circuit bent projects into guitar pedals!

timd · January 26, 2012, 10:44:40 PM

Alright - The enclosure is an old power supply of some sort that I gutted and sprayed light blue. Those prongs originally held a huge capacitor. I usually make my pedals in vintage cases (when possible) and reuse old knobs when I can because I like that cool vintage worn look for my builds. And yes, thats a TV knob via a side of the road find!

On to the meaty stuff:

The added pots are 100K x 2 and one 5k pot (voltage regulator/starve w/additional trimpot). I have it running off 9v wal-wart, so I regulated the voltage (originally 6v).

The 100k bends...

1. MIC VOL original pot - middle lug wired to outer lug of 100k. Inner lug of 100k to c26.

2. Echo middle lug to middle of other 100k pot. Outer to pin 5 of the amp chip. Its also connected to c29.

timd · January 26, 2012, 10:46:22 PM

All of this migh seem really random, but it works. I'll link a video when I make one (soon) so you can see what this thing sounds like!

timd · January 26, 2012, 10:55:14 PM

Oh, and the 100K bending pots just give different levels of fuzz/squeal.

petey twofinger · January 27, 2012, 09:41:36 AM

excellent , a video !

timd · January 29, 2012, 10:24:31 PM

Here are the links to the videos for this pedal:

http://www.youtube.com/user/tdiederich3/videos

petey twofinger · January 30, 2012, 04:24:47 PM

thanks for uploading those , i thought a cds cell might go nicely with the ocs. mode .

curious if you needed to pad down the output at all ?

i mean that circuit has an lm386 amp in it , wouldnt the signal be really really hot coming out of that ?

timd · January 30, 2012, 06:07:58 PM

I didn't pad down the output at all, though I should - the oscillations are really loud! What's the best way to do this? Trimpot or resistor on the circuit output leading into the stomp switch? Also, what would be a good value to standardize this thing with other pedals?

petey twofinger · January 30, 2012, 07:14:04 PM

i was thinking about this today , maybe try a 100 k pot ? then keep bypassing it / turning it back on , playing clean , then witht it engaged and match the volume . then you could get a restsitor(s) to match what a little louder is then "the smae volume" put that resistor with a ten k pot , hook those up (removing the 100k , that was just for a test) .

please let me know your findings cause i am gonna need to do this too , with n7y hanna montanna circuits and this goofy voice changer amp i want to convert to a pedal . get me ?

thanks , and good luck ,

timd · January 30, 2012, 07:49:48 PM

Sure thing - let's all learn this together. BTW - I'm go this Mims Oscillator (APC) I converted to a guitar pedal, and its LOUD. I've seen a
-4db posted here and there for the APC. How is this done? Same as above??

petey twofinger · January 31, 2012, 05:27:26 PM

not sure never saw that

on this YT vid in the description it says " active circuit volume reduction " so i am thinking it is a simple op amp that reduces the gain maybe ? its odd cause usually one does not need to use an amp to make something quieter ! maybe , if we dont get any replys here one of us should search this , then make a post if it hasnt come up , but ... i am super busy .

on a different note i saw this and thought it would be right up your alley !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NndG0aCoBa8

if you could figure out an efficient way to gate it , it could actually be "usefull" , maybe ?

artifus · January 31, 2012, 06:00:12 PM

timd · April 27, 2012, 11:05:52 PM

"Here's a thought that I have had often? How hard would it be to "manufacture" an input on a device that doesn't have one? Is this just a crazy waste of time?"

I remember posting this and found a way. Take a 1/4 female jack and wire up the ring to ground, and the tip to a another wire with a bare metal tip. *use this method only with battery powered stuff*

Turn the device needing an input on and connect a noise generator or keyboard on demo mode, etc to the 1/4 female we made above. simply prod around with that wire (staying away from connections close to power) until the signal is heard. That's your input!

chromesphere · April 28, 2012, 06:53:13 AM

I did as you asked and searched for "circuit bending" and found this. I'm giong to have trouble sleeping tonite.

Jdansti · April 28, 2012, 04:49:45 PM

Quote from: chromesphere on April 28, 2012, 06:53:13 AM
I did as you asked and searched for "circuit bending" and found this. I'm giong to have trouble sleeping tonite.

LOL. There's nothing like randomly poking around in circuit! Good thing they're not playing with tube amps!

timd · April 28, 2012, 06:29:29 PM

Wow! I never saw this video before. The first minute of the video showcases some of the bad aspects of circuit bending... After learning some hard electronic knowledge its fun to circuit bend again and use this info for stompbox work.

chromesphere · April 28, 2012, 07:31:13 PM

Yeah i think they are "playing it up a bit", pretty funny how that guys staring at the wall and theres an alarm sound going off and he says "...which one is it".

Seriously though looks like alot of fun. As soon as i have kids, im giong to start ripping their toys apart

Paul

Jdansti · April 28, 2012, 10:18:14 PM

Yeah, the video was tounge in cheek. I agree that it's fun to take a circuit that's intended to do one thing and make it do something else, especially if the outcome is desirable and useful. I've done this myself. We've got some sharp folks on this forum who have an idea about what they are doing when they "bend". I hope that I didn't offend anyone with my comments. I've read Tim's posts on this and other threads and he seems pretty sharp. Regarding some of the people in the video, I was a little unsettled watching them randomly connecting jumpers to a circuit or adding components without having an idea about what they're doing.

As they say in SCUBA, "Get Bent!"

petey twofinger · April 29, 2012, 05:19:21 AM

the speak and spell / speak and math speak and read are really fun once they are bent .

i just picked up a furby , i think those can be bent into something that is actually more annoying than the orig .

i have a casio sk-1 , but .... man i looked for one for so many years , i am too chicken to bend it .

i found it in the salvation army lingerie isle , i was just cutting thru on my way out , really .

the sk-1 is a really desirable bend , not sure why , but until i find another i dont want to know .

Jdansti · April 29, 2012, 12:23:32 PM

Here's a good video on how to solder when circuit bending:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XpAtN-asqb0

timd · April 29, 2012, 10:17:25 PM

Quote from: Jdansti on April 28, 2012, 10:18:14 PM
Yeah, the video was tounge in cheek. I agree that it's fun to take a circuit that's intended to do one thing and make it do something else, especially if the outcome is desirable and useful. I've done this myself. We've got some sharp folks on this forum who have an idea about what they are doing when they "bend". I hope that I didn't offend anyone with my comments. I've read Tim's posts on this and other threads and he seems pretty sharp. Regarding some of the people in the video, I was a little unsettled watching them randomly connecting jumpers to a circuit or adding components without having an idea about what they're doing.

As they say in SCUBA, "Get Bent!"

Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I agree about the randomly connecting jumpers thing! In battery powered stuff, jumpers too close to power can possibly destroy the circuit. If the unaware bender makes jumper connections in something connected to a wall wort, it could destroy you! That's my main concern about the budding popularity of circuit bending (even though its how I started building circuits!). I just fear that people with no background can read a little bit about it online - and not the cautions - and wind up in a sad state.

News:

circuit bent projects into guitar pedals!