the folk music of chance electronics

8/8/2019 The Folk Music of Chance Electronics

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The Folk Music of ChanceElectronics: Circuit-Bendingthe Modern Coconut

Qubais Reed Ghazala

They began testing nif in gnidt- school. Special

tests. "W'liat"s-wrung-vvitli-Ret'cl?" tests. To t:ike them I'd becalleti out ol llie elas> righl in the niifUlle ol lhe day'.s ie-s.son.Wh\' (UHSReed look out the window all the lime? And whalare those Ihings he draws? Th ose . . . picunes . Or . . . whatev erihey are. Wliaiis he drawing?

I was tested and coun seled and e neo niage d and interviewedand on and on and on throughout my school years. Nonetlie-less, 1 have always looked at the world ontsidc the school win-

dow as my fantastic personal laboratory, a stupend ous learnint;environment all initself. And it has always been to its flasksand less(»iis that I lia\e lelt mosl welcom e, and w ithin th emmost fnllilled.

When I was in junior high school I found a rabbil hole inmy bedroom , ma squerading as my wooden mnl t idrawereddesk. In the main diawer was a magic lamp tliat I knew well,but had not rubbed correctly so as to meet the genie within.It is rare, as Aladdin niigh tagr ee, lo hear the ge nie be fore tak-ing sight of it, hut ihis is how the oracle came to nu—in anabstract musical apparition.

What happened? Sometime during the psychedelic19(i(i-1967 "Sum me r of Love" era , in a rush to find a forgot-

ten item for a lost-in-iime projec t, I closed my desk dra wer andlhe world clianged. I had fallen down tlie hole and hea rd thegen ie call in o.sc illating waves, luring me inside lh e lam p. O rwas it thf sirens of Ulysses, I might |K)nder now, drawing meto dangerotis shores?

In my drawer a small battery-powered amplifier's back hadfallen oil', exposing the circtiit. It was shorting ont against.soiiieihing nielallic, causing the circuit to act as an audio os-cillator. In fact, the pitch was (ontinuously sweeping npwardto a peak, over and over again.

Op en ing lhe cliawer I di.scovered the am p, my genie lamp.I immediately thought: If this can happen by accident, whatcan be ma de to happe n purposefully? If this can ha ppe n to anamp . not supposed to make a sound on its own, what mighihappen if one were to short out circiiiis ihat already make asound, snch as keyboards and radios and loysr

I was a penniless teen ager. I had h ear d a few synthesizers onrecor dings, bnt 14 years old and fnndless as1 was. owning on ewas not in my near ftitnre. Here, however, in this shoited-outmini amp, I h;td disco\ered a sound source widiin my meansfor expl(.)ring synthesis and experimental nuisic.

I soon modified the amplifier innumerous ways. Placing the circuitwithin a larger h ousin g. I ad<led ro-

Fig. 1. Mock-up of firsl instrum ent,circuil-beni transistorized 9V amplifier,pressbuard platform, tiail and alligalor-clip patch bay, aluminum foil bodycontacts, 2-in speakers un spinnint;dowel driven by slot-car motor andaccelerator pedal, ends of woodentable legs, approx. t2 x IO x 8 in, ca.1966-1967 (a series of modificationsoccurred over ibis period). (© QubaisReed Cbazala) Thi.s instrument pro-voked an irritable 1960s audience lodi.srupt a performance by the autborand his band, damaging the instrumentand forcinga redesign.

A B S T R A C T

I he author describes thephilosophy and art of circuit-bending: shorting out conven-tional electronic devices toreveal unexpected sound andmusic. Starting from his firstforay into chance electronicsduring his |unior high schoolyears, he details both his

method of w orking and thewealth of instruments that haveresulted.

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Frontispiece. Circuit-Bending the Modern Coconut (© Qiibai.s ReedChazala)

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Fig. 2. Original circuitnow ri'-fillt'd into pcrnia-nt'iit hou.sinE^, firciiit-bciittransistorized9V ampli-fier, cedar box, orangeplaid curtain material,almonds and pecans inthe shell. I/8-in patchcords, chrome hemi-spheres for body con-tacts, various switches

and potentiometers, two3-in speakers, approx.11x5 (closed)X 8 in.ca. 1968. (© QubaisReed Cha/ala) Armorednow against attacks, theinstrument settled intothis linal con ligiiration,surviving to the presentdav.

lai \ svviu tuvs lo llic shorl-riiciiil palhs soIIKII I could 1U11 the new circtiits thnui^li\,irioiis resi,stor.s, cap acitors , diod es, ph otot t 'lls and any other electronic con ipone ni1 could (ind. Polcnlioim-ters iind push-

bullons were added. I tiiscovcrcd placeson th e circuit that, iftouchc d, wotild tnakcilie circuil howl: I then added body con-lacis. Nol knowing I was builflinij; patchbays, I built patt h hays,I even adflef! a linyspinning speaker systetn (Fig. 1).

This instritment could synthesizf allkinds of inteiesting .sotmds—animals, in-sects, machinery, wind, t luuider—andendless abstract, tmrecognizable noisescould he prodticed. Tutning the ioiar\switch scqitenced these sounds and cre-ated ihvthms of these unusual voices.

