Karl Klomp Dirty Video Mixer

I built Karl Klomp's Dirty Video Mixer from the schematic he put online.
The schematic with tweaked contrast and brightness
+ build as bare bones without enclosure
+ enclosure with lazer etched graphics:

A demonstration test recorded onto phone camera:

Source material was a VHS of video feedback (camera + monitor) through a circuit bent processor and a DVD of animated loops of diagonal lines created in Flash.

Atari Noise Board 1.2, WSG Filter, Fruit

Cavan Fyans sent me a pair of PCBs for his latest Atari Noise Board.
I housed one in a "Little Miss Trouble" tin that I found in a charity shop. After connecting potentiometers I put sockets into the solder pads marked for touch connectors, then plugged in a few connection wires (usually used for breadboard prototyping) which I jabbed into a mandarin and a banana. The results sound like this:

My second Atari Noise Board isn't housed yet, but I added four copper touch pads to the LM380 which adds some Crackle Box like action to the sound palette. There's always something playful to be made from bench scrap!

I also built a pair of WSG resonant filters. These are the smoothest sounding of all the filters I have made so far. I've enjoyed adding a force sensor/FSR (thank you Ian McCurdy) to squeeze open the vowel sounds.

Table Leg Diddley Bow 1

A while back I was given the book Handmade Music Factory by Mike Orr. It's full of interesting pictures and info relating to DIY instruments. Trying to build some of the projects has been on my 'to do' list for a while.

After playing with the Diddley Bows made by Andrew Cooke I decided to have a go at making something quick and dirty.

A three-legged table fell apart in my yard recently: I discarded the rotten wood and salvaged a few pieces. The legs seemed in fairly good condition, one was used for this build. Other parts, such as the pick-up and tuning peg were from an old bass guitar. The jack socket was new, but fitted to the plate from an old strat-copy. The nut is weathered glass from Helen's Bay beach. The bridge; an found off-cut of conduit pipe. The tail-piece is an old bracket from some furniture.

Here's a demo video of the first notes played through one of my recently built "Smokey" amps:

The amp uses two recycled VHS boxes for the enclosure. The speaker is from an old keyboard, the capacitors and jacks were from an old mixer. More upcycling to follow.

Andrew Cooke Exhibition + ARC Performance 040513

 

Ceramic artist Andrew Cooke has invited ARC (Allen, Rayson, Cullen) to perform on his musical instruments at his latest exhibition in The Loft Gallery, Portaferry on Saturday 4 May 2013.

Andrew makes instruments from ceramic and found materials: gourds, diddley bows, harp etc. ARC will perform a number of short improvisations

04 May - 26 May: 'Musical Mud' an exhibition by ceramicist Andrew Cooke. ‘Since mankind discovered the metamorphosis of soft clay into a hard ceramic material, we have been making instruments from clay. I would love to be able to play music; I have tried but failed. I thus make ceramic instruments; it is my response to the frustrated musician inside Andrew Cooke.’ Call out to all musicians - this Exhibition will encourage interaction between the maker of objects and the maker of music. If you are a musician feel free to come and jam on the instruments! If you are willing then make a video of yourself and send it through to Andrew Cooke to be made into a video collage of musical mayhem by local film maker Rik Peel.

Andrew Cooke is on Facebook.

Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group

Ian Svenonius has a new book called "Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group".
Here's a playlist of (most of) the groups/acts/artists mentioned between the covers:

NB: not all groups included are "good" examples. Some serve as a warning.