WARNING: You break it... it isn't my fault! Your mileage may vary. Don't try this unless you're sure you know what you're doing! You're messing with electricity and it can be dangerous! If you have no idea what circuitbending is, then DON'T TRY THIS! You could possibly blow up your synth (or whatever you're messing with) - so try at your own risk!

Can one circuit bent device make another one (or more) glitch? You bet.

I first tried this out by connecting 2 Speak and Maths to a Casio SK-1. I used RCA jacks to get direct access to the glitch points of the units and made a couple of videos of the results (see below).

Experience "the Difficult Listening Channel" podcast where the sounds in my head become the sounds in yours.

Speak and Math and Pedals

How about processing glitch signals with guitar pedals? Most of my experiments were failures, but I did manage to get some results by using an Audible Disease Rupture pedal in-line with a bend on a Speak and Math. I also had a Boss DD-6 digital delay set up in the Rupture's effects feedback loop. This setup and several variations did nothing to an SK-1. The Speak and Math was more "receptive" to this abuse. [mp4]

SK-1 and 2 Speak and Maths

Sounds like the title for a circuit bent p-rno, but it's not. This video shows a Casio SK-1 sending signals to 2 Speak and Maths. They are connected by RCA cables. [mov]

Above: The Speak and Math with a glitch connection and in-line pedals processing the glitch signals. Taken from a video still.

Michael Oster
He's the person responsible for this mess.

How about using audio processors to alter the glitch signals?

A little more complicated I thought, and then found out as I figured "glitch" signals might be out of the processing range of effects pedals. I had no results at all with an SK-1. I tried digital delays, distortion, and an envelope filter.

A Speak and Math made a much better "host" for this experiment. Though not "amazing" by any means, I was entertained by a combination of the Audible Disease Rupture pedal with a Boss DD-6 delay in its feedback loop. The video above right will show you some of what went on. There were differences between a straight connection and the connection with the pedals in line. Twisting knobs on the delay produced results but not like if it was processing an audio signal. There were no glitch "echos". Changing the delay "mode" and "level" would sometimes change the glitches or cause a brief loop. Tweaking the Rupture created a "pitch like" effect that wasn't all that controllable. Also, too much "juice" from the Rupture would crash the Speak, but backing off the pedal usually brought a recovery without pressing the "reset" button....

A circuit bent soft synth?
Hell yes! I (ab)used Reaktor and created a circuit bent software synthesizer. I've been working on this off and on for over a year. Now, after many refinements, it's ready for the world.

And you can get it FREE!

Texas Instruments Speak and Music. I added 6 switches, 1 pot, and a reset button. Now it's ready to make some beautiful music! It was a pain in the ass to bend....

Grandma had a noise band back in the 1930s! Legend has it that a young woman hot-rodded a tube radio and put on Vaudeville style noise shows in the mid-west around 1933. Is she still living among us? Read all about it on my ReGurgiTron site...