Circuit-Bending: Build Your Own Alien Instruments by Reed Ghazala

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
“In one easy evening,” says Reed Ghazala, “you can discover and build an instrument capable of making sounds and music no one else has ever yet heard: an instrument that exists nowhere else in the universe.” With what? A degree in electronics? Nahh. Thousands of dollars in equipment? Nahh: just some dirt-cheap electronic toy you can find at a garage sale, a second-hand store, or in your own closet. Loads of skills? Nahh: just the most basic, “baby-simple” soldering knowledge. And this book.

Since the late ‘60s, Ghazala’s been pioneering these techniques; he’s built instruments for Peter Gabriel, the Stones, many others. More recently, he gave the technique a name: “circuit bending.” And it’s taken off, getting attention everywhere from Slashdot to Wired. Now, he’s written the seminal book on the subject: Circuit-Bending: Build Your Own Alien Instruments.

Ghazala covers everything you need to know: how musical instruments work; how to set up your workshop; how to solder; how to build, polish, and refine your “bent” instrument; even how to design your own personal “alien orchestra.” The heart of the book is its projects. Follow them, step-by-step, or use them as a launching pad for your own creations. Start with an old Speak & Spell (or a Speak & Read, or a cheap, cheesy Casio SA-2 keyboard, or something from Fisher-Price) and, in one short chapter, you can create something magical.

Along the way, you’ll come to see electronics very differently: not as something precisely ordained down to the nanometer but -- again in Ghazala’s words -- “as an organic mechanism, animal-like.” Plus, you’ll have a blast. Bill Camarda, from the October 2005 Read Only

From the Publisher

• Fans will get bent out of shape if they miss the first book to cover circuit-bending-"bending," for short-the method by which an electronic toy or a device such as a keyboard is short-circuited and modified to create an entirely different sound
• Written by the inventor of the technology, this book covers the tools of the trade, shows how to build a bending workshop, and reveals secrets that will have readers of all levels making sweet music in no time
• Readers learn basic bends, body contacts, and other bending skills, as well as ways to create bent instruments from a variety of popular toys and electronic devices
• Features some of the author's own unique creations

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents