have been added to it to bring it up to spec with some of the more unruly machines listed in the shop. It takes on it's own unique character and is now unlike any of the others. Two oscillators which can be set up as drones or set to follow the amplitude envelope of the drum machine output, an external input with bufferd/none buffered input selection which allows you to feed line level equipment and passives such as guitars, mics and contact mics into the effects chain. The effects chain consists of a resonant filter with high pass and low pass bands, a digital delay which is open to abuse and is the heart of the machines ability to create ambient, harsh and noise wall sound scapes as well as data crash type glitching and strange effect. It has a dual mode distortion with diode clipping and direct modes. All of these can be used to manipulate the internal sounds as well as anything fed into the external input. The external input can be used while the machine is active and the machine, oscillators and external source can be mixed up as desired in the mixer section. The pitch control features a coarse and fine dial. When the pitch is dropped via the coarse control it dives into dirt and sludge which plays well with the filter and distortion.

More information here:
http://www.x1l3.bigcartel.com/product..."

X1L3 - circuit bent - PT87 - harsh noise and power electronix redux

Published on Oct 15, 2017 manufacturedZ3R0

"Revisiting the PT87 for what is probably the last time with 32 minutes of post optimism improvised power electronics.

Shop:
http://www.x1l3.bigcartel.com/

Cleared out the hoard of these in the circuit bending stash recently and modified them all. They're becoming harder and harder to get these days and this is most likely the last run of them from this camp. It seemed fitting to throw out the constraints of percieved attention span and adherence to a time limit and just let the camera roll. If you're here it's either by accident or you know what you're looking for. And if this is what you're looking for then turn it up, sit back, have a beer, take a trip through the shatter zone and let the machine do the talking. This is the modified board at work, with no additional fx. Shifting from scene to scen within the noise through the set. A great variety of dark and harsh PE orientated textures.

If you visit the shop, there are at the time of writing this PT87 and 82's available. Other than the colour they're identical in performance. Once they're gone they're more than likely gone for good this time.

X1L3 - circuit bent - synth mod - Roland TR626 + Sequential circuits pro1

Published on Sep 17, 2013

X1L3 on eBay (RSS)

"Commission circuit bent 626. The first half of the vid hangs around a drone beat set with the distortion and filter doing most of the work while the square waves are all tuned up in unison and driving a kind of pseudo bassline. After this it all starts to go nuts with some nasty glitching and detuned square wave action. Comes to a head with the delay going into the drone industrial noise realm.

Thought i'd try to do something a bit different with this seeing as how it's quite a big machine with lots of panel space when fixed up in a wooden shell. Check out burnkit 2600 for loads of sweet mods you can do to these things and TR505's. I recently got hold of 1000 TS555 timer Ic's so thought i'd start putting them to good use. I made a pcb consisting of four of them, added two of these pcb's to the 626 and routed the square wave outputs to it's internal drum grouping mixer. The mixer contains AD generators which shape the square waves and give the machine a kind of 'analogue drum' sound. You can dial these waves in and out of the mix as well as alter the levels of the different drum groups. Added an external input round the back. You can use it as an fx processor for other gear or mix up the machine and an external source as i do with the pro one. As with most of the stuff i modify it's got a fluid feel to it that lets you drift from place to place. Quirky glitching to all out distorted grind.. The more you mess with it the more things you chance upon. The way it should be with a circuit bent machine."

X1L3 - circuit bent - synth mod - Yamaha RX17

Published on Jun 9, 2013 manufacturedZ3R0·94 videos

"Lovely typo in the header. It is in fact a synthacon filter. That's what happens when you make videos at 4am.......

Another 80's drum machine fitted with an analogue filter, digital delay and a proco rat distortion circuit."


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X1L3 - Vevoyah - Walkthrough - Power electronics and harsh noise

manufacturedZ3R0
Published on Aug 12, 2017

"A tutorial on the workings of the vevoyah as a hands on noise, texture and glitch generator. Covering how the different elements work together in creating noise walls, PE textures and system crash garbage, and how to get to know them better.

To those searching for guidance on the dark path, i hope this helps you find your way :)

Built in small batches and for sale at:
http://www.x1l3.bigcartel.com/"

Previous posts.

X1L3 - Circuit bent - Synth mod - Casio PT82 / PT87

Published on Jun 30, 2014 manufacturedZ3R0 .·105 videos

X1L3 on eBay
"Back to where it all started.

