Roth Mobot Experimental Electronics News

"1. Upcoming Workshops
Introduction to Circuit Bending
Sunday, November 28th, 1:00 PM - 4:50 PM
The Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N Lincoln Ave
Register at 773-728-6000

Take apart your old toys and make a brand new musical instrument! Circuit bending is the art of modifying existing battery-powered electronics (like children's toys, guitar effects units, inexpensive battery-powered instruments, etc.) to create unique musical instruments by adding wires, knobs, and switches to control new connections within the device's pre-existing circuitry. Enjoy bizarre sounds, electronic loops, sampling, distortion, and other easy to create effects. At the end of this workshop you'll be able to identify and explore the basic components of a typical circuit board, install an output jack, switches, body contacts (and more!), and control a world of new sounds. No previous electronics experience is required! Tools and components will be provided. Students are required to bring one or two battery powered devices to the class.

How To Build A Simple Contact Microphone
Sunday December 5th, 1:00 PM - 2:50 PM
The Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N Lincoln Ave
Register at 773-728-6000

Contact mics are inexpensive, easy to build, and can be a source for fun and experimental ways of creating new sounds for recording, art installations or various live performances. In just two hours we will show you how to make a simple, effective contact microphone from surplus and discarded materials. Students are encouraged to bring random objects to amplify - sheet metal, cardboard boxes, acoustic instruments, slinkies, coat hangers, textured plastic objects, etc.
No previous electronics experience is required!

2. MEECAS 2010 Audio Tracks Ready for Listening & Downloading
Thanks to everyone who made it out to the MEECAS and helped make it such an awesome, constructive day/evening. The videos and pics are starting to roll in. If you have any please feel free to dump them into one of the many "groups" on the www.MEECAS.com site. Thanks to (steven) Buck, we have high quality recordings of the evening's performances that you can listen to online, or download the MP3s. Also, if you have a chance, check out Tom Young's excellent portraits from the evening.

Thank you for your time,

Patrick McCarthy
www.RothMobot.com
www.MEECAS.com"

The Midwest Experimental Electronics Showcase

"The Midwest Experimental Electronics Showcase
Saturday, May 16th, 7 PM
Lizard's Liquid Lounge
3058 W Irving Park Rd., Chicago, 773-463-7599

~NO COVER~

Audio &visual artists and inventors from the Midwest gather to share their recent homemade experimental electronics projects, instruments, videos, and robots at this DIY convention/lab. Circuit Benders, Toy Hackers, Tech Pirates, and Recycling Junkies will have an opportunity to perform, demonstrate, and lecture about their recent work in the fast-growing art of Acquired Technology."

Line-up: Tim Kaiser,Talking Computron,Hey Coma, Thriftstore Boratorium,Créme DeMentia, Roth Mobot,Alex Inglizian,Mike Una,AutoShrimp,djswyll.
via brian c

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."

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."

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."

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"

MEECAS 2010

"The 3rd annual Midwestern Experimental Electronics Conference And Showcase (MEECAS) is a free, day-long symposium highlighting the past year's accomplishments in the areas of Musical Instrument Design, Performance, Circuit Bending, Data Hacking, and Video Art.

CONFERENCE
Saturday, November 13, Noon - 3:00 PM
Lizard's Liquid Lounge, 3058 W Irving Park Rd. (map)

A three-hour circuit bent open mic, and an open “horizontal lecture series” structured around a free hardware hacking workshop wherein all participants are both teacher and student. The conversation will focus on networking, hacking techniques, projects demonstrations, and setting goals for the next year.

SHOWCASE
Saturday, November 13, 8:00 PM - Midnight
Lizard's Liquid Lounge, 3058 W Irving Park Rd. (map)

Interactive installations, video presentations, and performances.
Featured performers include:

* Tim Kaiser, Duluth, MN
* Roth Mobot, Chicago, IL
* Welcome Tomerica, Chicago, IL
* The Spright Light Puppet Theater, Minneapolis, MN
* Alex Inglizian, Chicago, IL
* Will Soderberg, Chicago, IL
* CMKT4, DeKalb, IL

VIDEO
In addition to videos from some of the Midwest's leading Glitch artists, we will be featuring the live video work of The Machinist.

MEECAS STORE
Exhibiting and performing artists will be selling recorded works, experimental musical instruments, electronics kits, and apparel to offset the cost of the show."

More details: http://www.rubbermonkey.org/meecas/index.htm

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."

marsynth/adamon at meecas 2011

marssynth/adamon will be participating in the 2011 MEECAS event put on by the Roth Mobot guys in Chicago IL this Saturday. Info on the event can be found here.

follow-up to this post.

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:

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