Waving a hand over the photo cell gentlyswept tlie pitch and animated tlie sounds.If lhe body contact-s were loiicbed rim-ing any oi' ihis, the voices cotild be ]jit{ h-shifted d ownw ard, until n o thing bulclicks weie heaid, or upward uiiiil ihe\were oul ol' hearing range.

A (ba in ol peop le could "play" ea (hothe r's bodies using lhe body conlacls. Ifone broke the cliain wiih one's paiinei,one could close the chaindgAin by hold-ing hand s, stroking an arm or kissing (orin anyway rfs iiniing ilu- conia ci of tieslilto play ibe instruineni.

N o o n e h a d s e e n S I K b a i l i i n g b e f o i e

al my bigh scliool. The box now had acouple dozen controls and a se tolcab tesfor tlie patchbay. Tiiere wete chrome fm-ger ronlac Is, several dials and spcak<'r

grille clolh ctit trom my orange p laid bed-room ctirlains.

At this poinl the rircuil was housedwiibin a small cedar box. Inside thehinged lid 1 bad glued whole nuts, still iniheir shells. These nuts, hatd-slielleti al-mon ds and pec ans, were used to hold ihe|)alcb cord s, as it was always easy to w rapllie cords, in one way or anoth er, aro undlhe nuts to keep them al hand bui otil ofllie way (Fig. 2) . "y'fJMmade this ?"i nye lec -tronit s teacher stam nieied . (At thai|)oiiu we were making a tahle lamp outofa bowling pin in his class.)

Th e circuit and I were a spectacle.Media stereotyping al that time deniedmembers of tbe " tounte icul lnre" mereconsciousness, lei alone acuitv. My in-slrum ent and I did not til [his popu larmytb. Again 1 was ma king my teac hersuncomlbriable. In faci, the circuil and Iwere often seen in school as a ihieat.

Trtith be told, at home in my basetiientlab 1 was learning more about electton-ics, music and synthesis tban my bighschool could offer at any grade level. Ileai ned cndles.s valuable lessons a.s thisfirst insirunient was btiilt and re-bniliover lho.se earlv years and housed and re-housed into different enclosures. Fur-Ihermoie, as I began lu chance-inodityother sound rirciiiis, I became aware nfwbat seem ed to be a new world of music,inii igi ting ancl endless, jusl a mo me ntaway.

I was explorin g cha nce electronics.While simple, the process is explosive inils startling audio otil])ut. Fantastic

Fig. 3, TTie act ofcircuit-bending,(© Qubais ReedGhazala) Herea TexasInstruments Speak &Spell is being exploredwith a sho rt length ofwire. Any interestingsounds found in thisway will be charteddirectly on the circuitboard hy niarking

where the wire's endswere when the soundwas produced.

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Fig, 4, Inverter, circuit-bent toy containingaudio samples of human voice and automo-tive sounds with piish-hutton switches, glassfish eye. potentiometer. painLs, approv.3 X 5.5 y 1,5 in, ca. early 1990s. (© QubaisReed Gha/ala) The Inverter is a "livinginstrum ent" whose new wiring creates ther-mal pressures upon the circuit, changing itsvoice over time.

aleaioric nuisic might result, composedoi eiiher "real" instruments (samples) orlayers of e\()l\iitg iiideftnahle sounds(new synthesis). Through wctrk withhtiman or animal \oic<' syiilhesi/ers, newnmsicai languages might a|»pe;tr. Pei hapsless dramatic bul no less intriguing are

lhe original lone colnis thai might result,lurinng thai $2 discarded keyhoard intosomeLliing cme wotild gladly |»lare in asttidio. How? Just do what my deskdrawer did: shori ihings out.

Ohlain a low-voliage battery-poweredsound circuit such as a toy mtisical key-board instrtiment or a talking toy such asthe Speak & Spell gam e. To make one 'smosl important< ircuit-bendiiig lool, sini-j)ly cut a 12-iiu h piei e of insulated iiiul-tistiand wire, strip a lillle iiisulalion (illeac h end anti "tin" the e nds with soldei10 make ihem solid and lin n. With iheciri uil ma king a sonn d, touch o ne endof the wiiê to a circuil point and theother end of the wire lo another- cirtuil[joint. If ihis resulls in an interestingsound, mark lhe (iicuit to show wherethe I nds of" the w ire were placed lo cre-ale ibai new sound (Fig. 3).

While keep ing on e end of lhe wire sta-tioiiiu V on lhe iniiial spot, louch lheotliei end of ihe wire—lei ns tall it lheiiaveliiigend—i<i auo iber aibiirary spoi.11 a new sound is (ii-ate d, m ark the cir-ctiil boa rd a gain. II' ibe e ntir e circuil is

st a u hed in ibis\\;\\ ;uKi ibe .se.trdier isiioi \el conteni witb lhe loundSOUIKIS,sl.irl all o\ei again , bul uiih ibe sialion-M\ end ol ibe wiie on a new s[)(ii.I beiraxrliiig end repeals its lour.

Wben satislic'd wilh tbe (oUeclion oldiscovered (ircuit patiis, finalK- "bard-wirc" tbem into j)lace. Tbis is done bywiring eacb new {ii( nil liirougb its ownswitcb, a toggle switcb ihal is monnledon lhe instrtitneiit 's case.

I sing the switches, one can now aclu-ate tbe elfeets discoveiêd witli lhe tra\-eling wire. CJne (an in addition combinetbese effects hv lurning several switcheson al once. I should al.so nole ibal onceibe iniii's oiigiiial liuy speaker is by-passefl this Tiew "line o tilp tu" will usu allypioctiice fine fVequency range and fi-(leliiv when ain]}lified.

We have now eniered a world whereiiiiisic no longer adheres to luunan pre-suinption in tbeory, (irtuii design andcomp osit ion, r i ius. greal new soimdsand nuisical realities (an occur asoue siiswilb one s out-of'-lbeory ins irum en i, atriih' alien instiumenl, and listens lo itsmetaniorpbosed output, .-\iter all, now iiiban d is an ins iiniiien t ihai exisisnowhere else in lhe tmiverse and tliaipresenis sounds no one else has yeiheard .

Tliis is not to say that I do nol apfiic-(iale ibe mnsic lah's environs or e\eu

Fig. 5. Species Device,circuit-bentaiiimals-on-bustoy with antique back-lit"sleepy" doll eyes (pilotlights,red for envelopepeak and blue for power:diese eyes slowly close theirlids as the instrimient is laiddown to play in the horizon-tal position), pho tosensitiveglas.s fish eye (for shadowvibrato), five potentiome-ters with antique blackBakelite and gold Gibsonelectric guitar knobs,1 'Abra.ss drawer knobs wired asbody contacts, purplemother-of-pearl Hngerhuttons, antique celluloidfinger keys,.switches,paints, holographic dusts,approx. 8 X 12 x 3 in, ca.mid-1990s. (© Qubais ReedChazala)A deep BtL-Vsapeinstrumen t, the .SpeciesDevice integrates the piayerseamlessly into the circuitwhen one touches tbe bra.sscontacts while the mechani-cal keys and buttons areplayed.

iidore a good.svstem oi mo dule.1 dol Noram I uniiispiivd witb ibe resnits of lhelhe or\ -iru e syniliesi/ers I design fromscratcb, siicb as my \c)x Insectas andhuman voice generaiois. .Vpprecialed aswell are the complex polyphonic instrti-ments I ha\c buill from kits or schemat-ics adh erin g sliitih to design lan dmusic) as we know il. Siill, I ha\c per-.sonallv lonnd more truly ue\v sounds tolislen to, hi ])onder aiul lo work wiih byweek's end. ihrougb c bance(•lc'( ironic s."As we know il" . . . cha nge s.

I am surr oun ded by inslrnnienis—e\'er\ catastro|)he in my bouse soundsmusical. My total collection n eai s">()(), in-cluding man\ unusual insiruments of theworld. ;mii(]iie tbroiigb m od ern . I am(ond of evetythiiig in the planel's in-sliumen t;ii-iuni (1 play Chin eseer hit asof len as electronic instrinnents). It is be-cause ol this, perhaps, tbat I recogni/ethe difference, (lliance-wired instru-ments lake us lo a new plate.

In snuggling wiili tbis difference, 1ba\e(le\cloi)ed language to lu'lp peopieuiiderstanti lhe technical process as wellas the leneisof iheail inovemenl that hasiêsulted. I saw the need to invetii anonienclainre for my article sei ies intro-(hicing my original discôvt i) process lothe rea ders ol' Bart Hopk in'st'.xftenmen-tal Musical Instruments (E MI) magazine.In 1992, inKM/. I Hrst puhlished mv leriii

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Fig. a. Incantor prototype. Speak & Spell circuit , antique elementary school wooden chalkbox ( for resonator) , cardboard (speaker baff le) , approx. 6 X 4 X 4 in . ca . 1978.(© Qubais Reed Gha/ala) Tbe lirst Speak & Spell released to the public used a mechanicalpu.sb-bnttun interface arranged in side-by-side panels (foreground). Another unique featurewas tbe three-wire speaker system allowing ibe circuit-bender to split tbe signal into a stereopain

rirruit-bendingUi describe Lhe prcjeediireabtne [1 ].

Miiny new lerms were lo follow, snthas ii)irnediate ((invd.s. H ear illog-ic. thresholdof invention, living instrume-nt -AXid HEAs-«pf, alon g with variotis instriim enl nam estha t now mark the mtnemenl ' s emer-gence .

The eoncejjl ol ';in immedi;iie t;in\a-isvery im portinil. L'lilil now, ihc assumedhurdles of electronic desifrn have in-

Milled a sen.se oi appre he nsi on in layper-sons. Even if one does not electroctiteoneself, a slow and tcdions entry is ex-pec ted via a Slack ofdauntinj^,equation-bottnd texls. Circnit-bendinij;( hanges allIhis, as it translorms lhe circuit inio afriendly and "imm ediate" canvas like thepainter's canvas: immediately there toranyone at all wilh hrush in hand. Jnstwalk np to il and paint.

Otie of the reasons ihe modernpainter's canvas is iinmediale is ihaipa int er s lodav ra rely vvildt raft ih eir pig-nien is. Sli etch a canvas (ifihat l) , scjiiec/etube , paint—that is pretty immediate.

