circuit bending – Simon Hutchinson

I made an analog saturation box for $2, and here’s how it sounds (diode clipping)

by Simon 31 March 2025No Comments

Can you build a stereo analog distortion box for just $2? Yes, you can! What does it sound like? Well, you’ll need to watch the video for that.

In this video, I put together a simple passive DIY distortion circuit using just 4 diodes, 4 wires, and 4 audio jacks—all dirt cheap but surprisingly effective. This little box works by clipping taking advantage of the diodes’ forward voltage to clip the signal, a classic analog distortion method found in everything from guitar pedals to vintage studio gear. It’s cheap, it’s basic, but listen and see if this might add that grit and warmth that you’re looking for (and, if not, you’d only be out $2).

🎛️ Tools & Materials Used:
* 4x Diodes (1N4148)
* 4x 3.5mm Audio Jacks
* 4x Wires
* Small Enclosure
* Soldering Iron & Solder
* Drill

More creative electronics videos here:

Voltage Starving in Eurorack

by Simon 23 February 2025No Comments

Voltage starving op-amps with Blood Cells Audio‘s “Mangle” module.

Following up on my voltage starving conversation with Spectral Evolver a few weeks back, today I’m exploring Blood Cells Audio’s “Mangle“, a Eurorack module that’s basically a voltage-starving VCA, where you can send CV to the op-amps (or insufficient CV to the op-amps to voltage starve them). Here, I try a few different program materials, and show some interesting results of modulating voltage starving over time.

You can check out Spectral Evolver’s voltage-starving Moog gear here:

Low-Battery as Aesthetic Practice: Voltage Starving Audio Gear

by Simon 17 December 2024No Comments

Talking about voltage starving your audio equipment with Will Klingenmeier.

I sat down for a virtual chat with Will, who has been doing some interesting experiments voltage starving his Moog DFAM and Subharmonicon. Voltage starving is when you intentionally deprive a circuit or device of the full voltage it needs to function, simulating a “dying battery”. The sounds you get are probably not what the manufacturer intended, but definitely an aesthetic worth exploring as you look for new sounds.

In this wide-ranging discussion, we talk about circuit-bending, starving stompboxes, and whether or not this is a good idea with your expensive equipment.

0:00 Introduction
0:30 What is “voltage starving”?
1:08 Voltage starving & circuit-bending
1:54 Voltage starving Moog synths
3:46 How to do it
4:33 Is this dangerous to your equipment?
6:07 Thinking about guitar pedals
8:15 Closing thoughts

Check out more videos on Will’s Channel here.

More creative electronics videos here:

Circuit Bending Super Edit (Tinkerbell Wand to Expressive Instrument)

by Simon 29 October 2024No Comments

I’ve just posted a re-edit of my series introducing circuit-bending old toys (cutting the three-video series down into a more reasonably paced single video). Circuit-bending is the creative customization of consumer electronics with the goal of inventing new unique devices for sound-making, visuals, or other expressive goals.

In this series, now edited into a single video, I take you through my process with some toys from the start, including explorations, experiments, and, importantly, failures. I continue work through transforming this Tinkerbell wand, testing out different resistors and switches to see what I might add to increase its glitchy expressive range.

I’m a composer and sound-designer, not an electrical engineer, so my goal is to find fun sounds that I can use in creative ways (rather than any kind of serious circuit design).

0:00 Intro
0:22 Selecting toys to bend
0:52 Testing with new batteries
1:52 Opening up the Tinkerbell wand
4:42 Opening up the whack-a-mole
7:20 Poking around with test leads
10:40 Recap, equipment
11:11 Examining the components
12:20 Speeding up the clock
14:17 Slowing down the clock
15:19 Varying the clock
18:58 Switches
22:17 The “glitch switch”
24:40 Considering packaging (instrument morphology)
25:19 Tools & equipment
26:15 Updates/Plan
28:32 Installing the “Glitch Switch”
30:48 Installing the Toggle
31:47 Changing the LED
32:47 Installing the Potentiometer
34:17 Adding RCA audio out
35:18 Putting it back together
36:08 Esoteric Etude
38:31 Closing

More circuit-bending and handmade electronic music here:

Circuit-Bent, MIDI-Controlled-Glitch Genesis Explanation

by Simon 20 September 2020No Comments

I circuit bent a Sega Genesis for MIDI-controlled glitch visuals. I can hook it up to a DAW or MIDI sequencer and then glitch out a game in sync with music.

