i initially had trouble getting the SA9 to glitch until i realized that the trick is quick momentary connections. this little guy spits out some crazy and amazing sounds! you generally have to coax it a little to get the really fantastic stuff, but it’s capable of some great long evolving glitches.
across the top the additions are: 1/4″ output, patch burp switch (causes it to rapidly change patches), rotary switch for ranges of patches burped, overdrive/feedback switch with knob for amount, main glitch button, 2nd noisy glitch button, led and power switch.
here is an example of the burp, overdrive and glitches:
and a diagram of the main bends:
here’s a less abstract version of the diagram above:
the classic circuit bending candidate - the Texas Instruments Speak & Spell. this one has a pretty standard set of bends - pitch control, 2 short glitches, 1 long glitch, hold switch with release button, body contact, startup sound loop and a reset button. there is also a cv input with amount that controls the pitch.
this guy has been a mainstay in the studio and has been used live many times.
here are a couple of sound samples of it:
basic bends - long glitch, pitch and hold:
this is a held glitch being modulated throught the cv inpuit:
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Speak & Read - 2002
this was my favorite but it died. a Speak & Read that i removed the button membrane on. the Read is a little more wordy than the Spell and has some interesting glitches where it spits out weird phrases. this also has the standard bends - pitch, glitches, hold and distort. what was really cool about it was a bend that modified the hold so that it would change over time.
heres the glitch modify if you want to try it:
(i tried this recently on another read but it didnt work.. so maybe not on all revisions..)
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Speak & Read - 2003
this one has a 555 based lfo and photo cell both to control pitch. also regular pitch knob, glitch and hold. looks pretty nice but ended up not being a playable as the others, although you can get some nifty scratching type sounds from it using the photo cell.
Lumivox - 2001
modified from QR Ghazala’s Lumivox II design, a cool 555 based opto-theremin. the button and switch both activate the sound and the knob and photocell change the pitch. there is also an 1/8″ output wired from the speaker. the spherical enclosure makes it alot of fun to play with.. i have recorded with this and used it live many times.
for the different values i used a 100k pot, 1.7uf electrolytic cap & 100nf ceramic cap.
here’s a sound sample (with a little bit of delay)
my first circuit bending project. the cz230s is basically a non-programmable cz101 with a bunch of presets and a built in rz1. i initially added 4 switches to distort the drum sounds and distortion on the keyboard voices with a knob for amount that takes it from fuzz to overdrive. later on i went back and built in a 555 lfo to the pitch (connected to the bend wheel) with speed control. i also added a switch to turn the speaker off for late night rockin.
1 broken key.. some ghetto body contacts on lower right
l-r: lfo led, lfo on, lfo rate, dist amount, dist on w/ led, 4 drum dist w/ leds, speaker off.
drum chip.. interconnect pins for distortion and other effects..