Similarly, a parallel can he seen be-Iwcen circnit-hending's circuit boartt-as-canvas and ready-made pignienls in llieform of the traveling wire mentionerlabove. Just as personal u nde rstan ding oflhe va>«rc of pigm ent is not as need ed b\)>ainters today as it once was, uponciicuit-hending's iinmediale can\as a sim-ilar ihing now occiiis: The sciente ol'ilieelectron is no longer n eed ed to a<l\an( elhe creative tnonient. Finally, in elec-iionics, otie can jitsl walk np and paint.

The painiing process here. <ircuii-bending's chance approach, is an acl ofclear illogic. As opp ose d to fii/zy logic, aseek ing of norm within ch aos , cleai- il-logic seeks chaos wilhin tlie norm. It isthrough ihis chaos, a powerful creative

t o r ( e , t ha i l he i t i s l r im i fn t s a i e a l l owedto behave beyond ibe theoretical inten-tions {and limitations) ofthe designer.

I.ei Its place this concept oti more la-mi liar gro tind . Karth lingsinusirtilizethings. An insiruineni will be made frt)ma coconut washed np on lhe shore, even-tually. The coconut could become theball ola rattle (idiophone) or, liaKed, lheshell ofa drt ini (menibrano|>lione). Ahole conld be poked and blown over(aerophone). The cocontt i might hensed as a reso nato r for a sl ringe d inslrn-meni (ch oido pho ne) . I t depen ds onbow one .sees ihe coconut {.see Fron-tispiece).

Otir society's electronic discards, likecoconnts fallen ro the sea, collect at thehigh-tide lines ot gai'age sales and fleatnarkets, secondhanfl shops and garbagebins. ( jrcttit-be ndets see these circuits asthe island nalive saw the coconut. Theset irctiils (//(Coconuts ofoiir island. Adaptllie coconni, adapt the circtiil.

Circtiit-bending, seen as art, was in-evitable. I say inevitable dtie to a princi-pU' I call ibe threshold of in\en tion. Th isibresliold comes into lieing as we en-cou nter the leading curt ents of our titne.Because the mo dern mo men t occurs be-fore us as if on a stage, and we, the audi-ence , hear witness, ihere will be thepossibility ofa common rcaclion. Often

Fig. 7, Modern Incantor,circuit-bent SpeakSc Read,electric eye in antique brassand milk gla.ss lens,switches, potentiometer,LEDs, paints, holographicdusts, approx. 7 x 10.5 x 2in, ca. late 1980s. (© QubaisReed Ghazala) The loopingsystem consists of the fourcontrols to the upper right;the streaming switches arecentrally located; the pitchdial and body contacts arefurther to the left. Its resetbutton, a simple power-supply interrupter, is to thelower right.

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this riMt lion :t|)|}eal^l .is a \va\e ol iiuen-lion. V\'ilh discaifledt ir< tiiison lliesiageand artisis as audience, the threshold o(invention suggests that what1 disco\eredback in the I9()0swas dtie.

(loiu epitially. a living ins iru m en i issomewhai more difficull. ^'ou and1 areliving insirtiments. We aeix'jn ihal otu\()ices will (han ge, becom ing de eper overt ime, qiileier in lhe aui. aiul some dayfailing. We accepl thai otir triends andlo\ei.s wilt change as they age. However,can we accepl this in our musical instrti-inent.sr

Tlie uby and win' liol of ibis issuecould lill pages wilh ink and balls withj)eople in argunicnl. Let me just say ihalnot all ciit iiil-bent inslrn nien is aie livinginsirtnnenis—tliai is, instrnme tils ibatburn tbem.selves out slowly, btit tastertban ustial due lo llu' heiiding proce.ss.t be grea t m ajorit\ of my own be ni iii-slrumenis are nol li\iug inslrunienls (alleasl not in this regard; but it can easilybe argtied that all the instruments we

know, acou.stic and electronic, are livinginsi rume nIs). None ihat I ix)iitinel\<)flerto lhe public are.

However, some bent instrumenis doage and sonnd ditferent as time [masses,as ibey consume their acceleialed l i te-spans. The insirtinient grows a littleolder, moves a little closer to early de-mise, every time it is tm ned on {Fig. 4).tl on 't |jlay it to saw it? Play it to let it .sitNot vom iather s Farlisa, tor sttie.

Fig. 9. Morpheuni, circnit-hent iinimals-on-a-train toy,hack-lit antique sleepy dolleye (hlue pilot light),chrome drawer knohs (hodycontacts), computer keys,antique celluloid keys,s^witches, poten tiom eters ,antique Bakelite knohs,pa in ts , app rox . 7 x 1 0X 2..S in, ca. late 1980s.(© Qubais Reed Chazala)A simpler ins trumen t thanthe related Species Device,the Morpheum is the morestandard BKA.sape inNtrii-ment .

Body-contacling was one of the verylirst things I ibttnd jiossible within thebend ing process. From the start I bad lhelecliiig thai I was nan sforn ied in someway whe n l>ody-coti tat tin g a n ins tru -

Fig, 8. Trigon Incantor, circuit-hent Touch & Tell. 2-in diameter .steel baits, switches, I.F.Ds,potentiometer, painLs, holographic dust.s, t3 x 10 x 3.5 in, ca. 1996, (© Qubais Reed Ghaz-ala) Along the left-hand edge are th e series of streaming sw itches that, if actuated white themachine is spenkiug, transform the output into various couipositions of chance music. Theswitches are divided into two response sets: language, wherein the new audio consisLs mainlyof unusually arranged allophones, and instrumental, bringing ahoui phases of aleatoric pitchand timbre sequences.

meni, inyseir becoming a part ot the cir-cuitry as stirelv as any capaciloi^ sold ere diit place.

