Circuit Locution

Got a question? Have an article suggestion? Want to know more about something? Let me know.

Added a new circuitbending article on building an Advanced Probe.

I’ve not actually built one fully – I actually use a prototype breadboard and temporarily solder leads directly on to the PCB. This works great if you can look at a board and know where the V5+ and GND pins are by their location or pin shape (on chips). If you don’t have that kind of knowledge (I’ll write it up later, I promise), or just want a good system for finding bends, the Advanced Probe is a good idea.

I came up with the idea initially when reading Rheed Ghazala’s page on Cautions, which lists warning signs like sparks or batteries heating up. In my opinion, if you’ve reached a point where the chip is getting hot or the batteries are draining so fast they’re getting hot, you’re already potentially damaging the instrument, possibly in a subtle way you won’t notice until later. Just checking the voltage difference before making the connection will prevent this from happening.

Sure, there are other electronics resources out there. See the links sidebar for suggestions. But generally, they’re aimed either at hobbyists with an electronics background, or at a general audience.

I’m trying to focus largely on electronics-for-dummies or electronics-for-experimental-musicians. The bending community is full of people with little-to-no electronics background who don’t even know where to start – it’s not exactly a straightforward and accessible subject.

So if posts and articles seem a little informal, it’s because you, the reader, probably don’t care about the deep math behind concepts. You want to know if you’ll get a neat new sound if you hook something up with something else, and what components to use to keep your creations from melting. You want to know how to make a vactrol, or how to use a transistor to make your own amplifier.

Things are underway. Articles are being written. Layouts are being decided.

I’ll be starting to include graphics in articles as soon as I find a good program to draw them with.