Indole Ring DOT ORG -WORKSHOP-

NEWEST WORK... these newest pieces, -vintage "little BIG MUFF" Pi petal modification (2010) and Centrifugal Tone Collider device (2011) were commissioned
pieces for noise afficianato Jayson Arnold.

Centrifugal Tone Collider... this is a custom application of a simple stepped-tone generator kit using the 556 dual timer chip, sometimes called the "APC"
into a recycled aluminum housing picked out at the scrap yard.

in addition to the kit components, i added a power switch along with the momentary button, an internal speaker switch, a 1/4 output jack, a modular touch-bend contact for pitch, a switchable photo-resistor to bend the pulse-rate and a blacklight UV LED that flashes under a lens inside a reflective chamber painted in
glow paint and UV blue tattoo ink.
the flashing LED produces purple/UV light that sets off the ultra-blue ink and charges the glowpaint creating a green afterglow. the reflector disk in the bottom
is a piece of lithograph plate with measurements and german text.

all the audio here is from the device's internal speaker, and thus somewhat limited compared to output from the jack.

starting petal condition (above)
i had tried to work on this petal the first time over 15 years ago, just to get it to work- to no avail..
it's circuitry had previously had attempted repairs made with bubble gum, possible another decade before.

the "Little Big-Muff" was a scaled-down version of the full "Big Muff" version where 2 of the pots (for fuzz-tone and level)
were replaced with resistors at fixed settings, thus making it possible to fit in a smaller box... the circuitry however was identical...so....

the refurbished and modified petal has the original features and additional 2 pots of the full-size unit squeezed in with some fun knobs and reinforcements.

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In 2000, I was tinkering with a program intended to help the blind "see" with sound, hoping to get some unique synthesis out of it
what I got was some very interesting sound, that i was not sure how to use, and upon opening the spectral view window of my audio editor,
something that amazed me...

left to right axis is time in tenths of a second increments andup/down is sound frequency in 5000hz increments.
the resulting sound from the Indole Ring logo above is the beginning of the 9th track on "REMEMBER WHAT THE DORMOUSE SAID".
the sounds are all pretty much alike in being grainy, chaotic, glitchy digital sounding blips... but the effect is cool.

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GADJETS
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These are images of some various devices I've either built or modified.
Most modifications to existing devices includes circuit-bending which is the act of intentionally causing controlled or semi-controlled malfunctions
in an electronic device, usually an audio related toy- and then adding buttons, knobs, switches etc. to control these malfunctions.

Using this method one can get a lot of very entertaining sounds out of a sound toy that was otherwise not meant to make these sounds.

The term "circuit-bending" was given to the art in the 60's by it's most renowned participant Reed Gahzala.
The popularity of circuit bending exploded in 2002-2003, becoming highly visible and fiercely competitive.

Although I very often use samples I've recorded of various devices that I have made in the past...

beyond some special projects for friends, I've not done much circuit-bending in the past few years but may need to start again as it seems
like some of these malfunctions eventually lead to a shortened lifespan.
I have built many devices for other artists and musicians as well.
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this is one of my favorite ciurcuit-bent creations, and the only one I've used live.
It's several modes are determined by holding down different red-button combinations on start-up and is then
controlled completely via the added photo-cell in the right window.
changes from light to dark (the waving back and fourth of my hand) will hold and release a loop from the stream of glitches it generates.

"furborgs"
these charming creatures are furbys, exposed and circuit bent by me.
they permanently speak glitch- no more furbish- no more english.

formerly a simon-sez-like talking game, the parameter now features...
3 of the four large green buttons now introduce resistors and capacitors into the circuitry, additional short circuit button,
red envelope/squelch LED, frequency booster knob, 1/4" audio out.

now unfortunately deceased, the spaceurchin was a simplistic creature who's pitch was controlled via the photo-cell on top.
other mods include 2 tone change buttons 4 sound buttons 1/8" audio out and internal speaker.

"incantor" is the name given to circuit bent Speak & Spell, Math, and Read toys.
my modifications to these include loop grab, loop hold, random glitch, capacitor and resistor filters and effects, photo-cell control, envelope light,
pitch bend body contact and knob, reset button, and additional audio outputs.

this gadget is the 3rd incarnation of a transformers-like voice effects mask I received for x-mas in 1986. (pic1)

it's second incarnation was for the industrial/noise project Din/Aught in 1995
where it was wired into a guitar and walkman (pic2) that was used alongside
the c.o.m.t.(pic3), a steel sculpture/percussion piece I made and other modified instruments.

it's latest incarnation features this circuitry housed in the decapitated head
of a toy robot. other modifications include- left antennae=power switch,
right antennae=photo-cell envelope control on/off switch, mouth=photo-cell control,
right ear 1/4" input and left ear 1/4" output (in one ear and out the other),
RCA inputs and outputs in back of head, input level knob in back of head, internal speaker,
4 body contact points (often pick up radio and tv audio signals), green envelope LED eyes,
3 mode switch removed and all modes combined,
functions as amplifier and effects, or stand alone device.

this is a very simplistic, totally passive, four-way MIDI splitter/adder
with a green indicator LED, that I made from scratch without a schematic.
passive MIDI components are often not encouraged, but this gadget has
served my purposes flawlessly.

-UPDATE- 01-28-10 - after burning up all those bits putting this on a stainless face,I switched it over to this clear lexan rack-mount faceplate

-UPDATE- 04/05/2010 I just cannot leave well enough alone with this whole rack business...
so heres a new one.. the paint was just about dry when i remembered i have an empty aluminum
2-space enclosure that i want to use as well...

feeling good about my soldering skills, I decided to build a synthesizer from a kit.
the kit I used was the "fatman" analog MIDI synth from PAIA music electronics

the kit when I got it...
just a big sack of components and a bare circuit board (and fortunately a booklet)
this took me about 12 hours to assemble all the components and I was thrilled, and very
proud that this worked right off the bat with no big issues.
the case, since it was totally custom, took along time- finding out how hard stainless steel is to drill.
here it is now...

and the insides....

I left room on the faceplate for additions when I do some more mods.
I built it from specs except for custom case, midi connecters, cv connecters, wires, led colors, output jack and freq cut-off drop.
planned mods include a VU meter, ring modulator and a subharmonic generator.
I want to build Paia's vocoder kit next to replace my old digital one.

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