I f<'ll ihat a new, alheil letn|)orar\. ciea-uire was created when a nmsit ian playeda body-c'onlacl inslrument—in lliis ino-men; wben lhe electricity of hoth bodies

imerlwines, lhe same essential eleclricilylliai if inieriupied would cause eachbod\' to die. I was changed and lhe cir-( nil was cha nge d, and I had Irouble de-ciding where each {)f ns began andend ed. I simply conchid ed ihat we weresomething new, and we were one.

Tlieiefbre, with the rttsh to discoverand natne tiew species so pressing iti thecircles of biolog\', catilionsly I introducethe BF.AsajK' (pi on ou nt cd be a," as in"be a sport"; "sape," thymes with gra pe) .BEAsape Is an acro nym for BioKlectron-icAttdiosapian. Insirumeiii/animal, nut-tan t or hybrid, both musically an dzoologically the BEAsape pushes hotmd-aries (Fig. ">).

the human body, able tocondticl elec-tri( il\, becom es a jia rto lllie circuit whenthe cii{ nit is touch ed . Any nttm ber oftonnections and new sounds are possi-ble here as ihe player's flesh becomes theetniivalent ofa polentiometcr, atljtisiingeleciiieal Mow between (irctiil poin is.t be eleclro-binnan BF.Asape, eqttally ofcirctiil boaid and blood, is literalh a liv-ing inslrument, one whose voices are as

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\ai ied as lhe endless circuits available lothis lechniqiie.

During tny35 years of experim ent anddesign, I have created countless circuit-bent Insirtiments. A few of these instrii-nieiits are now well known wiibin the(irctiit-bending niovement. Besi knownis the circuit-hent SpeakSc Spell. (Origi-nally a spelling game, this series ofhuman voice syntbesi/ers was tnamifac-iLii ed hy Texas Instruments decades ago.Wbile I immedialely circtiit-bent the fustmode l released lo the public, I did notpublish my work uniil [inun years later.In I'.l'.Ci, inEMI, I inlroduced the Incan-tor (Incantor as in incanla lion— oddchants and streams of myslic-soundingvocali/alions it-siilt from (irctiil-bend-ing's rea rrang em ent of the Speak&: Spellprogranis meant toconstrtict speech) [2](Fig. (i).

I will des< libe lh e prim ary circuit-bentlu net ions o! an In caiuo i to sel an e xam -].>le of resulls tbund nol only In Incanlorsbut in manv oilier beiidabh' ciicuils aswell,

t hr ou gb lhe slaiid aid lechiii(]iies ofcircu it-ben ding I di.sto\e red six systemsthat I now i outinely build into tncaiUors:looping, streaming, master pilch, body-(ontact vibrato, resel and pilot lights lorpower an d au dio pea k. Matiy nioi e m od-ifications are possible {Fig. 7).

Looping: Musically, the most laniiliai"teri i tory on an Incantor is atcessedihrough the looping sysiem.I lere also iswh ere a bottotiiless pit is fou nd, filled

witb tnore sound-forms ihau ibere willever be time to bear. An Incaiuor loop-ing system acttiaily presents itself as twosystem interfaces. Tlie first initiates asound loop when a ptisli-button switch ispressed; each lime ihe buMori is pressed,a new loop is set. In this wa\'one can tesiloops to find on e to woik wilb. Throw inga nearby toggle switch then locks thisloop in to |)lay. Th e .second p ar! of ibe.sys-tem is optical: By niean s of shadow sfalling across a photo cell, loops ate in-cremented forward into new forms as ahand Is waved o\er the in strtiment.

In practice, the player slarts ilie In-cantor, whicli, ihrough ihe voice synthe-sis metbod of liiieai' predictive coding,t ies al lophoues together and begins lospeak, somewbai tluenlly, in a humanlangttage (depending on the cotmtry ilwas designed to be sold in), tf the lo(>p-ing function is atlu alc d mid-word, onesuddenly finds oneself listening to a se-que nce of vai ied sotinds instead of thestistained noise of vowel or consonant

one mighl expect. These might be seg-nie ius ot .speech, absiraci itnre<-ogni/ablesoun ds or boih. T be\' migh t he ovei ilymusical, almosi intisical or nol miisi* al atall—perhaps jtist faint hissing that risesin volume ouc e in a wbile.

A tull range of dynamics—liny sonn ds,greal so unds— might evolve within a sin-gle loop: stirprising st)tinds of namelessinsli^ninents. Pushing the biitlon againcreates a new loop, a completely new-loop perba]js, and soOTI, foiever.

Fig. 10. Ptioton Clarinet, antique ice crustier case, antique pilot lens, turned wooden ellipses,turned bases, glass domes, photo celts, switches, potentiometer, antique Batielite knob,paints, tiolographic dusts, original circuit, appro x, 9 X 12 x: 7 in, ta. 1996. (© Qubais ReedGtiazata) In this configuration witti remote sensors (as opposed to smaller models witb sen-sors built-in) tbe P boton Clarinet is the most versatile and easiest to ptay, Tbe speake r isbebind tbe square ape rture toward tbe top, tbe opening that ice bad been fed tbrougb foryears prior.