I put this together a few years ago, but had some questions about it, so I cracked open the game system to show how it works. All I’ve done is set up some places to short out the VRAM, where the Genesis stores the sprites for the graphics. Then I added an Arduino to control when it short them out (triggered by MIDI).

Keep in mind that not all Genesis systems are the same, they have different board revisions, so your Genesis might have things in different places.

Sample output:

Circuit Bending Walkthrough

by Simon 16 September 2020No Comments

I’ve put together a three-part series on getting started with circuit-bending, from the initial testing and opening up toys to completed alien instrument.

(Part 3 coming next week)

Circuit-bending is the creative customization of consumer electronics with the goal of inventing new unique devices for sound-making, visuals, or other expressive goals. I’m a composer and sound-designer, not an electrical engineer, so my goal is to find fun sounds that I can use in creative ways (rather than any kind of serious circuit design).

For more of my creative electronics projects, check out here:

“Technological Disobedience”: Coloring Outside the Lines

by Simon 17 August 2020No Comments

What does it mean to “disobey” technology? Expanding on Ernesto Oroza‘s term “technological disobedience”, let’s think about how we can “think beyond the normal capacities of an object, and try to surpass the limitations that it imposes on itself”, working toward a more personal expression through technology using circuit-bending, hacking, creative coding, 3D printing, and glitch art.

Motherboard interview with Ernesto Oroza:

More circuit-bending:

MIDI-Controlled Intellivoice Synth

by Simon 6 February 201617 June 20164 Comments

Mattel Electronics presents…

It’s been a long time since I started this project, but I’ve finally got my Intellivoice Synth running.

Since last time, I added MIDI control and transferred things to a smaller circuit board (and Arduino) in order to fit everything back in the original case.

So what does this little synth do? It takes MIDI notes (from a keyboard or DAW), and uses them to trigger the sounds built in to the Intellivoice chip, which, as it turns out, consist of mostly numbers.

Check it out:

I might look into a few more tweaks. Currently, each word will always play to the end, even if another word is performed before it’s finished. I’m not sure if this is a property of the Intellivoice chip, or something I could fix in my Arduino program.

Why pursue a project like this one?

Games and gaming hardware are mass-produced devices with planned obsolescence and few serviceable parts. By “hacking” and customizing gaming hardware we regain personal ownership of these devices, and we can turn obsolete equipment into performable, expressive instruments.

An earlier version of this synth actually appears in the electronics of my new commissioned work, Hirazumi (more about the piece here and here), and I think the hacked Intellivoice fits perfectly into the post-digital, cyberpunk aesthetic.

Circuit-Bending Speech with the Intellivoice

by Simon 7 November 20152 July 2016One Comment

I’ve finally got my workbench set back up following the move out to Connecticut for my new gig at the University of New Haven, and I’ve started to get back to some tinkering.

I had been poking around on eBay for a little while, trying to find an Intellivoice module to build my collection of vintage consumer audio chips. The Intellivoice was an add-on for Mattel’s Intellivion Game Console that strapped on to the side and added a couple of chips allowed a few games to have computerized speech output.

It sounds a little something like this:

Anyway, I found and Intellivoice for about $10 (plus shipping).

The seller, however, neglected to mention that it seems like he had been storing it in a bath of saltwater. I had to drill out a couple of the screws to get it open, as they had rusted beyond recognizability as screws.

After I got the RF shield off, however, it all looked relatively clean. The whole piece isn’t particularly attractive as a collector’s item, but the chips seem to be in good shape.

So, let’s make this thing talk. With a little Arduino magic, I got some words out (see below), and, with a little more tinkering, I should be able to make a MIDI-controlled Intellitalker instrument.

[audio:https://simonhutchinson.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Intellivoice_Test.mp3]

Watch this space.