davidcedillo.com

what’s it like to go 5 days without a blog post? it makes me feel like a whale that only comes up for air at the last minute. during my time off the web i purchased a couple of kid toys with the intent of bending circuits– both times had bad results. then i found a guy who makes handheld theremins. i bought one online and it should be here by the end of the week. here’s how it works…

Beep-it! from Michael Una on Vimeo.

the circuit bending experiment i’ve embarked on has suffered its first casualty: my 1987 yamaha pss 30 keyboard. it’s the instrument that i dismantled to get feedback loops, distortion effects, and various alien sounds. my friends at associated radio told me to administer last rites. apparently i fried the audio chip. fortunately there is another keyboard ready to go under the soldering iron: the bontempi system 5 at808.

forget the sheep count. playing atari 2600′s enduro followed by watching revolt of the zombies (circa 1936) plus unisom equals sleep.

last night i realized that i didn’t have to stay up until midnight to re-create the birth of MTV. the (once) 24 music channel debuted august 1st at midnight on the east coast, so technically it would have shown here at 11:00pm. that was exactly when i started a DVD that is part of a 4 hour collection that someone recorded the night MTV first went on the air. then this morning i realized that today is also my cousin’s birthday. happy birthday warren.

i work with lois wetzel. i just finished reading a book that she bought me from border’s before they closed their doors forever. tonight she sang at homer’s with her sister laura. one of the songs was first day of my life. so cool. they played to an audience of friends, family, and coffeehouse regulars. it was awesome.

i set up a card table to circuit bend in my living room yesterday. it’s alot easier than working on a piece of cardboard on the floor. i also learned that it takes a little patience to use a hot glue gun. one of the wires popped loose when i moved it around the first time. the newest ‘bend’ i found was a feedback sound. i don’t even need to play a key, it just feeds back.

i was thinking of the chinese restaurant in desperately seeking susan, and how cool it would be to have a retro chinese restaurant delivery t-shirt. the shirt pictured above was one of many cool tees that i found on skreened.com.

eventually i’ll get tired of electronic accomplishments, but right now every little success makes me feel like thomas edison. today’s hurdle involved cannibalizing a headphone jack from an old radio. i disassembled the piece last night, and put it back together this morning on the yamaha keyboard that i’m circuit bending. this takes care of two things: i can work on this project while jenny’s home (i can now wear headphones & she won’t complain about the noise), AND it doubles as a line out to a larger amp.

my latest obsession is circuit bending. it’s hard (and easy) to believe that no one in the greater kansas city area knows about this. i drove to four different places to get the right parts. this is my first recorded bend with a new distortion effect controlled by a pentiometer (a knob).

actually, i forgot how i discovered circuit bending. i just know that after seeing a few youtube tutorials, i wanted to duplicate the trippy 1970′s alien moog sound that other people were making. i’m glad to announce that today, with the help of one friend who runs a CB radio store, and another friend who sells pinball games, i bent my first circuit. i connected two unrelated circuits to create a “distortion” effect on my yamaha pss 30 keyboard. i’ll post a video as soon as wires, knobs, and switches are permanently attached.