.Slieaming: 1 he slteamiug svslem con-sists of three switdies, each capable ofre -arranging the digital speech programs invarious ways. Itistead of looping, theseswitches transform the audio into end-less sti^cams of aleatoiic music.

Pitch: Any otitpiit can be ttmed withthe piub dial o\rr a \ery wide range, allthe way down to deep snbliarmonics.

Body Cx)niact.s: Similarly, ibe bo (h con -tacts affect pirch , although not to so greata degree. Ttttictiing the et>ntacts de-creases pilch only a little, hut just therighl amount for real-time xihraio.

After ha\ing worked wilb ntinieiousrandom and pseudo-random machines,wriiieii code and bent code and htiiltcom plex, processor-controlled synthesiz-ers to explore chan ce in mtisic, I catitiotdeny ttie Incantor its simple elegance ofinterface and certainly not its stupen-dotts , in fact fath om les s, otiCptit. As acha nce nuisic box the Inca ntor is a trtilyretnarkabie machine.

Briefly, 1 will touch on a lew more keyciicttil-beuding instrtiments.

The Ti^igon Incantoi" (Fig. H), anolherhuman voice s\ntbesi/er, enlarges the( hau ce interla ce via ttiree large steet batisibal roll around on tbe pressuie-sensilivestage to acliiate the aleaioric responses.

This Incan tor originated from a devicemarketed as the TouchJ4: Tell. Ouc e it ishent, the .synthetic luunan \()ices aretransposed into streams of chance musictaking tbe form ol either musical vocal-like languages or more ahsliacl tonal .se-qtieuces.

.Morphetims {Fig. 9) are mn llichann elBEA.sape insti timeuls combining animalcries witb luecbanifal sounds, drasticallypitch-shifted by means f)f the hody con-tacLs. New voices restili,

Aleatrons are (Ircuit-bent keyboards (Iconld write an entite book on the fantas-tic otttpu t of circuit-bent digital keytxiards;the tange of new responses, tonal as wellas aleaioric, can be mind-boggling).

(Ireal examples of the Aleatron are tbecirctiit-bent (.asio SK-1 sampler and theCasio SA2 niini-keyboatd. While tbe SKtAleatron self-composes outrageous tonalsweeps atid perctissive t)ddilies as liie key-board is played, the SA2 Alealron, tiponthe tapping ofthe added "chance" bti t-tou, responds with realislic insii-umeiits(i.e. piano , hass and snare flruni) bn! inmeter and composi t ion far iemo\edfi om any ihing fatniliar.

Exam ples of insirtimeius I design my-self cnlire h from sc rau h (and then cir-cuit-bend) are uiy PluKon Clarinets (Kig.10), the Vox Insecta and Video Octavox.

Hands are waved ins|jace over thePho ton (.larinet's d ual sensors, as with a

102 a. T h e Ki i lk M i i s i i o l ( I h . i n i c



Fig. 11. Vox Insecta,antique Stenograptimactiine (with retittcdmechanics), antiqueglass telcptione polejewels (refleclors retro-titted witti orange peakenvelope I.KDs). mer-cury switch., toggleswitches, potentiome-ters, antique Bakelitelinohs, exposed phototmtisistor. paints, tiolo-graphic dus ts, originalcircuit, approx. 7 X 5X 9iii , ca . niid-1980s.(©Qtihais Reed Ghaz-ala) Instead of stritcingan ink ribbon, the keysnow actuate a series ofhand-made miniatureswitches closing variousinsect-.sound circtiiLs.

tlieremin. However, as opposed to iheiherem in's, the t 'hoion Clarinet's sensorsare lif^lil-sensitivc. While one sensorsnioolhly sweeps lhe pitch, as wiili aihe ien iin , lhe o lh er sleps ilie jiilc liihrough arbitrary scales, presenling a

\ei y iiniistial voice system.I he Vox Insecta (Fig. 11) is a co mp lex

insect voice synthesizer capable of le-ptodticin g, as well, choirs and orchesti altexltires. The \'ox tnsecta was used in itsmain' inotleson mythrenods CD [?>} to ex-press tnnsically the tt agedy of Hiros hima .

Wilh the Video Octavox (Fig. 1^) aiuvideo lecording heconies the experi-nienlal nuisic connterpart or lhe playerpiano Toll: a program m edit im. H ere thein.sii iim en i's light .sensors attach lo lh e\'ideo screen, acti\atinga "siring" sec lionof violins, violas and cellos (liltered \oli-age conliolled oscillatois) as well as abuilt-in Phoion Clarinet.

A visit to my web site <lil tp:/ /w ww .anli-tbeory.coin> will reveal do/ensinoie instrnmenls, as well as .sound filesand much descripti\e lext. There can beibnnd the Feyli th and four-channelt)workian Regisler, insirnnientsineaiil toc iea te a s t t rronnd-sonnd e i i \ i ronmentfor olher inslrumenis to perform within.Th ere is the Panic le Bay, an othe r ch ancesteel biill instrtmieni, ihis one tiased onatidio sanipk s; lhe Sound Poem Tank (a

phon ics mac hine); lhe Audiowa\'e Deio-nalor (a sample smashei); and many.many more ciicttit-benl desifrns.

