Circuit Bending video tutorials

Hot Topics:

By Collin Cunningham
Posted 2009/10/20 @ 4:18 am
Category Electronics, Music

Jesse of Bent-Tronics kindly posted a four-part video series introducing newcomers to the art of circuit bending. The first half of the series provides a helpful intro to the necessary tools and parts while the second two vids gets into the actual bend process – good stuff! [via GetLoFi]

BY Collin Cunningham

Born, drew a lot, made video, made music on 4-track, then computer, more songwriting, met future wife, went to art school for video major, made websites, toured in a band, worked as web media tech, discovered electronics, taught myself electronics, blogged about DIY electronics, made web videos about electronics and made music for them … and I still do!

In the Maker Shed

4 Responses to Circuit Bending video tutorials

Anonymous on October 20th, 2009 at 6:59 am said:

So, “circuit bending” is the same thing as short circuiting a bunch of solder joints until the product does not operate as designed. And, crossing your fingers that you don’t destroy the original product in the process?

Reverse engineer a circuit then make changes you see fit then I will be impressed. Until then “circuit bending” is tantamount to chucking the toy in the bathtub and patting yourself on the back because it does not work properly anymore.

Reply ↓
Dustbuster7000 on October 20th, 2009 at 9:00 am said:

Wow Anonymous, maybe you’d like to throw in a “get off my lawn” while you at it. It sounds like you are interested in the idea of reverse engineering circuits, so I suggest you look around online, there are all sorts of examples of this kind of thing, some more successful than others. And not all of this stuff is about creating something amazing from something else, a lot of it is about learning about electrical/electronic circuit design and implementation. Sometimes that means you break stuff, but if you learn something, some back patting doesn’t seem out of place. This link is specifically for beginners, people who are most likely going to let out “the magic smoke” a few times before they get it right.

Reply ↓
- Anonymous on October 20th, 2009 at 12:04 pm said:
  
  Same anon as above.
  You are exactly right dustbuster, there is tons of information online. This is why I was saying there is no excuse for the bull in a china shop mentality towards EE. One would learn more from a 160 in 1 electronics kit than you will by blindly shorting things out. I don’t discourage experimentation just saying this is an ineffective method to do so, if you want to learn about electronics. “Circuit bending” as described in the video nothing was learned.
  
  Reply ↓
Collin Cunningham on October 20th, 2009 at 12:30 pm said:

It should be noted that circuit bending is not intended as a method for learning electronics engineering. Though bending may often cause experimenters to become more interested in practical circuit design, circuit bending’s predominant intent is to subvert preexisting functionality – to discover something new, unexpected, and unintended by the original designer. It is the potential of running into something strange and glitchy that makes this practice enjoyable.

Reply ↓