No eye candy or wooden ends etc. I wanted substance over superficiality. As much as i enjoyed doing the larger machines and will probably do more when i think i've something signifigant to add again (like midi / adsr etc) i started to feel that the curious aspect of these little instruments that sparked my interest was getting lost in some kind of pseudo synthesizer territory to the point where i might as well have just moved on to total synth diy and ditched working on these little things. I've taken what i've learned along the way and what i can do now, miniaturised it all for purpose and put it to work with the fundamentals of the circuit bending that bought me to where i am and what i can do now. The charm and fun of a bespoke circuit bent keyboard but with a sound that stretches from vanilla to hell.

I wanted a compact machine which made space very limited. So i opted to ditch all the drum mute/distortion bends and keep just the pitch control bend which is so easily applied to these. Grunge bossa nova and disco get old fast. I wanted this to be something you could sample the hell out of for trashed up noise and quirky analogue hits and sounds. It's heart revolves around additional circuitry. An embedded psu/supressor to power the keyboard, filter and delay efficiently and of course the filter and delay themselves. It also has a CV input around the side that allows you to modulate the filter cutoff via other equipment. In this case a sequential circuits Pro 1 with note sequences programmed to send out cv patterns.

The intro to this video was made using samples from this machine and the sampler/fx processing of propellerheads reason. Probably most apparent as the intro peaks with the delay crash.

I think i've got it right and i think this is something different and diverse within the realm. But i suppose like most things it's a matter of taste as to if you like this particular flavour or not :)"

X1L3 - CH1MA3RA + Elektron Machinedrum

Published on Feb 9, 2014 manufacturedZ3R0 .·105 videos

X1L3 on eBay

"New stand alone fx box.

Filter, delay and distortion with an LFO.

Trying it out on some percussion to good effect. Reminds me a lot of the kind of sound you get out of the ohmboyz ohmicide plugin :)

Made with a mix of thru hole and smd pcbs of my own design. A lot of potential inside a small box.

More vids to follow with some other gear and both inputs putting it to the test.."

X1L3 - circuit bent - synth mod - Yamaha SH-10 keytar

Published on Jul 31, 2013 manufacturedZ3R0·100 videos

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"Nice set of mods on a Keytar sent to me for a commission make over.

The filter cutoff is located on the neck for playability. Because i couldn't see what i was filming i just guessed where to stand and it ends up out of shot for a lot of the video.
The video starts out with the keytar played over the top of a backing track. The track is a remake of an old commodore 64 game sound track by Rob Hubbard. Always loved the tune and thought it would be fun to do something with it as a demo of a modified instrument.
After the Hubbard tune finishes it's into the noise of cataclysm, with some delay washes, drone, death industrial style noise and glitching.
Rather than apply as many unplayable circuit bends as possible i looked around for the few that don't brick the machine and force you to switch it off and leave it playable when deactivated. Less is more as it were. I then added a drone switch, master pitch control and two additional fx circuits. The synthacon resonant filter and a digital delay."

X1L3 CHIMAERA - Audio Destruction Unit - Analog/Digital Hybrid Effects Unit

via X1L3

Video with details posted here. Note the version in the video was an early model with a plastic case. The release version as you can see is metal.

CLICK FOR MORE »

X1L3 - circuit bent - midi retrofit - Yamaha DD5 drum machine + Sequential circuits pro1

Published on Dec 23, 2013 manufacturedZ3R0 .·103 videos

"Minimal set on a modified DD5. A quick project to test out a few pcb's. The main one being the midi circuit. Works nicely. Incoming data on channel 16 with four notes (starting at middle C) assigned to the drum pads and a fifth note assigned to the trigger/clock output.

A bit lacking in the inspiration for the pro1 tonight so this is just a two note drone to underpin the glitching percussion. I'll upload something more intricate when i get the time. A short video but a good example of how cool an old DD can be when unlocked with midi...."

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X1L3 - Chimaera blue - audio destruction unit + TT-303

Published on Jul 30, 2015 manufacturedZ3R0 .

"Gradually escallating demo of the tt-303 through the chimaera. Distortion kicks in about a third of the way in.

It makes a good 303 distortion with it's own resonant filter placed before the distortion. The delay makes it sound reminiscent of propellerhead rebirth. It can pull off some strange dub effects with the delay which work well with a loop like this, as can be heard in the vid.

Check out the other chimaera uploads to see some other ways it can be used.

For sale at:

http://x1l3.bigcartel.com/"

X1L3 - circuit bent Yamaha DD-10 - meadow black

X1L3

"DD-10 redux. A one off. A run of this take on things will be made when i've got enough of them to justify doing it :)

Bleak observation and a piano........"

X1L3 - circuit bent - go sound keyboard

Published on Jul 20, 2013 manufacturedZ3R0·98 videos

"Lofi drone keyboard put together for a bit of fun. Cool little death industrial drone generator.