Despite the heterodoxyoflhe.se insirti-nients, I prefer to not let bent-circuit mu-

Fig. 12. Video Octavox, an-tique telephone amplifiercase, glass tish eye, coil cordswith photo-sensors, paintedwooden model of the sun,miniature footlights for thesun, antique faceted glasslenses, LEDs, nine poten-tiometers, eight antique brownBakelite knobs (on back),eight line outputs (on bark),original circuit, approx.9 X 5 X 4in, ca. tate 1980s.(® Quhais Reed Gbazala)

This instrument is designed touse a videotape or aDVD as ascore; it can also use randomevents (e.g. via video cam era)to produce an aleatoric "stringensemble" response.

sical composition become a thorny stil>jecl. I am satisfied with llie tealization thatevery sound, like every color, elicits ancm olion . That is eno ugh for me evenwhen composing wiih aleatoric eletnenis(althotigh tliis sutijecl is both fascinatingand endless, ha\ing beeti debated wilh meby desig ners , mn.sic ians and the gen eralpuhlic since I bttilt rny firsl instrument).

I suppose lhe greatest value I see incircuit-bending, heyond the new palette,

is how tbe art encotiragcs fresh intisica!tbotight. ll is ihese two aspects, tbe art's,sound and its ideas, ihat have kept me attbe bench and in the sttidio for decades.

Some artists gravitate lo tbis ari due toitsanti-estal)lisliTiu'nl aspects, lakinga po-litical stance selting tbenisehcs againstthe coiuentional nuisic industry (iiistr ii-nient manufacturers as well as nuisic pur-veyors). While consciotis of the poliii( alstibterliige that tliis art might eng end er,I do nol see this as eiiher tinnstial or par-ticularly imporiant—it is how onr ma-chine works; part again of tbe tbresliuldof invetilion, an unstoppableIOKC.

I should me ntion thai in this explo-ration ot anti-theory1 do not abatidontheory, as many people presnme. I only(juestion il in the way ihat scienlists al-uavs (juestion prevailing conce pts. I can-no! tbink theory withotit anti-theory, adevil 's advocate, alongside, Tlieory hasbe en m y friend foi a \fi y long lim e. Ihave tbund, however, that it is not theonly way lo think, and clearly not the oniyway to create. Rather than parallel and

fh i - l 'i ) lk \ ln . s i i DI ( i l i . imc Klcc t r i i i t i c 103



e ihis an aiul i[st)iU|jul lo knownmo dels ,!, in leach ing il as\\\v cntiiy ihatimpressed me as a young artist, have cho-sen to focus on the history oiiny originaldiscovery process, which was original inthat, as noted ,I was uninfluenc ed by out-side leaching or example. ! was tooyoung, too isolated perhaps.

My aim. there fore, hasbeen to wel-com e everyone by removing let hnical aswell as aca dem ic hin"dles as ihey wcre re -moved for me (14-ycar-olds rarely havecollege music labs to work in, classicallythe alternate and more usual birthplaceofexpcrim ental music and instrumen ts) .However, for more specifics I will referthe reader to my 2()-arucle series inl-.Mf[4], where I more closely detail the evo-lution of circuit-bending as well as itsplacem ent within the context and historyot electronic and experimental music.

As to this odd aii's inflncnce, circuit-bending's instrtiinentiirinm is explodingworldwide. Th e Inte rne t is active nonsto p,with various gallei'ies and artists present-ing iheir discoveries (whenI latmrhed myweh site, it was the only place on-line tosee circuit-bent in.struments; itwas also thefirst ins tritctionalsite}. Now hundreds ofnew instrum ents ar e being built every day,as an Internet keyword search on "circuit-bending" will reveal.

There are innumerable s tudents ofcircuit-bending—millions, I am told. Tbetruth , however, is diat they are not my stu-dents .They and I, in fact, have the sameteacher—a mind-altering addictive artthat reveals it.setf in exaitiples of compo-

sititMi that, while too alien to recogni/e.a re too mu.ncal lo ignore.

StiU, my course has not been smooth[5] . Atone low point in the late 1960s an

aud ienc e tried its best to hos|jita li/c m eand my bimd and doslroy my first instru-meiit. L'nd aun ted. I <<)ntinued to ex-plore the art. I never feared for its placein the world. 1 was sure a space wouldevolve.

Transistors, now iribal, are clumtingrhymes. A tempest of new songis .swirlingwithin tbese hidden camps. Circuit-hen-ders are, in a sense, cthnomusicologistsexploring villages ringing with electronic

folk music, indigenous in this case to cir-cuit and t ime rather than people andt ime. The y feel as I have always felt (a ndcontinu e for the same reason): that thereis a rich new world of music at hand.

Referencesan d Notes

1. Qiihaw Reed Ghazala. -Circiiit-Bending îrid l.lv-iiijT liisinm ietiis ."Experimental Musical ln<.liiimnil<. 8,No. 1 (Sep temb er 1992).