Added three circuit bends. Pitch on the keys, pitch on the drums and an overall overdrive on the amp. I then added an APC and delay circuit, removed the battery compartment and fitted a 12v power jack hooked up to a 5v voltage regulator to power the whole thing."


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X1L3 - DDX - circuit bent yamaha DD6 drum machine with midi

Published on Oct 13, 2018 X1L3

"Another session on the DD6 with DDX mod for something to do. Slow lead in to a 303 driven second half. Just messing with the pitch and filter cv over the midi triggering. Midi is coming in from the daw and cv from a yarns interface in my eurorack. Which i'm using two channels on and the key roll in the daw to set the two CV levels.

DDX pads can be triggered via midi or gate inputs and the glitch array can be accessed manually or via midi. A fine machine for abstract percussive elements, especially when under pinned with a regular beat to drive it. It can also serve as a nasty fx and noise generator which will be illustrated in some more uploads soon."

X1L3 - circuit bent Casio PT-50 with midi retrofit - C64 Knuckle Busters theme

Published on Dec 29, 2017 manufacturedZ3R0

"Robots and casiotones. Casio PT50 with midi retrofit doing a by ear interpretation of a section of the in game tune from the Commodore 64 game Knuckle Busters, written by the brilliant Rob Hubbard.

Midi is coming in from reason and filter cutoff is being controlled by a diy build of a yarns midi to cv module in the eurorack, also taking in midi from reason from the modwheel to generate the filter sweep cv for the casio.

A fairly straightforward lead part taken on by the PT50 for most of it. It then draws to a close with the ruiner/ringmod coming into play to generate discord. There's a delay fitted to the PT which is used subtly to warm the casiotones.

For sale at:
http://www.x1l3.bigcartel.com/"

X1L3 - circuit bent casio SA-46 - power electronics and harsh noise

Published on Dec 28, 2018 X1L3

"20 minute PE set to check out the noise potential. Probably a bit long and drawn out in terms of demo material, but if you're into this stuff you're probably used to full C60 outings etc. Transition from navicon torture technologies type drone to an escallation into noise at 7.10. If you hate this sort of stuff i probably already know this and the sun will still rise in the morning :)

Where to get and what's in there below:

Drone is constantly triggered via midi as i don't have three hands. The rest is just hands on manipulation and experimentation to see how it behaves in the context of drone and power electronics performance. Filter as a very hot resonance peak when the res is cranked which can be used to cut into the delay loop, even when the loop feedback is maxed out and trying to inject additional audio into it becomes tricky.


Fitted with a monophonic midi interface. The board is polyphonic but the amount of routing and circuitry required to implement this via midi isn't doable in the space available. The compromise is still cool though, giving a mix of automation that can be played over, plus being a bent machine it can pull off all sorts of strange stuff when you spend a bit of time getting to know it. The standard format on the spectrum of nice to nasty - melodic to harsh noise all loaded up in this one.

It has a resonant filter, 'ruiner' ringmod/distortion and a digital delay configured as a circuit bent delay pedal might be - that is untethered feedback and filtering for texture and noise generation and manipulation. Also added is a global pitch control with fine and coarse dials."

MB-6582 midibox sid - C64 - Enigma Force cover

X1L3

"The theme from the sequel of Shadowfire recreated with the MB6582, a Boss DR550 mk2 and some supersaws to pad it out a bit.

Staying quite faithful to the original with all the modulated PWM stuff from the MB6582.

Another shout out to Fred Gray - the composer of the original C64 version.

Cheers to:
https://www.lemon64.com/
For hosting the scans that i used here :)

A fun one to do. The tune is great, and making the little comic strip recreation of the crashed shuttle opening screen bought a smile to my face :)"

See the X1L3 and Midibox labels below for more.

X1L3 space drones synth project1

Pics and details previously posted here.

One more video:

X1L3 space drones synth project2

Published on Dec 2, 2019 Scienceforce

X1L3 ROLAND TR505 - Art circuit bent, amazing drum machine!

Published on May 22, 2018 Scienceforce

"X1L3 ROLAND TR505 - Art circuit bent, amazing drum machine!"

X1L3 - circuit bent - synth mod - Roland R5 drum machine + Sequential Circuits Pro1

Published on Jul 5, 2013 manufacturedZ3R0·97 videos

"A Roland R5 sent in to me for modifying. Specifying an upright case. First time i've attempted that. A learning experience in space management and fun to work on. Audio cuts out at 7.35 for about 15 seconds. Very annoying... Video encoding/conversion errors.

The Sequential Circuits Pro1 creeps in t 10.40 to demo the external line in to the fx chain, building to a climax of delay crash and noise."

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