2. Qubais Reed Glia/ala . "Incanl ins ."Exjirr'nneiilalMii.\iail lirsliutrwrihS. No. 4 (jiuie 1993).

3. Qiibais Rrcd Ghazala.Tfirtiiiiily fnr theNnv Virtimsi,/Hiroshima. Rt'alizatioci CD RZI>-()22 (19^)5).

4. See (ihazala [I] and 12] .-Additional articles in theseries im lnded Qitbais Reed tlha /ala . "CiTruit-Bend-ing and Liviiijr Instrtinient.s: The Odor Box,"Experi-mfiitalMiisicaHtiflninifritsS.No. 2 (De<cinl>ei I'.J92):"Cirniit-Bending and l,i\ing IiistriiiiifrUs; The Pho-iiin Ckiriiifi."Expm mrnitiliMuiiriiU iisliiiiiii'iil\8. No..1 (Ma rch UliKl); "(ilrcLiit-Bendinfr and l,ivln)j In-struments: Vo\ liisecta,"Experimfttlnl Mu.siml !n\lni-rn^nts9. Ni). I (September 1993); "(lirenil-Bendingand Living lnstmments; The Simnd Dnngeon."Ex-petimrntnl Mu.sii/d Int.lruvii'nI'i 9, No. 'i {Deceniher1993]; "'CircuiT-IVnding and Liviiijr Insnuinenis; In-ver ters ," Experimental Musical Instriimenl',9. No. ?•(March 1994); '"Cirinii-Beiidiiig and LivingIIIMIIL-meni.s: The \'idc<> Oriavox,"Experimniliil Muskal hi-ilnunrnls9, îih i ( |n ne 199-1): "The Mm plicviin andStrang e Em th W jiccs,"Expnimeidid MusKdl Imlrii-mf'th 10. No, 2 (Dftem her 1994); "I 'hc Flame Coni-

poiiinin and Kcflt 'ctions on the P\Tc)phone,"Expfrimeiilal Mitaiciil liiUnimriit.\ 10, Nii. 3 (Maich1995): T.imiil-Bcn diiigan d l.ivnns InstrimienLs: TheTripoli Incunwir." ExperinwiUiilMusicalhislnimi ih10 .No. 4 ( |nn e 1995); "Pen eptiia l Instrnmeiit.s and Rc-

(|i[iein lui a Ritciio."ExjininwiiUil Miisi'iit lii\liumfiits11, No. I (September 1995); "From [he Mnsic \Vin(Tot die D ieaen Mtisenm; Sky Harps."ExperimentalMu-Mcidhislitam-rilsW.Nfi. 2 {December H)<i5); "(]ircnil-Bi'iidiiig and Living liisirwments; The HarmonicWiLLdow." i-'.xpi'rnninilnt MIIMCIII Iiishiiiiii'iil<. 12 . No . 4IJuLie I'.I91>); "Circuit-Betidinj" and Living Instrti-[iiciits; The CasioSK-1 F.stapisi Sample Shntile."/!,'x-jinimndcit Mnsiml InstrHviml\12. No. 2 (DecemberI99(i); "(îrcuit-BendinjTand l.ivinglnstrtLmenLsiTh e(.â.sio SA-2 .'Meat II m,"Exlir-nmndnl Musical Instruments12, No. 4 (|niie 1997j; "(!ircuil-B<'ndiiig and LivingInstruments; Thf Solar Biig Box."Expiiiiiifiilrd Mii-.\ii-id hisliii'ri''iiis 13. Nl). 2 (Decemlier 1997); "TheDworkiiin Rfghiei.' Expi-rinienttil Musical hntrumfnls13 , No. 4 (Jnne 1998); "The Siib-<::iiaiii Generator,"Expriimeidiil Musical Inslnimeiih 14, No. 2 (!>ecem-IxT 1998); "(;irciiil-Beiidiiigaiid Lii ing Instrtimcnlsof a VyilyiTV.' Experinwntul Musical I nstrunwnIs \A. No.4 (Jniie 1999),

A book with atidio Cl) cont.iininfr an article abo utan(i A musical track hy tlhaza la was pnbli.shed by EMI.See Bart Hiipkin. ed,,('•mvikiirih, Wlitrhn and I'ym-phoiii's (Roslyn, NV; Ellipsis Aits. lWIti).ExpeiimenlalMfisindImlrumi'iils. edited by Hart Hopkin, was pub-li.shed Irom I9K5-1999 ; bAck i.ssttes are available at<lmp;/ /www,ivindw(ir id .<<mi/eini />.

5. Additional det;iils abont die audior's early back-gi ottnd and events th;u led to his work wilh c ircnit-bending is included in ati earlier vetsiun of thi.sarticle, available at <h ltp; , www .anti-theory.com/tex t s / lmj> .

Manuscript received 6 December 2003.

(hihais Rppd Ghnznln is setf-tau^ht in elec-tronics, photogiapliy find Dthn media. H e hasinnovated the art of circuit-bending, .specialtechniques in 35mm photography and dye-migration itnagery. H is iimting andartworkhave been published internationally and heha s ximllen an d illustrated dozens oJ artirU-son experimental mustc. His work appears inthe peimaneni collections of the Museum ofModern Art. (heCiiggeiihfim and tlie Wiiit-ney in Neiv York City, and other museums andprivaie collections worldwide. Hedesigns in-slninients for entertainment industry artistsan d experimental music composers.

104 C.hiizcda. The Folk Mti.sic ot Cbanre F.lectronics

the folk music of chance electronics

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